Have you ever made a formal complaint against a teacher / school?

[Jabtastic]

And if you did were you happy with the outcome or did you find the school 'turned on' the pupil in question?

This is being discussed in our family circle but some of us are concerned that it will lead to more stress for the secondary age pupil. I'm interested to know if people found it helpful.

I haven’t. I am a teacher myself and I like to think that no school/teacher would ‘turn against’ a child making a true complaint. What I thought about them in the privacy of my own mind/home would very much depend on the nature of the complaint, the previous behaviour of the child and parents and how well I knew the member of staff involved.

If the teacher and school are professional they shouldn't turn on the child.
As for the outcome its depends on so many things
What the HT is like and what they want
What the complaint is
Whether the teacher is one of the favoured few
Whether teacher is disliked by the HT, too old, too expensive.
Is the teacher generally poor at their job.

And what you would like to see as the outcome.

Yes. The teacher herself turned on DD (and even 5 years on will still scowl at her if she walks past her in public🤣) but the school itself, head of dept etc couldn’t be more helpful after I threatened legal action!

I have worked with a large number of teachers in varying schools, in a professional capacity.

If there was a chance, however slim, that my child would have to be taught by the teacher I wanted to make a complaint against, I would think very carefully before making a formal complaint.

Teachers are a reflection of society. They do not have a higher moral standard than others. The decisions they make and how they act are similar to those with a similar level of education and upbringing.

My guess would be that while the majority wouldn't openly target or pick on a child, they would feel stress towards the whole situation and therefore not be as approachable or relaxed in the child in question 's company. This will result in a strained relationship.

A small minority of teachers will be able to look at the larger picture and purposely decide to make an effort to put a child at ease.
Another small minority will, in my opinion, be vindictive and take it out on the child.
I know it's not nice, but I've seen it happen.
There are unstable teachers in the same way there are difficult and unstable people in any walk of life and unfortunately, unless they cross the line they can easily continue in their profession without serious consequences.

Yes - have done, and escalated. It depends in part on the nature of the complaint, whether the school is private or state, and whether the senior leadership team and governors are ethical or ... not.
In our experience, in private schools the culture is to stonewall complaints and manage out families who make them. If you get as far as the board of governors they will probably side with the senior leadership team rather than looking objectively at the complaint. There is almost no accountability in private schools.
One might hope for better in a state school but I can't speak from experience on that one.

Yes I did. An academy and so they could literally do as they liked and continue to try and make DS and my life hell.

However ds got his ehcp that was waiting tribunal for refusal to assess, the school we wanted and transport - so ultimately although I'm sure the SLT (who all disappeared over the next 3 years after repeated scenarios with other kids with send) felt they'd won getting him off roll - ultimately it ended up the best thing for ds.

@itsgettingweird That is interesting. We had a very similar experience in a private school, including that the SLT mostly moved on, having made life very difficult for us and other families. They ran the school as their personal fiefdom and felt they could do what they liked, including off-rolling kids with SEN, and a board of governors that was oblivious to what was going on let them do so, and then closed ranks to protect the institution and its reputation.

We did, and our complaint was upheld in part by the school (after it went all the way to the governors) and an apology was issued and apparently ‘ measures were put in place to stop a similar situation reoccurring’
It left a pretty unpleasant feeling on our part, the teacher didn’t really treat our child any differently after we had made the complaint because they didn’t honestly believe they had done anything wrong and I think felt as parents we were a little bonkers.
I would always put in a formal complaint if it was something to do with bullying not being dealt with or a safe guarding issue. I’ve never complained about the usual day to day dramas that seem to happen in a classroom, as teachers are trying their best.
For me, when making the formal complaint I wanted the school to acknowledge they failed us as a family and to prevent future children experiencing the same situation, it was only by making it formal that they dealt with it seriously.

Yes. A teacher made a disablist comment to my child's class who were struggling to pick up a practical task. My child has a disability. I say child, she was 6th form age.

We also had to complain about something else and senior management threatened her with exclusion if she didn't withdraw the complaint.

The same school recently had to pay a large amount in an out of court settlement to an ex student for having been subjected to body shaming comments throughout her time at the school.

From the other point of view, the process is often very distressing for teachers, especially if there has been 'miscommunication'. I would always encourage people to explore any other solutions before going down this route ( I think that is usually better for everyone involved).

You sound like a nightmare. I can’t imagine you were unlucky enough to need to make two formal complaints, especially on behalf of a sixth former!

This.

I was on the end of one formal complaint. I did nothing wrong, but the stress was horrible. If I teach the child again (secondary) I will not use any humour or warmth with them. Totally down the line, no jokes, no 1:1 interactions, check there is a witness to everything, never EVER be alone with them. The child lied and they faced no consequences, I did.

We have a parent at my school who complains about everything. As a result the child is unpleasant and has zero resilience and zero respect for school staff.
Everyone dreads getting him in their class. Everyone dislikes the mother and avoids her where possible. Interactions with the child are very guarded and there are few pleasantries.
I fear the boy will grow up to be rather like Donald Trump.
Bad news is he has a younger brother…

I used to be a teacher.

I too would advise mediation etc before formally complaining. The majority of teachers are good people who want their students to do well. Most complaints I've known of have been communication errors blow out of proportion.

And yes, every school has THAT parent... the person who complains about everything and everyone.

I deal with complaints about schools as part of my job.

I always advise parents and schools to follow the complaints policy fully. It provides objectivity and looks at evidence rather than hearsay.

It also provides a first step, which is to meet and talk. Often a resolution is reached at this stage.

By following policy, further stages can also be instigated as necessary including governors, impartial governors and external ( OFSTED, LA (if maintained) or trust).

Being objective and following policy, I've found that parents, school leaders and teachers are accepting of the outcomes, given fair process.

Absolutely not. At the time I wondered is it me but since then countless others have come forward, & 50% of the staff left due to toxic Managment. It was very sad as my child had spent 5 pretty happy years there prior to a Managment change (though I wish I’d known about some of the so called nutrition advice they’d been given in year 10 by one teacher).

schools can not please everyone. With the previous Managment if an issue arose even though you might not always agree with the outcome you knew the head had made their decision with the best interests of the young people at heart.

My child has SEN. They tried to deal with the issues themselves but senior Managment refused to communicate with them and referred to me. The issues we complained about were very serious. As I said, one student started legal action & I’m told more are considering it.

Yes and yes. I would only complain direct to school now if my child was under serious direct threat and I had good proof. In fact if I had proof I'd skip school and go to police.

Dispite being a governor myself ( my kids don't go to my school) I find governors and SMT close ranks ( not in my school). I heard today that a teacher who kept pulling my dds hair also hit and kicked another child. The best I could do at the time was repeatedly say to school staff not to touch my child unless she was going to hurt herself or others in line with general English handling policy. Ie just saying no one touches her, not "every time her teacher restrains her he manages to pull a chunk of her hair out too". I think he was quick to loose his rag and very quick to pull her about. Not great because there has been proof staff do hit and sit on SEN kids and manhandle them with excessive force. But when it's your kid SMT are adamant it could never happen HERE.

I don't think I have made a complaint where school policy hasn't been followed and I wasnt found to be the problem. I complained when my sons addendence wasn't being followed up as per school policy - school raised a child protection case against me the same day.

Son got a black eye, complained as no sanctions per policy for either child - threatened with expulsion a few days later.

I could go. But yes generally it makes you think twice. The only thing I would act on now would be criminal level and I'd bypass school.

I'd also be horrified if I heard a parent at the school I'm a governor at felt like this. Not all schools are the same. Some take safeguarding very very seriously and some think it's made up stuff that couldn't possibly happen and when parents say it does, they get offended and shut you down.

You're very naïve. We had grounds to make two complaints. Our son was persistently bullied by a member of staff, who was absolutely vile to him and to a small number of other boys - always boys, therefore sexist discrimination. She was well known for it among pupils and parents. We would have complained about her if we had not had even more serious issues to deal with regarding the decision of the senior leadership team to disregard ed psych advice and pursue a course of action that the ed psych specifically advised would be dangerous. When we expressed concerns the headteacher tried to offroll our child. So we decided we had to pick our fights, ignore the bullying by a member of staff, and make a formal complaint only about the more serious issue.
Some schools are rotten to the core. If there is one issue that requires a complaint, it's immediately quite likely that there'll be others.

No because I’m very pro teacher and their lives are hard enough.

I had to go into primary about a consistently violent lad attacking Dd. They were too old for that about year 4. His mum was a loudmouth teacher at the school and from then on made it very clear she hated dd1 who was a quiet little studious good girl,

Dd would put her hand up and this teacher would pretend she did not exist. Even if Dd was the only one to respond she would say “oh so no one knows the answer here” etc. I didn’t complain as thought that would make it worse and thankfully she wasn’t their class teacher just fix the odd session. She was ok with dd2 she’d got over herself by then. She’s an absolute nutter though.

Yes, I complained about my 4 year old’s Reception teacher. Miss Honey she was not. The headteacher told me I wasn’t the only parent to complain. That was the only complaint I made in 12 years.

I dealt with a complaint as a school governor. Ultimately it was a case of a student who did something wrong, as well as a teacher who handled the incident badly. So faults on both sides. However the whole thing was made significantly worse by parents who would accept no compromise or admit their child had stepped out of line despite there being absolute proof he had.

The one who suffered was really the kid, because the whole thing took 6 months and the school community gossiped. In the end both the student and the teacher faced appropriate discipline for their respective wrongs but the kid asked his parents if he could leave the school

Yes. Year 2 teacher who was probably in her late 50s. Shouted at the children constantly and taught nothing but what was needed to get level 2 in SAT'S. She was unreasonable and in the end we spoke to the headmaster who did nothing but praise her. This is the problem with teachers having such good pensions as it encourages them to stay in the job even though they have had enough. This was a lovely middle class area with very few social problems. Nothing happened either way. Waste of time and frankly she was so unpleasant it would have been hard to be much nastier. I wouldn't complain again as like most professional they stick together and just make excuses.

Thanks all for your input.

I left age 48 and I was always lovely to the children. It’s not just the pensions - we have bills to pay like everyone else.

“You are very naive” is something you’d only write from the safety of your keyboard! I have 21 years’ experience in the education sector, and whilst I agree that some schools are toxic, my comment was in reference to the comment that I quoted. I have no desire to repeat or clarify it - you can reread if you need to!