Supposedly Mr. Galloway is an alcoholic due to Mr. Hattrick's harassment, but his other lines of dialogue clearly suggest that while he may be a well-meaning teacher, he's VERY incompetent in many ways (mainly the fact that he uses improper grammar quite often, or fails to find the right words to explain something, and ends up using generic terms).
As for Ms. Phillips...let's just say if you're not a wolf in life, the wolves will eat you.