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.

Maybe it was allocated in plenty of tine, and OP has just missed it.
Blocking the Headteacher was unprofessional and childish.
The least she could have done was answer even if it was to lie and say she was away on holiday and was unable to do the work.
when OP needs a reference in the future how can she the name of someone she’s blocked?!

I had to select YABU because there's no 'you are being incredibly unprofessional'

Find a way you can complete the task without going into work, then do it

What’s the right thing to do for the pupils?

If your contract ends on August 31st then you need to complete the work. Leaving SEN work uncompleted is unfair on the children you are suppose to be supporting. Very unprofessional. Unblock and get it sorted.

In what world do managers contact employees on WhatsApp on their personal telephones during holidays to chase work that they no longer possess the professional technology to accomplish? There is so much wrong here.

She can’t be asked to do the work during the holiday because this is non directed time.

She can’t be asked to go to the school
premises to complete the work during the holiday because this is non directed time.

She has to do the work on a school laptop which she doesn’t have access to without going to the school. That means she doesn’t have a choice over where and when she does the work, which would make the work directed and therefore not something the HT can demand is done over the holiday regardless of whether she is contractually obliged to do it or not.

By the time the holiday is over, the OP is no longer contractually obligated to do anything as she no longer works for the school.

For GDPR and safeguarding purposes, the OP cannot do any paperwork involving a child’s personal details post 31st Aug as she is no longer an employee of the school.

So - all of these facts considered - there is nothing the HT can legally do to enforce the OP doing the paperwork. She doesn’t have to do it and she can’t be made to as per the terms of her contract. Whether she still should do it or not is therefore up
to her. There is no legal, contractual obligation for her to do so.

Former teacher here. You are being totally unprofessional. You are being PAID to the end of your contract on 31st August, so you are currently employed. You obviously feel resentful towards SLT but you are taking it out on a vulnerable child by failing to complete the SEND paperwork. That is a disgrace.

Get off your lazy backside and do the job you are being paid for. It’s people like you who give the profession a bad name. I strongly suggest you go and work away from education if that’s your attitude.

Will you not need a reference for this or word of mouth for whatever profession in the future...perhaps a best way to finish is do so completed.
Surely finish it off and then relax

Completing one piece of paperwork taking up a few hours out of her whole 6 weeks off is going to impact her mental health? She's clearly not cut out for this.

Welcome to the world of education! I have a work mobile so schools and parents can call or message me (not a class teacher any more) and I have still had SMT contact me on my personal mobile in the holidays.

OP is still under contract.

It’s pretty normal for managers to contact employees over the summer as the majority will do some work for the new term.

OP has not completed her work and still has 4 weeks of her contract left to do it.

It’s not annual leave.
A teachers work needs to be completed, they just have a bit more flexibility over the summer to decide when they’re going to do it (I know of a few who put in extra hours in June/July to have a proper break, whereas some go into school during the holidays and do it then).

Is this true?!? Teachers work 1265 hours a year?! Then what are they bloody moaning about all the time!!

standard full time is between 1700-1800 hours a year once annual leave and public holidays are deducted.

This is not the job for you. Most teachers wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy the holiday knowing work was unfinished, especially if it impacts a vulnerable child. Do something else.

Teachers can only be directed for 1265 hours per year. They have to complete the rest of the job outside that time.

I thunk this is a rarebait post. The OP has not returned.

This is direct teaching time, not indirect teaching time.

Basically face to face teaching should be no more than 1265 hours.
The rest should be ‘protected’ hours.

I think the main point is that an ECT should not be expected to complete important paperwork without support, the fact that this has been allowed to happen suggests that systems and support are not in place at the school, if there were it would not have been missed before the end of the year. The head who is actually responsible is putting their stress of the ECT. All of the this contributes to building a picture as to why the ECT was so overwhelmed at the end of the year. The guilt tripping and blame on this thread is misdirected.

No ECT should have any impactful paperwork in their to do list ever

thats fir their first year if that

this is horrible guilt tripping

In a few days contact the head and say you are in Australia

So you just tell them your abroad untill summer with out any means of compleating the work due to returning your work laptop.

This.
I am the mother of a SEN child and chasing missing paperwork is endless. It could even affect a September placement or EHCP amendment. Do the decent thing.

But why not say that then?

Why didn’t OP ask to have someone support her with it before handing the laptop back?

Or instead of blocking, reply to the message and explain that she doesn’t know what she’s doing and needs support and to arrange a date to go in and sit with someone.

Blocking your boss and refusing to do your work that impacts a child is incredibly unprofessional.
It also impacts OP as these are the people she needs a reference from.

It sounds like OP didn’t want to do work over the summer period and so handed the laptop back early on and washed her hands of it.

Teachers are such mugs!

While I have every sympathy with a parent with a SEND child whose paperwork is incomplete, I do not have any sympathy at all with the emotional blackmailing of teachers to do work in situations that have been managed unprofessionally.