PGCE placement- struggling with teacher who clearly disapproves of working parents!

[Cupofteaplease]

Sorry for long title, and thread.

I'm doing a PGCE so full time either in uni or school placement. I have two children aged 3 nd 19 months. Today my childminder was off with sickness and runs, and will be off again tomorrow.

I've covered childcare, but as it's being done as a favour, I'm not doing any more hours at school than I have to. So I told my mentor/class teacher when I arrived at 8am that I would need to leave at 3.30pm, and she has been funny with me all day since.

She left me with the class all day, popping in and out, which is more than I am meant to be doing at this stage, and more than I had lesson plans for, as I am entitled to PPA time (acording to the uni, so the school agreed to this when they accepted a student). Then at the end of the day, she made a snidey comment in front of a group of children about unreliable childcare.

It doesn't sound that bad, but this is coming on the back of a series of her comments/actions. For example: she has told me that her husband wants to start a family but she has said no, as you cannot be a good teacher and a good parent.

She makes me stay until 6pm most nights, as she refuses to give me my week's planning schedule in advance, so I have to wait and find out day to day what I need to plan that night for the following day. She then makes herself 'unavailable'(ie. chatting with a fellow teacher, literally, not even about school- I've witnessed it) until 5pm, so I'm stuck waiting for her, when I could be at home with my children, and doing my planning when they are asleep. As it is, I have to waste 2 hours in school before talking to her, then I get home to only have time to put the girls to bed, then have to spend all evening planning anyway. I feel she is being deliberately obstructive, as all of my colleagues on the PGCE are having a weekly mentor meeting where they agree the following week's teaching schedule, then they are free to leave by 3.45pm.

One week, I actually left at 4pm because I DID know what I was doing the following day, and she shouted after me, very sarcastically 'go and enjoy your CHILDREN', and the next morning, I was called into the deputy head's room to discuss how I was coping with the workload, what with having young children. I stood my ground and explained myself, and she was very supportive. After all, in my observations I have been getting Good/ Very Good, so none of them can argue that my teaching is bad, or I am not coping.

She has made rude comments about mothers of children in the class who work, which obviously makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel that I cannot complain though as she is the one who passes or fails my placement.

I'm dreading tomorrow as I will have to leave early again (although, as I've explained, early to her is not early to my friends' mentors), so I'm sure she will treat me like dirt all day. Feel really stressed by her, wish my mentor was a mother What can I do?

She sounds like a mare.

Can you talk to your uni tutor?

I am shocked at this -my mother is a teacher and most of her colleagues have/had kids so her attitude sounds completely unreasonable. I would agree -talk to uni tutor ASAP

I think you definately need to pass this back to your uni. She is being very unhelpful and they should be told. Are you the first student she's had?

she is being very unprofessional in her behaviour towards you AND to the children (criticising 'working mothers') Honestly, I don't know where to begin with that one.
I should talk to your tutor, should be possible to get moved.
Tis completely unreasonable to not give you planning schedule in advance, makes me suspect that she doesn't know herself what is coming up.
I did PGCE centuries ago, and got moved as the class I had was impossible, has a very authoritarian male teacher, we were just incompatible, no way we could share the class really.

I would guess she has some unresolved personal issues here which are intruding on her professional life.

You poor thing, how long is this placement?

She sounds very unprofessional especially making comments in front of children. I would keep a log of incidents, not to use as such but in case anything should come back on you at a later date. This is good practice to get into especially if you have difficult parents who like to complain about an incident that happened 2 weeks previously...Post it notes are fine, you don;t have to write pages and pages.

Re the planning surley she has a weeks planning in a folder that is accessible to all? Does the HT not see it -what about TA's?

The one thing I would say about the situation is that staying to 5-6pm is completely normal especially during a teaching practice so maybe she thinks that by leaving by 4 you aren't putting in enough hours?

I would talk to your tutor as soon as possible and see what their advice is. I hope this situation gets better for you.

Thanks for the support- I'm beginning to feel quite isolated over this.

I broached the subject tentatively with my uni 2 weeks ago and they said they would step in if I wanted them to, but to be honest, I really want to stick it out- just don't know how to...

The school is lovely, the children are great and the support staff and other teachers are very welcoming and supportive- I wouldn't want to move school now. I'm in this school until Feb, and will be full time after Christmas.

She doesn't make lesson plns, and only has a sketchy weekly plan, which she keeps close to her chest, but she is a very good teacher and clearly SHE knows what she's teaching, she just doesn't want to share it with me! Of course I've seen the medium term plans, but these are liable to change, so I cannot rely on them with any certainty- I couldn't use them for my planning without consulting mentor first.

When I spoke to my tutor at uni, she suggested I ask her for a weekly meeting, and that I shouldn't be staying until 6pm every night. Unfortunately, my mentor makes me feel like such a burden that I haven't found the opportune moment to bring it up. I have been informed by the TA that she had a student last year, and she 'bullied' her to an extent that the head had to get involved. She didn't like having another person in her classroom, apparently. She wasn't meant to have me as a student this year, but the original teacher got last minute nerves about being a mentor, so I got put with her anyway. I think it doesn't help that she is my age, but with no children, my life probably seems very different to hers, and this is causing problems.

She may think that I'm not putting in enough hours, but isn't it up to me to decide WHEN I do these hours (ie in my case, after 7pm when my children are asleep)? Apart from getting my planning from her, there is often nothing to be done at school that I couldn't do at home. I'm not suggesting I should never stay late, obviously!

I don't see how she can mentor you effectively really, if she keeps her planning secret. You could be moved WITHIN the school, unless it's tiny.

I think that if the head was involved last time the uni has really let you down placing another student with her, and the head knowing this should be keeping an eye too. I would ideally suggest saying something to the Head, but that might be difficult perhaps. Is there another teacher you could talk to within the school perhaps? It might be that she just needs a reminder that what she is doing isn't on. Otherwise you must take this further with your tutor, because this isn't fair to you, or to any prospective students who might be placed with her in future.

i think this sounds unreasonable, ask for a new placement. sound like she maybe can't have children or some other issues. this is not normal behaviour. also its not up to her whether people have children and teach.

I can't believe there are still teachers out there with 'sketchy' weekly plans. I have obviously worked for complete Hitlers. We had to hand our planning folders in on a Monday morning and she would give them back during the staff meeting later that day. She did look at them as she would make comments or ask you how a certain lesson you were teaching had gone, asked to see the work etc.

Every school I've worked at had at the very least a planning folder...

Teachers that fly by the seat of their pants can be amazaing and very talented but you are asked to produce paperwork as part of your course and need to be given much more than 1 night to plan lessons for the following day.

She has a history so you know that it's not you that she doesn't like as such as she's picked on people before. That's some consolation I supoose but very hard on a day to day basis!

Schools to get money for having a student so I can imagine that the Head was more thinking of this rather than the suitability of the mentor...

Thanks again, yes it is a small village school, both other classes now have students (including the teacher who had cold feet about being a mentor!!) My uni would probably be unaware of the past problems with this mentor, as the student came from a different uni. As far as I can gather, I am the first student from my uni to placed in this school- as it is local to my home.

To be fair, I have only heard about the previous problems from another member of staff, not officially.

On the bright side, when you take over the class completely, you won't need her plans

Could you ask your uni tutor to come in and tactfully go through their requirements of you and the teacher - like once a week meeting, PPA time, etc. Forcefully enough for it to look like it's not just you but the uni requiring it?

So sorry to hear this- I know how miserable it can be when you get a terrible placement (as well as how wonderful it is when you get a great one) in my own profession and I really sympathise. I think there's often not a lot you can do, sad to say, except carry on being professional within the confines of your family's needs and try and grin and bear her awful attitude. Often the college has no real control over mentors, i think, and can't afford to alienate even really bad ones because there aren't enough people willing to do it. Mind you, I am in social work rather than teaching and other friends who have had similar problems were in midwifery and nursing, so maybe teaching is different and a complaint to your uni tutor would help?

If it came from either the school secretary or the cleaner I'd take it as Gospel