to think that unless it is exceptional cirucmstances, teachers should not leave mid-year?

[ArseAche]

Fed up with this. Seems to be the norm these days that teachers just move on in the middle of some of the most critical years at school. Gcse, A level etc years and it is really quite unsettling for those about to take exams. Why not just see the bloody year out for the kids sake?

As I said, exceptional circumstances are fine, but just moving off to another school is pretty damn awful.

[sunshine401]

[MrsLouisTheroux]

teacher spot on!

[dangly131]

Chandon, the school can get a supply for the whole term and quite often they are asked if they want a long term placement before they start work. However, supply teachers can refuse to work somewhere they are not happy and I have done previously. I was booked for a whole week at one school but was racially abused by the staff so much I refused to complete the week. I asked never to be sent to that school again. When speaking with colleagues, I found it wasn't a one off and so a complaint was made about the way I was treated. So maybe the reason that supply teachers do not work a full term may be due to how they are treated within the school.

[teacherwith2kids]

The very fixed nature of how teachers can give notice is often a hindrance when it comes to replacing a teacher.

Say a teacher (me) gets a job in a new school starting at Christmas. As I have to give half a term's notice, the recruitment for my new job is organised to allow me to do so, and i am offered a job a couple of weeks before that deadline so I can resign on time.

HOWEVER, the school that I taught in until Christmas does not have the time to run a full recruitment round before the deadline. Therefore they cannot recruit an 'already in post' teacher to the vacancy my leaving creates, unless their school is willing to dispense with the usual notice period (the other school's willingness is often inversely proportional to the quality of the teacher, so actually the more you want a candidate, the less likely the school they teach at is to release them fro the usual notice period!)

So the school I am leaving has a choice - to find someone not already in a job (not likely to be the highest calibre of candidates) or to appoint a temporary replacement until Easter, by which time a proper recruitment process can be run and candidates already in post can apply and resign...

[Chandon]

It is only a problem because schools handle it so badly, and get strings of supply teachers in ( why not thae same supply teacher for a whole term?!).

The problem is not with the teachers leaving, but with how it is handled. Ideally a school should have a proper replacement organised, or use the ne ( one only) supply teacher until a permanent teacher is found.

In our primary one class ended up with 4 different teachers in one year, and the class suffered (y2).

[fairylightsinthesnow]

tbf to the school management, they have no control over who applies for any given post. Supply are a pain for the school (as they can need extra help, back-up etc) and expensive. Most school will advertise in the TES but you can't magic up well qualified staff. Especially in the current climate, people don't want to relocate, move, find their partners jobs etc so you get fewer applicants

[MrsLouisTheroux]

Sorry if this has already been said but we are contracted to work until the end of each term.

If we want to leave at Christmas, we have to hand in our notice by Autumn half term.
To leave at Easter, the cut off is Feb. half term.
To leave in July, the cut off is Whit.

Basically, a teacher can only leave at Christmas, Easter or Summer holidays. (Unless the HT 'releases' them under special circumstances).

I can't think of any other job where employees have to leave at specified times.

[Siriusstar]

Badguider, I agree with you. I don't have issues with teachers who leave mid year, it's the leadership that should be the ones held accountable if a succession of supply teachers are used. For one thing, make sure they pull their finger out and employ a full time permanent or full time temporary instead of long term supply. But I would also have questions for the leadership if there was a stream of supply teachers filling in. I would want to know why they are managing the school so poorly that people don't want to work there?

Just be thankful they have to give a term and not a month.

[exoticfruits]

I can't think why anyone wants a their child's class to have a teacher who is stuck and mentally marking time until they get out. Much better for them to move- and it is perfectly easy to employ a new one who is enthusiastic and raring to get stuck into a new job.

[badguider]

teachers give a whole term's notice, the question is why can't the school get their finger out and recruit a new teacher in time? most employees only give a month and replacements are found.

[exoticfruits]

Of course they should.If they are a permanent contract they have to give a huge notice anyway-I can't see why you want a teacher stuck there because they have to give up to a year's notice. They get pregnant at different times for a start! If a job comes up, in a school they really want, they can't be expected to to pass it up. A lot of teachers retire on their birthdays-they don't all have convenient summer ones.
OhTheConfusion explains it.
Other teachers can take over-the record keeping is all there-no one is indispensable.

I think we need robots for teachers having had
teachers shouldn't leave mid year
teachers should use some of their holiday to run activity clubs
teachers shouldn't have their own children in the school
and probably more!

[maddening]

I think they are restricted enough - only able to take hols in school hols.

You can't dictate so deeply into their lives without paying for that loss of autonomy in one's life.

[cumfy]

Sorry Astelia, didn't see your post.

Confusion the bonus would need to be structured so it was revenue neutral.

ie Nationally same pay average.

[cumfy]

Surprised there aren't bonus structures in contracts to encourage teachers to complete years.

[Startail]

Abolishing Ofsted would help

[OhTheConfusion]

Astelia, good idea but a 20% bonus would soon add up in a British school. The average bonus would be £6000 to £8000, then multiply that by 60 to 90 per school = £££!!!

[OhTheConfusion]

A lot of teaching contracts are non permanent and therefore do not include holiday pay so many of my teaching friends apply for full time permanent contracts throughout the year.

DH left his teaching job at the end of December... he handed in his notice over the summer. Surely that is a long enough notice period to replace him.

[Astelia]

My DCs school is a British International school in Asia and if a teacher leaves mid year it can be hard to replace them. So to encourage staff to stay the whole year the teachers get a 20% bonus in August if they complete the year.

It works well, it is an acknowledgement of people sticking it out and yet they can leave mid year if they need to. It works- very few leave mid year.

[ArseAche]

just come back to this to read all the replies.

So what we unanimously feel is it is not so much the teacher leaving, but the way the school handles the transition, which in many schools could perhaps be better? That is what I have come to believe after reading and accepting all the teachers point of views.

[spottyock]

I agree that it's not the leaving teacher's fault if adequate cover or replacement is not found. 3 months notice is surely enough time for a Head to look?

I left my job at Christmas. It was a hard decision and I did feel guilty about leaving the children but after sweating blood and tears for that school for over 7 years, and putting it before my own family, enough was enough.
I have never been happier and the children, fickle as they are, love their new (supply) teacher.

[mrsjay]

dd had quite young women teachers who she loved but the selfish moos decided to have babies how inconsiderate of them

[mrsjay]

It is frustrating whent hey get new teachers but YABU you cant dictate a teachers career

[BagWoman]

YABU

In many ways I agree with you.

BUT as a former teacher I left my school at end of autumn term- to get married and relocate. I gave 2 months' notice and decided it was better to leave then so my GCSE group had a new teacher for 2 terms than leave at easter when they would have had a new teacher for only a few weeks.

[SE13Mummy]

I realise that the OP has already declared herself to be BU but I can't think of many teachers who leave jobs mid-year for spurious reasons.

In February last year I was offered a job at a new school. I accepted but didn't start until September which made it a loooong time to teach in a school where the Head actively and openly ignored me (in person and electronically) in spite of my role requiring regular communication with her.

Had I been able to arrange childcare differently prior to September I would have been sorely tempted by the offer to start at the new school earlier. It's not much fun working for someone who will blank you in front of your own class. Or turn her back on you when you take your own young DC to a joint schools summer 'fun day' but very obviously turn back to converse with the person behind you.

I didn't leave early because I wasn't being bullied by the Head. Two people left mid-year because she hounded them out of their jobs. Another seven of the teachers (it's a 2-form-entry primary) left in the summer.