I can't cope with my boss

[kerryt84]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a big problem and am really not sure what to do about it so would like some advice. I am a teacher and and have been working at my current school for a year. The head teacher has been there for 2 years. When I first started I was quite disturbed at how negative the staff were and how much of the day they spent bitching and moaning. I have worked in other schools and although there is always a bit of this going on it is quite bad at my school. It was mostly aimed at the head teacher and how useless she was. At first I stook up for her, but as the year has gone on I have realised she really is as bad as they have made out.

 

Basically she shouldn't be a head teacher. She has poor communication skills, she lies to the staff, she rarely turns up to meetings or replies to emails, she won't answer when you ask her a question, she has walked out of meetings in tears because she can't cope when she doesn't know the answer to something, she doesn't tell us anything that is going on, she changes plans at the last second, she makes decisions that are not best for the children and she doesn't consider the feelings or needs of the staff amongst other things. I do feel sorry for her because I can tell she can't cope and she is way out of her depth.

 

The problem I am having is that I am now really intimidated by her and fear communicating with her. I usually only send her emails but she never replies anyway. When she asks to see me though I feel huge panic and am practically in tears when I walk in the room. I just say yes to everything she says even though I don't agree with it. The other staff say I should tell her my true thoughts and stand up to her but they don't understand the paralysis I feel when I have to talk to her face-to-face. The other day she called me to see her because she had heard on the grape vine that I wasn't happy with a decision she had made that affected me. I really wanted to stand up for what I believed in but as soon as she told me 'this is how I want you to do it and so you will do it' I just wanted to get out of that room more than anything in my life. I cried all the way home and found it very hard to compose myself. It is beginning to really affect my job now because I fear seeing her and I'm having nightmares about her. I am suffering some scary health problems at the moment too like loss of vision and extreme fatigue and am not sure if these are linked to the stress I am feeling because of this.

 

I do have problems with conflict and can't deal with these situations at all. I find it very hard to talk about my emotions too and so have kept this mostly hidden from my boyfriend because I can just not find the words to communicate how I feel. Also can I say that I have not met a member of staff who likes the head teacher and at least 6 people have left over the past year directly because of her.

 

Thanks for any advice, Kerry

[chris54]

Hi, I dont really have any advise on how to cope with this person "face to face".

 

I would say that if you really feel that she is not doing or capable of doing her job as head teacher then this needs to be addressed.

If you are in a trade union contact them for advice.

Is there a whistle blowing policy on the council.

You could make a complaint to OFSTED.

 

Just a few suggestions.

 

Good luck.