Inadequate. What next?

[NewReality18]

I've name changed for this.
Called in for lesson observation feedback after school yesterday. Told my lesson was inadequate and along with some other findings I'm pretty much inadequate across the board, not just this one lesson. I was expecting a requires improvement. Not been at my best recently but really trying to do everything expected.
I have been offered an improvement plan. And accepted as the alternative was beginning formal dismissal procedures. Too late to contact union last night and I needed to cry.
What happens next? Any lovely wise mumsnetters with advice?

pottering Ofsted have asked to be informed (e.g. Sean Harford on twitter) if inspectors are saying stuff like that because they really shouldn’t be and it needs weeding out.

OP, really sorry that your school has sprung this on you with no warning (3 SLT is overkill and your HOD could have had an informal chat with you to nudge you in the right direction before this if there were concerns). I think getting union advice is definitely the right approach if you have even the slightest concern that the school are trying to get rid of an experienced and more expensive teacher.

And you need to start considering whether you want to continue working for them. Bastards that they did this just after the resignation deadline.

Thanks @noblegiraffe.
My lovely head of department received an email half an hour before the "feedback" session when he was teaching and seemed quite shocked. There had been no warnings.

Please don't think of yourself as inadequate. If your teaching is inadequate, it is the job of your school to train and support you. Make it clear to them that you definitely want that to happen, then call your union to scare them up a bit, then look for a new job. They sound shit.

NewReality I am sorry that you are going through this but surely it should up to your line manager to deal with any problems in regard to teaching and learning in the first instance. Has all this come about through one single observation? So basically they have jumped in with feet first and made a sweeping decision and not even given your HoD the chance to carry out any possible intervention. I think your union will be very supportive.

Oh and I meant to say my union rep is happy for his members to e-mail him at any time, so may be you could try that before Monday morning. If you get a reply over the weekend it may put your mind a bit more at ease and if you don't get a reply at least you have had time to really think about the points you want to make rather than perhaps rushing it on Monday morning.

It is depressingly common for older members of staff to be targeted by SLT.
Really it all depends how strong you are and how much you want to stay at
your present workplace, otherwise I would suggest get out quick!
Sorry you are in this situation.

@Penggwn. Thanks, i know what they should do and what I would if I thought a colleague was struggling but they have their power hats on. I feel that they saw signs I wasn't good enough and didn't mention them until they could knit them together and judge me as .... Inadequate. For what it's worth, I think I am a nice person :-) but this one word is following me.
Thanks @elephantoverthehill. My school don't trust middle management. So all decisions are taken by SLT and middle management field questions from unprompted staff.
I'm going for a very long bubble bath with a book and a cuppa.

Sorry - unpromoted, not unprompted!

Something very similar happened to me a few years ago. I did not want to chance being put on capability so handed in my notice a couple of weeks later (around the final date to hand your notice in for the end of the academic year). I didn't have a job to go to but found one to start in the September. I knew I was a good teacher and knew they were trying to manage me out - had seen it happen to a few others before me. Leaving that school was the best thing I ever did. I am happy at my present school and the work life balance is so much better. I've also got more responsibility and therefore more money. I am also a single parent with a huge rent to pay but couldn't stay there as it was making me ill (mentally and physically).
My advice would be to get out but good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Can you imagine the parental complaints if you called your students inadequate? It’s not a grade that they should be applying to observations and certainly not to teachers. I don’t understand what you mean when you talk about your planning not being detailed enough - who is looking at your planning? Surely you aren’t required to do lesson plans? And your marking being graded? It all sounds bonkers.

It’s also outrageous that they didn’t even do your HoD the courtesy of being kept in the loop and not even consulted.

Your SLT sound like insecure, micromanaging, jumped-up little bullies.

I really do feel like it's shit practice to give people feedback like this on a Friday afternoon, gives no thought whatsoever to how you will stew on it over the weekend.

I have been on both sides of this (as a fairly young teacher where people formed an impression of my teaching as inadequate when it wasn't) and as middle/senior leader too. I think all too often the senior leaders don't teach enough to have a true idea of how to help and support you to improve/or even to distinguish whether your teaching is inadequate or just not to their taste.

I would take the bull by the horns. Grab a copy of the teacher standards, have a good think about where you think you are in terms of them (I like to rate 1-3, but whatever suits you) Then book a meeting with SLT and a couple of days before send them the teacher standards and ask them to rate their perception of your teaching. From this you can identify where they think you are not up to scratch. Too often, particularly in academy chains you will have men people who are too soon promoted without the leadership experience to guide you through this.
Some people will tell you it's not your job to "lead" your leaders, I would suggest that in this case it would benefit you to really pin them down to what they think is wrong.

It makes me sad that teachers are still being graded. I've been in a school that doesn't grade for a couple of years now and I've never seen such good teaching and learning, I also enjoy getting feedback because it's always framed better without being hung on a grade.

By the way, what do you teach?

I really do feel like it's shit practice to give people feedback like this on a Friday afternoon, gives no thought whatsoever to how you will stew on it over the weekend.

I suspect they've thought about it very carefully - telling her on a Friday afternoon is a classic bullying tactic. It was calculated move.

I'd rather not say what subject I teach!
Thank you all for your helpful comments, insights and advice. I'm going to look over what I have prepared for next week and see if there is anything I can change as I am expecting a lot of SLT traffic going pass my classroom this week.

Don’t let the bastards get you down, they are poor at their job if they are managing their staff in this way. Shitty time of the year to be under this sort of pressure too, as everyone’s exhausted.

You admitted that your teaching hasn’t been tip-top lately, so yes, take the chance to up your game and show them that you aren’t inadequate. But also prioritise contacting your union because they don’t sound like the types to play fair.

Good luck!

Good luck tomorrow

When you go in tomorrow, ask to see SLT , ask for the improvement plan to look over and get on with what you do every day. Don't cower or hide. Take the upper hand. Phone your union, meet with you r Hod and ask for advice and support. Be seen taking the upper hand. Don't let them take the control from you. Take time to decide what to do, but don't let them force you into anything.

NewReality how did it go today?

Today was ok, thanks @elephantoverthehill. Union now involved. They were great. No further communication from SLT. I'm so so tired! Was a bag of nerves last night - hoping I can sleep better tonight :-)

I'm so tired but sleeping has become a battle. I keep waking up at 4am crying. I keep panicking that "they" (SLT) are going to meet with my union rep and tell him all the dreadful things I've done. And my union will refuse to represent me. Which is crazy. Because I haven't done anything to worry about.
I had to phone a parent this week who was really cross her daughter had received a detention when other pupils had been messing about. Turned out the girl in question had received a detention from another member of staff and got confused. And the pupils in my class (not her!) who had been work shy were given a detention. I wake up seeing this girl's face.
Thanks for reading. I think I need some actual sleep!

Be calm NewReality. I have been through similar, a new HoD decided I had a problem with discipline and sent me on a course for NQTs. The students who were causing me me problems eventually got permanently excluded. HoD also asked for me to be coached. I had the option of two members of staff and I chose the Head Teacher. I had to show schemes of work and had several lesson observations. I am now asked to do exemplary lessons for visiting 'VIPs'. This all happened 2 years ago. I have been teaching for 30+ years. You can move on Op, just keep doing what you are doing well.

Keep your chin up and take it day by day