How to support my husband

[Frizzfrizz]

I posted this elsewhere but another poster recommended posting here...... My husband is a science teacher and has been for the past 5 years.
He has been unfortunate with his previous jobs and has only managed to secure temporary positions and has had some short periods out of work.
This has left him feeling insecure and low regarding his job and his life/ability to provide for the family.
I have always supported him and have tried to be positive for him so he doesn't feel any pressure from us.
Anyway after his last school making redundancies and him only being on a temp contract he went searching for a new role and he only went and got a job at a wonderful school and it was permanent. He was ecstatic.
Anyway he started last week and was brought into the office to be told that his references from his last job were not good. In fact they said that he had a poor relationship with his pupils.
Now he has said that is a lie and I think it is too. He has always been great with his pupils and at his last school he had great feedback from his lessons observations etc. To top it off the head of Science at his last school also left (and the headteacher was sacked - school was on special measures due to bad ofsted before he started) and the person who did the references didn't really work with my husband and possibly had no idea who he was.
So all this has meant that his new school have removed his permanent contract and he will have to reapply for his job at the end of the school year. He also has to prove his ability as a teacher by October half term or they will terminate his contract immediately.
I am furious at his last school and he is crushed. He had finally got somewhere positive in his career and got job security after trying so hard for 5 years and now it has been taken away on a bed of lies.
He is going to contact his union tomorrow but he can't find any of the records from his observations to prove that the references are inaccurate.
I am really worried about him. The last few years have been a real struggle on both him and us. I really don't want him to slip back to his low point and want to support him as best I can but I really can't see what we can do.
I feel confident that he will prove himself but its such a huge thing hanging over his head and that pressure could make him nervous and not be the awesome teacher I know he is.

Yes, you need to talk to his union.

Apart from anything else, if they have given him a permanent contract, they cannot just decide to take it away like that. They are responsible for checking refs etc before they give him the contract.

Hope you can get it all sorted out.

I've been a teacher for 30+ yrs and have never heard of a permanent contract being withdrawn in this way. It's disgraceful. However, I think these sorts of totally unacceptable management practices are increasingly common in schools. As noted above, union advice is needed asap and your husband should say or do nothing until then. You have my complete sympathy - I'm sorry not to be of more help

Thanks everyone. I am hoping that he has managed to speak to someone today and it can get sorted.
His previous school has been a disaster and went down hill significantly once they had a bad ofsted report.
There was an executive head appointed, redundancies, a large percentage of staff left for new jobs, parents wanted to remove their children mid term and I believe that this year they have reduced the amount of hours that students will be in science lessons (it equates to a few weeks worth of lessons across the whole year) but his friend who still works there has been told they are expected to make sure they fit everything into the new reduced time table.
I'm glad he got out but I thought this was going to be the start of a new chapter.

His treatment has been appalling.

I really hope his Union can clarify and rectify.

As a pp stated, his old school sounds incompetent.

That's terrible. Is it an academy?

Both his last school and this one are church schools. Thankfully his current head of Science has told him that his references don't align with what she has heard about him so he feels he has support from them but I guess they can only go by what they have.
He is contacting his union for more help, but it's such a kick in the teeth.
I believe his last school was threatened to be changed to an academy due to the awful ofsted but the church said they'd just refuse to allow their buildings to be used unless it stayed as it was.
And yes we both feel his last school was incompetent too. He only started Oct last year there as his school before that restructured to gain a new head of department and that meant they lost a regular teacher (dh was on temp contract)
The last year with him there was awful as he was worked beyond hard with numerous tests and all books fully marked on a weekly/fortnightly basis as well as peer reviewing each other.
Hoping teaching provides us with some good news one day!