To think I shouldn’t have to attend 100% of meetings if I’m part time?

[parrrtime]

I work three days a week, but our staff meetings fall on a day I work.

AIBU in thinking that I shouldn’t actually have to attend all of these? Not to be purposefully obtuse about it but sometimes I could really do with leaving a bit earlier and tomorrow is one of these. I am wondering if it’s worth arguing that I really shouldn’t have to stay.

There is never anything important covered in the meetings, by the way.

I work .8 and only attend 80% of meetings. Management are quite satisfied with this. I try to only miss the meetings that seem to be less important, but sometimes I have to prioritise childcare.

Are you a teacher? Staff meetings take place outside your directed time but you are directed to attend a minimum of meetings pro rata as per your contract. My SBM pointed this out to me after attending 100% of staff meetings for over a decade while on a .8 contract. He said this had been noted by SLT and I was offered to look at the foci of the next two terms' meetings to see if there were any (the equivalent of 1 in 5) that I wanted to be excused from. Nice touch.

I still like to attend as it keeps me in the loop. Ditto Inset days which always fall on my non-working day.

Is the rule "attend meetings when they fall on your working day"? So if someone doesn't work a Wednesday, they don't have to come in?

Are the meetings after your working day would typically finish?

I think skipping the odd one is fine but I wouldn’t make a habit out of it.

I would also say I need to leave at X time (the time the meeting is meant to finish), so you’re not needing to stay for even longer.

Do you not want to attend the meetings though?

My meetings used to be on a day that I didn’t work and I hated it.
I changed my days just to be in on that day because I felt I missed important updates.

I opened this thinking the meetings were on the days you weren't working or outside your working hours and you were still being required to attend!

I don't understand the issue. If your work days are (for example) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and there is a team meeting every Thursday at 4pm why would the fact that you don't work Mon and Fri make any difference to whether you go to the team meeting on Thursday? Isn't the team meeting part of your job?

This is some of the most bizarre logic I've read on here for a while. You are at work on the day of the meeting, but because someone else is off you think you shouldn't need to attend?
If that's the case, is there any point in these meetings?

You would attend 0.6 of them under your part time working agreement. If they are after school. Same with in service days. I attend 3 out of 5 in service days as a 0.6FTE.

It's because teachers have 'directed time' when they are required to be doing a specific (directed) task outside of teaching time.
If you work part time then directed time should be pro rata.

So yes, you're within your rights to work to rule.

Unless you work somewhere with an extremely rigid timetable surely you are missing things on the days you don't work and it all evens out? I've had part time workers argue this, but on average there is a meeting or event to attend everyday or things happen on odd days. Jane works 100% of the week and attends 100% of meetings and appointments. Joan works 50% of the week and attends 50% of stuff. Joan needs to stop complaining!

You should have posted this on The Staffroom board OP, you'll just have loads of people who don't work in schools who don't understand how teaching conditions work. I'm sure it won't be long until the "This is why people think teachers are lazy" post pops up

I am a teacher 0.6 and I should do the same proportion of the meetings. In reality I pretty much go to them all as sometimes it's just easier being in the loop. I miss out the useless ones though.

Urgh I’m a teacher and this gives us part time staff a bad name. I work 0.7 but go to all our weekly departmental meetings. It’s vital stuff. Yes I could read the minutes but it’s not the same. It’s real jobsworth stuff this. I also go to all the in service days. I work in an independent school and benefit from the goodwill this generates.

Because the opposite is true. If staff meeting falls on a none working day you cannot be made to attend.

No you do 0.6 of them. You should get a statement of directed time that they want you to attend.

The meetings are normally outlined within a Working Time Agreement (nomenclature can vary) which is in addition to contracted teaching hours - so union advice is that meetings are pro rata.

Part time workers cannot be treated less favourably than full time colleagues. With regard to the mandatory attendance of meetings, such as staff meetings in a school, a PT employee who is expected to attend a weekly meeting with FT colleagues IS being treated less favourably. A FT colleague attends a meeting 1 night out of 5, ie 20% whereas the PT colleague who may only be employed for 3 days a week would be attending 1/3 or 33.3%

Everyone's situation is different. In an ideal world this would work as 'goodwill' but if I attend the inset days that I am not contracted to under my directed time- I would need to pay childcare for 4 children.

It will depend on whether you work in a school which follows STPCD, or in an academy/ independent school which sets its own contracts and conditions.

If your school follows STPCD, you can ask for a directed time calendar. Depending on the length of the meetings and how other directed time is allocated, there’s a possibility that you’d be working over your directed time allowance if you attend every meeting .

If you’re not covered by STPCD you would need to check your contract.

That said, if you need to leave early and have a reasonable HT, just explain.

But thats not how the STPCD specifies working conditions of PT teachers. As a 0.6 contracted teacher, you have to work directed hours of 1265 x 0.6 =759 hours over 117 days.
If your staff meetings are 1.5 hours long, thats 35 hours a year or 0.9 hours per week. In my school, our delegated hours include 15 mins before and after school plus 15 minutes over lunch, which equates to 6.25 hours a day or for 0.6 PT 18.75 hours a week. Add this onto the 0.9 weekly hours at staff meetings and you're already over your directed time budget. In addition, if you’re expected to attend a staff meeting because it’s on your working day then you will be spending a greater proportion of your days at meetings than your FT colleagues. It’s a misconception that PT teachers have to do the same % of every aspect of teacher duties such as training days, staff meetings, parent meetings.

Unfortunately I don't think this is true, at least not in my school! Say staff meeting is a Wednesday but you work 0.4 on Monday and Tuesdays, then you would still be expected to come to 40% of staff meetings, even though they are on your day off.

I'm part time and have to attend the two start of term inset days even though they aren't on my working days...

Bully for you! One could argue that it’s teachers like you that give part time workers a bad name as you’re prepared to work more than youre contracted and paid for. But please, don’t insult P/T teachers who rightly believe that being PT doesn’t mean they should be treated less favourably than FT colleagues.

Thanks I understand. Perhaps I am working more than I should be.

If the meetings are during your working hours then you should attend. If the meetings are after work hours then it depends on your contract. As a part time teacher I attended our weekly team meetings after school as they were integral to my job. I also attended parents evenings and moderation meetings on days I didn’t work as that expectation was built into my contract.

No you dont. This is breaking Part Time workers laws. You can offer to attend, but you must be paid in addition for these. They absolutely are NOT mandatory!

I don't attend any meetings or inset days that don't fall on a working day. I've never been asked to. For example I miss the first inset day every year as I don't work a Monday.