AIBU to ignore GCSE results queries during holidays before maternity leave?

Pretty sure they get the standard 5 weeks paid holiday, so let's say they are paid for half the summer off

Pregnant or not, teachers are not paid for the Summer holidays. Your annual salary is divided over 12 months but only covers term times plus a small number of weeks holiday pay.

Oh no not another post about teachers working, most professional people have to do it and also work long hours often in their own time too, it's not just teachers just noone else mentions it. Yawn.

If you haven't started maternity leave then YABU

I initially put YANBU but think i misinterpreted. If you arent on mat leave/ weren't pregnant how would you respond? If you are on holiday, is it not usual to have an out of hours/ not in work response on your email and why would you reply to Teams on same basis..

I have ticked you are not being unreasonable due to being on Maternity leave. However, regarding the holiday, teachers are on 52 weeks contracts. My husband always sits down and goes through queries and emails at results time and always has regardless of his position in the school. I think the messages you have responded to are appropriate but I wouldn't dwell on it, you chose to check the messages at the end of the day.

Of course I know and have first hand experience of other professions and NO it’s is not normal and should never be considered normal to be expected to work when in leave unless it is an emergency- which this is not! Leave is vital for a reason. Without being able to completely switch off every now and then leads to burnout in any profession but particularly in teaching

I expect maternity leave will start September the 1st….

Exactly this.

I notice the OP hasn’t come back to clarify. I’ve re-read this thread and think it’s actually difficult to answer as the OP hasn’t given full information.
Does her HOD teach the subject the request is about (think Head of English who also oversees Media studies but doesn’t teach it so has asked the person who knows the spec better). If no, then I would definitely say she should help out.

Is she just asking her to give a quick opinion on an individual student - ie, were the results unexpected? Did something potentially go wrong that needs investigating. The HOD will know the predicted grades but may not know how hard the student was working. A reply would probably take no more than 10 mins in which case it’s not exactly hard and the OP is just being difficult if she doesn’t help out.

or is she asking the teacher to review whole papers got back from the exam boards - essentially re- marking them which could take an hour or two. In this case, the HOD is being unreasonable
to ask that when the teacher isn’t required to work in the holiday.

As you're not officially on maternity leave yet (just taking advantage of the school summer closure - something not available to people outside of teaching), I don't think a short phone call would have cost you anything.
Honestly, but the time you'd sent that email back and written this fairly long post, you could have probably got the whole thing sorted.
Personally, I'm a primary school teacher, so we don't have the summer holiday exam results issue. But I do think that secondary school teachers should take results day as a "I may be required to do something" and be ready to offer a bit of assistance.

Teachers are not actually paid for all of the school holidays. They work a set number of days per year (195?), but their salary is split into 12 equal payments for ease.
So unless they are receiving additional payment or have a different contract (as may be the case for SLT), teachers are not obliged to do any work during the holidays.

Of course, a lot of teacher do prep for the coming term. There's not enough time to do all the marking so that often spills over into holidays.

Personally, I would reply to pupil emails and direct them to the appropriate person to assist. This is a massively stressful time for kids and I would feel invested in their outcomes and would want to reassure/advise.

What I wouldn't he doing is getting into the nitty gritty of work, since that is HOD job.

Bob in y11 was on it within seconds of me asking him to call his scripts back - I expected nothing less of him!

So I had his almost before I'd made it home.

Had to reread this a few times. You’ve broken up from work and about to go on maternity leave and remarks are HOD responsibility, not yours. So yes you’ve done everything correctly by acknowledging your students and redirecting them to the HOD. You are not supposed to be working now, so I don’t understand why HOD would need to speak with you?! If it’s their responsibility and they’re on hand for remark requests why do they need you?! I thought they got paid extra for this level of responsibility?

I’m a teacher.
The problems here are that the OP has already been ‘working’ by checking her Teams messages; by responding to HOD messages and by thinking she’s already on mat leave when she really isn’t. I think there’s a whole world of difference between being asked to write a scheme of work or set up a new classroom space in the school holidays and being asked for some info regarding possible re-marks for students whose results may not be what they expected.
It’s deflecting to say ‘well she could actually be in Labour/ had baby early / be visiting Machu Pichu when none of that is true. I’m a massive believer in teachers not being exploited and if the OP is really unwilling to speak to the HOD then that is absolutely her right. But I’m also a massive believer in you scratch my back… . This might be a 30 minute phone call that’s doing someone a favour. The OP may well want a return favour when she finishes mat leave!

OP, all the time you’ve spent here writing about this issue you could have spent phoning your hod back!

Fair play to you then. Our exams officer processes requests on the Friday morning after the dust has settled on Thursday. I'd argue that would be far more typical?

I was asked if it was worth remarking a kid that was 3 marks off (we have six components). I said it was, due to their handwriting being difficult to read (and then declining their WP during the exam period!), but you wouldn't know that as a HoD if you hadn't taught them. I'm assuming that's the kind of conversation the OP is talking about. If the OP ever comes back maybe she'll clarify.

You should have logged out of Teams if you’re on leave. Irrespective, it isn’t your job to organise remarks so no idea why that colleague felt the need to bother you.

Component marks were looked over by 8.30 in the morning.
Actual papers.

Actually it isn't. Only SLT can be directed to work during the holidays. Teachers do it out of good will so maternity leave or not she doesn't have to work

Actual GCSE whole papers? Or component breakdowns on a data system?

You either take 30 mins to answer a couple of emails or you don't.

In my school, it’s the hod that does this, SLT would have no involvement unless a student went to discuss it with them. I was there as subject lead and sought out a few students after having scanned the results to see if anyone was close to the next grade up. The students were not aware of the process unless they spoke to their teachers despite the form with review of marks being in their results’ envelopes. Grade boundaries were posted all over to help them decide, but my school usually only agrees to reviews of there’s a difference of 2 marks.

The HOD is responsible, I don’t think the subject teacher needs to be involved, necessarily. I certainly didn’t ask to discuss it with the other teachers in my department, I know the kids anyway and what would be the point? It’s fairly black and white.

I was reviewing papers on Thursday evening.

This is what I was assuming. The HoD might not know the class so if Johnny's mum is requesting a review, the HOD might want to check whether they need to manage mums expectations that what he achieved was actually in line with his level.

As others have pointed out, saying she could be on maternity leave is irrelevant. She could have chosen the week before GCSE results to put as the start but I guess is hoping to get paid for longer rather than starting on maternity pay.

Perhaps once she has the baby she might also understand how parents feel about things that are important to them and how a teacher that is responsive and helpful is so valuable.

She won't be reviewing whole papers the day after results though will she, they won't have been requested and returned in that time frame (unless I'm missing something?).

Surely more likely 'do you think it's worth requesting X's paper/a remark?' 'checks spreadsheet and replies.