Hello- difficult post here. My daughter (year9) has a drama teacher who has behaved badly over the last few years. This subject is compulsory until end of year 9. The teacher has favourites who adore her and is cruel to those she doesn't favour. Behaviours include:
Shouting and screaming at individuals in class
Pretending not to understand a child with a marked foreign accent
Making the children act out "abuse" (I find this appalling- what if a child has experienced abuse?!)
Making the new year 7 kids talk (alone, on stage, in front of the class) about their worst experience (my youngest (new in year8) had just lost her rabbits to a fox attack and was reduced to tears. I know some kids have lost a parent and I feel it is deeply inappropriate to dig for a child's worst experience)
Allowing no dispensation for a child with a disability (my older child had to wear a large awkward plastic body brace and requested not to stand on stage in front of everyone in the very first lesson- she was shouted down)
Sending older, favoured kids to send nasty messages like "teacher says you've been dropped from..." or "teacher's really cross with you and wants to see you" (this is classic "queen bee" behaviour)
Finding out a mother had complained then forming the class into a circle and demanding the child whose mother complained stand in the middle and explain themselves
Making children "explain" their surname to the class (we have a foreign surname, associated with a country that we do not know or belong to in terms of nationality or culture)
Making an example of a child in front of the class- usually on stage, alone, with a bright light in their face
Posting videos of the class- without asking permission and telling the kids that they'd better not tell their parents because that would spoil it for the rest and she'd know who the ones spoiling it would be
The list goes on, and on. She is a known problem in the community, however as I said- if she favours you then you'd be elevated to heights unimaginable. The parents of favoured kids would probably argue that she's a brilliant teacher.
My goal is to get my daughters through unscathed. I am scared to complain to the school after the incident in which she made the class stand in a circle and demand the child whose mother complained stand forward and explain themselves. My daughter (year9) would be happy for lockdown to continue in order to avoid this creep. I have a younger daughter (year8) who is better at avoiding the attacks (she has learned to be a sycophant in class and it gets her through) and I don't want to put her in the firing line. I'm tempted to arrange a "doctor's appointment" each time the drama class is on for my older daughter!
As I said I am afraid to talk to the school for fear of repercussions. My year 9 child has half a year left of this and my younger daughter has another year on top to get through, although she's coping better than her older sister. I'm losing sleep over this. I am upset that my kids have to deal with a bully for a teacher. Maybe i need to vent. Maybe I can't do anything more than hug my girls and console them when class is over.
What would you do?