List of striking teachers

[Motherland2624]

Hi
one of my sons is in the upper sixth of the local grammar school
the headmistress has just sent a list of striking teachers (for our information)
to get a idea of what our child’s day is going to look like
do you think this is a power move by the head trying to name and shame the teachers
I think it’s totally unnecessary its a legal right to strike
strike or not I support all teachers in their choice
just wondering on peoples opinions ?

Looks like the HT knows they shouldn't have done this and is trying to back pedal and justify in whatever means they can, to avoid any backlash incase it gets taken further by any staff and/or unions.

I guess at least they do acknowledge they have done wrong.

Point re other teachers sharing their strike status is definitely not valid. Its irrelevant if individuals have chosen to do so directly with their students. It is not the HT's right to do so - I sincerely doubt they checked with every teacher regarding their position and how much they wanted to share with parents before they sent the message out.

Why wouldn't she?

The HT did something that should not have happened.
Its good that others are willing and able to pick someone up on their mistakes, even more so when they aren't directly involved. Hopefully more parents did the same too.

Do you have staff emails? I'd be tempted to forward the message to the striking teachers, with an encouraging message to them on the top.

Is this not breaking the law around GDPR? Union membership is protected specifically under GDPR I believe.

I know technically people could be on strike but not in the union, but the head is sailing very close to the wind.

Is she normally so lax about information security? This would actually genuinely concern me from that point of view even if I didn't have an opinion on it relating to striking.

TBF, I am not sure revealing a member of staff is off sick is legal either?

To be honest, I think that is sailing close to the wind, but union advice is that they would be "unlikely" to win a GDPR case as some teachers could be being covered by e.g. TAs, and teachers could be off for other reasons, so it is not completely revealing who is in the union.

If the head has effectively said "these teachers are in the NEU" then it is a GDPR breach and I think the union would be very interested.

FWIW, I sort of agree with this, and told my own classes I was on strike today, but I don't think that gives the head to ignore GDPR?

Would you want them to ignore GDPR with your own child's data if they felt they had a good reason?

TBF, I am not sure revealing a member of staff is off sick is legal either?

where else would they be?

Thank you so much for doing this.

I think it's important for heads to know this sort of action will not go down well with all parents!

What, you mean when a staff member is not teaching their own lessons for a day?

Well, in my own experience I have been:

1. On a trip.

2. On a training course e.g. first aid.

3. Fulfilling another role I had within the school at the time.

4. Taken off timetable to help some students catch up with coursework. (I know this is a bit different as student might see me in school).

Colleagues have also been off for another reason such as compassionate leave or emergency dependents leave etc.

If I'm ever covering another class, I always just say "Mrs X isn't here today, and don't engage in questions as to why." If I know when they will be back, I do share this with students.

Fairly sure this is illegal! I have worked for a head who 100% would have done this in an attempt to pit parents against teachers (she once told parents their child's teacher was off once again due to pregnancy complications and antenatal appointments). I know her staff purposely didn't tell her and the school was scrambling.

My current head is respectful towards staff and would never dream of doing this. He supports strikes (why wouldn't he? Fully funded strikes means less out of his budget, and better retention) and striking staff were more than happy to tell in advance so staff could be deployed effectively with only key worker and vulnerable children in.

Compassionate leave.
Medical appointment.
Sorting a childcare emergency.
Training course.
On a trip.
Dealing with a safeguarding disclosure or involved in a meeting about a child.
Suspended.

Staff may have chosen to share it with students, but not for the head to email their names to all parents. Massive breach of trust as well and I hope the head is now shitting themselves about the consequences.

But in sixth form classes don’t have names. It would mr x’s English class as the name so how else can the pupils know of their class is on.
maybe she had permission from the teachers to share it.

I suspect our child / children attend the same school. I read the E-mail in the morning, It took me about 1 minute to compose my reply questioning how appropriate a “send to all” e-mail was ( absolutely not in my opinion ). I haven’t received a reply because this particular school has now made it very difficult to contact them ( they use a generic communications system ). I have other issues with this particular schools leadership….but that’s another story.

i have had no response from op but @SupportiveDad how does the email affect you ? that you wanted to chide the head teacher.

to highlight it was almost certainly ( happy to be proven wrong ) a GDPR issue, I didn’t need to know about teachers striking who were not directly involved in my child’s teaching

I'm not answering for@SupportiveDad , but if someone has sent me an email, I feel that I'm within my rights to reply and express my opinion about it. I'm not sure why you think otherwise.

@Crumpetdisappointment GDPR protection is there to protect the subject (i.e., in this case the teacher) from adverse affects - it doesn't really matter if the OP is affected. Schools (particularly leadership) have had extensive training on GDPR as by their very nature, a school handles a LOT of sensitive personal information and so should be well aware of what they can and can't share. This might not seem a big deal to you (and there may well be several of those teachers listed who also don't care either), but if a head is willing to breach GDPR or simply not even think about before sending an email containing lists of personal info then I'd be worried as a parent about how the school are protecting my own child's personal information too.

thanks @catsandkid

and thanks to @SupportiveDad

I would also email to point out they were in the wrong, and because they were and it was a terrible thing to do, and is also have emailed the Governors to alert them of lack of professional conduct if the headteacher, and because I'd expect HT to know how and what is appropriate to communicate to parents.

It's actually really astonishing that a head would be so thoughtless. It's so incredibly basic. I would think very much the less of her competence to be running a school, following this episode.

I wouldn't be impressed by either the Head's actions or the apology which seems to suggest a lack of understanding of the real issue. This wasn't an oversight, like using CC rather than BCC on a mass email (still wrong and still something I'd mention to the sender but almost certainly a simple mistake), but a deliberate decision to share personal information inappropriately. I would expect schools to be pretty hot on Information Governance so an incident like this, which suggests the Head lacks some knowledge or understanding of the basic principles would have me wondering where else there might be deficiencies.
I wouldn't be screaming for her resignation or anything, not over this alone anyway - she might be fabulous in all other areas for all we know. But it is absolutely not unreasonable to raise the issue and to wonder if it could be a sign of wider problems.

The Head doesn't really seem to have grasped that it was out of order to send a list like that.

I mean, when a teacher from our local primary was horribly assaulted in a local pub by her husband everyone knew why she was off school, but it would have been completely out of order for the HT to put it in writing.

This is no different. Privacy is privacy.