I'm questioning if the primary school I've chosen for our son is the right one....The school is close to home, work etc. No issues at all.
Part of the school is a step-up program for kinder kids that runs for 3 terms. The program is great. But... just across from where the program is run, there is a classroom for art and music. The teacher and her attitude towards children actually makes me question if that’s the school where we would want my child to go.
I see her once a every and every week without a fail the way she talks to kids actually repulses me. Few weeks ago I saw her get right into a little boy’s face, and was telling him off with such anger, such rudeness, I felt like I should have stepped in… Last week she was screaming at the kids about art smocks. That they were irresponsible, badly behaved, disgusting. Today some boys were putting away their bags when she stormed out of her classroom, telling them ‘you boys are starting to play up again!!’. They were just hanging up their bags. I was there early. When another teacher asked what was the matter, she “they are misbehaving AGAIN” then pointed to one of the boys and loudly, in front of everyone says “this one is the really bad one. That’s him.” You should have seen that kid...
I guess I know some teachers are assholes but she is actually making me question how I’d feel if that was my son that she was treating like that… What would you IMs do??
9 Replies
Look, at every school there's going to be good teachers and you're going to get a needle in a haystack bad teacher. It's inevitable. They come and go. What you've seen is just a tiny snippet of a moment of the day, not an entire days scenario. Do you know if those kids actually DO misbehave? Maybe they had previously been playing up and they had been told not to leave the classroom together and disobeyed her.
I think it's best to teach your son to be resilient and take it with a grain of salt if he hasn't done anything wrong if this behaviour ends up directly affecting him. If need be, have a chat to the principal and see what they say. But you're going to get a bad teacher at another school at some stage, I can guarantee it.
Yes, totally get it. I come from a family of teachers so that there is more to this than meets that eye. Its just that every morning at 9am when I see her, her attitude and language has just been pretty shocking.
And my son will not be a perfect angel, I totally get it. And some teachers will just be assholes (just like regular people)... I don't know, it just left such a bad taste in my mouth.
Speak to the principle. It's quite possible that teacher won't be there much longer. There is a process they have to go through to get rid of them
Sounds like the music teacher at my child's school.
I have mentioned it to the school and said if I see/hear it again then I will be making a formal complaint.
This teacher is a friends neighbour, and they also don't understand how they can be a teacher with the attitude they have
I would spend more time observing the other teachers, if she is just one bad apple, I wouldn't change all my life plans because of her, but if the others are similar and it is the way they roll, I would reconsider the school. I love my children's school, it is awesome, but there are certain teachers I hope we don't ever get and certain ones I really hope we do get. We have a lazy one this year with some attitude that rubs me up the wrong way, but it's only one year, it's good for the kids to deal with different types. Judge the school on the overall vibe, their programs, facilities, observe a few assemblies and then decide.
this teacher is very lucky she's not my sons teacher. I understand teachers would get frustrated, kids can be arseholes, but if my sons teacher humiliated him for no reason at the time or got in his face, the principal or a complaint would be the least of his/her problems. I don't humiliate or get in my sons personal space so I'd be damned if anyone else would be.
Seeing how it isn't your child I would make sure she wasn't his teacher in future years and I'd speak to the principal.
Yeah good response, you can request not to be in a certain teachers class.
It sounds like she's a specialist teacher though. My kids school has 1 music teacher, 1 PE teacher etc. Those teachers/classes you can't opt out of. My music teacher in primary school was a dead set douche bag, we had to put up with him for the entirety of our schooling.
I'd mention it to the principal, if she's as awful as you say I doubt this is going unnoticed by other parents/students or even other staff.
I would not teach my child to deal with that, but she is the kind of child who would be broken by that kind of anger from somoeone in authority. I couldnt accept it.
I would suggest talking to the principle and letting him know what youre seeing. She needs to know what this teacher is doing/or at leats how theyre coming across. It might be the wake up they need. Let them know youre hesitant only for this reason, or do it alternatively just as concerned parent feedback.