Anyone else have experience of a rubbish teacher?

[newbluedress]

I am feeling hugely let down and spending too much time worrying about the standard of teaching my ds is getting this year (year 2). The children are split into tables for ability and basically left to get on with whatever they are supposed to be doing. They are not told to stop talking to each other, or stop messing about, if they put their hands up the teacher doesn't notice. They are doing hardly anything. What takes 1 hour in class should take 10 minutes maximum. I feel like crying, but am at a loss as to what to do. The teacher has been approached by another mum about these issues (said in a less harsh way), but nothing has changed. It is like she can't be bothered.

When I was teaching I didn't mind being judged as long as it wasn't based on hearsay. Op, what you are saying is that you've heard on the grapevine that things aren't good in class and now you are basically letting your worried imagination run away with itself. If, she is being monitored there could be all sorts of reasons. I have to ask again, How do you know the kids are running riot and never being told to get back on task? How do you know they aren't being taught well? Or is this just what you have heard from someone's neighbour's sister?

I gave you some ideas of stuff to do at home after assuming you really did know this was actually all taking place. However, it now sounds as though it's just village gossip.

yy how on earth do you know all this?

I know she is being monitered by the HT by village gossip.

But where did all that detail come from?

All teachers are "monitored" to some extent, as part of their (and the people observing's) professional development.

She could be being monitored for all sorts of reasons though! Perhaps she is looking to go through threshold or wants to go for promotion? Perhaps she sees her maths/literacy/discipline as a weak link in her otherwise great chain and has asked for support in that area.

So from village gossip you have gleamed that,

The children are split into tables for ability and basically left to get on with whatever they are supposed to be doing. They are not told to stop talking to each other, or stop messing about, if they put their hands up the teacher doesn't notice. They are doing hardly anything. What takes 1 hour in class should take 10 minutes maximum.

Sounds more like she is being monitored by the village, tbh.

Village Gossip

So everything you know about how this teacher teaches is based on rumour?

Doesn't necessarily mean it's not true, but it does mean you need to deal with this through the appropriate channels.

But why won't you say how you know what is going on?? Everyone is asking that! Is your post a wind-up?

I can understand that teachers don't like being judged by people who aren't teachers, but your role is a public one. You are seen by support staff, volunteers, parents during one to ones and the children themselves. You are, like any industry, staffed with people who are incredibly professional, skilled and perfect for teaching. You also have people who do it for a living and do the bare minimum and you have the folks who've done it for years and lost the enthusiasm for the job. Not all long serving teachers are like that, but some definitely are.

My daughter, last year, had the worst year ever. Her teacher was a long serving member of staff and she was crap. That's not just my opinion as a parent...I worked in the school and knew her reputation before my daughter joined that class from TAs who had worked in her class and struggled to make sense of her agenda, from my own time in her class and finally, this year, I've heard my dd's new teacher saying how wonderful her class is and how brilliant the kids are.

The teacher in question moaned and moaned about what a crap class they were in the staffroom and she said that she had 'retreated' from them, as they weren't bothered. The whole class. Not just the kids who were behaviourally challenging, but the whole bloody class. Including my motivated, committed, focussed little girl. As you can tell, the woman is completely off my Xmas card list!

Complain about this member of staff if it's affecting your child. Even if it's based on hearsay and what your daughter is saying to you, you can't risk that the whole year will go by without anything being said, hoping it'll sort itself out. We did that last year and our girl is now behind her colleagues in the other class and is having to do extra homework and extra classes to catch up.

If enough people complain the head will do something about it, even if it's just to retrain this person and help them through any difficulties they might have. It might even make this person realise that they are no longer right for the job. Unfortunately, playground gossip isn't always wrong...and if it's backed up by your own childs unhappiness, or discomfort, you should act. As someone said, teachers can't be dismissed for being rubbish (which is appalling in my opinion) so the worst that will happen is that the situation will be investigated properly.