advice needed re: unacceptable teacher behaviour

tandraig

ok - bit clearer - the homework wasnt up to daughters usual standard. still no reason to shout and call her an idiot is it? shouldnt the response have been ' you can do better than this? do you want to do it over?'
let us know what happens tomorrow - and hun, keep your cool!

ooobedoo

I would be very unhappy about this.

There are 2 very seperate issues here.

Firstly the teacher acting in this way, is unacceptable. I would not even bother discussing this with the teacher concerned. If she speaks to children like that, if you discuss this with her, she may talk to the class and it could be 'glossed' over iyswim.

If children went to school knowing everything....would we send them to school??? Making your own mistakes if part of life, jumping up and down on children's confidence at this age by a person employed to educate and nuture them-not on

Redman30

Assuming the teacher actually reacted in this way, then you're right to be concerned. Does the teacher have previous with other children? These days teachers are extremely closely monitored, and largely unsupported in any pupil action so there may be records.

Of course, 10 year olds are not always the most reliable of witnesses, especially when they're annoyed at themselves and looking to deflect negative attention, so be a little wary of going in all guns blazing...

Miss_Imaginative

I saw this and had to comment. I'm a primary teacher, but I have to say I agree 100% with all the other posters on this thread. The teacher was completely out of line in shouting at your daughter in such a way, not to mention calling her an idiot, whether her homework was a poor standard or not.

I'd definitely be organising a meeting with the Head Teacher straight away if I were you. Some schools are of the opinion that the longer you leave it after an incident, even a matter of days, then the less can be done about it and it can't have been 'that bad' if you didn't go up to school straight away. You never know, the HT may have had reports from other teachers/parents raising their concerns about this teacher in particular and this needs to be bought to their attention if they're to do something about it. There also may be something going on in the teacher's personal life that they know about (not that this condones their behaviour at all!) and they assumed it wasn't affecting their judgement/teaching, whereas this incident may very well indicate otherwise. Redman30 is so right in our monitoring, there is very little that goes unnoticed and any incidents previously (even unfounded) will probably be on record somewhere.

I third the notion about the other children in the class not being the most reliable of witnesses. However, the Head Teacher may carry out their own enquiries with the class to find out what happened in more detail.

Be nice, pleasant and express your concerns (although I know it's so tempting to go in all guns blazing) - the Head Teacher will appreciate you bringing this to their attention. Let us know what happens ayla261.

Miss_I

Ivrytwr3

Ooooh!! Do you make your OH call you 'Miss' when he's been a bad, bad, boy?!

ayla261

So we had a meeting with the head this afternoon which seemed to address our concerns... I went along the route of 'DD claimed teacher called her an idiot but we were more concerned with the way the situation was dealt with' approach. Also explained we were aware the homework would have needed to re-done & totally agreed with the schools view on homework completion to an acceptable standard. Head informed us it seemed out of character for teacher concerned & we eventually agreed it was possible that DD had been upset over turning in bad work & therefore took the situation slightly to heart & maybe the shouting was perhaps a just a loud expression of disatisfaction. We also discovered the teacher has only recently returned to work after an operation so was maybe also having a bad day although that's obvs no excuse. Kinda got the feeling we were being flannelled a bit but have at least brought it to the notice of the head who says she will try to investigate further & it'll hopefully make the teacher concerned think twice about expressing herself so forcefully a child ends up crying in class.
On the plus side, three months ago the school sent out details of a 5 day camping residential trip for the childrens end of term in may at a cost of £200 each. We are not a family who can afford to suddenly budget £400 or even justify that much for a short trip & therefore had to say the twins couldn't go. They turned out to be the only ones in class unable to go. At the end of our meeting the head suddenly informed us that the school would be happy to fund one of the twins to attend the camp (as we can manage to scrape enough together for the other) :-) What Luck

Ivrytwr3

sort of a result ie brought to the Heads attention. But why, can't anybody be direct anymore. Get the teacher in and ask, "Did you call the child an idiot?"

Yes or no answer and then you all know where you stand!

aliasojo

Ivrytwr3 wrote: »

sort of a result ie brought to the Heads attention. But why, can't anybody be direct anymore. Get the teacher in and ask, "Did you call the child an idiot?"

Yes or no answer and then you all know where you stand!

Got to agree with you wholeheartedly. Schools are far too full of 'procedures' and pc crap these days. Basic immediate communication is all it would take to sort out most incidents before they reach the level of further complaint (usually needed because the situation hasn't been dealt with properly).

Far too much faffing about imo.

esmf73

On the plus side, three months ago the school sent out details of a 5 day camping residential trip for the childrens end of term in may at a cost of £200 each. We are not a family who can afford to suddenly budget £400 or even justify that much for a short trip & therefore had to say the twins couldn't go. They turned out to be the only ones in class unable to go. At the end of our meeting the head suddenly informed us that the school would be happy to fund one of the twins to attend the camp (as we can manage to scrape enough together for the other) :-) What Luck [/QUOTE]


Glad you got the issue sorted - or at least bought it to the attention of the head. But the sudden offer of payment for one of your twins to go camping does sound like the school is trying to buy you off. I have no knowledge of this, but does anyone know if the OP has any further legal grounds? Just struck me as being strange that a school that I would imagine is hunting for every last penny (as are most around us) suddenly can produce £200.

Maybe I'm too cynical.:o

Redman30

Take it at face value, a goodwill gesture. The head probably appreciated the way you approached the issue, calmly and not closed minded.

Looks like a result to me, your child's happy because her parents backed her up (irregardless of what happened), the school's happy because the teacher can continue to work without being suspended for 2 months pending investigation which wouldn't find anything anyway (irregardless of what happened), and you're happy because your twins are now able to be included in the excursion. Well done