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.

She doesn't have to do anything and doesn't need to have any regret. She's on annual leave and doesn't need to complete any work. It's the head's problem if her staff weren't clear about tasks to complete before IT equipment was returned.

If it is a Connor's it would take OP all of ten minutes.

Definitely worth trashing your reference for.

100%

I suggest you unblock and reply. You need a reference and the child needs this completed. It is poor on their behalf and perhaps the head/senco messed up. However I wouldn’t mention that yet. If you are asked about blocking I would say you were on holiday and turned off what’s app. Get it done op even if it is in the last week of the holidays.

What if you need a reference from the HT? I personally would just do it.

I think teachers are expected to do some work over the holidays. That’s why they are paid all year. Most teachers I know work some of the holidays.

It’s not annual leave though.

As quite a few PPs have said, if you plan to carry on teaching in the same area, you need to do the work. Headteachers talk to each other. And staff move - you may find yourself being interviewed by one of your current SLT in a different school.

Forget whether it’s the moral thing to do (it is). It’s the pragmatic choice - it’s in your own interests to do it.

Incidentally I wrote 2 outstanding SEND reports with a 4 day old baby when my child was born at 37 weeks. My older child was born at 41 weeks and I thought I would have time before the birth at the beginning of my mat leave.

I could have foisted them on someone else to do, but I decided to get them done while I had a sleeping newborn. Not because I am a martyr, but because I am a professional, and I knew there were 2 kids at the end of those reports, and it was not their fault that I had had my baby earlier than expected.

You were lucky. Nurses are lucky if they get a brew, & you think you were hard done by...

Any teacher who's been docked a day's wages (in my case my school agreed to give me a day off unpaid for a funeral) will know that they divide your pay only between schools days, ie they don't pay you for the holidays.

Of course the vast, vast majority of teachers do these jobs and many more through weekends and holidays because the whole system relies on it. But we're not actually paid to work throughout august.

And we all know it's the kids who suffer if we stop, which is why we're all struggling with burnout. Because every night it gets to 10.30/11 and you need to go to bed, but the work that still needs doing is ALWAYS for the benefit of the kids!

Do teachers not get annual leave?

This.

OP in future post questions like this in staff room so you get (mostly) only school
staff replying. Teaching contracts are quite different from ‘normal jobs’

Reference - if you’re going on supply then I wouldn’t worry. By the time you apply for a school again you won’t be using her reference anyway. Supply agencies are just checking you’re qualified and safe.

I initiated a whistleblowing investigation at my last job and was a successful at interview a week later 😂

Should you reply - yes, blocking will become apparent if she tries to ring you and does look suspicious. I agree with those saying text back and say you’re abroad the whole holiday but you’d be willing to answer questions.

Also for those saying the child will suffer - so paperwork that was essential and due three weeks ago was not communicated to the OP, not checked up on said due date and left for 3 weeks? sounds more like the child’s new teacher has asked a question that the shit senco doesn’t know the answer to and so has passed the buck.

If it was genuinely important and ‘due’ to the local authority then that boat has been massively missed and the SENCO is at fault there.

For those of us who actually know what we’re talking about - can you give any non identifying information about the work so we can help more?

That's exactly what it is. Just because it's called holidays in the teaching world it's still annual leave. If it wasn't then they wouldn't have asked for the IT equipment back.

Ah - read some more posts about teaching contracts so think I was wrong. Just sounded odd to have a contract end a month from now while you intend to do nothing for the entire month. I still think you should prepare for a scathing reference if you refuse to finish your work.

They cannot be required to work. So
all the posters saying “of course you have to do it, you’re still employed by them” are incorrect. Whether they are paid (as are TAs, pay is annualised) or whether you know people who work is irrelevant, teachers are telling you what is in our conditions.

Why would they have her hand in all her equipment if it was expected they might ask for more work? It’s clearly understood within the industry that someone leaving at the end of August actually leaves in July.

That's how teaching contracts typically run. They end 31st Dec, 31st August or end of Easter holidays. Doesn't mean the teacher has to be working in their HOLIDAYS if they've already left the school and left their laptop.

If a window cleaner's contract finished on 31st August but they'd accumulated 4 weeks of annual leave should the boss ask them to go and clean Mrs Jones' windows during their period of annual leave because they'd forgot to tell them to do it in early July?

More fool you. It wouldn't have been any less professional to not do that work. It's things like that that mean expectations are ridiculous for everyone else.

Not sure if this is a genuine post since op has not returned nor clarified if she intends to continue teaching

Most schools I would not respond to emails outside of schools hours. Nor would I be using what's app for work messages. It would be very unusual for a head yo be messaging over what's app surely.

You are now in non directed time, so do not need to complete further work. If the task was that essential someone should have collated responses and chased up any missing before the end of term. It's not unusual to get emails requesting work be completed at very short notice and these are easily missed.

If this is what happened there is zero chance I'd be going back into school to complete it. If it was a short task that could be done over OneDrive or similar id probably complete it.

Many schools exploit their staff because "it's for the kids". At the end of the day though you and your own family come first.

Doesn’t it also say in a teachers contract “plus any additional time as required to complete the duties of the post“ or something similar? So no, they can’t expect you to complete the paperwork at A specific time such as 9 o’clock on a Monday morning. However, they can expect you to complete it before your contract expires on the 31st of August.

This is incredibly immature and unreasonable behaviour. Have you thought for a second who this might impact and how ? I'm sure you'd like to enjoy your summer and there's plenty of time to continue to do so- once your obligations are complete.
You are in the wrong profession.

This is emotional manipulation and probably the biggest contributor to burnout culture in teaching (and many other caring professions). School staff push themselves beyond capacity “because of the children” and it is used by shitty management to make staff who stand up for themselves appear selfish and uncaring.

Teaching is a job. Some may consider it a calling, a passion but it is still a job. Children aren’t suffering at the hands of one single stressed teacher, they are being failed by the system. An individual cannot take responsibility for that.

Poor kid! That paperwork could be absolutely crucial to the child and you’re still under contract! Get it completed!

"However, they can expect you to complete it before your contract expires on the 31st of August."

This usually means things like marking homework tests etc

It's not directed time. This means you cannot be directed to do any task so no they can't....

YABVU and a douche to boot. You feel unsupported,imagine how kids (and parents of) with SEN feel. It is a ballbag.

It's paperwork,just get it done.