to think this woman has no need to apologise for ending her mat leave when she chooses

[lecce]

I am a teacher and am getting seriously pissed off with the comments from my colleagues about a teacher who has been off for about a year and is coming back to work a week before the six-week holiday. She is doing this, I assume because 5 years ago I did the same, because you are not allowed to say you are returning to work during the 6-week break (because you can't really go back) but if your entitlment runs out during that time you face a few weeks with no pay at all.

I assume that this woman, like me, cannot afford the few weeks with no money coming in but wants to maximise the time she can have off. People I work with are saying what a "nerve" she has etc but surely she is doing what is right for her and her family and is not cheating anyone? After all, it's not her fault that this is how the dates have worked out and that there is a 6-week holiday at this time, is it?

I don't really know why I'm so bothered (except I do because several of the people who go on about it were here when I did more or less the same, so I assume they talked about me in the same nasty way they talk about her but have now forgotten my circs) but it depresses so much that people (and women in particular) are so bitchy about each other and quick to believe the worst.

Tinkerbel I think the crucial thing you said there was 'the only good candidate'. The cover teacher was smart enough to negotiate for what she wanted and the school agreed. They can't then complain if the permanent teacher takes advantage of her own entitled pay! At least the school got a good cover teacher.

And tbh I suspect the whining colleagues either:
a) were childless - I say this because when I was younger and single I had little understanding of / sympathy for the whole baby thing and it DOES seem like pregnant people get a better deal when you're slaving away. I'm now seeing things from a rather different perspective
b) would have done the same but got pregnant at wrong time / couldn't afford to take the full time off. The people I worked with who could afford to take the time took their full entitlement - just like friends in other jobs who could afford it.

And I'm with Crab here re the 'keyboard warriors' - when I tell people I'm a teacher most people go, "Christ, I don't know how you do it!" I promise you, in ten years of secondary teaching I can count on one hand the number of people I've met who have said, "Oh I quite fancy being a teacher!" If people want to be teachers there are dozens of teacher training colleges all over the country - pile in people, pile in :o

But if you go back to the original post where the OP has said her colleagues were complaining about somebody coming back a week before the summer holidays. Obviously these colleagues thought this was not on even though perfectly legal. So this isn't a teacher bashing thread I don't think. As even the teachers themselves thought this was cheeky. For want of a better word.

Agree Mary. There is plenty of teacher bashing on MN but this particular thread doesn't fall into that category, as op was specifically talking about colleagues who thought it was taking the piss.

Cailin I know what you mean. The negative perception is a bit crap although tbh I find it a very MN thing - really don't know many normal real-life people who despise teachers so much.

That said I'm an Oxbridge grad and even my own dad once said, "You went to Oxbridge, why do you only want to be a teacher?" That pretty much says it all :( The holidays are the only real perk of the job and people have to have a go about that! Think it reflects the attitude some parents have that schools are there to save them paying for childcare...

Still, I live for my gold-plated pension all 50pence of it! :o

Mary / Tinkerbel - I gave my take on the 'colleagues' who I suspect were doing the bitching and freely admit in my younger, more stupid days I might have been one of them:

"And tbh I suspect the whining colleagues either:
a) were childless - I say this because when I was younger and single I had little understanding of / sympathy for the whole baby thing and it DOES seem like pregnant people get a better deal when you're slaving away. I'm now seeing things from a rather different perspective
b) would have done the same but got pregnant at wrong time / couldn't afford to take the full time off. The people I worked with who could afford to take the time took their full entitlement - just like friends in other jobs who could afford it."

CailinDana has it absolutely nailed there.

Or of course they might just dislike the woman in question

Sorry Cailin, only meant to highlight your name, but you are absolutely spot on and summarise the situation very well.

Many appologies if this has already been said but the whole money thing will balance out overall- if not for the individual. The lady in op will get payed for the holidays despite not working much of the year (and I have no issue with this) but at the other end of the scale are people like myself who worked most of the academic year but had baby before the long holiday so didn't get paid for it. Supply does not miss out because they'll either be on a fixed term contract or supply rates which give a much higher daily rate-if someone worked a full year on supply rates they'd be paid the same as someone on a contract for the year but the pay would not be paid as a salary.

Stresshead how do you highlight / strike through a whole line? Because seriously, I have to do every frigging individual word!

I think people in other industries can also plan their kids around convenient holidays. My current pregnancy wasn't timed at all but I will be finishing the week before Halloween so I'll be able to decorate the house with the kiddies, then I'll be off in the run up to Christmas which will make preparations and visits to family easier, even with a small baby around. I'll be off with my kids all summer holidays and won't have to worry about booking by holiday at the same time as one of my co-workers. Finally I'll be going back to work just as my older boys go back to school. It all works out pretty perfectly for me and I couldn't have planned it better. Unlike with DS2 where I had to start back at the beginning of January and so I didn't get any accrued annual leave to get me through the first few months back at work when I was having to drive down to the nursery to breast feed my son because he wouldn't take a bottle. You win some you lose some I suppose.

In terms of how this has an impact on children and their education: I will be spending a fair amount of time in my week back at work with the class I will be teaching in September. I'll get to know them and their strengths and weaknesses and they'll get to know me. In infants transition from one class to another can be a very scary prospect and this eliminates a lot of the children's fears about returning to school in September. This actually benefits the children.