Yes, bad teachers exist

"The Guardian" has just run a piece written by a doctor about about doctors containing the terrifying line, "All the while, they know in their hearts that there are one or two (possibly more) of these new doctors whom they would not allow to care for their family", ending with the exhortation, "We must challenge medical schools to ensure that every student they graduate must be someone they would allow to treat their own family. The same would apply to doctors responsible for supervising trainees." This too applies to teachers.

The reasons for and causes of "bad" teachers and teaching are complex and one man's meat etc. The underlying problem is defining teaching which comes from the difficulties of defining education. What caught my eye in this story was the line, "doctors whom they would not allow to care for their family". I have worked with teachers whom I would not want to care for my family.

Most if not all teachers will agree that initial teacher training programmes do not a teacher make; they are an orientation, provide a theoretical and pedagogical base and act as an initial filter. Many candidates get through the program because they check boxes, comply and play the game, and not because they are good teachers or even because they want to make teaching a career.

Some teachers who are now bad were once good, but have lost interest and desire. I have known many in their 50s or early 60s who are counting their days to retirement and do just enough to get by. Others are burnt out, tired, disenchanted and do just enough to avoid being noticed. Members of both groups are often unfailingly negative in the department office or faculty lounge, another type of bad teacher.

Others are just lazy. I remember one colleague in the days of the VCR cart who would book it in September for the majority of her lessons for the entire year (leaving it unavailable for others). Her teaching was mostly reading a text in class, and then watching a cinematographic version - or two if that was possible. I have known several who, if two assessments a quarter are required, assign exactly two tasks so the students' preparation and practice for the assessment is the assessment.

Some teachers are trapped. Many who find themselves at the "best" school in the area cannot leave the county or state for a different position, cannot find promotion in that school and sometimes cannot find the same salary and conditions at another in the area. These teachers do everything possible to avoid making waves, including not upsetting anyone by awarding a low grade.

I worked with one teacher who I thought to be "bad". He was lazy, he sat at his desk all lesson and did not move around the room, he did not know program contents, his lesson planning was desultory, his marking sporadic and inconsistent. I persuaded him to move on, his next appointment lasted one year, but the school after that found him to be excellent and  he is still there almost ten years later. Was he the wrong person for that particuar school or program or did he learn from his mistakes, and then make significant changes?

I worked with another who was excellent and highly effective for the first five years of the school's existence, but as the school grew and developed, she remained the same. In doing so, she became "bad", not because she had changed but because the school and its needs had changed.

Then there is the teacher in a small school who for timetabling reasons has to teach G7 - 11 and is excellent in the Middle School years, but "bad" in High School.

I have worked with teachers who object to the "extra" work of teaching like participating in staff meetings, parent conferences, planning committees, grade-level reviews, grading moderation meetings, even attending student concerts and performances. They attend unwillingly, do not contribute and may even work against the meeting or event, sending critical or disruptive notes or messages to other disaffected colleagues. I remember one colleague, a consummate clock-watcher, leaving two parents at a desk mid-conference because the meetings were running late and he felt that his working-hours had ended.

Those who act unlawfully are easier to identify and to agree on. One teacher was fired from a school for inventing students' external assessment grades, another left a school with two of their computers and classroom carpets. I have seen reports of teachers prosecuted for theft and for crimes against children.

Some of these behaviors might be predictable, but raises the specter of convicting someone based on what "might" be or of abandoning thre maxim of "innocent until proven guilty". Others are not, or result over time from a change in character or of circumstance.

However other behaviors are more problematic like the teacher disbarred in the UK for having an affair with a parent which is unrelated to classroom performance.

Pointing to problems is not constructive so what would I suggest? As teaching is mostly relationships, a perfect solution may be unattainable and so perhaps we must accept that sometimes we will get it wrong. Better defining education, teaching and a teacher, and thus the kinds of people we want to be teachers, would be an important first step.

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Further Reading

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-12/to-strip-teacher-tenure-judge-cites-the-economic-cost-of-bad-teaching

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/system-lets-teachers-flee-troubled-pasts/44016310

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/teachers-bullying-students_n_590248d4e4b0bb2d086c22b3

Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation : How to Work Smart, Build Collaboration, and Close the Achievement Gap

Teacher Self-Supervision : Why Teacher Evaluation Has Failed and What We Can Do About it

Effective Supervision : Supporting the Art and Science of Teaching

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