Male teacher school report

[Rhynswynd]

We are having parent teacher interviews next week. We received the school reports ages ago before all the total covid madness hit us in Australia.
This one phrase in my dd school report has been bugging me ever since I read it and need to ask if I am over reacting.

Dd is 10 and has a male teacher. She was moved into his class this year even though she was supposed to be in a year 3/4 class for both years. First week of school he had her in tears (I can't remember why now) I spoke to him and it seemed to be a misunderstanding and then at the end of term 1 he wrote this phrase in her school report.

"It has been pleasing to see a change in her demeanour as time has gone on, as she started the year slightly sullen."

He has never spoken to me about why dd might be unhappy. It immediately made me think that my daughter is being told to "smile"

Just looked up the meaning of "sullen".
I wouldn't be happy if a teacher called my child that. I would be questioning it and asking for clarification.
However nothing about the word suggests to me that it was used because she is female or the teacher is male

I would ask for clarification. To me implies word implies 'attitude problem' , maybe a bit insolent/rude rather than 'introverted and having a difficult time'. The teacher should understand the meaning of the word but perhaps he doesn't quite get the nuance so it's worth exploring.

I also suspect it wouldn't be used for a boy but I don't think you'll get anywhere by trying to challenge that as it's a hypothetical question and will likely get his back up. It's probably unconscious bias. I think you can make your point by challenging the word and asking for examples of both her behaviour and of how he helped coach your daughter through this obviously difficult period.

I always thought sullen just meant a bit sad

Sullen is a negative word. Indicates a bad attitude. The sort of huffing and puffing eyerolling attitude, glowering looks etc. Clear dislike of getting on with the work because they don't want to.

I can imagine it in a teen...maybe one in particular, I know someone who does a really good sullen, when they are not being obstreperous.