advice on a male teacher at DDs school please

[happydappy2]

My DD in year 9 used to have a wonderful female PE teacher who went on mat leave & might not come back. Currently a young male teacher has taken over and the girls feel uncomfortable when he watches them doing PE. One of them has looked at his social media & seen who he is following on instagram....lots of female body builders who pose in skimpy barely there bikinis (as is normal for body builders) but also some young women who pose in a very sexualised way in barely there bikinis....lots of boobs & bum on show. (Not topless but good as.) One girl has asked me if that is appropriate for a teacher & I'm struggling with how I feel about this. I would have thought all teachers have to have squeaky clean social media or set it to private. I've asked the headmaster for his views but wondered what others thought-am I over reacting or is this not really OK?

I don’t really know what else a head can do other than advise the account is set to private (which they have) and (if there isn’t already) put a TA in who can report any concerns.

Beyond that it’s up to parents to listen to their kids and keep an open mind (not just dismiss the girl’s feeling out of hand and not to leap to conclusions without more evidence). I agree the gut feeling of the pupils needs to be respected but you can not take this further based on something so vague. It’s been raised, it’s on SLT’s radar I don’t know what else the school is expected to do.

@happydappy2 I asked earlier but didn't get an answer.

What's the timeline here? Did the girls find his insta first, and then decide that they were uncomfortable with him watching them? Or vv?

The girls aren’t the issue here. The only person who should be criticised is the OP

I haven't made any criticism of the girls at all. My criticism has been entirely of the OP- her failure to make any enquiries about how "watching" was wrong; her acting behind the backs of other parents and her rude and aggressive posts, including the ridiculous comment about seeing all the men posting.

I'm usually the first to.complain about people's sometimes weird perceptions that teachers shouldn't have any sort of personal life but this is different.

All teachers would lock down social media as a common sense precaution, so odd that he hasn't. Red flag 1.

That he posts such stuff is red flag 2. I don't have any male friends that post this, well certainly not on social media that I can see.

Red flag 3 that the girls felt uncomfortable enough to comment them search.

I've been on the receiving end of a false allegation and it nearly killed me, so I would never advocate a witch-hunt approach. Especially possible in this scenario.

But the facts on this post, if they are correct, warrant investigation. Particularly as the girls have been fine with a previous male pe teacher. I would draw the heads attention to it so they could do what is necessary. I wouldn't imply, or embellish, or infer, but point out the facts.

Particularly as the girls have been fine with a previous male pe teacher

Where do you get that from? The OP mentioned a wonderful female teacher who was on maternity leave and is unlikely to come back. I don't recall her saying anything about another male teacher.

He’s not posting. He’s following accounts that post these pictures.

@housemdwaswrong

I'm usually the first to.complain about people's sometimes weird perceptions that teachers shouldn't have any sort of personal life but this is different.

All teachers would lock down social media as a common sense precaution, so odd that he hasn't. Red flag 1.

That he posts such stuff is red flag 2. I don't have any male friends that post this, well certainly not on social media that I can see.

Red flag 3 that the girls felt uncomfortable enough to comment them search.

I've been on the receiving end of a false allegation and it nearly killed me, so I would never advocate a witch-hunt approach. Especially possible in this scenario.

But the facts on this post, if they are correct, warrant investigation. Particularly as the girls have been fine with a previous male pe teacher. I would draw the heads attention to it so they could do what is necessary. I wouldn't imply, or embellish, or infer, but point out the facts.

So you’ve been on the receiving end of a false allegation yet advocate an investigation into a vague feeling? They had a female, not male PE teacher and this guy simply follows these accounts. He does not post anything inappropriate (and I’m sure the OP would have said had that been the case). What exactly would you investigate do you think?

I think it should be flagged up to HT so they are aware sorry, I misread that the previous teacher was a bloke not a woman.

It doesn't have to be a full.out suspension investigation does it as nothing has been alleged. The ht can have a look and remind about social media policy, is what I was thinking.
Following young women,posing provocatively, on an open social account is a dumb move, and leaves him open to allsorts. I think it should be flagged yes, and I think he should be spoken to. It needn't be a full nine yards investigation.

@didolamenting misread and apologised in previous.post. makes it less concerning. I still think crappy social media use should be flagged. For his sake if nothing else.

[quote housemdwaswrong]@didolamenting misread and apologised in previous.post. makes it less concerning. I still think crappy social media use should be flagged. For his sake if nothing else.[/quote]
It already has been. Weeks ago.

@reallynotessentialism good. Though op didn't say that in her post. Job done then or he's setting himself up for a fall. That's all I would have done, thought that was ear in my original.post, but maybe not.