Can I check the credentials of a teacher ?

[PLux]

My ds's teacher has just changed and I have some concerns with the replacement (very shouty without actual control of the classroom, swigging pepsi in front of the kids all day long, sweating profusely, irritable etc etc). I am due for a meeting with the head teacher, but I was wondering if it is possible for me as a parent to check a teachers' credentials (qualifications, track record etc) ? Thanks in advance

I'd never dream of checking up on one of DD's teachers on FB or LinkedIn, if I think they are good then that's fine, if not then I discuss it with the head teacher or make up the shortfall at home. It's not right to go snooping into their personal life.

passivesonata - if a teacher has chosen to put their CV on LinkedIn, looking at the profile hardly constitutes snooping or investigating their private life.

Why should teachers be immune from the norms of other industries?

You and the other parents could perhaps tell your kids to behave, then he wouldn't perhaps need to shout quite so much.

Please don't mention the sweating. You'll have your name on the staffroom walls and be the source of hilarity for decades.

I agree with later.

If he's having to tell them 9 times to be quiet, then that is downright naughty behaviour. You are minimising your DCs behaviour, and need to help the teacher by reinforcing the need to sit quietly etc when in school at home.

If you mention his sweating, you will come across as someone really quite horrible, so I really wouldn't do that unless you want the headteacher to think very badly of you.

Just out of interest, why the check on credentials? Even very well qualified people can resort to shouting when exasperated and needing to be heard over 20+ chatting kids!

I have been duly chastised ! And rightly so ! I hang my head in shame . In my defense, it had not occurred to me that the pepsi thing may be due to an underlying health issue. If that is possible, then I absolutely agree - it's none of my damn business - and I will not mention it again. FWIW I have no interest in digging into this man's private life. None at all. I was just curious to know about his previous professional experience to see if there was any explanation for the lack of classroom management. But I was going about it the wrong way.

I will speak to the head as I believe that it is sometimes a team effort between teachers and parents, so probably worthwhile to have a chat. I know teachers have a very hard job (I know I couldn't do it) and I have no issue with a teacher occasionally resorting to raising their voice. But from what I have been told, it is beyond what would be deemed reasonable.

I'd like to thank-you all for the advice. I have taken on board your comments, and I do appreciate them. I think perhaps my moral guidance was off-kilter and you have set me straight .

OP . MN can feel like it's entirely populated by teacher bashers sometimes. We are a bit sensitive to unjustified criticism (mostly because we get too much of it at work).

Very much fair play to you OP .

I'm a parent & a teacher & I think you concerns might well be perfectly valid, for what it's worth. My eldest is taught by my colleagues & it's not always the experience I'd want him to have, to be honest.

Sadly, there are some hoofing great gaps in UK classrooms & elsewhere being filled by people who aren't ideal, because no other bugger wants the job.

Hence the reaction from teachers to you 'checking the credentials' of sweaty shouty bloke. I don't think it's that we're unsympathetic, more that we get a lot of this sort of thing in the current climate - AND we not only have to support & cover for the poor hapless blighter, but we also have to deal with public assumptions that he's representative of our profession.

Equally - he might actually be fine once he's settled in!

Nothing to add to the OP but am a bit shocked that teachers aren't on a central register and accountable to a professional body. I always assumed it was like us nurses and you paid to be on a register.

Teachers are on a central register just not accessible by the General public

www.gov.uk/guidance/individual-teacher-records-information-for-teachers

Nothing to add to the OP but am a bit shocked that teachers aren't on a central register and accountable to a professional body

They are.

Teachers, generally speaking, are quite up for the idea of all of us being qualified, & accountable.

The current government thinks this is rather unduly restrictive & it would all work much better if schools just hired whoever they liked, on whatever terms they like.

It appears that a surprising number of parents/the general public didn't notice this happening

I stand corrected. I wonder why it isn't accessible by the public?

Well, possibly because it's hard to see how such information would be useful to them.

Let's say I & 5 colleagues all teach year whatever at your child's school. You check the records & are dismayed to discover that Mr Smith does not have a teaching qualification, which is a worry for you as he is listed to teach your child & you quite reasonably would prefer a qualified teacher.

So, you go & complain to the school, & it is quite possible that your kid gets transferred to my class, swapped with someone else who gets Mr Smith.

Mr Smith might very well be bloody awesome & I might be crap.

The point is, if you wanted qualified teachers: well, we did try to warn you this was happening & much good it did, frankly.

I feel like just posting "I told you what would happen if you voted Tory"
on practically every thread on mumsnet at the moment........

Failing that, Facebook.

Since I keep my private life private, you won't find anything on my facebook profile that indicates my teaching credentials. The only indication of being a teacher is the various facebook groups I am on which share resources. That's if you could even find my profile in the first place as I use a fake name.

I personally don't like seeing teachers drinking Coke or Pepsi in front of the students, at least no openly. At our school, if you want to drink something other than water in the classroom, you pour it in to a drink bottle that is non see through so the kids don't know any better. I don't like water, but will drink fizzy soda water, so I make mine up in my normal drink bottle and suck on that all day.

I would imagine that it's not shared with the general public for the same reason I can't access every piece of information about you held on various registers ...

My name, the region I pracfice in, the date I registered and when I'm due to re-register is all available for the geneal public to access via the nmc website. All they need is my first and second name. It would also show if I had any restrictions on my practice.

Labour rebuilt a lot of schools at vast expense but Lord Adonis went down the academy route . Good old Labour did not build new schools where they were needed . They did not look at population growth and build new schools in a timely manner where they were needed. If they had been built in the right places 10 years ago there would not be a problem now.

Just checked my mid wife only name and when needs to re register not very informative (luckily I've known her since we were 11)