AIBU to think the teacher sickie story is not newsworthy?

[Imdefonotmaddona]

A teacher pulled a “ sickie “ to attend a stag do.

so he told them he was vomiting but instead went to Portugal for a stag do.
but despite lying was not banned from teaching.

this has been on on social media and news like BBC.

I get he did wrong but am I the only one a bit confused why it’s news worthy 🤣

I feel a little sorry for him. I understand he done wrong but surely this it not the level of misconduct that needs to his face splashed over the news ?

I disagree. If it was relevant, surely he would have approached the school on that basis. But he didn’t.

Reading SM comments, it looked like the vast majority were “go on, son” comments of support. I did wonder if this would have been the same support if he had been she.

And yet, at my daughter’s school, she frequently talks about teachers being off for a variety of reasons. I don’t think “teaching” is the problem, I think some schools have stricter policies than others.

How would your daughter know why her teachers are off?

I do think this is extreme, I’ve never worked at a school which wouldn’t give you time for an uncle or godfathers funeral. (20+ years in education here, several schools).

if I found myself I a school that draconian I would leave.

This is not a news story at all. My ex wife is a teacher. She loved pulling a sickie . Going on holiday a day early to avoid expensive flights or pulling a sickie to go and see her favourite Welsh referee doing a meet and greet.
I think she got a bit of a kick from it . Thought she was the cool teacher.

Yes, there are jobs that can mean you could be on shift over Christmas/ Easter/ bank holidays. We are all grateful for these essential roles.

I understand you would need to take annual leave like everyone else to attend events etc, so you don’t have any special privilege to compensate you for the fact you may have to work bank holidays.

Teachers are unable to take annual leave for a total of 39 weeks of the year, so perhaps a little more restrictive than NHS and most other professions. The offset, of course, is the extended summer leave. There are plenty of other jobs that restrict annual leave, often requiring workers to take their main leave at a time to suit the business. I do think teaching is a more extreme situation where one days leave l, even if requested with significant notice is still not permitted. I suppose it has to be seen as strict for the teachers as it is for the children.

it is not a question of whether cover can be arranged - it is flat out not permitted. Some headteachers might secretly bend the rules for their staff occasionally, but this will most certainly be an informal arrangement.

I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t take more than 1 weeks holiday with the NHS - no wonder the sickness rate is so high! Are you ever given the chance to swap shifts with colleagues?

I know lots of people who work in the NHS, particularly in A+E, who have holidays longer than a week and can take time off at Christmas/Easter. Yes, you have to request it and they may have to work eg NY instead, but they absolutely can.

Yes, this is kinda what I was getting at. Of course you have to request leave if you want time off, but this is simply not a thing for teachers during term time, except in exceptional circumstances e.g. death of a child/ spouse/ parent.

I thought resus staff generally worked really long shifts, three or four days a week, keeping them to an average of around 37 hours? I suppose you win some, you lose some with this type of schedule. So although the previous poster says leave is not permitted over Christmas, for example, it is not always the case that they will be at work anyway. I do recognise that some resus and other staff will have no alternative but to work on some bank holidays and leave requests will only be honoured if cover can be arranged.

If I got shifted on for every Christmas, New Year, Easter and other bank holiday, and wasn’t allowed a 10 day annual holiday, I’d wonder what I was doing wrong! Not every single member of NHS emergency staff work all these days, every single year. In fact, many NHS friends enjoy the 3/4 on/off schedule for their work life balance, just as teachers enjoy the extra summer holidays.

Have any NHS staff on here often had their approved leave cancelled? I know employers are legally allowed to do this, but I wondered how frequent it is.