New recruit teacher is inadequate

[BoboChic]

This, basically. DD in Y7 started secondary school 2 weeks ago. One - and only one - of her teachers is totally inadequate. He is a new recruit. Parents and pupils have noticed pretty quickly that he doesn't have the first inkling of the subject he is supposed to be teaching. One approach has already been made to the school to alert them. What are the best words to use to describe this situation? Inadequate? Lacking subject knowledge?

This doesn't sound like you bobo. Has your account been hacked?
You should know that you have to follow procedure - ask what the procedure is.

You have schemes of work? That is fairly rare, I'm surprised you don't decide to teach it yourself.

No she has last year's scheme of work, it should change each year.

It sounds like the old teacher was one who taught exactly the same thing in each and every lesson for a number of years, which is actually not a good teacher but is what these parents were expecting.

OP can you just give us an example of the work and why you think it is so wrong?

And is it actually wrong? I have been teaching physiology for a while and I used to teach that the appendix has no use and is a remnant from evolution. But then someone has come along and now I teach it does have a role in digestion.

I'm not teaching the wrong thing, I'm teaching science's most up to date knowledge.

Schemes of work?I'd be very suprsied if parents had the scheme of work which includes resources, learning aims, test points and what will be on the test. Depending on the school it is often a good overview of each lesson, objectives, activities, outcomes. I'm suprised if you have one of these.

You may have the time line of what you learn when, but not the SOW, as its a professionally produced document for teachers, usually for themselves and the school. I certainly do not give parents access to min

Parents are given the schemes of work? Really?

Are you actually in France -real- ?

I'd leave it until October half term

It's interesting that when the topic at hand is holidays in term-time, every week matters and children should focus on high attendance, but when the topic at hand is the competence of teachers, writing off half a term in a particular subject is fine.

Its interesting that, two weeks into term and no more than 6 lessons in an iu qualified parent can come on here lambasting a new member of staff calling them a moron, questioning their professional capability. Based, mostly, on the hearsay of a year 7 child.

Leaving it till half term gives you time to judge more accurately, if its way off the scale then the complaints can come.

Lets teacher bash some more, come on its fun.

It's interesting that when the topic at hand is holidays in term-time, every week matters and children should focus on high attendance, but when the topic at hand is the competence of teachers, writing off half a term in a particular subject is fine

Is it really teachers who say those things about holidays in term time?

Too true, it is usually the government that enforce these rules. Most teachers would say that as long as work is caught up on, and parents don't do daft things like take kids out with weeks to go before external exams it can be fine.

Most parents can be trusted, but there are also a fairly large minority that can't, I lost an AS student just after Easter for two weeks, he got a U, and his father wanted to know why.

Bolograph writing off half a term in a particular subject is fine.

No one has said it is fine. However, the OP has pointed out that their DC is currently covering work that they have done before and is already very competent in. I would imagine that much of the first term will be like this as the teacher will be trying to asses ability levels and areas of weakness that need to be addressed before moving on.

Reading between the lines, the OP has spoken to some very disgruntled parents at the teacher's previous school and is trying to use what they have been told as a basis for their complaint. They need to disregard what has happened at another school and demonstrate why the teacher is not doing what they have been recruited to do in the OPs school. Admittedly they can/should draw attention to past performance but without knowing the full facts it would not be the best approach to focus on this too much. I find it highly unlikely that after two weeks into the start of the year they will have anywhere near enough evidence to demonstrate incompetence in the new job.

I would also add that it is also possible that the school is aware of the incompetence but in this instance they are unlikely to announce it to the parents and in any event will still need time to carry out due diligence and followed standard protocols.

My guess is that this is "English" being taught in a French school. Therefore, the OP and other parents feel that they have better knowledge than the teacher because they are native English speakers.

The teachers who you and we all loved and supported for the past 8 years and got you to a very high standard were in fact wrong and this new person, whose ideas are completely different to any you have seen before, is right?

And there we have it. You liked the previous teacher and not this one, therefore you are trying to find stuff to pin on them.

Mumsnet is full of stroppy teachers who think they are God's gift and can do no wrong rather than low paid alsorans. Dare criticise a teacher and they jump out at you.

JanetBlyton Mumsnet is full of stroppy teachers who think they are God's gift and can do no wrong rather than low paid alsorans. Dare criticise a teacher and they jump out at you.

Thank you for you view on this. Perhaps you would also like to comment on whether you think the OP is doing the right thing in trying to have the teacher removed from their post two weeks into the new job?

To be clear, I'm not a teacher.

"Low paid also rans"

Mumsnet is full of people who have this opinion of teachers, which in the main is wrong.

Mumsnet is full of stroppy teachers who think they are God's gift and can do no wrong rather than low paid alsorans. Dare criticise a teacher and they jump out at yo

I am not a teacher either, but I think it is bit very harsh calling a teacher a 'moron' and trying to get them removed, after 2 weeks!

I'm with Shegot and suspect what you are dealing with is a recruitment problem. This teacher is most likely either the best of a bad lot or the only person that applied for the job. Still, you would expect any well educated adult to be at least one step ahead of a class of 11 year olds. I'd be seriously scrutinising other aspects of the school and asking yourself if you have made the right decision in sending your DD there. Good schools usually don't have vacancies for v. long and as the HOD post is also vacant, that would ring alarm bells for me.

As for the jargon, I agree with other posters who say don't use it. Just express your concerns and ask what steps will be put in place to improve matters.

I think the phase 'out of his depth' (and I imagine there is a super sounding and evocative French version of this phrase) may be a better one than 'he has inadequate subject knowledge'.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

I'd agree with the use of jargon too. Orwell's rules of writing every time:

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

I think if you go in using jargon you are more likely to look like you are trying to sound like you know what you are talking about, and make your argument seem less effective.

So, you're able to critique and correct this teacher's work but you don't have the intellect or nouse to come up with the appropriate wording for a complaint?

Are you sure the problem is with the teacher?

I think if you go in using jargon you are more likely to look like you are trying to sound like you know what you are talking about, and make your argument seem less effective.

I agree. You are in danger of looking rather hysterical.

What time today is your meeting with the school?

[Ok, setting aside the inevitable bunfight when you dare to question the competence of a teacher....]

If English is not your first language and you want to accurately and fairly raise your concerns I can totally understand why you are asking. I'd think about some of these phrases:

"I am concerned about the standard of teaching by Mr X"
"Is it correct that he has no previous experience of teaching subject Y? [If 'yes'] Why did you think it was appropriate to appoint him to the role of Z?"
"Some of the work that has been sent is below the level of difficulty we would be expecting fro year 7. Whilst this in itself would not cause undue concern at this stage of the year, we have experienced several incidences of inaccuracies in the work set and errors in the answers given. [SHOW EXAMPLES]"
"It is not acceptable for a teacher to be 'teaching' facts which are incorrect"
"It is not acceptable for a teacher to set work which is not able to be completed due to inaccuracies and errors within the exercise itself [give examples]"
"This has caused confusion on the part of [child] who had previously grasped and understood the concepts being taught"
"We are questioning the competence of Mr X to be able to teach X subject and we are concerned about the effect on our child's education"
"We would like to know what steps you/school will be putting in place to ensure:

1. Children being taught by X are correctly taught the full syllabus for that subject
2. Information/concepts/facts taught by Mr X are the correct ones
3. Mr X sets work which is factually correct and appropriate for the age group and subject he is teaching." "We are not willing to 'wait and see' based on the number of errors and examples of incompetence that we have already experienced."

It is for the school to justify the situation and carry out measures to adequately deal with it so don't feel you have to suggest the solutions, just empahsise you don't want your child's education in this subject to be adversely affected by Mr X.

herethereandeverywhere

Good post, fully agree.

However, I still think the OP should keep it within the context of the school their DC is at rather than what other parents/DCs have told them in other schools.

Ask for responses to be made in writing, if possible.

I also think that teachers on mumsnet are defensive because of the many teacher bashing threads.

There ARE incompetent teachers, but far fewer than you would think, most are weeded out by the rigour of the PGCE and NQT year. A huge number of teachers then leave before reaching 5 years in the profession, due to work load, stress and the difficulty of keeping up the standards.

Smug twerps who refer to the people who provide one of the most valuable services to the economy, who are graduates, and realtively well paid as "low paid alsorans" are always going to get a bad reaction.

If it is languages, i remember one teacher of german who was literally one step ahead of the students - learning german at evening class then teaching it the next week. I doubt that teacher enjoyed the experience, hardly ideal, but noone else available to teach it. It wasnt like they deliberately chose someone crap at the language.

I don't no the situation in France where the OP lives, but here in the UK the teacher shortage means there are increasingly posts left unfilled in schools, or positions filled by teachers teaching outside their subject specialism.