AIBU to think that not being allowed to sit down whilst teaching is insane!

[Supermummy88]

Good evening all,

I’m a head of department in a secondary school where the work load has become horrendous. We have a new senior assistant head and he has made some awful changes and has increased work load by about 50%. Last week he made a complaint that he saw a number of teachers sitting down during lessons and that it’s not acceptable and that we should not be sitting down at all during any stage of the lesson apart from doing the register. I physically can’t stand for hours, but he doesn’t seem to care and thinks that teachers are not doing their job properly unless they are consistently circulating the classroom. I’m very close to giving up teaching completely and finding another career and I feel this has given me more of a reason to just leave.

What do you all think about this?

You don't know me yet you are making an assumption. How very rude and ignorant. I am of the age now where I am not interested in any more "new initiatives" which I last saw 25 years ago and which fell by the wayside 22 years ago. I would go. There is enough in my pension that I could draw it and survive plus I would get another P/T role outside teaching.

Sadly if this was announced in my school it would clearly mean that the slt were completely out of touch and had no respect for staff. I absolutely would leave. I'm close to the edge anyway so it would push me over. Being respected is very important to me.

I think it's a realistic threat (to leave).

A lot of teachers have. More teachers who are women in their 30s leave every year than the total of new teachers (men and women, all ages).

I nearly did in 2022 but at the last minute I found a nicer school. If my current one goes bad, I'll retire early.

@Bewareofthisonetoo I would leave too if I had this patronising, insulting, micro management at my school. There would be an outcry. Loads of jobs in my subject. Luckily slt are decent in my school and appreciate what we do.

Surely they’re aware that if standing staff should generally be in one place anyway, as to hear properly children need to track your mouth and face, so sitting is the same but just slightly lower down.

Yes but things like this are often the straw that breaks the camel's back. I'm on the verge of leaving teaching and something like this would indeed make me leave. Many others would feel the same. We've all had enough. Sick of the workload, the pressure and the constant disrespect from parents and the wider community and those in charge of Education whilst I'm on the verge of burnout trying to be all things to all people. People have no idea just how bad it's got and how much it is impacting both mental and physical health of teachers.

This is the school and not necessarily teaching. I imagine unions would be getting involved if they wanted to change the sitting down thing. Are unions already involved eg. Work to rule?

One school I worked at had a policy about how far apart posters should be on walls. Some management staff are ridiculous!