I'm quitting teaching, I've decided, AIBU?

Schools have insurance for supply teachers. Or they use teaching assistants to cover classes.

You still don’t get it, do you?

She can’t just leave like in a normal job. She’s being bullied and the thought of going back to school is making her anxious. So her only option to cope with the notice period without ruining her mental health is to go on sick leave. That is her right.

Why you are so bothered about this, I can’t understand.

Please dont do this, as HR for a multi academy trust, go and speak to them about how you are feeling, most will let you leave outside of normal terms and conditions.

Going down this route won't always mean that you will get 100 days paid, it will likely add more stress in that you will be required to attend Occupational Health, Management meetings etc and in the long run, add to your stress if work is the problem.

Agree with this

Way to reveal yourself as one of life’s bullies.

Not the OP’s problem. Yes. I literally wrote that. But some posters seem interested in the real situation in schools.

The difference is between genuinely being too ill to work or choosing the option of 'going sick' simply because it's an option. None of us know where OP lies, maybe she doesn't fully know herself (we can often cope long beyond when we should be coping), hopefully a doctor can help assess.

Not the OP’s problem.

This is the problem with teaching. Teachers are made to feel guilty for being off sick because of the pressure it puts on colleagues and students. However the people who should feel guilty in these situations are the management teams who create toxic environments. They are the ones to blame.

The OP is being bullied. She has gone through the procedures to tackle this and the school have done nothing. Why on earth should she be made to feel guilty for not being able to cope with being bullied and for the school’s failure to do anything to help her?

I've seen enough teacher stress, in my own DP and many others to be so near to certain that I'm sure that what @thequickbrowndog says is the truth.

Best decision I ever made was leaving teaching. I was stuck in traffic one morning on the way to school, filled with the usual dread about my day ahead. I quit that day without another job to go to. Had to give 3 months notice, but managed to find another job I that time. I initially took a pay cut, but managed to work my way up again to a better salery😊

I stayed working through my notice and Ieft completely broken. For 6 months after I couldn’t function properly - and no, vipers, I took nothing from government assistance even though I have paid into NI so was my right. I don’t think op deserves to be told she is dishonest and ‘crafting a plan’ she is clearly sick.

Your approach sounds reasonable.
I hope you're happier whatever you're doing now.

Try travelling and teaching in International Schools and in places where you would like to explore.
Try moving to your favourite sea side town and working as a tutor, or an emergency teacher.

If she is ill she can't work the notice period. If she has a contract that she has to give notice by a certain date she is tied. The only alternative is to negotiate a different leaving date with the school but maybe if the toxic environment has made her ill she is entitled to her sick pay.

3 months off work 'sick' isn't going to do anyone any favours when applying for new jobs either in or out of teaching.

You have gone past “just asking questions “ some time ago and you know it. When lots of other posters think so and tell you then maybe rethink?

The issue with going off sick for a half term or term is that the school can't get a proper replacement and the pressure piles up on the remaining staff. This isn't the sick teacher's problem, but it can turn a bad situation in to a worse one for the remaining staff and students.

OP, someone suggested going in to the careers service. Round here those jobs are paying about £22k.

I’m sure you ‘don’t recognise’ the OP’s account because you probably were one of the people doing the bullying, if you were ever a teacher before. Denying someone’s reality and questioning their competence (‘how long have you been teaching’) are classic bullying tactics. What a prize specimen you are.

If the OP can’t face going back to work and her mental health won’t allow her to, she can be on sick leave for as long as she needs to be. That is her right.

I’m sure she will be handing her notice in as soon as gets back and there may be the chance for her to negotiate early release. However bullies in management like to make people’s lives difficult so they may decide to punish the OP by making her stay until Christmas. In which case she would have my full support in taking the entire four months as sick leave, if she needs to.

Also, you cannot be discriminated against by a future employer for having taken sick leave in a previous job. Employers are no longer allowed to ask about this on job applications.

It’s absolutely awful, the resignation dates and cut offs make it so hard to actually be able to leave unless you are going to another school.

I was bullied out, but worked my notice I could have gone off on the sick but I decided to do the bare minimum instead. It was easier for me as I left in the summer and the preceding term was a lot shorter than the current one for OP

If OP is struggling with mental health due to the workplace then she is entitled to take time off work for it

Totally agree with this. You don’t see threads on here with accountants moaning endlessly about how badly accountants are treated and agonising about whether to leave the job or not. Mostly people who don’t like their job or in a workplace with poor conditions either stick with it or change jobs…
I retrained as a teacher aged 50 after a previous career and have mostly enjoyed the job but the quality of management wouldn’t pass muster in a business enterprise/very amateurish. But people who have only ever been in a classroom are unaware of that.
After 13 years, have decided to quit and do something else - another career change at 63 and no intention of ever retiring.
I am handing in my notice this week to leave at Christmas but will tell the Head that if he gets someone sooner to do my job I’m happy to go then - gives him more flexibility and with any luck I will be able to go before the end of term. Wouldn’t play the ‘sick with stress’ card - very shabby and dishonest thing to do.
Why not just have an actual grown-up conversation with your Head and agree a mutually beneficial arrangement?

Again, asking genuine questions isn't bullying. I'm not the only one raising these points but as a pp decided to jump on me a precedent has been set.

She's fed up.

Is that being 'sick'?

Too many people add a MH label to feelings that are unpleasant but not an illness.

The fact she can 'plan' to be off sick suggests it's a construct - premeditated 'sickness'.

There are formal channels to tackle bullying at work.

With all due respect, none of us know how 'sick' OP is. Clearly something isn't right, obviously.

so you understand she is currently being bullied and feels her mental health has been impacted yet you still come on her and bully some more? Nice.