DH facing capability measures - your advice and support needed please.

[Crimebusterofthesea]

So, DH has come home and has said that following an inadequate lesson observation, he is being placed on formal capability measures. He feels like this is a bolt from the blue as his last lesson observation was rated 'Good'. The school is renowned in the area for being an impossible place to work and since DH has been there, so many teachers have left because the pressure is beyond ridiculous and expectations are just beyond what seem fair, reasonable and achievable (I'm aware that this is the case across most schools, but his school has a reputation IYSWIM).

I am so scared for him, for us, for our family. He is broken. They have beaten him down to a point where he feels worthless and truly inadequate in every way. I need help to understand the process and whether the reasons behind doing this are fair and reasonable. His last scrutiny of work was 'Good', his last observation before this one was 'Good'. I know that they have told him that he isn't meeting the targets with regards to pupil progress, but they just get more and more impossible and harder to achieve.

He is far from being a lazy, coasting teacher (70 hours a week normal) and he takes such pride and care in his work. Last week he was up until 11 every night doing his topic books. He just feels that the strive for outstanding means that the school don't want him there as ATM he isn't an outstanding teacher and he is the first to admit that he probably never will be.

He was off sick a couple of weeks ago and I keep looking at the card his class made for him upon his return - 'Hooray!! So glad you are back!' it says. I'm being overly sentimental I know, but my goodness, this is hard.

So, if you have read this far, thankyou. What will happen next? He has a meeting planned for the last day of term which will either result in a formal notice to improve, or things can apparently return to normal. I may have got this wrong though. What are the chances of him finding another teaching job? Are unions any good when it comes to this sort of thing?

I'm just rambling now but any words of support and encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

Crimebusterofthesea, can I also second manyhands' advice of checking out Workplace Dilemmas on the TES forum? There are many experienced people on that forum, who will give you practical step by step advice to give to your husband. Virtual hugs coming my way to both of you, as this is so very very wrong and yet prevalent in teaching these days.
Workplace Dilemmas

stgeorgia

Why unhelpful? What on earth made you think that I was suggesting it be his fault if he was being bullied? If that is what I've implied then it's not what I meant. I have seen some exceptional and inspiring teachers being driven to resignation and/or off work long term with stress due to the machinations of a bullying SLT. In no way would I assume this to be the recipient's fault.

Maybe not eloquently put, but I'm suggesting that there are a number of different possible causes for this and it would help the OP's dh work out his next steps if he can identify the causes. e.g. If this is the result of a period of extreme stress then he needs to take different action from this being the result of a conniving HT.

Fellow teacher here also feeling the pressure.
Find out if other staff who got a three in their obs are facing the same measures.

Reluctant:

1. - he got a 4, not a 3.
2. - if they aren't, so what? Schools don't have to treat everybody exactly the same. Besides, capability is confidential. Saying "well it's not fair because HE got a 3 and isn't on capability so ..." will get you precisely nowhere.

Betty - thank you for the clarification. It did sound a little as if you were sceptical of the OP's claims it had come out of the blue, and I can support her on this - I've seen this happen as if from nowhere.

I'm not convinced identifying the causes will be hugely helpful to be honest. If capability was a possibility, then you (general you) have the luxury of time to weigh up your options, but the OP's DH does not have this luxury - capability will start in 3 weeks, which means in practice he has five days to halt things in their tracks. Not good.

I do think that stating that someone "must have pissed someone off" is an awful thing to say; I appreciate that wasn't the intention but it is possible to be a target just because, without annoying anybody. I realise it was probably meant flippantly, but bullying isn't a subject we should ever be flippant about.

Gosh, stgeorgia, you are a snappy person, aren't you?

The last school I worked at have done this with a lot of staff the head teacher wanted to get rid of and it has made it a horrible, toxic place to work.

My advice would be to resign before capability goes on his record and to apply for absolutely any jobs going in his subject area and location. Getting union advice and support is also a very good idea.

Fingers crossed something nice come up.

No, not at all - you've "read" me all wrong! There was no snappishness in my post above, none at all.

I think you have read snappishness where what was conveyed was a sense of urgency. This is not the time to lengthily consider your own behaviour, or wander around the school quizzing colleagues - the OP's DH has got to act and act very, very quickly to stop capability becoming an established fact.

I really am trying to help as I really feel for the OP and her husband. The problem is, I don't think everybody who has replied properly understands the procedure or its implications. You cannot (again, general 'you') go on formal capability then say "hang on, that's unfair, he wasn't!" or "well, OK, I have thought about it and ..." Because once that procedure starts, it will have serious repercussions.

If the OP had posted to say DH was on a support plan and if improvements weren't made, he would go on capability in 6 weeks, then that would be good advice, but this is not what has happened here.

I am aware that the op suggested her partner got a four. I did not say he got a three.
I did not say anything about fairness. I was wondering about the support offered to staff who got a three. If they have been offered decent support, then the op's Dh be able to ask for the same/similar support and a second obs.

Yes, but they don't have to grant it - and if they had been inclined to do so, they would surely have done so in the first instance rather than leaping straight to formal capability.

It won't actually make any difference, is what I am saying.

Well it worked for a colleague of mine and he has now stopped job hunting and is feling a sense of self-worth again.

Do you mean that had been told that after one inadequate lesson he would be put straight onto formal capability and then that was stopped after he asked for more support?

And, was it prior to January 2012, because it is far easier to put teachers onto capability now and is a much faster process.

I'm not trying to be difficult here :) but I don't think some people fully understand what the OP's DH is potentially facing.

I do think there are lots of teachers being put on capability measures because they are being encouraged out. You can't really fight that. If they want rid they can do it. Observations are so subjective that no one can dispute it if they say the lesson wasn't good. I bet the OPs husband is a good teacher but his face no longer fits and he may be more expensive than a replacement NQT. I'd start looking elsewhere for jobs and try not to take this personally and think it reflects his teaching ability. It probably doesn't.

It is often good teachers who get bullied by insecure and incompetent managers. Unless you have been there or know someone who has it can be difficult to comprehend that this kind if thing goes on.

OP - a book I found invaluable is Bully Insight by Tim Field.

If I were him I'd get a copy of the school's competency policy and find out where a 'formal notice to improve' sits. Even a compromise agreement with two months money (he may well get more if he can prove that his pupils make good progress, therefore opening up the possibility of your DH taking the school to tribunal) will be better although very financially challenging than having competency mentioned in his reference. Try to have a normal leaving date and a good refererence. You can get work both supply and permanent after a CA especially if you have a rock solid personal reason for leaving your job. I was only asked once and that school offered me a job. He will survive but probably not in that school. Try to set aside one morning at the weekend when neither of you mention it and he relaxes. I felt a terrible sense of shame, loss and a complete lack of confidence. Good luck you will survive this and it is not the end of his career.

He needs to contact his union asap. I have just been through the capability procedure from the 'other side' and it really is a lengthy process which should at all times be supportive - it doesn't sound as if this is the case in this instance. Capability proceedings should not be invoked on a one off lesson observation. My understanding of the process is that it shouldn't be a lesson observation alone that triggers this process and there should be a triangulation of evidence - pupil progress, work and planning scrutinies and lesson observations - if there are still concerns then an informal package of support (known as informal capability proceedings) need to be in place. Should performance not be improved as a result of this supportive package then the formal capability procedure should be invoked. I hope that is helpful and good luck.

Have no experience of this but I feel so sorry for him and for you.

Is it really true you will lose everything if he resigns?

For a start he will likely save himself a lot of workplace stress as the SMT sound pretty awful.

Mortgage - can you use savings/ get a mortgage holiday/ borrow from family?

To pay the bills he can always get a low-paid job if you're in a populous area. Then, dependent on your income there might be other help available .

Can he do some supply work?

I'm so sorry this is happening.

I am sorry for OP and her DH, and this is no reflection on their personal predicament. However if a teacher is crap, the sooner they are removed the better. Why should anyone be entitled to ruin students' future? Would any of us be happy if our own children were affected by incompetence?

winklewoman who said the OP's Dh is a crap teacher??? As a general point I don't think anyone would argue that really rubbish teachers should be kept on but there is no evidence this is the case here.

Oh and please, enough with the 'ruining futures' drama. Teaching is really important but getting an ofsted-deemed 'outstanding' education these days is made out as the holy fecking grail. It's not.

Onceslice, I am really sorry but the information you have is not correct.

Your own school will have its own policy which presumably it followed with you but this is not a national policy and schools can indeed start formal capability on the basis of one lesson - although it is unusual and would probably be frowned upon, it does not change the fact that they can do it.

The system you mention was the case pre-January 2012, and many schools still use it to try to be fair but they do not have to and as such, the OP's DH is in great danger of his career being gravely compromised.

Ragusa - again, being signed off with stress isn't "unacceptable" but it won't stop proceedings.

Winkle, I do agree with you - the new process brought in in January 2012 was designed to 'speed up' the process and stop teachers going on long term sick. Unfortunately it's a bit like a blind man playing a game of darts and it is rarely hitting the people who actually need to be removed.

In general, I think everybody on this thread who is a teacher needs to familiarise themselves with the new rules surrounding capability as so many seem to be unaware of it, and knowledge is power.

I think the point is that many hard-working and perfectly effective professionals can be removed not because they are not doing their job competently - they are - but purely because management want them out as a result of some agenda of their own.

In one of my previous workplaces the boss was trying to get people to leave because the business was going to have to scale itself down and she wanted to avoid paying redundancy. During this time I asked my boss, 'Oh the guidelines don't seem to be clear is Procedure A - which I did - or Procedure B - the right thing to do?' Next thing I knew I was being subjected to formal disciplinary procedures for having done Procedure - this after years of working very hard and ultra-positive appraisals - because they wanted to get me to resign, and then to abolish my post.

Stgeorgia I didn't say anything about being signed off with stress being unacceptable. Loads of my teacher friends have been signed off in this way because teaching nearly broke them. Think you getting me muddled with another poster

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. The same thing happened to a friend who had been my DC's teacher a few years previously at a different school. She moved schools, they got a new Head and a rewarding and successful career turned into a nightmare and threats of capability procedures overnight. I suppose the new Head was threatened by her ability and her questioning of his motives. She is now Head at another school, so it clearly had nothing to do with her ability.

My point is that these things are often about the SMT and not the teacher. He should take union advice, do his best in the meantime, and do your very best to keep him calm and with his head above water. Not easy, I know, but essential.

My thoughts are with you, I know how stressful this can be. Please feel free to PM me for moral support.

Ragusa - so sorry! I meant Indiants

I don't know anything about teaching, etc but if I was the OP or the OPs dh I'd be wanting to know if he leaves with a good reference will it reflect badly on him in future interviews? Won't other schools question him why he's left a job with no job to go to?