Thanks for posting and welcome to our Community, Andrea 

Any thoughts, Nina Waters?

There's obviously a lot of nuance around what now constitutes "shouting" vs 'raising one's voice'.

I guess the keyword here is "aggresive", but still a little subjective.

Lots of different issues here. First and foremost, you need to investigate what actually happened and understand her perspective on it - was this a 'robust conversation' with a child who was being rude or disruptive, or was it continuing in the previous pattern of aggressive behaviour you have already addressed. What is her understanding of what happened?

Secondly, if her behaviour is (or could be) a safeguarding risk to children, you cannot put in place a settlement agreement to tie things up neatly, and you must follow your internal processes to their conclusion. In the most serious cases you will have an obligation to refer to DBS and to Teacher Services.

Finally, what else is going on with her? You've said she's had a long teaching career, and it's only in the last 10 years that her professionalism has changed. Is there a mental or physical health need that is aggravating matters (which isn't to excuse the behaviour, but to understand it), and is there support that could be put in place?

If you review all of these areas, conclude that she has breached your code of conduct in the full knowledge of the standards set (and given her prior warning, she would find it hard to argue that she didn't understand), you deal with it as a disciplinary matter and follow it to its conclusion. You may then agree an exit, but you can't allow the problem to be simply transferred to another setting.

I would not take the risk of negotiating about her retirement directly - because you're taking the right steps. She may raise it herself, but you only expose yourself to age discrimination and constructive dismissal claims, with no obvious benefit to the school, by you bringing that up in the presence of her union.

Finally, I'd just note that this isn't the same situation as the one you were in last time. Any sanction or warning imposed now, follows a serious enough incident that she previously was given a final written warning for it. That warning has expired, but the context, incident and guidance given will be factors in deciding on any outcome from this process.

Good luck.

Nina

In reply to Nina Waters:

Thanks, Nina Waters

In reply to Nina Waters:

Thank you Nina, your reply was very thorough, informative and helpful.

To Nina's excellent answer I would add only one thing.

The idea that warnings "expire" is a bit of a canard. The idea that something would lead to a dismissal after 364 days, but not after 366 is patently silly. Rather, prior warnings should always be taken into account to a degree proportionate to the length of time since the warning was issued.

However, an organisation may choose to bind itself by run-out dates to the effect that, if there is a current warning, a manager *must* escalate the matter to formal disciplinary resolution. Whereas, after the run-out date, they *may* do so but are not required to do so by policy. The important factor is that, when having warnings with an expiration date, the expiration is upon the organisation's *obligation* to escalate, not on their right to do so.

just a couple of points:-

1. What do you expect the union rep to do at the discussion? Defend her or support the school?

2. I don't see why anyone, let alone young people in an educational setting have to put up with this behaviour. I'm sure you realise it can foster a totally negative attitude towards the teacher and education in general. I assume the children in your care woul not get away with it if they spoke to you or the other staff like that? Why should she be allowed to get away with this for 10 years? Isn't there anyone capable of coaching her, or counselling her?

In reply to David Perry:

Hi David, we have a new Head who has joined us in September from the maintained sector and is used to dealing with casework in a certain way, but it has become apparent that she has always involved the unions in any situations eg. casework and policy changes, in her previous headships. In this instance, I think she wants to be seen to be fair and giving the member of staff some external support.

I agree that the behaviour is unacceptable, but the previous Head chose not to take any conclusive action to address this issue over the last 10 years, which was how she dealt with most of the casework during her tenure, but of course when issues don't get resolved they just get worse.

I really appreciate everyone's advice and comments which I will convey to the Head to help her make the right decision and follow the correct process to ensure we reach the outcome that is best for our children and school.