Bad Teachers

shane0312

I'd just like to start by pointing out that in no way am I suggesting that that all teachers are not good at their jobs, far from it, however like every profession there are a minority of teachers who are not good at their jobs, for a number of reasons (unsuitability, laziness etc.) and as a result the students suffer.

We have a problem with a teacher in our school. The teacher who I won't name for obvious reasons consistently year after year is given the responsibility of teaching several classes from first yr. right up to sixth yr. and consistently he fails to teach them and the results are there to prove this.

Normally as students we try to do as little as possible in class however this year myself and a few class mates went to the principal and committed blasphemy by actually asking for work as we didn't want to resign ourselves to the same fate of previous students of this teacher. It's hard enough trying to do well when you have a good teacher helping you out but what chance do you have with an inadequate teacher thats being churning out ill-prepared students for their exams for years now.

When we talked to the principal we felt he was already aware of the situation already but he basically told us his hands were tied on account of the ASTI having such power and we weren't allowed do anything to annoy the sleeping giant. He gave us some waffle that "he was very concerned and that he would discuss our concerns with the teacher, and draw up a plan of action immediately and monitor the situation closely" However its now 4 months later and nothing is being done and I can't invisage anything being done.

Basically what it boils down to is that unlike other professions where inadequecy is dealt with, inadequet teachers are secure in the knowledge that their job is secure and that very little can be done about them and they can continue depriving young children of their right to an education. Ok you have inspectors that come around once in a blue moon but I dont know whether this is a coincidence or by design but in my school they seem to arrange it so as this certain teacher never gets visited by the big bad inspector. :eek:

Pheeeewww anyway I just had to get that off my chest. Id be intersted to find out if anyone else is faced with the same situation?

I have a similar situation, my irish teacher (A1 class - 5th year) teaches the lowest class in every other year, so she's used to not having much to do and no enthusiasm to do it. Since the start of the year 32 pupils have become 18 without her noticing just because they dropped to pass to at least achieve some standard of irish. But by dropping class means you have to do pass, so the rest of the class who want to do Honours have a teacher who doesn't like working, She comes to class 70% of the time without chalk, workbooks, anything. Any class that we have after a break period she comes in 15 minutes late, reeking of smoke with a cup of tea in her hand.

We have asked her to her face to do some work and she suggested that we should get working on our Aural skills be watching TG4 and listening to Radio na Lifé. Since the first day of 4th year we have managed to finish the Autobiography (an abridged version at that!) and we have done some basic oral and essay work.

Complaints wont do anything either, no Teacher wants to teach honours Irish in our school anymore because the class sizes are tiny and it means that the teacher needs to do more work. 6 people did honours last year and there are 5 doing it this year. So she's the only teacher who would teach honours, but she is doing a **** job of it!

Same problem with my music teacher. He's barely ever in, and when he is he has no lesson plan whatsoever. He usually starts with something in mind.. trails off.. begins rambling .. a discussion starts.. end of class.

Also, when he is actually teaching something (which is a rarity) he explains it in a way that only someone who already understood would be able to understand.

A clear indication that this is not an unfounded accusation is what happened yesterday:
He's out inexplicably for this whole week (we are told by the vice as we enter the room), and as a result, the school (for the first time i've ever seen) has hired a substitute teacher.

This teacher taught us more (and more effectively) in 40 minutes that he's taught us in two years.

But not to worry, only a couple of months until the exams! Then it doesn't even matter.

snappieT

You want to see how bad my teachers are? Take a look at this forum http://s7.invisionfree.com/Whopper_Buzzes/index.php?showforum=24 (the password is frank)

whats the username?

Stark

Interestingly enough I did honours Irish instead of pass because I hated the ordinary level teacher with a passion (I had him for junior cert). The teacher I had for honours Irish was absolutely lovely and brilliant and I ended up getting a B2

I remember having a substitute teacher for most of Biology who was a lovely guy who tried hard but was completely out of his depth. Some people in the class went to make a formal complaint about him and I nearly went along with it. Although I didn't in the end I still feel quite guilty for even thinking about it, as I was so caught up in squeezing the last few marks out my Leaving Cert that I was almost prepared to put someone's job on the line for it. I actually got an A1 in the end despite concerns about his tuition (I feel like such a ratbag).

But yeah a good teacher can make all the difference. I had average teachers for Junior Cert English and 5th year of Leaving Cert English. Got a C in the Junior Cert and was scraping Ds in 5th year. We got 2 very enthusiastic substitutes for 6th year and my grades starting jumping to As And it wasn't that they were easy markers, the grading curve in the class remained the same, it was just that I responded a lot more to their teaching style. As well as that, when our old teacher returned, I still received As from her

I did **** in the actual Leaving Cert English though because my arm collapsed from exhaustion half way through the second paper and I could barely go on. Stupid ****ty scheduling.

kano476

got loads of them f*ckers in my school. one of my teachers just sits there and reads the book for 40 mins and won't explain anything and if you don't know something he claims you should have been listening. it's a pity aswell because I have an interest in the subject and it's a difficult course and this guy is seriously putting me off it.

randomfella

Yeah i have one idiot of a teacher. Majority of class failed. So i just left the class and study myself on my own (self-motivation at its height). Have the course done so its just a matter of studying.

segadreamcast

http://www.ratemyteachers.ie/

Read about this in the Times this morning. Hope it helps in some obscure way.

snappieT

Deleted User wrote:

whats the username?

Oh yeah:

Site: http://s7.invisionfree.com/Whopper_Buzzes/index.php?showforum=24
Username: boards.ie
password: password
Password for protected forum: frank

Sully

kano476 wrote:

got loads of them f*ckers in my school. one of my teachers just sits there and reads the book for 40 mins and won't explain anything and if you don't know something he claims you should have been listening. it's a pity aswell because I have an interest in the subject and it's a difficult course and this guy is seriously putting me off it.

Pawdy??

- sully