Son bullied by teacher

[Char88ie]

My son’s been really struggling in school this past year (y2), so much more than the year before. We’ve just been told who his new teacher is and first thing he said was “that’s good, as Mrs X (y2 teacher) doesn’t like me”. It was the first we heard of this. We asked him what’s been happening and he said Mrs X often points out how bad he is at the work in front of the whole class. For example, she’d take his work and show it to everyone and say “this is how we’re not meant to do it”.

im starting to think this is why he’s been struggling in school this year. I’m also thinking this behaviour from the teacher is a form of bullying.

what can I do? Do I complain, and if so who do I address this with, does anyone know?

That’s awful.
My son was struggling at school. Where we live it is normal to redo years of they haven’t gone well so we moved school and he retook his year and did well. It was only after he left he opened up about things which were clearly bullying. The teacher would also hold his work up and say things like, ‚guess who got everything wrong‘!
These statements were backed up by others once we found out about them.
Terrible.

First port of call is speak to the teacher about it. Then you would go to the head if not satisfactorily resolved. After that it's the governing body.

It is very late in the year now, only a few days left. You only have your son's word for it (not saying lying, just one side from a 6/7 yo that may have been misconstrued by him) so even if you speak to the teacher and it was true, they would deny it. Hard to know where to go from there.

What outcome from a complaint would you like?

@MaggieBsBoat so sorry to hear your son experienced the same. It’s awful, isn’t it. So glad he seems to be doing better in his new school.

@SallyLovesCheese thanks for your reply, that’s very helpful. Not sure what I want to gain other than her behaviour being highlighted and hopefully addressed so that it may not happen again to other children.

I know I only have my son’s word for it. But I really don’t see what motive he’d have to make it up. Especially as he was excited about his new teacher. Why would a 7-year old hold a grudge against an 50-year old woman and lie? Also it’s his experience, which can’t be denied really. I feel I owe it to him to address it. I will speak to the teacher first and see where I go from there.

I am so sorry to hear that. I think you should talk to the school about it. Keep the record of the incidents. I addressed similar problem effectively to the extent that the teacher looked always at me with fear lol and it never happened again.

What has been your impression of the teacher over the past year? How have they seemed at parents' evenings etc? What has he said over the year?

You have taken a one off comment from a young child and turned it into bullying. You don't know when what she exactly said and did. You don't know when it was said or in what context. Good luck with the complaint.

Definitely report it to the school.

I would not report it to the school. You need to go in with your partner or a friend and ask for a meeting to hear what the teacher has to say. I would also ask a trusted non gossipy parent to gently ask their child if this is true. Then I would be speaking directly to the teacher as my first port of call. If this turns out to be true I would be explaining that I support them correcting my child with their work and education but I draw the line at shaming them and firstly say this is to stop, because teaching them to find and correct mistakes IS part of learning, having their work held up for the whole class is not teaching it’s shaming and there is no place for that approach in education.

tough one OP hope you and DS are ok

The school should have a complaints policy/procedure on the website.

Find it and follow it to help you through the steps.