To refuse to give up time to help kids catch up?

[PeachyM]

So I’m a teacher. And we’re nearing the end of the school year- finally :) Two kids from the same family but in different years disappear off for a two week family holiday, which hasn’t been authorised. I’m not going to particularly question their parents’ decision because it’s up to them. But they’ve come back having missed two weeks of a core subject and the parents have now requested we give up time to help catch them up. I’ve said no because I already have a shit ton of end of year stuff to finish and I don’t have the time. Parents have accused me of being unreasonable and said that I’m refusing to do my job. Who’s in the wrong here?

In that instance as a parent the choice is:

(a) save £250 per week per child against
(b) each child having to overcome a knowledge gap and not handing in assignments on time.

If the parents value the holiday above the "free" tutoring the school provides then it is a choice the parents need to live with.

If it were my kids I'd be ashamed to say anything let alone ask and expect the teacher to give up their time like that! Cheeky little buggers.

Wow, entitlement in a nutshell!

They didn't have to go away in term time, at the end of the day. They made their bed!

I'd probably throw them some resources and suggest they get a tutor, in honesty.

Exactly. You shouldn't have to facilitate any catching up at all. If they'd been ill that would be a different matter.

Isn’t this truancy?

I would be shutting down the complaining in class mighty fast if I were you.

I would escalate their demand and let the appropriate body within the school deal with it.

I have read similar on another forum where parents whose children were out and about freely during lockdowns were not going to send them back to school, when schools reopened fully.

Instead they expected the teacher to provide online classes in her own time.
It didn't happen...

Packs weren't already prepared . They changed on a weekly basis so they got their textbooks copies and a detailed daily plan of work to be covered. Some weeks we didn't have to make any or some weeks you would send out a few.
Absolutely no problem doing this for sick isolating kids but not for holidays.

For the record I have no issue with parents taking kids out for hols but I have noticed a trend where they are going earlier in June when work is still full steam rather than the end of the month when school tours and sports day are happening.

YANBU!
If I had an email like that I would just forward it to SLT and they would deal with it - they definitely would NOT be telling me that I should catch them up.

I’m an AHT and DH is a HT. Neither of us would expect a teacher to do this, nor would any of our current or former SLT colleagues.

Heck no!! Yanbu x10000. I feel your pain. Escalate it up if you’ve got supportive management.

Im an EP and the CFery of some parents is astounding. Little jimmy has been waiting for his final obs for his EHCP but they’re going to Lego land that day so can I come in another day - erm no I work part time and my diary is booked months ahead.

Its the entitled attitude isn’t it that grates. Like you say if the chn in question had gone to Syria to visit a dying grandparent that’s a bit different but a fortnight in salou the they can FRO.

Similarly if they’d gone, taken it on the chin and not asked for catch up work that wouldn’t be okish as I know people have had rearranged holidays but you don’t take the p!ss like this.

Really? Would you not suggest your dc ask one of their friends what they missed and take it from there? I'm completely flummoxed that anyone would consider it in any way reasonable to ask a teacher to provide catch up material for time missed due to a holiday.

Op - I would respond, telling them it is not possible (no excuses or reasons) and suggest they consult a classmate.

As a parent, I might ask for this but the teacher is under no obligation whatsoever to provide you with even the bullet points of the topics covered. They were covered in class.
If you take your child out of class, you run the risk of missing out on key material that is covered in class. Why couldn't you ask another parent instead?

As someone up thread posted, the teacher was there in class and the pupils in this situation were not.

This is disgusting. I am so angry on your behalf. This is the type of entitled attitude some parents have that's driving people away from teaching.

YANBU, I’m one of those parents that took her child out for two weeks (last two weeks of term) to go on hols. No way would I have asked the teacher to do some catch-up, plus I know my DS would also tell me where to go! They’re beyond entitled. Thanks

That’s completely unreasonable. Stick to your guns and give them something- like a statement about what topic the children missed and a link to a website that they could use to access the topic, but don’t be feeling the need to work extra hours - let alone your precious breaks- just because they decided a holiday was more important than school

As a parent in that situation, I would ask my DC to ask classmates to lend them their notebooks so I could photocopy them and work on the same topics at home or get a tutor.
I wouldn't expect the teacher to email me all the topics that were covered in class. They've enough on their plate as it is. It was like that when I was a kid and it's what I do as a parent.
Given the entitled people I'm used to seeing out and about, if teachers had to make small favours for every single parent and child, they might as well put a bed under their desk.

That’s normally my suggestion- ask other people for their notes and look on Google classroom, but for the Yr 10 stuff it was pretty difficult! And it was over several hours’ worth of lesson time.

Not your problem. They can find out what material was covered and parents can help, a friend who is strong in the subject can help, they can get a tutor or the child can spend the summer trying to figure it out.

But the parents’ entitlement has really infected the kids and they’re complaining in class that Miss isn’t bothering to teach them so they’ll fail.

That's a disciplinary issue. They are being cheeky (and libellous!). How do you normally deal with cheek? How do you escalate if the cheek continues? Follow that process.

I assume it’s a state school? I don’t think parents who actually pay for their children’s education would be so entitled/presumptuous.
If their children fall behind because they wanted a term time break to Benidorm, then they can pay for tuition for them to catch up.
Teachers do enough additional work as it is.

Can you give them some bare bones notes and point them in the direction of some online resources?

I wouldn't even do this. The parents are CFs and their children will be CFs in due course.

Their entitlement is astounding. Iv had an injured child off 2 months. I ordered subject revision books. Asked teachers politely the subjects they were covering and then set dc work myself plus whatever school could send Even now dc is doing catch up work and we are paying for maths tutor

What has the SLT response been on this?

The entitlement is mind blowing

I don't think you are unreasonable to say no, but at the same time it isn't the parents who made the choice to go on holiday who are going to suffer the consequences, it's the children who had no say in the matter. This is exactly why it's bullshit when people say everyone is equal and we all have the same opportunity and success is based on how hard you work. It's not.

Success is based on the choices your parents made, and their parents before them, it's based on whether a teacher is willing to put more effort in than they are really required too, it's based on how much money your parents have and how stable your home life is, it's based on health - both mental and physical, and so many other things. I do find it quite sad that so many people are happy to say well their parents made that choice so sod the student.

Also, UK holidays are more expensive than going abroad! I know for a fact that my children will likely never go on holiday because we can't afford it. We both work but there is no way we could afford a holiday - UK or abroad in school holidays and before we know it we'll be at a stage where term time holidays won't be fair on our children because of the impact on their education. But then again, it isn't really fair that they don't get to experience things that their friends who do go in term time get to experience either.

I hope they have been reported and fined OP

If you believe that children can cover the work just as well from workbooks or online resources at home, surely there's no need for them to go to school at all - just collect the resources at the start of each year. Who needs teachers?
Seriously though, it's not just doing the work, it's most important to have it checked- they might have done it all wrong! So inevitable work for the teacher.

And speaking as a retired maths teacher, it's often the case that if you've missed last week's work, you can't even attempt this week's follow up without someone (guess who?) giving you an immediate catch up lesson, either taking away time from the rest in class, or in their own time.

This reminds me of years and years ago - before there were these sorts of official restrictions and/or fines for parents taking their children away in term time. There was always some kid or other off and they would swan back in suntanned and rested and demand extra work while the rest of us were completely frazzled. Sometimes they wouldn't even let me start the lesson with the rest of the class before "My Dad says you've to catch me up with some work" - I've even been harangued at parents' evenings.

I know there are a lot of drawbacks with the current situation, but it does seem to have made most reasonable people less entitled (there are always some though) and at least a bit aware that term time holidays are not ideal.

Oh, and in those days I'm afraid SLT didn't have your back - especially with more able kids who were expected to get good results. I can remember one or two from those days who went on multiple holidays each year and I always seemed to be at their beck and call.