Any advice on the most effective way to deal with a bad teacher

[threesenough]

I need advice. My dd's teacher is failing her whole class. I think she has been a good teacher in the past but I - and other parents I have spoken to - feel that she has been in her job too long and has become jaded and can't be bothered.
In every other year at school my dds has enthused about her teachers and in turn teachers have told me how much she loves learning. This year she has become disengaged, bored, despondent. It can only be down to a poor teacher. Next year we are faced with another notoriously poor teacher. In that case I know of mums who petitioned to have her removed or at least shifted to teach a different year that was less crucial to children's educational development (! Not sure which year that could be!!!). Nothing was done.
I feel really powerless to counteract the adverse effects that the combination of two lazy teachers can have on so many children in Y4 and Y5. Other parents who have already been through this stage at our school refer to this as 'the lost years' or 'the wilderness years'.
What is the most effective way to address this issue?Can anyone advise?

Our teachers' morale can fluctuate quickly. Teach a really buzzy lesson; see pupils have a lightbulb moment; looking back at the progress they've made since September; a "thank you" or kind word from a parent and morale is great. We know we are a great team of effective teachers who get on well and support each other (I know I'm lucky as not all schools are like that.) Then you get mountains paperwork that does nothing to improve the learning experiences of the children; the unattainable targets; the parents who seem to moan everyday, either to your face or behind your back loudly so it gets back to you, about things that are not even the size of molehills (before everyone jumps on mean I don't mean parents that have legitimate concerns and voice it in a polite and constructive way. I mean parents shouting at me because I have "lost" their child's unnamed jumper; or why haven't I, personally, heard their child read this week ... err it's Wednesday morning and I've been off with a tummy bug Monday and Tuesday this week as they already know!.. I could go on, but it would depress me!)

I totally agree with mrz , who worded it so well, about the joys of the job. I wouldn't dream of changing jobs as I couldn't imagine getting the rewards I do in any other professsion and I am lucky my DH picks up my parenting slack. But, at the end of the day when I sit and look at all the paperwork to be done tonight it can be hard to remain bouyant, especially when it is reported in the press that a certain powerful "he who shall not be named" says there is no such thing as teacher stress. Or another who claims "If teacher morale is low then the head teacher is doing something right". There are times when teachers feel bashed from all sides.

buoyant

Amillionyears I did say in my post I had been and still am ill. This is manifesting itself as unreasonable bad temper

Am such fun to live with atm

mrz - re post 17:04 I'm glad to hear it! I was really hoping that someone would contradict me and that this is the case generally. If lack of morale is apparent to children/parents, something is very wrong and they ought to let someone know about it. Right?

I can't comment on your experience but if what you say is true I can well imagine having parents gossiping behind my back wouldn't do a great deal to improve my morale.

I can't think of any of my colleagues at the moment who aren't suffering from low morale to some extent. Funding cuts mean that everyone is teaching more lessons to larger classes but expected to get the same results. We are bombarded by media reports that we are whiny, work-shy lazy arses who should be happy to have our pay and conditions deteriorate to the point where a majority are wondering if it is worth doing the job any more while also having our illustrious leaders make out that we're all shit at our jobs and need unannounced inspections and be put on permanent competency procedures just to keep us on our toes. At the same time, report after report is coming out saying that the qualifications that we work so hard to help our students acquire aren't worth the paper they are printed on while making out that it's our fault that we teach the kids to pass them as if the threat of special measures and school league table shame if we don't play the game is in our control. Teachers groan when they see Gove or Wilshaw on BBC Breakfast because it means that there'll be another announcement of something fatuous and headline grabbing that will just mean more work, but with no firm details of any of the changes so we are left in limbo not knowing what the future holds, what syllabus we'll be teaching next year, even. The uncertainty is a killer.

And that is before you even get in the classroom.

Great post, noblegiraffe. Pretty much sums it up.

noble - I bow at your presence! Fantastic post which sums up every teachers feelings exactly

Wow! A lot of bowing and support between teachers.....Do you ever think of the pupils/students? What is good for them? What is wrong with 'unannounced inspections and.........keep us on our toes'????

pastoral

I wouldn't say the inspections are in the best interest of the pupils. It wouldn't make a difference if inspections were "unannounced" because Ofsted is a joke.

Not one of the last Ofsted "team" I came into contact with had ever worked as a teacher in a school. They didn't want to look in ANY child's books and spent an average of about 10-15 minutes in each class. They spent the majority of the time in a unused room around a table with the head and the deputy and lots of biscuits. The school was downgraded from being "outstanding" to "good" , the reasons given were that there were children who misbehaved . Ofsted took no notice of the fact that the school used positive rewards verbally, with stickers, with post cards home, with raffle tickets to give a child a prize. They took no notice of the fact that the school has firm boundaries with school rules displayed in every room, with clear warnings given and a set of consequences and chances given to misbehaving children such as 1. warning 2. Name on the sad side. 3. Time out 4. Time out in another class 5. Spending the rest of the day out of class evaluating their own behaviour etc... None of this mattered because one or two children with special needs misbehaved. Like I said, Oftsed is a joke.

Why shouldn't teachers support each other? Our job is to care for the needs of pupils and do our best for them and yet teachers are persecuted for all that is wrong in society. In fact anything that goes wrong you can guarantee somebody will campaign to "get it on the curriculum". Problems are always assumed to be down to teaching and education. Even David Cameron has announced the special needs children apparently don't need their support (he would say that because he's robbing them of it) apparently all special needs children need is "better teaching".

The teachers in this thread have questioned why the OP is blaming the teacher without actually any evidence to say the teacher is to blame. Witch hunting does not help a child.

Teachers have a very hard time in the UK I think. No doubt about it. And I don't see the issue with teacher venting their frustration at the system.

But I am not sure how it is helping the OP to decide what is her best course of actions though.
I personally would not dismiss the overall impression of the parents. So far, when you have a 'general' agreement that there is an issue with such and such teacher, it's not far from the truth. It could be that said teacher isn't that good at their job. Or they are unwell. or the HT is crap.
What I have seen happening is people voting with their feet and leaving the school in situation such as the one described by the OP.

NotSure, I think the op is happy with the ideas she has been given to help move forward with the particular situation she is in.And in an ops previous post,mon 19.26pm she is quite clear that she is not talking about all teachers, just a particular one.

As I said upthread,it is obvious that teachers on here, and it seems teachers in general are overworked and it is getting worse.Which is as I suspected.

Agree that nobelgiraffes post is very well written and from the little I know,probably pretty spot on.
I dont think the op will mind, [and obviously she can come on here and speak for herself if she wants to], that in ths particular thread that it is ok for the other side, as it were, to be able to vent about there own personal situations.

The thread has turned into two problems,and for the ops first thread on MN,that is quite an achievment.

I personally didnt realise things in teaching had become quite so bad,and I think it is a good thing for people to become aware of this.

Most parents are too busy to witch hunt. If their child is unhappy they will try to find the cause. If there are problems with the teacher, which has to happen from time to time as teachers are just human beings, they need to be sorted.

Teachers have a public facing role. They are not passive. Their actions have a major impact on children, on society even. It's no wonder they get stressed out about it. But that doesn't stop some teachers being less than good. And to accuse any parent who has doubts about their teacher of witch hunting is counterproductive.

Gove is an idiot and is not helping education at all. Teachers should, when they are doing their job adequately (not even well...just well enough), be appreciated. I wouldn't fancy teaching 30 young children of today with their rights and their sense of entitlement (sweeping generalisation I know, but with a class of 30? there'll be some in there that fit that bill). But on the other hand, where they are not doing their job adequately, they have to be bought to task.

Wow! A lot of bowing and support between teachers.....Do you ever think of the pupils/students? What is good for them? What is wrong with 'unannounced inspections and.........keep us on our toes'????

You're ridiculous.
How do you expect teachers to teach your children if they're being crushed by stress and pressure from on high?

"Do we ever think of the children"?! Fuck off.
Thinking of the children is the only reason 99% of even do the fucking job.

*of us.
Clearly, I'm annoyed.

Would have to echo Sunscorch here - 'do you ever think of the children?', how insulting. What on earth do you think we do the job for, you daft bint - it's hardly for the money, is it?!

Who on earth.

Am also clearly too cross to type.

When we complain about constant ill thought out changes to the curriculum, it is the students we are thinking of. They are guinea pigs, equally at the whim of politicians, and constantly told the results for which they have strived are worthless, and now of course told their results will be lower than the previous year's, than those of the people they will be competing against for higher education and jobs.

So, for them, we are positive in the classroom, in despair in the staff room.

flapperghasted

I agree any parent would want to find the cause... but that doesn't seem to be what the OP is doing. After all her thread is entitled "most effective way to deal with a bad teacher".

Could you imagine if a teacher had posted

!I need advice. A parent is failing her whole family. I think she has been a good mother in the past but I - and other teachers I have spoken to - feel that she has been a mother for too long, has too many children to look after and has become jaded and can't be bothered.
In every other year at school the staff have enthused about the mum and in turn the children have told me how much she loves helping them. This year she has become disengaged, bored, despondent and can't be bothered to try. It can only be down to a poor home life. Next year I am with another of her poor children. In that case I know of teachers who petitioned to have her child removed from their class Nothing was done.
I feel really powerless to counteract the adverse effects that the combination of two lazy parents can have on so many children in their family. What is the most effective way to address this issue?Can anyone advise?"

There would be uproar at the judgements being made. Yet you feel able to judge a teacher in the same way!

Surely the children's progress is monitored regularly and discussed with smt, line managers, etc? There should be stats available within school and they will be obvious if a child isn't making the right level of progress.

We have such checks each half term involving the class teacher, the class TA, the head and the deputy head. the meeting lasts a good hour and all the tracker information is considered. The teacher and TA also have a discussion beforehand and the teacher rights her/his own analysis beforehand as well, inc commenting on any chuldren not making sufficient progress with any known reasons along side.

My friend only realised her dd's year were so behind when my dd who had been at a similar level had done so much more, so she checked with a colleague who taught the same year concerning where the class could be, she approached the school and her name became mud

Do you ever think of the pupils/students?
I think sunscorch's "fuck off" sums it up pretty well.

Was pretty succinct

I think flapperghasted sums it up pretty well. Most parents want an easy life and are more than happy to leave their children in the care of excellent/good and even mediocre teachers. However most parents find that when they do encounter a bad teacher they are powerless.

Surely this is why it leads to gossip - I have seen first hand how difficult it is for parents to enforce their children's rights to a good education and there should be better ways for heads to get rid of very poor performing teachers.

Even if we are talking about only 1% of all teachers, that one teacher still has the power to ruin a large number of children's education and surely every child matters, which is the whole point of the OP...