Complaining about a teacher – would you?

It’s gcse history, if anyone gave a monkeys about history we wouldn’t have brexit, she’ll get an A-star like all the others just for turning up.

I am not. Disciplinary is not for health issues. Its a very different process requiring different things from that which is required for managing health issues

But you agree that the process can still result in your being dimissed from your job right? So the ONLY word you take issue with is ‘disciplinary’?

But you agree that the process can still result in your being dimissed from your job right? So the ONLY word you take issue with is ‘disciplinary’?

Imprecise use of language is probably the single biggest cause of online disagreement.

I haven’t read all the posts above, but I’d get in contact with the school. If you have a concern, it is reasonable that you should want to share it and that the school should want to hear it. Sometimes it is beneficial if a parent raises a concern, and often it is better if a number of parents raise concerns.

I work in a promoted post in a Secondary School, and if a parent of one of the pupils on my caseload had such concerns, I would want to know. Parent power can be a useful tool for driving school improvement.

Complain. BTW cool that your daughter talks to you about such things. I never thought of talking to my folks about teachers etc! Kevin teenager here.

Got an A in GCSE History though! As above they give tham away 😉

Are the people saying complain doing that in the knowledge that the OP has said that his daughter has asked him not to intervene – so you are saying to overrule her? Or have you not picked that point up and would you say different if you did know?

My daughter’s now just resigned to the situation and doesn’t want a fuss made by her parents as she thinks it won’t make any difference other than draw attention to her further.

Not being critical – seeking clarification because at least one respondant has said he hasn’t read the posts, and it’s an important point that may have been missed.

What somouk said.

Hopefully she gets in before everyone else to complain. RE classes were always shuffling when I was at school due to one poor teacher that unfortunately turned up to every lesson.

I got shuffled out of one of the good classes to the rubbish one due to making space for students getting out of the rubbish one. The good classes had about 35-40 students, the crap one about 20.
In the end they let a few of us drop the subject due to complaints about crap lessons. They entered us for the exam anyway, 2 weeks notice and a D wasn’t bad I thought.

There was a terrible English teacher too, but was more tragically comic and the supply was always very good, so no one complained.

So she is right to complain, hopefully she can switch class.

When it escalates up the line ask the HoD why he didn’t know what was going on with his team and had to wait for parental complaints which he then failed to act on

When it escalates up the line ask the HoD why he didn’t know what was going on with his team and had to wait for parental complaints which he then failed to act on

Do we know the HOD is a man? Do we know that they are unaware? Do we know that they are not doing anything? Do we know that there have been no other complaints?

For all we know the teacher is on capabilities and that’s why they’re out the classroom receiving training etc.

I don’t know how many kids would seek out a head of department in this way but surely the fact she’d bothered to would prompt some sort of discussion with the teacher?

She’s a known trouble maker already 😉 after she chose to go and see the Head Teacher last year when they offered Latin as a GCSE choice but then withdrew the option when too few pupils opted for it to make it financially viable. She didn’t change his mind (well with school budgets how they are it’s no surprise, I guess) but she really isn’t afraid to stand up and make her views known.

Which is all great and laudable at school but a pain in the bum when it comes to reasonable parental requests in a domestic environment she views as unfair…

I’d email the teacher directly, asking for support materials, revision work etc. Put the ball in their court asking for things that you can do to support her. Also ask what specification they are doing and the topics. They should be able to provide this easily. If it is Edexcel, I may be able to grab some bits for you from my department and email them over to you.

I’d worry that if the teacher is not there that often, yet she is still on target, then the teacher is putting in grades on the system that matches the targets, so it looks as though their absence is not having an impact. See if she can bring any marked assessments home, then you can get a good idea of the work she is producing.

If the work is not forthcoming, or the assessments do not match up with current grade, email the HoD informing them of your concerns.