Not an easy question to answer

I spoke to a former colleague today. I haven't seen him for months because of lockdown, so much of the conversation was "what happened to x?" and "what is y doing?". However, he floored me with a question about a teaching acquaintance of his, and as to whether he should act or not.
Joe knows Suzy and has met her several times, although he has not worked with her directly. She is "highly qualified" and apparently knows her stuff, and yet has had six jobs in ten years. She used to work for the school where Joe works today and her reputation amongst colleagues who worked with her is that she is a difficult person and constantly negative. She was unwilling to do more than what she defined as "the job" and never volunteered to take on extra responsibilities or to help colleagues.  The story was that she left before she was asked to do so.

Two years ago, Suzy appeared at a school in the same regional association as Joe's school, and the same behaviors quickly appeared. Joe does not know why she was hired or whether the new school had taken references, he just knows that reports of the same attitudes and behaviors soon reached his school. At the end of the year, Suzy was asked to leave.

Suzy has now appeared at another school, in the same city but outside Joe's chool's association, and with a promotion! Joe's conundrum is that he knows the school's academic director personally, and regards him as a friend. Should he tell his friend about Suzy's past and warn him him of what will almost certainly transpire? Joe is concerned about effects on Suzy's students and her new colleagues and feels that he has a professional obligation to share what he knows.

This is not an easy situation and is akin to whistleblowing. If the concerns were to do with safeguarding or criminality, the answer is clear : yes, Joe should tell his friend. However in this case, the concerns are to do with a personality and a negative presence in the faculty lounge.

My advice to Joe was that if he is asked, he should pass on what he has heard (as hearsay) and what he knows personally (as experience), but if he is not asked, he should not say anything. He should assume that the school conducted its due diligence and that it knew what it was getting into, and so any criticism of a hire would not be well received.

Yet Joe's question touches on a greater concern. Too many poor or even bad teachers simply move on, or are moved on, and mechanisms to prevent this are weak. On the other hand, teaching is a web of relationships and someone might do poorly in one situation and do very well in another. As a profession we need to do better in selecting, recruiting, supervising and retaining. The problem is that this is not as easy as it appears.

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