To think that if I call in sick and have been sick for a few days now I shouldn't still be expected to work from home?

[Gotosleepeveryeffingone]

I'm still baffled as to why this past week when I have felt so utterly miserable from this cough/cold/phlegm/bodyache/sore throat combination (yes I know many people will refer to it as just a cold but I felt it was more than that) and to add an extra challenge my DS (just turned 1) and DH are also sick I was expected to be up and call in and email work to colleagues by 7am each morning.
For the first day off, I get it, no one was expecting me to be off, neither was I to be fair, so I send work in for cover lessons, as I had already more than half planned work for these lessons anyway but in order for me to have relevant lessons to send in by day 4 of me being sick than I would have to be working whilst sick. I could barely get out of bed and baby was super unsettled and DH despite having gotten sick over a week ago was still 'recovering' so late in the evening once baby is finally asleep I'm working on lessons.
I bet most people reading this thread title would have thought that is unreasonable but as soon society realise it's a teacher than who cares right.

And ofcourse when you get back into work you can have a week's worth of marking just waiting for you.
In my younger days, pre motherhood I would just go in sick and sneezing because sending in cover work was a ball ache but I have had the painful realisation now that I don't get better after just one day off anymore.
I know I sound pissed off but this morning when I needed to get to GP before 8am to make an appointment I had hoped that I could ask a colleague who was teaching the exact same lesson to a class similar to mine that morning might be able to help by sharing her lesson ...no such luck, instead I was advised to send work through. Lovely.

It makes me so mad, op. If you are sick, that means you’re not capable of working. Believe me when I say that you’ll wish you hadn’t set any work when you return anyway, because it won’t have been done or would have been done wrong, with people moaning left right and centre about what you’ve left them to do!

You are too sick to work, and that includes setting cover.

This isn’t the case in teaching. She’ll still be taking sick days, despite setting work for her classes! It’s appalling.

What?! That's absolutely ridiculous, I had no idea this was a thing. I naively thought the lessons were already planned well in advance and that's what teachers were doing on inset days and the school set a structure of what subjects that were to be taught.

I can't believe teachers are having to do this when unwell and lessons are planned so last minute. That sounds like a nightmare when you are ill.

You can't plan that far in advance because every lesson you are assessing where the students are at, what they need further support with, what needs to be adapted and extended and differentiated going forwards. It's a flexible, adaptive role in which you respond in real time. You have a long term plan of what will be covered in the half term, but the delivery is something you are planning lesson to lesson. And while a teacher might have lessons planned that they can deliver with their subject knowledge and skills, this isn't something a cover teacher can walk in and do. So you have to plan a different lesson that they can deliver, which means the lessons you have planned for that week go to waste. The idea that you could possibly have a half term's worth of lessons prepared in advance that a non-specialist could walk into the classroom and teach is not anchored in any kind of reality!

“Anyone who's in a job that can be done remotely does some work when sick”

Untrue. Why would I do work if I am sick and being paid sick pay?

It's ridiculous. In my school they don't use supply teachers so you can't just send a copy of the medium term plan with objectives and they'll manage. I have to provide work and resources that a TA, who isn't paid to come in early, can teach.

I don't take time off sick unless I'm throwing up or can't get out of bed.

Neither me or my colleagues do this. I’ve worked from home if not well enough to be in the office but if unwell and off sick then work phone goes off, out of office goes on and that’s it.

There is a structure but the five inset days per year are for training on safeguarding and new policies and procedures or long term planning - how would it be possible to produce lessons for the 190 days on those five?! Every lesson is an hour-long presentation that has to be delivered by someone with subject knowledge and has to be tailored to the individual class of students in front of you.

So for example, I might know that this half term I'm teaching Macbeth to Year 10. Maybe last year I had Set 2 and this year it's Set 4 so I can't reuse the same materials, they need to be adapted. If I work in a good school with a great English department, we share lessons so the person who had Set 4 last year gives me their resources but I still have to tailor it for this group. Ok, that's my long term planning. Medium term planning, I know that in Week 4 I'll teach them how to write an essay on an extract. But I'm off sick that week, and a cover teacher will take the lesson. I can't just send him or her the extract and tell them to guide the class through how to annotate and analyse it. When I teach it, I'll model how to choose a quote and we'll brainstorm it together on the board. I can explain the context and answer questions and correct misunderstandings. I can scaffold and support and I can offer extension to those who need more challenge. Can someone coming in who might not have ever read Macbeth teach my lesson? No! They need something different to deliver.

And even if I'm there to teach it, there might be a disruption or maybe we won't get through it all or I realise they need more time or something pitched a bit differently so my plan for how I move on will change. By the end of the half term, we will have covered Macbeth but how we get there is going to be something I manage on a day to day basis, constantly adapting and changing the materials I already have.

Or that's what my life used to be before I left teaching! Now when I'm ill, I stay in bed.

“Or that's what my life used to be before I left teaching! Now when I'm ill, I stay in bed.”

👏👏👏

It is rubbish OP but I think you have a slightly skewed view of other jobs.

Some people such as me have clock on and off jobs. If I'm sick I don't clock on and I don't work.

Others still have to do bits even if they are sick. If DH were to be off he'd still have to do a few bits from home, possibly including running a meeting if it was one only he could do.

The fact that you can set cover suggests you are ill but not at deaths door. I suppose it's just life and part of the job you chose.

Pretty sure union guidance is you don't have to but in reality we all do because it makes our colleagues lives easier
That said if any of my team said they were too ill I'd set something from a bank of lessons I have for this purpose. It's a tricky thing to do on a full teaching day but it is part of my job

And no don't mark cover. Set something when you return to check content has been understood, much more meaningful and holds students more accountable

Just start saying "No I can't I am not well enough"
If you had been knocked down by a bus and were in a coma they wouldn't expect cover work would they. So there has to be a boundary between when a sick person is expected to work anyway and when they aren't. Your employers are not in sole control of where that boundary lies.

Setting cover when you’re off is just a way of trying to make sure you’re not off.

YANBU.

Problem is it is expected that you set cover. If you refuse, you’re in bother. Obviously if it’s an emergency such as an accident which lands someone in hospital that’s different but if you’re ‘just’ unwell then the expectation is cover work is sent in. It’s a lot of hassle and I wish the unions would address this rather than petty point scoring about OFSTED.

I agree it's unfair having to set cover work while you're ill. But today it's your baby rather than you that's ill?

You really can’t be made to do it but it’s made to feel as though you have to. Write an email saying you don’t imagine you’ll be able to return this week and you are too ill to write cover. Then write a bullet point list of where your classes are up to and state you will be turning off emails and focusing on recovery now.

Nothing changes until people stop allowing themselves to be emotionally blackmailed. Yes it impacts colleagues but they too need to say no I don’t have time to do that or what would you like me to not do instead?

Just chiming in with a pp that unfortunately this is absolutely not how planning works and it would be heavily criticised. Also, I 'plan' lessons but the night before need to print off a load of stuff, trim it, put it into groups etc. This takes time. For each day there could easily be 20 or more documents (some in copies of 30) so I print mostly on a daily basis or you waste time just organising paperwork. It would be a write faff attaching that all to an email, explaining which bits of which sheet are needed for which children etc.

I am really surprised that teachers can't plan a week ahead of time. I guess it's because of this "scaffolding knowledge" obsession, but there's such a risk of holding kids back by not providing the full syllabus. Hopefully there will be a new trend by the time DS reaches secondary, less guided and more Gestalt Theory.

Agree you should push back on wfh while ill, they are being unreasonable on that front.

But it is standard practice to need to phone in every day that you are sick. Normally it's before 9am but in teaching, I suppose they need a bit more notice to sort cover.

And isn't that the sad part, that only when we really feel we can barely get out of bed do we think we will call in sick and that's exactly when you don't feel up to getting on your laptop and changing what you planned so that a non specialist can teach it or create something different all together.
Imagine being able to take a day off when you start to get ill so that with good rest you can avoid it getting to the point when you feel utterly run down and shit? So instead of days/ week off you just needed a day.
Pre teaching I was so proud of my hack of taking a day off as soon as I noticed the first signs of a cold which then stopped it from becoming a full blown one and I rarely took sick days at all.
Every new teacher will get really sick first term because they are suddenly exposed to lots of children everyday all sharing germs. Outside of teaching you aren't usually mixing with 5x30 classes per week / assemblies/ children that don't always understand concept of personal space and like to come right up to your face to tell you that so and so at the back of the class is writing notes/ on their phone etc

Actually was still pretty ill alongside baby but my first post was pointing out that in order to continue setting cover work over a period of sickness that lasts for more than two days, even a well organised teacher, would still find themselves having to do some kind of work WHILST ill in order to set cover.
I did actually send in work on the day baby was ill but struggled to do this before 8am, and my point is sometimes things come up at home at specific times. My example was I couldn't get on a laptop whilst also walking to local GP to try and get an emergency appointment because you know full well that you won't get one on the evergreen app which is open for less than 3 mins on some days - look that app up, it's awful!

Writing cover whilst projectile vomiting or mid migraine when you have to avoid light or screens is an interesting expectation too.

You have a whole school or departmental issue.
Unions stated that providing cover lessons wasn't in mainscale remit.
In our school, each department has its own way of doing it, but it tends to go:
Spreadsheet is kept and generic textbook cover is used. Pages covered are inputted on said spreadsheet.
Or Class textbooks used - whichever chapter they are up to with or without corresponding PPT
Or PowerPoints are on teacher drive and you use whichever one they are up to. Oak academy if needed.
Cover is for a non-specialist and is not expected to be marked. Verbal feedback or tick and flick at most (many secondaries do book scrutiny but not deep dives - you correct one main piece per half term, rest is self assessed or peer assessed).
I am QTS and do cover now. The only thing I'd take umbrage with is being expected to print out your work - not when I am only on £1500 a month. I am able to very easily find PowerPoints and pick up where you left off or go to a bespoke cover textbook. We have the usual proforma system but instructions only need to be a couple of lines/page references usually. It is not nor should it be rocket science.
As for attendance, we all get interviewed informally after three separate absences.
The hardest cover is anything going into long term, especially if supply thin on ground. That puts unnecessary stress onto HODs but cover supervisors are meant to be used for short term only.

You shouldn't be expected to plan work when you're ill. This is exactly what Oak National is for, the cover gets them to watch the video lesson and do the questions on it. Your HOD should be able to sort that out so that you don't need to do anything. And definitely don't mark it when you get back.

Well like I said, teachers have planned a week ahead - as in they know what they'll cover, but the delivery is something you adapt lesson to lesson. And a non specialist can't come in and teach the lesson you've planned to teach anyway. I don't know where on earth you've got the idea that the full syllabus isn't taught.