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.

[TheNebulousBoojum]

Soontobeburns, how long ago was that?
As I said, it's an almost completely different job to the one I started with. The stress, expectations, level of interference and paperwork is beyond my comprehension on many days of the year.

[ReallyTired]

Not read the entire thread.

Schools have to follow employment law, and prevents employers demanding unreasonable amounts of notice. As it is, a teacher has to give half a term notice of leaving which is more than most jobs.

If schools insisted that teachers stayed to the end of the year then it would become impossible to sack a bad teacher mid year.

Teachers choose to stay in happy schools.

[TheNebulousBoojum]

Poor old OP has realised she WBU twice on this thread and no one seems to have noticed. Well, except me.

[dangly131]

Supply teachers can have full term contracts and the reason they do not stay, maybe is not due to them being inadequate but maybe they find they also struggle to work at the school the previous teacher did. If this is the case and there is a high turnover of supply staff, then I would question how the school treats such visitors to their school. I have been a supply teacher and while some teachers/schools welcome you, others see you as not a proper teacher and have crawled out from under a rock. I have been subject to racial abuse, name calling and have arrived at a school on an emergency call where no plans have been available and 5 minutes to think of a lesson! Supply work very hard and it is a tough job when you are not appreciated.

[TheNebulousBoojum]

I loved supply!
So many different schools, a choice about whether you went back there or not, very little paperwork no targets. I enjoyed it, but I needed a steady income.
Who knows, I may yet resign and return to being a wandering scholar when my children are earning.

[LittleLark]

YABU for a myriad of reasons.

[soontobeburns]

True Boojum my example was 7 years ago.
I also know someone who had to leave due to MH issues. So I do understand needing to leave to.

This is one of those grey areas for me and I do agree with special circumstances yes leave but if its just because you want to try something new its not good.

[Molehillmountain]

Of course yanbu. Really, teachers should choose their first job carefully, so that they can stay in it until retirement so that until then no groups of children are ever disrupted. And not have children. But I do know how you feel-I had a moment of irk when dd's not yet year two teacher announced her pregnancy knowing then that dd would not have her the next year. And then I spoke most severely to myself.

[Blissx]

Ok-playing Devil's Advocate here-so a teacher leaves at the end of a term from one school. Doesn't it stand to reason that that teacher will then go to another school and teach their new pupils and may be better than their last one? In an ideal world, that is what would happen. I believe your gripe should be more the fact that a good teacher cannot be found in a term to replace the old one and pay, not needing to be a qualified teacher, a school trying to save money by not replacing a teacher, media/uk society bashing teachers so it isn't an appealing career, are the areas you should be annoyed about, OP.

[Snoopingforsoup]

So if teachers only start new jobs in September, can they only get pregnant in certain months too? How would life work around this?
YABU.

[MidniteScribbler]

It's up to the schools to manage staff movements effectively. Some do this better than others.

I was offered the "dream job". Walking distance from home (instead of an hours drive), as Junior School Coordinator, in in a brand new private school with deep pockets. They were willing to pay for me to get my Masters. I'd been angling for that job for two years. The catch was that I had to start mid-year as they were finishing off the build, hiring staff, setting up classrooms, making decisions on resources to purchase, etc. I took it. I had a two week handover with a new teacher at my old school, and never looked back. If I hadn't been able to start mid year, I would have lost the job. Sometimes you need to do what is right for you.

[fairylightsinthesnow]

Also, given that GCSE and A level courses (from 2015 when they change it all again) are 2 year courses, actually then that nails us down for two years. There are already "transfer windows" in teaching - the TES jobs section quadruples in size Feb - April as that is when most jobs appear.If you get one in Feb, you hav work for 5 months knowing you are leaving - its hard to stay motivated and really give your all but you do it - can you imagine extending that period even longer? As someone said up-thread, its not about the teacher leaving, its about how they are replaced, and schools aren't magic, they can't conjour up a well qualified and long term replacement on spec. Supply teachers often like the flexibility their work gives them so won't commit. In my school we had a Head of Dept leave at Easter under something of a cloud, so we all re-arranged our timetables and took on extra work to teach the exam classes and the lower school were farmed out to non-specialists. It was A solution but some of the lower school parents weren't happy as you can imagine.

[Hulababy]

So OP - you've seen lots of good reasons as to why it should be allowed.
What would you judge as not being a good enough reason to change jobs mid year?

[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.

[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.

[mrsjay]

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

[mrsjay]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 = £££!!!

[Startail]

Abolishing Ofsted would help