A survey of 1,144 school leaders carried out by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has found that 94% of school leaders experienced an increase in parental complaints over the past three years; 83% have seen an increase in “vexatious” complaints.
NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman expands on the survey findings in his recent article for Headteacher Update, setting out why he feels this is happening. Part of the issue seems to be parents taking complaints directly to the top or indeed making the same complaint a number of times using different avenues – school, Department for Education (DfE), Ofsted, local authority. Consequently, school leaders are spending more time dealing with these issues and the pressure is ratcheted up a notch.
In 2022/23, the DfE says that it received 14,900 complaints, a 25% increase on the previous year (the DfE does point out that it will often redirect parents back to the school’s complaints policy). Meanwhile, the number of parents of primary-age children complaining to Ofsted has increased from 4,497 in 2019 to 4,902 in 2023, according to a freedom of information request (Martin, 2024).
We can expect to hear more on this as it is one of the issues that the Workload Reduction Taskforce is set to examine prior to making its final recommendations. In the NAHT research, the main reasons for complaint include unmet SEND (57%), attendance and holidays (35%), the conduct of other parents (34%), and parking and transport (29%).
Some factors will be outside the direct control of the school, making it particularly difficult to satisfy the complainant. In some cases, particularly where SEND is concerned, leadership may feel great sympathy with the complaining parent without having the means to address their concern. School holidays continue to be an issue and attendance has become more challenging to handle since Covid, and this only looks set to get worse with increased parental fines and a new national threshold from September (see pages 12-13).
The NAHT has made a series of recommendations, including the need to make clear to parents that a complaint should only be taken by one body at a time.
It also says that those complaining to higher bodies such as the DfE or Ofsted should be required to show that they have been through the correct stages of the schools’ complaint policy. However, neither of these provide an immediate solution for those dealing with issues on a day-to-day basis.
Ten tips for complaint management
- An up-to-date complaints policy: Ensure that your complaints policy is well-circulated, known and regularly reviewed. If parents have confidence in the process, they may be less likely to try and go over your head. You could also offer details on what the policy does not cover and where complaints on these issues, such as admissions, might be directed.
- Follow the policy: Ensure that members of staff as well as parents follow your policy. There can be a tendency for teachers to quickly refer a complaint upwards without addressing it themselves. This is understandable and necessary at times but needs careful monitoring to ensure that school leaders are not overburdened with relatively minor classroom-based issues.
- Take a breath: Don’t reply in haste or show irritation. Writing down what the complainant has to say shows that you are taking the complaint seriously while also giving you time to manage your feelings and prepare your response.
- Keep it in perspective: Look after your own feelings. Consider keeping a folder of positive comments from parents and others. We often focus overwhelmingly on the negative and ignore the good stuff.
- Ask for advice: Whether you are a local authority school or part of an academy chain, there should be someone who is tasked with providing advice in these situations. State the situation clearly and as objectively as you can. Professionals are paid to provide you with guidance, particularly if the complaint has gone beyond the direct staff in the school or is a “serial” or “persistent” complaint.
- Own your mistakes: If there are mistakes own them and find ways to address them and move on. Even the most efficient school system can suffer blips from time to time and identifying where these are and offering solutions to try and prevent their repetition is an important part of leadership and management.
- Tackle it early: We can all hope that a minor, individual parental concern will disappear. However, an unresolved issue can fester and cause more difficulties down the line than if it had been dealt with initially. Make sure that parents recognise you are taking their concern seriously from the outset or they may take a formal complaint route.
- Monitor the main topics of complaint: Analyse the themes that keep coming up and, if possible, compare trends with other schools. This can help identify if there is an aspect of your school’s practice that might benefit from a review and potential change.
- Clear actions: Be clear on the actions that you will take following a complaint and ensure that parents are aware when you have taken them and what the outcome has been. Most parents want to see an explanation or a consequence. Keep a clear record of what has been done and why. This is particularly important if you have found it necessary to swerve from your stated school complaints policy.
- Similar complaints: Where a number of complaints have been received about a similar issue you might place something on the school’s website, especially if it is a matter of clarification of a school policy. However, be careful that this doesn’t add fuel to the fire. In most circumstances it is better to deal with complaints individually if you can.
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher. Read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/suzanne-oconnell
Headteacher Update Summer Term Edition 2024
- This article first appeared in Headteacher Update's Summer Term Edition 2024. This edition was sent free of charge to UK primary schools in May 2024. A free-to-access digital edition is also available via www.headteacher-update.com/content/downloads
Top 10 Tips
- For our archive of Top 10 Tips articles covering a range of subjects relevant to primary school leadership, go to www.headteacher-update.com/content/category/leadership-and-policy/top-10-tips
Further information & resources
- DfE: Best practice guidance for school complaints procedures, 2020: https://tinyurl.com/bdempynb
- Martin: Revealed: 8 in 10 school leaders see rise in vexatious complaints, Tes, 2024: https://tinyurl.com/523psd8f