To ask teachers - if you could take a holiday in term time, would you?

[Allofthetimeithappened]

I’ve obviously no way of policing the replies but I’m a teacher and I would if the option was available.

YABU - how awful, no.
YANBU - off like a shot.

How would that work? Who would cover your lessons?

Of course I would. I could afford to take me family abroad out of holiday time. Why would anyone want to be limited to when it’s busy and expensive if there was a choice. I’m aware I get amazing holidays as a teacher…thr only down side is I don’t get any choice or flexibility. Who would teach my classes in my absence though?

It’s a completely hypothetical scenario …

They have it Australia where after seven years employees accrue long service leave (LSL). Employees can use it unpaid/half pay/full pay. Hours continue to accrue even when you're on LSL.
Naturally employers have the last say in how many are given LSL at any one time. They have to ensure the lessons are covered, though teachers leave cover. My school had two terms' notice of intention to take LSL.

Lots of teachers use it, taking a term off, extending a school holiday.

It works very well and I used it a lot.

It was fab.

I’d love to…but just not possible. I do understand why friends take their kids out of school for holidays in term time and I’d be tempted to do the same in their shoes..but has never been possible for me. My mum was a teacher too, so the idea of the “cheap term time holiday” was never an option.
(She did enjoy a few nice holidays when she retired though, before dementia took hold of her)
One of the things I was absolutely determined to do when I was on maternity leave was to have a short “term time UK break” It felt so liberating!!

I absolutely would! I've heard that in some other countries teachers are able to do this. I would love it!

Just a reminder that teachers are not paid for the long breaks in the teaching year. Their pay is calculated over, I think, 195 working days, and they get the same amount of paid holiday as most other professionals. However, it is, for convenience, paid monthly.

In answer to your question, no, I wouldn't. It would put far too much pressure on my colleagues and my classes wouldn't get the attention they deserve.

Ex-teacher here... and yes!

I taught for all of my 20s and into my 30s. Missed out on many hen weekends/ festivals, or just had to go late on a Friday after school and return on Sunday, which often resulted in having to travel alone (when all my non-teacher friends were able to stay longer). Could never book a day off for a special occasion- like when friends chose to get married on a Friday.

I would rather have had less holiday and it be flexible (as I have now in my current role). I now have 6 weeks annual leave and I much prefer it to 13 weeks of school holidays only. And I have school- age children of my own if that's relevant.

It's not just cheap holidays that teachers miss out on. It's the other events that happen throughout the year, that you have no flexibility to have time off work for. Weddings, moving house, big birthdays, etc.

Well everyone wants more flexibility in their jobs - more flexibility in holidays, working hours, locations etc etc etc to suit their own personal circumstances.

But the simple fact is some jobs have restrictions for very valid reasons and obviously being a classroom teacher is one of those so this is a ridiculous question designed to be inflammatory.

What is the point of the thread?

Do you want to try to gain sympathy for teachers, or arouse more apathy to their valid concerns about their T&C, work overload etc?

Putting this in AIBU I suspect is only going to cause the later, if you genuinely just want answers from teachers you might be better sticking to the staff room.

@justsayingthat Teachers can and do get a day off for moving (just one more thing to co-ordinate). An ex colleague took a couple of extra weeks at Christmas to visit rellys in Australia

The point of the thread was to ask teachers if they would take a term time holiday if this option was available. Why does that upset you?

Absolutely!
I taught in Denmark for a while and there you got 5 additional days to take at any point during the year it was amazing

Ex teacher here and my dh is a teacher. Although it sounds like a good idea on paper, to organise it would be a nightmare! My DH has been given an afternoon off in lieu of a residential he did. He's had it for over a term but just cannot arrange a suitable afternoon that doesn't cause disruption! So how he'd arrange a weeks cover I don't know.

Also, would your kids still be fined for missing school if you had a term time holiday? If I was a child free teacher, I'd say 100% yes to term time holiday but otherwise it's too complicated.

This again:

• some teachers: we’re not paid for the holidays!!!
• no teacher ever: I’m paid Spine point M1 which is £25,714 but of course I should pro rata that as I only work 195 days so actually the salary is over £30K

This really wasn’t intended as a stupid argument over the rights and wrongs.

So imagine a situation where (say) you live on the English side of the English / Scottish border. Your own kids go to school in England but you teach in Scotland and have a different holiday. Would you take your own kids out? Or would you take the ‘education is too important’ line.

Or any different holidays

or you work 2 days a week (let’s say Tuesday and Wednesday) but your kids are school age

or any imaginary situation you like.

Im just wondering how many of us believe education is of paramount importance or if we’d gladly take our own kids out if we had the opportunity!

@bornintheuk2 This is true, but I've never managed to get all my 'moving' done in one day! Sure, the boxes were physically in my house but it would have been nice to have a couple more days to unpack/ clean/ sort, rather than having to go straight back into work the next day! If I was to move house again, I would probably book a week's annual leave to accommodate it and not feel so pressured to get everything done in 24 hours.

@Allofthetimeithappened I would take my kids out during term time. I honestly don't think a week here and there has any long term impact on educational achievement. In my experience, it has more impact on the teacher- when a pupil returns after missing school (could be illness or holiday) and, for example, the whole class is writing a story that they've been working on for the past week, you have a child who needs a lot of 1:1 input to get up to speed with the task, or something separate to do altogether.

As a teacher, it can actually create more work if you have a day off (sick)...so I also understand why people would choose not to take time off in term time!

Not quite the same situation, but I found it heavy going on return from short absences for illness; even when reassured that my class had been "as good as gold" for the person taking over, I did feel the backlash! But of course, coming back still faintly groggy from the latest lurgy is not the same as coming back invigorated from a lovely break.....
On the other hand, I have done supply stints for pre-planned absences, where the teacher concerned was taking a term's sabbatical (eligible to apply after ten year's service, related to their subject, unpaid leave, independent sector) and this seemed to work well where there was a clearly defined time period, well-organised handover, etc.

I'd do it. After year 11 and 13 are off on study leave though. I've often thought it would be a good way to improve retention and recruitment. Not being able to go to weddings, long weekends away with non teaching friends, funerals (of not immediate family) is sometimes really rubbish. Yes we get a lot of time off, it's part of the reason why I'm still teaching.

Another (ex) teacher who would have preferred shorter holidays with some flexibility.
I've missed out on weddings, funerals, long weekends with groups of non-teacher friends, and brief visits from relatives and friends from abroad, for four decades. The absolutely best thing about retirement is being able to take part in those things.

I have, but in college, though. And I only worked PT. I arranged cover and taught some of my colleagues lessons in return. I went on a cruise for my 50th birthday.

I can and I do. Although I usually still manage to find good value breaks during school holidays.

I'm amazed at the cautious reception of this idea.

in Australia you get the teacher holidays AND the flexibility. To be fair it's after seven years' in service. What's not to like? Australian jobs other than teaching get LSL.

And while I'm here, there's no problem about parents taking their children out of school in term time for holidays.

That is the best bit about retiring early from teaching, finally you get to go on cheap holidays out of school holiday periods. When I was teaching I came back from Europe each summer for GCSE and A level results days during my summer holidays. It always annoyed DH.

Whereas it would be lovely to have had affordable holidays, it isn't something I could have hand on heart done, as it would have too much impact on your class.

I like the idea of a sabbatical though - planned in advance so you could get long term, quality cover in for a month or term once every 10 years or so.