To think my HOD is being a bit of a jobsworth?

[anniebolen]

Hello,
I'll start with some context, I am a teacher, currently I work 2.5 days a week through a job share, my co-teacher and I get on really well and have been working together for years. We both have 2 children each and our children are the same ages (both have 4 and 1/almost 1 year olds). This year we are both coming back from maternity leave. My co-teacher works Monday, Wednesday morning and Friday, I do Tuesday, Wednesday afternoon and Friday.
This year we both have children starting school, her DD will start on the same Monday as we go back to work and my DS will start the Tuesday. Now obviously this means that if we both work our normal days we will miss our children's first day of school. We decided to jointly ask our head of department if he would mind us swapping the first 2 lessons each day so we can go to our children's first day of school. We have seen our timetable, we don't have Y7 in either slot and as we teach all our classes together it won't make any real difference. The HOD started last year while we were both on maternity leave, however our previous HOD was happy for us to sort between ourselves any swaps, the only time we utilised this was when our children's respective nursery Christmas plays fell on the opposite days.
I have asked why he has said no and he made it clear he doesn't want to mess with the timetable while everyone is settling.
AIBU to think he is being a bit of a jobsworth? Should I challenge him again or accept that I'll miss DS's first day of school and that is part of the parcel of being a teacher?

Total knob jobsworth. Knobsworth if you like. I'd definitely politely challenge him about this

Interestingly, I had a very similar jobshare set up and it worked brilliantly for many years.

I also learnt towards the end of my time teaching to not ask for things like this but to inform - rather than saying 'do you mind if...?', I'd say 'just to let you know we are going to swap these days blah blah'. Managers are less likely to come back to you if you go in with a statement of fact. They can, of course, pull rank if they want to but I found they usually didn't. Give it a go next time - it works really well.

I consider the setting of expectations and the establishing of routines not only absolutely vital at the start of the year but very much a 'proper lesson'. I think that's what the OP meant.

YANBU.

Ask the principal/ head teacher

it's not just bloody teachers who may have to miss their kid's first day at school.

No, of course not, and they can start threads if they are cross if their annual leave request has been denied, if they want to.

OP, your HoD is being a jobsworth-it’s things like this that are making people leave teaching next, right and centre-there is just no need for it, other than micromanagement. Can you go to your head instead?

Put in a formal leave of absence request. It’s be approved at my school depending on previous absence levels. Then they’ll have to find cover for you anyway!
Being a teacher does not mean you should miss out on life.

Yeah but hardly unsettling for the pupils!

Perhaps the HOD is worried that this will become a common occurrence? That swapping days for X, Y and Z when suits (and I know that's not the case but he/she doesn't know you as you've been out in mar leave) will become the norm.

Their concern might be that the other staff/ kids won't know who is in on what days and that can be a bit unnerving.

Just putting another viewpoint out there though, but I agree that it does seem unreasonable.

Make your case to the head.

Abuse by decision.

I think, in the current climate where many other people’s jobs have adapted into very flexible or remote roles allowing parents much more scope to pick up/drop off at school (alongside a huge retention problem in teaching), it is unreasonable of the HoD not to agree this. If you piss off the few remaining teachers we have left, who will we have left to teach our children?!

I was once told by a (job sharing) optician, that teachers shouldn’t be allowed to jobshare as children deserved to have just one teacher. This really annoyed me! Interestingly, in my year group that year, both full time teachers were off for long periods with stress and had weeks of different supply/TAs and cover whereas the class taught by me/my jobshare partner didn’t have a day off all year.

Isn't the expression 'left, right and centre'?

I think this is your heads decision rather than the hod? As hod I’d have no issue but also no authority to authorise it. Maybe that’s been made clear on mat leave or maybe your old hod just did without checking.

A little goodwill goes a long way.