I blocked my Headteacher on WhatsApp this week

[jsty]

To make this post as short as it needs to be.

I am an ECT who decided not to renew my fixed term contract at the school I have been working at this year, my contract ends on the 31st August. On the last day of work I handed in my work laptop and lanyard/fob before I left the building. Fast forward to now, I received a text message from my headteacher this week. Basically I have not completed some SEND paperwork, that was due before the end of the term. The headteacher was claiming it was essential to be completed. The message was worded very politely and wished me the best of luck for the future but they basically asked me to come into work, collect my work laptop and complete it before the end of the summer holidays, preferably as soon as possible.

I do not recall being told that this needed to be completed. The last half term I found so overwhelming and felt all I was doing was working for most hours in the day.

I responded by not replying to the message and blocking the headteacher. I have felt unsupported during my time working there from SLT. I have gone 3 months working there without a single meeting/observation from my mentor.

I probably have responded in the wrong way and dread what my reference from this school could be now but I just want to enjoy my summer holidays in peace and relax.

I am going back on supply in September to decide whether I want to stay in the profession or not.

Then the senior staff at school should have planned ahead accordingly and ensured she still had the equipment to do so and the time to do so given that she could have been travelling abroad for the entire 6 weeks. They are trying to cover their own mistake by shoving it onto a frazzled new teacher.

But her contract hasn’t ended. It’s a big differnt. A doctor would take annual leave.

The SENCo should be completing this paperwork if so. It’s literally their job and why they get an allowance. This is not the job of the class teacher let alone an ECT.

For non teachers, Heads just don’t contact staff who have left in August. They certainly don’t WhatsApp them! The OP could be on her honeymoon or trip of a lifetime for all she knows! If the managers didn’t ensure this paperwork was completed then it’s down to them to do it now. The SENCo will have to pick up the slack.

Teachers who are leaving return lanyards, laptops etc and are logged out of every IT system. You leave and that’s it!

"Are you disputing the contract says this?"

No I am disputing your understanding of those terms and conditions and your Interpretation of the term reasonable.

Even a previous headteacher has stated that only slt can be directed to back into the school and assigned tasks over the holidays.

right so we agree that it is not the same as being on leave as per other professions, that teachers can be contractually expected to carry out certain tasks in school holidays and the central question is whether this tasks falls within that category and would be considered "reasonable". 👍🏻
That then depends on a number of factors and the specific context which we don't have enough info on in the OP

You are being paid and are under contract. They would be in their rights to withold your August pay if you dont so what you were supposed to before leaving for the holidays

"right so we agree that it is not the same as being on leave as per other professions, that teachers can be contractually expected to carry out certain tasks in school holidays"

Only if they are sLt. ( Which op is not)

You are on contract through 31st August ... you haven't submitted essential paperwork for SEND chn ... you need to complete it.

I'm sorry about the lack of support and care from SLT; unfortunately, this is the norm now as far as I can tell, even for ECTs.

I've just had a glance through the contract and am glad to see there's a general embargo on weekend working. If only UK teachers stuck to this, the system would be fucked.

Re the OP, unless their contact stated they were liable for work during the holidays, then they aren't.

Sorry quoted wrong post!!

I think it pretty likely that OP was, in fact, asked to do this in term time and forgot about it. If so, this is not "extra work in the holidays", it's work that should have been done in term time and wasn't. People in professional jobs shouldn't need their managers to be constantly reminding them of stuff so I don't think not being chased up about it before now is an excuse.

"People in professional jobs shouldn't need their managers to be constantly reminding them of stuff so I don't think not being chased up about it before now is an excuse."

I agree with this which would make it negligent of the senco head to ignore non completion until July.

It's just as likely a more senior member of staff forgot to ask for it to be completed or submit it so she has been asked to do so over unofficial WhatsApp channels which has no audit trail.

Perhaps OP should wait for a formal request in writing...

You are incorrect on this.

HTs cannot legally demand work to be done during school holidays.

Above and beyond directed time hours, no teacher can be required to do anything by their HT and they would be within their legal rights to refuse.

The reasonable additional hours element of the contract is about work that is expected to be done such as planning and marking - but crucially is not and cannot be directed to be done in a particular time and place. That means teachers are free to do it as and when it suits them.

The ‘reasonable duties’ caveat is not to be used by HTs to demand or mandate additional work or additional presence on the school site beyond directed hours. If a HT tried to do that the union would give them very short shrift.

In the OP’s case, the HT cannot legally require her to do this paperwork during the school holiday regardless of when her contract finishes. It might be ‘reasonable additional work’ as per the contract but the HT has no jurisdiction over her non directed time, so she has no legal obligation to do it within any timeframe set by the HT and she certainly has no legal obligation to go into the school during her holiday to complete it.

Teachers’ contracts are challenging to understand due to the ambiguity in the wording. It is very important that all teachers take time to fully understand their rights and check with the union if unsure. Unfortunately many HTs try and take advantage of teachers who are not secure in their understanding so every teacher owes it to themselves to make sure they understand what their contract actually means!

You should not be responsible fir anything THAT important as an ECT

v weird

its against union rules to expect work in holidays

pretend you fid not get message and ignore
get union advuce

dont worry about reference you are cherp snd will be snapped up as there is s shortage of teachers

No - if you are not being paid on the leadership pays scale, then you can only be directed to work during the 195 days a year that you are contracted for. The reasonable additional hours means in addition to the 1265 hours per year, but these 1265 hours are only on the 195 days.

The school holidays are not working days. If a teacher chooses to work, that’s up to them, but leadership cannot direct a leadership payscale to do so. Even with a TLR the 1265/195 days rules apply.

But rhe obligation to do the work is separate from the power to direct when and where it is done.
A teacher may reasonably be required to complete outstanding SEN paperwork before their contract ends if it forms part of their contractual duties. However, that does not necessarily mean the headteacher can dictate when and where it is completed outside directed time.
The headteacher cannot generally say, "You must come into school on Tuesday and be present for five hours," if that falls outside directed time. However, they can reasonably expect a teacher to complete work that forms part of their contractual duties, including reasonable additional hours, even if the teacher decides when and where to do that work. If the contract is ending and the work remains outstanding, the school may be entitled to expect it to be completed before employment ends.

I agree with the teacher comments @Walkden@Motherofacertainage@MonteStory@FunPartyIdeas@QueenCamillaMW@Screamingabdabz@Enoughofpeopleenough@Allswellthatendswelll@Italiandreams@FlyingPlank@JJWT@echt

This will not affect your supply work at all. I would use the contacting via WhatsApp to complete something you should’ve been supported to do in your ECT time alongside your mentor in August as the icing on the cake in your complaint to the Chair of Governors regarding how you were treated. It does sound as though the school pocketed the money allocated to support you and left you to struggle! If the HT now has to complete the paperwork that’s some karma for her. She’s on c90k a year for a reason after all.

It will be a CAMHS form and they only send them out after work on a Saturday evening. I have four in my current in box waiting to be completed then have been sent out after schools have broken up. No one in CAMHS seem to underthat teachers are not in. This won’t be something that was pending before you left. If you were the class teacher then very likely you are the only person with the knowledge to complete and if it is for a referral or an EHCP then it is important to do. It could be that it is for a medication review. I find they take about five minutes so frankly, I’d go in and do it otherwise it could bite you in the future as who knows where the current headteacher may land in the future - your paths may cross again.

Blocking on WhatsApp probably is not the best way to handle it. Ignoring it won't do you any favours. However, I would seek advice from the union. If you were not told about this paperwork beforehand then you are in a good position to refuse to do it, or be paid extra to go in during the holidays to complete it. What if you were on holiday? But if you should have completed it in term time and were aware of this then you are being unreasonable.

This.

Yes, that’s exactly what I said.

She may be required to complete the paperwork but she can’t be required to do it over the holiday or to go to the school to complete it.

As she has handed in her laptop and her contract ends before the new term begins, this means the OP is within her legal rights to never actually do the work, because the circumstances make it - arguably - impossible for her to do so. She cannot be required to go into school during the holiday and she cannot be required to do any work for the school once her contract ends.

The HT knows this which is why they have used WhatsApp to informally ask if she will go and do the outstanding paperwork. I do agree with others that I’m sure this is something someone more senior than an outgoing ECT can probably sort out in September if necessary, but the fact that the HT has gone to the trouble of contacting the OP during the break suggests it is quite an important issue and probably really does need her input in terms of her knowing the child more than anyone else. The OP sounds like they were drowning at the end of term and this got forgotten - and I don’t think it’s fair to say that someone else should have noticed - all staff in schools have so much to do that you can’t be double checking someone else’s workload on top of your own. If you ask a colleague to get some paperwork done the expectation surely has to be that they will do it for you and you shouldn’t have to be chasing. Clearly this has fallen through a gap but in my view as a professional who has made a commitment to safeguarding children, if you’ve fucked up and not done some vital paperwork on time, you should do what you can to fix it. If the OP is still local to the school over the break and can feasibly pop in without there being considerable inconvenience then I would just do it.

And I don’t think this is about teachers being overworked and guilt tripped and so on, necessarily. When I worked outside of teaching and was leaving jobs, I was always happy to be contacted if issues came up after I left, and would answer questions about things I had been dealing with and where records or emails were unclear as to how to proceed. It’s just about being professional - leaving a job can’t always be clear cut and sometimes we have to show goodwill.

You are not mature enough to be a teacher.

Unblock her and apologise saying that your phone broke.

Go and complete what you was meant to complete.

Not only do you need this reference as an ECT but this paperwork is to help the pupils.

Your contract won’t end until the end of August.

But the point is that the power to direct when and where the teacher completes the work is a separate issue from whether the teacher remains contractually obliged to complete the outstanding professional duties before the end of their employment. To be obliged to do this, doesn't require the headteacher to have the power to tell her when.

Saying that because the only time left is the holiday, the teacher is therefore "within her legal rights to never actually do the work" doesn't follow.
If the paperwork forms part of her contractual duties, the school may still be entitled to expect it to be completed before the contract ends. The fact that the remaining time falls during a school holiday doesn't necessarily extinguish that obligation.
Returning a laptop or not being required to attend school doesn't, by itself, remove any contractual duty to complete outstanding work. Those facts may make completion more difficult in practice, but they don't automatically mean there is no obligation to do it.
So I don't agree OP is legally entitled simply to leave the work undone if it remains a contractual duty before the employment ends.

But they’ve not dictated when she comes in.

The head just said to go and collect the work laptop and have it done by the end of the summer holidays/contract.

They may need to arrange a specific date to have the school unlocked.

And miss your own growing up