How bad before a teacher is removed/suspended?

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I would be extremely grateful to hear from any parents or teachers who have experience/knowledge of a teacher being removed or in some way disciplined.

I don't want to go into detail but I am dealing with a situation where it is becoming apparent that there is a big problem my dc's teacher - this is not just my personal view, but one shared by other parents. I don't know what the teacher's actual teaching is like, but there are concerns about language used towards children, bullying behaviour, unreasonable and constant punishments, etc.

Many thanks.

In my experience it was the level of teaching that was the problem ie teaching G&T kids (in maths) basic stuff that was yr1 (the kids were in yr4 at the time), lack of feedback to the kids on how they were getting on & homework never marked.

I think it was easier for my DC school as the teacher was still on probation but they were swiftly removed & replaced (& yes lots of parents had complained about the teacher).

You simply need to make sure that all the parents who feel it is unacceptable complain to the head with the concerns they have for their child - they cannot go and complain that little Johnny Smith was shouted at for x, y, z if he is not their child.

Follow the school complaints policy to the letter.

Honestly in my experience as a teacher, they don't get sacked. The odd one has jumped before being pushed but in general they don't go. I really don't know why.

I left one school because of one teacher that bullied staff as well as pupils. I complained, in tears because he was so horrid, nothing happened. Parents complained. He's still there now.

I would suggest making formal complaints and getting others to do so too. It's the only thing you can do.

Complain to ht, put it in writing, same to goveners, same to LA. Keep on, make it evidence based.

In just seven years of teaching I have encountered two awful teachers, in two different schools. One an outright bully to children, the other spectacularly incompetent.
When challenged, (the bully suspended, the incompetent given capability targets) they both went on long term sick. The bully was sacked after a VERY long time on full pay, threatened to take County to tribunal and was paid off to the tune of £10k. The incompetent was given a payoff of a similar amount and a glowing, and I mean glowing, reference.

I think it depends on the language the teacher is using, one person's unreasonable behaviour isn't another persons.
make sure you catalogue every incident involving your child, when you have enough evidence go to see the HT, and write to the governors.

Thank you for all the tips.

I think this is going to be tricky, because some parents have already spoken to the HA, and the HA has already spoken to the teacher in question about some issues, but I don't think it's really going to make much difference...

Put it all in writing to the head and the chair of Governors too!

Definitely in writing.
Get other people to complain too.
When I finally cracked about my son's spectacularly cr*p teacher, the head asked me why I hadn't said anything before (I was giving him a chance).
Just keep documenting it and following up.
In our case, I think the teacher jumped before being pushed, but was about to be pushed because some of his errors had to do with violation of student privacy, not just the fact that he was an abysmal, miserable teacher.

Please speak up and ask other parents to do the same. I wish I had done this last year when DD had a really bad NQT who just wasn't up to the job. I think we were trying to be kind to the teacher by giving the benefit of the doubt but in the end it is the childrens education that suffers and you can never get that time back. Head teachers will do anything to avoid controversy but the more noise you make they will just have to listen.

Everything in writing to HT and to Governors.
Follow complaints or grievance policy step by step.

There were new measures put in to make the dismissal of teachers a shorter process not long ago iirr.

However, it can not happen overnight nor without all the correct procedures having been gone through meticulously.

Just speaking to a HT will have no effect whatsoever.

Agree with putting everything in writing and refer back to previous letters, emails and conversations if need be. This will help to create the paper trail.

I knew a teacher who was woefully inadequate in all areas of the job. But she had the sympathy vote amongst some staff and a group of parents. She did eventually leave with a big payoff. I also know of a couple who have jumped just before a competency investigation starts.

Do not underestimate how hard it is to sack a teacher on a permanent contract who has been in service for a long time.

catkisser! I heard a similar story about an incompetent teacher (who had also presumably not been given adequate leadership) and his class had failed spectacularly in some end of year assessments. But nothing was done that anyone knew about. He was off sick for a year; It does sound like an excessive period. But of course I don't know, maybe he'd had some sort of breakdown and needed time, maybe the class disaster was connected. Who knows but these long periods of sick leave are unfortunate for the profession in terms of PR aren't they?

Instant dismissal for hitting a child.

Besides that - very hard to get rid of a teacher for not being an adequate teacher.

It can be done. But if the HT wanted to do it they wouldn't need your complaints in order to act. They'd already be doing something.

We're at the beginning of the year. Quite seriously it'll be far easier to move your DC to a different school then to wait for the teacher to be sacked.

The only one I know of was a year 2 teacher who falsified the children's work

Ive never come across a teacher being instantly dismissed even for hitting a child. There have been instant suspensions while an investigation was held with differing outcomes but not instant dismissal.

I know of one teacher who was caught literally red handed in a police trap for stealing from the school and colleagues. She was dismissed but was given such a good reference she ended up as a head teacher in the next town.

When I was at secondary school we had a teacher who was absolutely incompetent. The final straw for my Mum was going through some hand outs he had given us and finding facts that were wrong (his subject was the same as the one her degree was in). She reported it to his head of department and took it to the head too. Luckily he was a probationer and therefore when he failed his probation year (I think this was his second attempt at it) he left teaching. However, he taught me in the fourth year and the lowest GCSE grade I have, by far, is in the subject he taught.

Instant dismissal for hitting a child.
NOPE
And rightly not.

When the child in question was threatening another child with a lit bunsen burner the teacher was quite correct to take the steps necessary to bring order back to the class

and they are a great teacher

I tell a lie there are 2 other (head)teachers I know who were sacked.One for embezzlement and the other for posession of child porn.

What kind of behaviour is being reported? What kind of language? What kind of punishments? What evidence do you have of bullying behaviour?

"The final straw for my Mum was going through some hand outs he had given us and finding facts that were wrong (his subject was the same as the one her degree was in)."

When I was a child, my dad accidentally identified that my DB's teacher had been teaching TOTALLY the wrong syllabus for years (it was in the days of CSE / O-level - he taught the CSE syllabus to the O-level pupils too).

It proved impossible to get rid of the teacher (union shop steward, amongst other things). DB dropped subject and did addtional O-level outside school (tiny rural secondary, 1 teacher per class with none left over, so no chance to swap subjects)

I have known teachers dismissed on grounds of capability, and the process is now very short and brutal. Usually teachers will hand in their notice during the support period before the formal process starts, but not all. Some schools and head teachers have more stomach for the process than others, but it certainly isn't difficult to dismiss a truly incapable teacher.

teacherwith2kids - that happened to my uncle and he failed the A level. The teacher was teaching the syllabus from the wrong exam board (I think it was geography). Don't know what happened to the teacher though.

In my case though it wasn't that the syllabus was wrong. He had things like the wrong dates for laws being passed and the wrong names for the ministers responsible for them! Simple things that he should have been able to just copy out of a book.

It is perfectly possible to dismiss a teacher pretty swiftly through capability. Just see what a failing school can do to weed out incompetent teachers after an Ofsted inspection!!!. They know that a raft of poor teaching will lead to yet more failure. I know of schools where they have got rid of 10 teachers in under 6 months. Continually poor lessons, failure to plan lessons taking into account prior learning, boring, poorly paced lessons, children not learning, work not marked, poor class control, children not knowing how to improve are definite issues which can lead to dismissal. Try and find out if the teacher is managing to teach well by considering if this list is well executed.

Poor language in the lesson, excessive punishment and bullying children are all signs of a failing teacher and may link in with the above list. The Head will know if this teacher manages to get the children to hit their progress targets or not, but how this is done within the classroom should be of considerable importance to the Head. For example a poorly paced, boring lesson with too much time spent explaining a task could lead to poor class behaviour and then punishment of the children.

I would ask to see the Head, take examples and a record of the issues and ask what the Head intends to do about it. If there is no improvement, or the Head is in denial, ask to see a Parent Governor but with a group of similarly unhappy parents. You must have clear examples of what you are complaining about. You can also ask how often this teacher's lessons are monitored by senior staff and what their views are of his/her classroom methods. If you have concerns that the children are unable to make satisfactory progress due to the atmosphere in the classroom you should bring this up to. The teacher may well be offered mentoring in order to improve but a good Head will have realised there is a problem and be doing something about it already.