West Cheshire College hits back at lecturer’s lack of support claims

Jul 7 2011 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

A COLLEGE boss accused a former lecturer of appearing to want to foster a ‘them and us’ atmosphere between staff and students.

Line manager Liz McIntosh told an employment tribunal Annabel Cooper had difficulty engaging with her students at West Cheshire College but would not accept help.

In a contrasting interpretation, ex-science lecturer Ms Cooper, who resigned from her post after 27 years, had earlier blamed management for not supporting her in dealing with disruptive students at the Capenhurst campus.

Ms McIntosh said a classroom assistant provided to help with a Friday afternoon group highlighted that Ms Cooper's lessons were difficult to follow.

However, Ms Cooper, of Capenhurst Lane, Capenhurst, had declined to provide copies of her lesson plans as requested and had rarely filled in staff comment sheets on difficult students.

Ms McIntosh said the college did ‘everything it could’ to support Ms Cooper.

But she concluded: “Ultimately, Annabel was not able to accept our help and couldn’t adapt to the college’s students.

“It seems to me that Annabel simply couldn’t recognise that the behavioural problems she experienced with the students were caused by her inability to engage with the students.”

Ms McIntosh had earlier been accused of bullying by Ms Cooper. But Ms McIntosh told the tribunal in Liverpool that Ms Cooper, who alleges unfair constructive dismissal and a breach of the Disability Discrimination Act, had been aggressive towards her.

During a long period of absence due to sickness, Ms Cooper had also claimed Ms McIntosh removed important files from a cabinet, relating to her work as a qualification manager.

Ms McIntosh staunchly denied this and countered that she suspected the paperwork had never been prepared by her ex-colleague in the first place.

She suggested Ms Cooper was worried about a visit by the relevant examination board because ‘she feared she was going to be found out’.

The tribunal continues.