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.

"SEN paperwork is hugely important."

Then why is op being asked to complete it in her holiday when this request should have been made then chased in term time by those who have far more experience, and paid far more, than she is?

I entirely agree.

The HT has made the error and is trying to make it the OP's problem to deal with.

An existing member of staff should do the paperwork if the HT is unable to.

You are being unreasonable and unprofessional.

Are you sure this is the career for you?

Yes so why hasn't the SENCO, whose specific job it is, ensured it is completed by the end of term? Asking an ECT who is leaving and who might be away on holiday to complete it in August is really negligent from the SLT.

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.

So, you don't recall being told that needed to be completed, but you may have been and forgotten because you were overwhelmed? Is this not something in your role you'd have expected to complete?

It's so difficult as a parent to get things put in place for your SEN child, and having staff who don't recall things that are important/don't want to do them is not acceptable. Your heart clearly isn't in this line of work.

I'm not sure how it would go re. a reference, because if they've told you to do it before the end of term and you're still contracted then I am assuming they can mention something about not fulfilling your duties? I might be wrong though, I've only ever given a personal reference.

"She's not on leave."

Yes she is. No teacher can be compelled to work over the holidays and certainly cannot be compelled to go back into school to do so.

Many teachers choose to do work in the holidays to make their lives a bit easier when they go back in sept but this does not apply to OP who is going on supply.

Some teachers do revision classes in school over Easter and summer half term but will usually be paid extra for this. You cannot be directed/ compelled to do so.

I'm not a teacher but generally speaking, you need to consider yourself and future career.
Is it possible that completing the paperwork was on your 'to do' list before you left. You have said yourself you found the term overwhelming. We can all forget things when very stressed.
The person doing your reference could say that you left without completing agreed tasks and this wouldn't be inaccurate if they could evidence it.
A potential employer isn't likely to call you if you are given a negative reference, to get your side of the story. Even if they did, telling them about a complete lack of support could be viewed as speaking negatively about your previous employer. Which is unwise.
Obviously it is your decision, but I'd be safeguarding my future career and completing the paperwork . I'm sorry you had such a bad experience in this job but hopefully your next one will be much more supportive.

For something as important as this, which definitely been done during term time,I would get laptop back and finish the paperwork. It’s not fair on the children affected by your failure to complete important paperwork.

I would arrange to go back into school when the school is open next. Spend some time in school getting the paperwork completed then you can leave without having to hang onto school laptop. The head will give you a reference for any future work (even if you don’t stay in teaching - so try not to annoy them too much) Apologise and say that you opted out of the WhatsApp chat as you had left and didn’t want to be included anymore.

"I'm not a teacher but generally speaking, you need to consider yourself and future career"

OP is going on supply. Unless the reference says she is a danger to children she will have zero problems getting signed up by agencies or work from schools.

Op is bring made a scapegoat for the incompetency of those who managed her...

This. Seriously OP, this is nuts.

Right now she is , but who knows how she will feel in the future, when she's had some time to recover from the bad experience.

People moaning about the use of WhatsApp, if the OP had been emailed to her school email and not seen it, what then? It's highly likely she never would have checked. Some places get rid of email access from the start of the holidays too.

Exactly the line I took in my last year ( 19 years secondary). The look of shock when a year 11 boy knocked on lunchroom door wanting a word and I told him certainly but in half an hour when I had finished my break

Your contract is until end of August so you’re not done yet. From what I understand you’re also still being paid?

I think you’re letting your anger at that school cloud your judgement here. It may be the summer and it may not be your directed time so they can’t force you to do it but on balance I think it would be the wise thing to do.

Doing that paperwork isn’t about them it’s about the pupil. You might have issues with SLT but do you really not want to do something to help support a child?

Even if we take the child out of the equation, if you have any plans on staying in teaching you will need that reference and you have likely burned a bridge there in a way that will be very hard to explain to a future employer. Even if you don’t stay in teaching other jobs might want them as a reference and they might just decide not to give you one after that. It’s totally up to you how you handle it but I would suggest being the bigger person on this one. It’s a few hours of your summer that could make a big difference going forward.

Of course it’s not illegal to give poor references. And in the of text of employment law, something would be “unlawful” not “illegal”

I probably have responded in the wrong way.

Probably??

We still don’t know what the paperwork is! Or whether the OP primary or secondary (which makes a huge difference in terms of how significant her imput is if it’s a report about one specific pupil). If it’s a hugely significant piece of documentation and the OP has not had guidance from their ECT mentor to complete it then it is completely reasonable to tell the HT that she is only prepared to do it with that persons support and after the holiday. I would respond to HT’s WhatsApp with a brief unemotional message stating your professional boundaries and pointing out that you didn’t have appropriate support from your mentor or induction tutor. It’s really unusual for a HT to request this sort of thing and over WhatsApp so I am guessing primary and an enormous oversight that they’re trying to correct.

Wow. Even taking the contract, rights, should haves and could have out of the equation, do you not feel a moral responsibility to your pupil? Imagine if your doctor decided not to bother sending that urgent referral to a specialist that they said they would do for you, took a 6 week holiday and then quit. You would be livid..quite rightly and take appropriate steps of complaint. Just do it OP.

I agree.

Again. You can be expected in your contract to do "reasonable additional work" in the school holidays. It's not the same as being on leave in a different sort of job.

under the standard maintained-school conditions (the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document) teachers are under a professional duty to work such additional hours “as may be needed to enable the effective discharge of the teacher’s professional duties.” This is often referred to as reasonable additional work

"Again. You can be expected in your contract to do "reasonable additional work" in the school holidays."

Again. You are wrong.

under the standard maintained-school conditions (the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document) in school holidays teachers are still under a professional duty to work such additional hours “as may be needed to enable the effective discharge of the teacher’s professional duties.” This is often referred to as reasonable additional work.

Are you disputing the contract says this?

That means some work during school holidays can be expected, provided it falls within that professional obligation. Examples might include:

• lesson planning,
• marking,
• preparing resources,
• or, in some circumstances, completing statutory paperwork such as SEN documentation.

Whether a particular task is “reasonable” depends on factors such as:

• how much work is involved,
• whether it is an isolated occurrence or a regular expectation,
• whether it arises from the normal responsibilities of the role,
• and whether the workload is proportionate.

So if, for example, a teacher needs to complete a piece of overdue SEN paperwork during a holiday because it wasn’t finished before the end of term, that could well be regarded as reasonable additional work. It would be different if the school routinely expected teachers to spend substantial parts of every holiday completing administrative tasks or assigned new work that could reasonably have been planned within working time.

If the doctor was still training and there was a more experienced doctor meant to provide regular guidance about things like how to complete referrals and make fine judgements then I wouldn’t expect them to do it without that oversight, no. I’d hold the practice manager to account. And I wouldn’t expect that doctor to do that work in their holiday.