My kid had traumatic experience with the school teacher. He yells and screams at the kids.
I have reported to the school, and as expected, they have not taken any action. What else can I do? My kid is scared and is very anxious about this whole thing. What legal options do I have? What escalation mechanism I have to stop this abusive teacher from hurting other kids?
Lots of teachers are shit and get away with this crap if the management allow it. I had plenty of teachers at school that should have been fired and never were. Normal ones would burn out and often bad public breakdowns, one died by suicide. Look at the results coming out of the school, probably change.
OP. Most if not all of the answers you need exist on the Victorian Institute of Teaching website. Specifically, here. Your profile lists Melbourne so I will assume you are still in Vic. If not, you may need to search the relevant state teaching regulator which should be able to assist you with your options.
Thank you. This is helpful.
Talk to the other parents OP and see if they have had a similar experience. Then all make a complaint together if they have, there is power in numbers. Your other option is to escalate to the dept of education.
This is good advice - I would expect if the teacher was that bad, many others would have something to say.
Honestly, no teachers would yell at a kid for no reason.. kids that show respect will get respect. Even if it is yelling, it's most likely to control the class room. Kids need to harden up, life isn't easy..
Additionally, parents thinks that it's teacher responsibility to raise their kids..
Be a good parent and teach them not to be so scared.
instead of further wrapping them in bubble wrap. Yelling = abuse now? It's a traumatic experience? To be yelled at? Do you hear yourself?
You've never yelled at your kid?
Are you gonna sue someone everytime your kid gets scared?
put some more context, is it kindergarten and the teacher is yelling like a lunatic? Or is it grade 5 and they yell to make the kids stop bouncing off the walls?
If it's really that bad talk to other parents, or is it just your affecting your child?
I have a traumatic experience. Kids downstairs common area screamin non stop from 6pm to 10pm daily. Have written multiple complaints to the strata manager. Notice has been put up about the noise.
Seems like these school holidays it's actually getting worse. What can I do? Problem is it sounds like they're being murdered and it's also non stop. Like legit it sounds like someone is being raped or murdered. How do you stop children 4-11 from screaming 5 hours a day in the playground. It's driving me mad.
I've heard of double glazed windows but that apparently only blocks low frequency noises not high frequency yelling like birds or yelling.
NB: I can hear alittle bit of traffic noise, can't hear neighbors even when flushing the toilet or playing drums (I know because when I walk to the front of their door I can hear it, then I go back to my room and there's no noise)
Move
Find out who the said teacher is here and employ them.
Everyone who went to school before social media showed how bad a lot teachers were should be suing I guess
Teacher:-“I won’t believe everything your child tells me about you, so long as YOU don’t believe everything your child tells you about ME.”
hello karen and ken, nice to meet you
fuk being a teacher, parents are the worst.
no mr ken and mrs karen, your child isn't special, your child isn't a mini einstein, your child is dumb
No child deserves to be abused by an adult, no matter how “dumb” they are. There are some teachers who are quite simply not cut out for the job and kids shouldn’t suffer because they’re shitty teachers,
Contact the teacher directly to explain the situation.
If nothing improves or worsen, contact the regional office (for government school, diocese if catholic schools)
That's what I was thinking as well. Teacher is unresponsive. He skips the parent/teachers meeting. The school principal and Dean are as useless.
It has been a while, but I worked at a large highschool for 3 years as tech and sys admin. My observations were that most of the teachers were simply not built for the job. The kids can be tough, but some teachers would fly off the handle at the slightest provocation, go into it about how hard their lives were with 13 year olds, and flat out insult and humiliate students infront of their classmates regularly.
TLDR: Before working there I would have thought kids were soft, nope it's the adults.
When I was a kid in school.. 26 years ago, my teacher mocked me constantly because of my surname, it was horrible. I hated my name for years. It was definitely traumatic for me because I was a kid.. I was like 7 years old and didn’t understand why the teacher constantly singled me out and mocked me, he encouraged other kids in the class to do it too..
Eventually my mum went to the school, made a complaint and demanded I be moved into the other class. I never had him as a teacher again.
If you are 100% certain this is happening I’d suggest lodging a complaint with the department of education if it’s a public school. If other kids are joining in on the abuse I would suggest moving the child to a different school. If the department of education do nothing, threaten legal action.
Stop treating your kid like a snowflake. This is part of growing up.
Yell and scream - this is nothing.
Back in day my teachers used to slap and hit with sticks. Not a single kid would go out of line. Physical punishment has disappeared now.
Do you have kids, do you love them? Why would you want them beaten with sticks? It doesn't make a good person an even better person after the admistration of a good thrashing.
The person was exposed to: death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence (Criterion A DSM 5). I may be suffering from PTSD simply by your retelling of this horrifying event, certainly you and your child's classroom friends should begin a class action.
Post the teachers hair colour, BMI, age and estrogen levels to determine if shouting was a congruent or arbitrary response.
Rejoice: we are all victims now!
You’re right that PTSD has to be a major traumatic event, but that that doesn’t mean trauma doesn’t exist outside of PTSD.
When is the parent teacher interview? Ring or visit the office and ask for a sit down and discuss yourself with the teacher.
Not sure how old is your kid, get a recording if he/she is old enough to operate this maybe? Use it as prove that the teacher shows unacceptable behavior during class.
Otherwise change school might be the last resort.
Most of us who remember school, have strong memories of great teachers who engaged our minds and uplifted our world, and equally strong and frequently stronger memories of bad teachers who seem to relish going beyond simple ignoring/bare minimal to taking a real effort to make deride and make life as miserable as possible. At least I was spared the sexual molestation that immiserated countless lives.
Unfortunately, such teachers still exist, albeit without the same social license they had in the past. In educating my 2 daughters through private system they both encountered a few bad egg teachers, it is not without regret I failed act sooner, thinking let's give this time; - yet by the time the issue was clearly detrimental my daughters had completely disengaged from the class and subject they once enjoyed and did well in. If your kid has problems with most teachers, it is the kid, if your kid has multiple problem with a teacher, it is the teacher, you are not putting your kid in cotton wool to get your kid out of that situation. Forget legal just pull the kid out of a bad situation that they simply dont have the EQ and life experience to manage.
Spot on. Kid has no issue with other teachers. He enjoys rest of the subjects. This teacher is a pain. Not just with our kid but other kids have the same issue with the teacher. He insults, absues and sometimes throws books with a fit of rage, etc. My kid got disengaged in the subject he loved and that's when we realised many issues behind the scenes. School is well aware but somehow they are protecting him. He seems to be in the system since a long time.
Since the school year has just started, you tried meeting the teacher, schedule a meeting with the year coordinator at the school, or principle if it is a small school. I remember once my daughter telling me that a particular teacher was a bit arrogant, I thought how bad can it be? Yet during the parent teacher interview, the teacher insisted I address them as Doctor (PhD in English) rather than Ms XXXX, I should have insisted they call me "The gentleman who pays my salary".
Simple, have a chat with the teacher. No teachers want anxious students in their class.
Keep it brief, this person will be flat out right now (actual teaching now makes up about 10% of what teachers do).
But there might be a simple solution. Ie. Said student is distracted by a device, friend, tired etc and always asks what to do straight after the instructions were just delivered. Working with a parent on a solution always gives the best outcome.
Lastly, the Education Dept is one of the worst managed operations in existence today. Human Resource management that was once completed by 30 staff, is now done by 3..and the complexity of the role has increased.
So its quite possible you have a year 12 Chemistry specialist teacher been placed in a year 7 Music class or a specialist language etc (with absolute zero knowledge of either topic).
So they are anxious themselves, and with poor knowledge of the subject matter they cant control the class with engaging curriculum. So all they have left as a control mechanism is their loud voice.
So looping back, have a chat. Keep your mind open with questions like "What areas do you think 'Jack' could work on in your class?". What can we do at home to help Jack, and make your job easier? A couple of probes "What's your favourite part of x subject and how long have you been teaching it?" Be honest and say you are worried about 'Jack's' anxiety and just want to keep communication lines open.
Thanks and this is a good balanced response. We have tried it. We set up the parents/teachers meeting, and he never attends. He doesn't even turn up for the meeting. We reported this to the school that he doesn't turn up and there is not even an apology. He doesn't respond to emails nor through the school portal.
Wow! Go in your childs scheduled lesson time. Sign in at the front first (chose a time when the lesson backs on to a break/ after school). But sounds like a rubbish school.
Actually scrap that. Probably wont go down well. What you want to do is find the district director and ask to file a 'grievance'.
This is an official procedure. Basically your grievance will be with the Principal who isnt responding to your simple request to meet with the teacher.
How much money you expecting out of this ?
Not expecting any money… we need to fix the system and find accountabilities. We should not allow bad behaviors to go unnoticed. Parents shouldn't be scared
Like every post made; there is usually 2 sides to the story and we only are hearing 1 on here.
If what you say is the only truth; then hounding the school to do something about it is just about your only option; other than moving schools.
I'm not sure how it is at your kids' school but I would take up the discussion with the principal and teacher again and ask them to advise what they intend to do about the issue to ensure it doesn't continue.
My kids schools both provide frequent feedback on what's happening with our kids but I'm not sure if that's a private school thing or if it happens everywhere.
If it is, I'd request maybe weekly feedback from the school until you're comfortable that the issue is resolved.
go shout and scream at the teacher with like 4 other people and see how they feel being abused.
The comments here make me sick. Zero empathy from this crowd. It's like boomer city here.
Because usually when people come on a forum to complain about something; you'll find majority of the time they're most likely in the wrong and post anonymously on the internet to get sympathy / ideas on how to beat what ever issue they are complaining about.
Pretty much how people of the world acts these days in general.
I cannot believe ozbargain supports RUOK day every year with some of the responses in this thread.
How about talk to the teacher?
If your kid is well-behaved and the teacher yells at students, they move your kid to another school. But if your child is rowdy and stubborn, perhaps the teacher is doing the best job of instilling discipline
This is waaaaaaay to vague to provide any meaningful debate/comment/advice. In more instances than not, I would argue that it is the parent and child who over react rather than the teacher. God I miss the old days, where kids where more resilliant, rather than having a sook about a teacher getting mad at them.
Haven't seen it mentioned, but going past the school to department of education might be something to look into.