DDs teacher is constantly off sick

[northernnitemarrrr]

The school say this isn't an issue for her education ( year 1) But I just feel if a TA was a suitable teacher then they would be the teacher. And they having random Ta's or support staff cover the classes, so it's always a different person isn't really on. None of the TA's have been there all year, as they don't seem to last long in our class. Maybe it's the class or the teacher but AIBU to be pissed off ?

Oh wouldn't it be interesting to see what would happen to schools if all the teachers with stress quit and found something less stressful to do!

There’s be no teachers left.

Having spent 26 years as a teacher and retirees on ill health grounds thanks to teaching, I’d say support teachers striking for better pay and conditions in the Autumn.

Who the fuck would be a teacher now? Shit pay, Covid, shit government, shit conditions. Kids are great, but the rest is crap.

Schools local to me can’t fill vacancies for TAs, MTAs, caretakers, admin never mind teachers

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow MN will lose its shit if that happens. They’re fuming about RMT strikes being at the same time as GCSEs. This would send them over the edge.

Ha ha! They need to get in the real world where key workers are paid shit money for shit conditions. And now there’s staff shortages and they can get more in Alsi they’re leaving.

I hope it’s a big reset.

Tbh I can't think of a single key worker job that has decent pay and conditions. The country was so grateful (apparently, can't say I noticed) to us in the pandemic but the minute key workers try to make things better for themselves eg by striking the public hate us.
In every single key worker job there are vacancies and staff shortages because people are off sick. People just notice it more in schools because they are used to seeing teacher every day.

Ofcrouse, it's private. Would you be okay with an employer sharing your medical information with a client should you be ill?

Good grief, OP. You need to get a grip. You would not want to be treated the way you suggest this teacher should be treated, so stop it already. People have a right to privacy, they have a right to sick days. People have a right not to be exploited by employers.

Get over it.

I assume you've not read the recent threads from school business managers saying how they're finding recruiting for (low-wage) support staff roles including TAs an impossible task...

I think most people don 't need to work low wage jobs anymore, since there are so many vacancies. Why do they still do it? Many because they absolutely love the work itself or for altruistic reasons. These people are also most at risk of bunrouts.

And look what they get for their trouble? People demanding they get sacked if they displayed the slighest hint of their flawed humanity, such as getting ill, which could be caused by the horrid conditions and the entitled parents they have to work with just as much as not.

We can't afford altruisism of a love for your profession anymore, because this is what happens. We live in a society where you can only survive by being selfish.

They don’t need to say what the sickness is but if it’s something where lots of absence is to be expected (and clearly it is) then the school have been stupid not to let parents know that to manage their expectations.

The school don’t need to let the parents know anything!

Badicslly if teachers were paid a decent salary this wouldn’t be happening. A supply teacher despite spending 4 years at university to enter a graduate only profession gets just about the minimum wage.

Why would they bother? Teaching’s brutal. They get something else.

You question people who work in schools telling you that many TA’s are ex teachers, even though you say yourself you don’t know the background of them?

It is fact that many TA’s are ex teachers.

Over the years I’ve worked with ex teachers, ex nursery stuff, two ex SALTs, one retired head teacher, and various other people who worked as TAs.

The whole “Mary’s mum helps in the school a few times then becomes a TA” is the minority in my experience.

And yet last week many were saying they would take a day off because the heat made them 'anxious', ie a bit too hot and fed up.

There is a crisis in education. I actually think it's time for schools to stop papering over the cracks.

Work to rule, strikes if necessary.

Teacher workload and wellbeing is linked to the quality of the education children receive. Parents need to understand that.

If I have no planning time in school because I'm covering absences and they can't get supply, I don't have time to prepare the great lessons I'm capable of. I don't have time to sit at lunchtime to help the child that is struggling with work or home or friendship issues. I don't have time to meet my basic needs for food and toilet, never mind anything else.

If they can't employ a maths teacher, because no one wants to put up with the conditions, and they can earn more for fewer hours, then you get a PE teacher covering maths. Don't blame the poor PE teacher.

If I'm overworked and badly treated, I don't feel like running trips, or organising special events, or extracurricular clubs, or after hours tutoring, or any of the other "extras" that make a great rounded learning experience.

If they can't persuade enough graduates to enter the profession to fill the gaps, they have to keep lowering the standards of who they will accept onto teacher training.

Improving conditions for teachers = improving your DC's education.

If they gave the parents an idea of what to expect then they wouldn’t get people like OP being so pissed off. It’s basic stakeholder management. They haven’t communicated what’s going on or how they are ensuring education standards aren’t being impacted. If they’d sent a letter a few months ago saying Mrs Jones is unwell and we don’t expect her to be able to teach for the rest of the year but we have Mrs Smith the TA who will be delivering the lessons Mrs Jones prepared as per the curriculum, with oversight from the other Y1 teachers/the HT then parents would have been reassured.

This, x a million. I will 100% be supporting a teachers' strike for better pay and working conditions if the unions ballot members for one.

If they gave the parents an idea of what to expect then they wouldn’t get people like OP being so pissed off. It’s basic stakeholder management.

I think you're crediting the OP with far too much intelligence and compassion.

If they gave the parents an idea of what to expect then they wouldn’t get people like OP being so pissed off. It’s basic stakeholder management. They haven’t communicated what’s going on

They can't discuss a teacher's health situation with anyone, let alone staff. I have seen schools send out a statement where there is gossip (ie, cancer) but ultimately, they can't just say 'X is ill with....which explains why she's in and out like a yo yo'. Nor can they say that they are following their sickness policy or disciplinary policy or something else in trying to manage the issue. It's just not anyone else's business.

You are right, however, in that they could have let the parents know about what they are doing to ensure standards are kept up. But maybe they really don't feel they can make any promises.

*Chaoslatte · Today 11:05
ArseInTheCoOpWindow
The school don’t need to let the parents know anything!

Badicslly if teachers were paid a decent salary this wouldn’t be happening. A supply teacher despite spending 4 years at university to enter a graduate only profession gets just about the minimum wage.

Why would they bother? Teaching’s brutal. They get something else.
If they gave the parents an idea of what to expect then they wouldn’t get people like OP being so pissed off. It’s basic stakeholder management. They haven’t communicated what’s going on or how they are ensuring education standards aren’t being impacted. If they’d sent a letter a few months ago saying Mrs Jones is unwell and we don’t expect her to be able to teach for the rest of the year but we have Mrs Smith the TA who will be delivering the lessons Mrs Jones prepared as per the curriculum, with oversight from the other Y1 teachers/the HT then parents would have been reassured*

But they don’t know. When l was off sick from teaching as it is horrendously stressful l had a sicknote every two weeks.

Domething line cancer you can estimate how long chemo and stuff will take, but not all illnesses are like that. And it’s GDPR anyway. Your’re a parent, not a business customer.

The fact that the teacher is absent is not sensitive data so no, it’s not GDPR. It’s really not necessary to go into the details to provide a heads up to parents. No, it’s not a business but keeping parents informed of important updates is a pretty basic part of running a school.
Being signed off for short periods repeatedly is one of the reasons I said it sounds like this situation isn’t working well for the teacher either. It sounds like she could probably do with being signed off for longer to recover properly but keeps rushing back because there isn’t any cover.

But how can you sign a fluctuating condition off for longer?

If it really is that fluctuating then you can’t but that doesn’t stop you from telling parents that absence is likely and they’re doing xyz to mitigate the impact.

Hi, I know it's an oldish thread but I wanted to give the other side. I'm a teacher off sick at the moment. I've taught for 20 years with no health issues but my kidneys failed a couple of weeks ago. I've been off for a fortnight, I need a transplant which the NHS are trying to fit in ASAP for me; it looks around 4-6 weeks from this point, and the doctors tell me I need 12 weeks to recover to let the new kidney embed. So I'm going to be off for 5 months or so from the look of things. Tbh I'd still try to go to work but I've been put on dialysis every day, every 4 hours, so I can't leave bed - which is why I'm sat on a phone like a lemon, reading rubbish.

I've got 20 years experience, why throw that away for 5 months? I have another 20-25 years of teaching in me, and I'm very, very good at what I do. My school have, of course, arranged a replacement, but my absence is unavoidable at this point. Honestly, I'd try to consider it like a maternity leave - plan it as much as possible, but ultimately it's unavoidable, and importantly, temporary. Illness happens.

It is frustrating but the head/governors have to follow the sickness absence policy and it isn't as simple as "get another teacher".
I have been a school governor for many years and there is nothing more frustrating than parents and other staff assuming that nothing is being done about a teacher who is hardly ever in school.
I have been the parent in this situation too and there are no easy answers, schools simply do not have the money to supply.

Get well soon @MollyMalone2801 . That sounds grim for you. Hope ypu get your op soon. Wishing you a full and swift recovery 🌸🌸

@RosemaryAndTime - whilst I understand what you’re saying, it’s the bad comms, or lack of any comms, that gets parents’ backs up. There may well be LOADS happening behind the scenes, but upset children coming home every day saying Mrs X wasn’t there again, the school secretary did our spelling test, we missed PE because of XYZ does not give parents confidence that things are being run well.

Teachers like everyone else do get sick sometimes. When my DS was in Year 6 his teacher was off for 6 months. We were not told why and school kept getting in cover teachers for 2 weeks at a time. Then they left and no teacher for a few days then another cover teacher for a couple of weeks. After about 3 months several parents had raised concerns. I found out his class teacher had been in hospital having a hysterectomy operation and got a nasty infection immediately afterwards. I only found out because a friend of mine had been in the same hospital in the gynea ward at the same time. I obviously could not tell other parents as his teacher entitled to privacy.