AIBU to ignore GCSE results queries during holidays before maternity leave?

[LilyGreenJade]

Currently 38+5 pregnant. Teacher and so fortunately finished for the summer as normal in July. Had it not been the summer holidays, I would have taken maternity leave at 37 weeks anyway. DH and I have also been ill for a few days this week with a fairly bad stomach bug.

GCSE results’ day yesterday. Only Heads of Department and senior staff expected to be in school/contactable on the day, which I am not. This is stated in contract.

Received an informal Teams’ message from Head of Department yesterday saying they needed to speak with me regarding a particular student (a simple case of organising a remark which only HoD can do anyway) and could I let them know when I was free to talk. I felt really annoyed that firstly I was being contacted during the holidays, secondly that they are fully aware I am close to my due date/would have been on maternity leave otherwise, and thirdly that there is nothing I can do to help. HoD has form for passing on work which is their’s to do. I ignored their message. I then also had several students sending me messages on Teams late last night regarding remarks. I very briefly replied to them saying to speak to the HoD.

I emailed the HoD and Deputy Head Academic this morning explaining that although I had seen the overall results, I was not really in a position to begin analysing paper breakdowns, discussing remarks, and contacting students/parents. I said I was happy for any remarks to be processed. As of tonight, I have had no reply.

YABU - results are important and you should be involved as their teacher.
YANBU - You should not be contacted during school holidays as per your contract, and especially given the proximity to your due date and that you would have been on maternity leave anyway if not for the holidays.

So presumably the SLT or HOD wouldn’t have them either? So your point is irrelevant?

I knew the mark scheme for the NEA like the back of my hand.
Never lost a mark and was complemented on it several times by the moderator and the exam board.

The exam content changes every year, and although I can give examples on how questions are supposed to be answered, in order to be able to give an opinion (and that is all it is) on the results to the HoD/SLT (whose job it is to put pupils papers forward for a remark) I would have to read through the entire exam paper and compare every question to what I believe the mark scheme requires to make sure that I am correct in my assertation that a remark is required.

What the HoD/SLT is doing is not actually asking for my opinion, they are looking for someone to shove the work, responsibility and blame onto.

Depends whether SLT or the HoD marked the paper.

I'm not sure what you're trying to prove here.

My advice is always the same - that someone who knows the papers well looks over them. It doesn't matter if you know the student well because that's not the thing that's being tested.

In my department, we have examiners for all of the papers. We each look at the ones we are experts in.

I can’t imagine working in a less inspiring environment where each and every hour is clock watched and no-one wants to do anything that they don’t consider “their job” (I suspect they know their JD inside and out).

Wouldn’t it be a better environment to work in where people come together for a purpose, are motivated to deliver outcomes rather, and are happy and willing to work as a team to achieve the best for themselves and their students?

Surely that beats counting the hours and constantly feeling aggrieved about it “not being my job”….?

Agreed. I thought it was just basic professionalism not to clock watch, and to make sure you are around at critical times.

Ok I understand your point (my understanding was that exams were marked by independent markers and teachers then got access to the mark schemes after the results) but I still think it’s irrelevant to the point OP was making. Her point was that “it wasn’t her job” and it definitely wasn’t her job as she was very nearly on mat leave but wasn’t but would be if it wasn’t a holiday… which doesn’t change the fact she isn’t.

I can’t imagine working in a less inspiring environment where each and every hour is clock watched and no-one wants to do anything that they don’t consider “their job” (I suspect they know their JD inside and out).

No-one said this at all, it is what you are inferring.

Wouldn’t it be a better environment to work in where people come together for a purpose, are motivated to deliver outcomes rather, and are happy and willing to work as a team to achieve the best for themselves and their students?

This would be about teaching the lesson and that little line in the contract that says something about 'working the hours to meet the required teacher standards'

Surely that beats counting the hours and constantly feeling aggrieved about it “not being my job”….?

The point of "counting the hours" is due to unscrupulous heads requiring teachers to work all the hours god sends to do tasks that are not part of the teaching requirements.
It would include things like teachers having to supervise all breaks and lunchtimes, meaning that teachers would not get a break all day, (teachers do not get a paid lunch)
It also makes sure that teachers get the pitiful 5% of their total hours for ppa.

Exams are marked by people employed by the exam board, most of whom are current teachers.

So I have access to mark schemes but most of my colleagues do not.

The OP is right though - it's not her job to look at scripts in her holiday. The mat leave is a separate thing.

I'm looking at scripts now because it suits me to do so. But I can't be told to do it because I am on holiday. Come September 1st, technically I can be told to do it.

The HOD might not teach that subject though. When I was a teacher I was the sole teacher of two subjects, but not subject leader/HOD. Therefore I did know the subject better than the HOD who had never taught either subject and would not know the mark schemes well.

You’ve just proven my point 😉

For clarity, most professions don’t get a paid lunch. Most are lucky to have a meaningful lunch break.

In which case, it needs leaving until the teacher comes back off holiday.
If ,as many teachers are, away for these last two weeks. They wouldn't even be looking at their emails or phones.

And if your HoD doesn't know the subject/s that they are HoD for then they are a poor HoD.

Yet you get to go make a coffee, or the toilet as you want. Teachers do not
You are choosing (as many teachers do) to work through their lunch.

the 1265 calender protects their statutory rights to breaks. .

Or are you saying that teachers shouldn't have the same rights to a break as other workers?

I can assure there are lots of other jobs, on similar pay, where people don't get to make coffee and go for a wee whenever they want to!

But @LilyGreenJade did look at her emails/teams messages. So that's irrelevant

Yes, and I can assure you that there are lots of jobs on less pay where people don't get to make coffee and go for a wee whenever they want to!

Its not a race to the bottom.

Clearly not.

what’s preventing teachers going to the toilet:

1. before morning session or afternoon session? Many can’t just pop out when they want (will be in customer meetings, operating theatres, so on and so forth)
2. during lunch?
3. whilst classes are changing?
4. when their class is working assuming like most classes they have a myriad of teaching assistants
5. or, like the good old fashioned way, just going when they need recognising their class will only be alone for a few mins worse case max

Noting, it’s clearly not about going to the toilet as OPs current post is about “doing work” when she’s “on holiday but would’ve been on mat leave if she wasn’t on holiday”.

And many teachers and other workers (teachers or other wise) don't look at emails during the holidays.
So by your logic the whole thread is irrelivant.

I have to "meet and greet" my class on the corridor at changeover - if I'm not moving from one room to the next.

The nearest staff loo is a building away. There's no transition time.

No teaching assistant in ANY class I teach. And even if there were, I'm not meant to leave the class with them. And certainly not leave them alone.

If I'm desperate, I might ask my colleague over the corridor to keep an eye on them... but if something went wrong, I'd be on the wrong end of a disciplinary.

And I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to tell me I'm wrong, but that's how it is.

The point is that things like the 1265 calender allow for the teacher to go to the toilet at these times except

Number 4, What TAs? most classes do not have one let alone a myriad
and
Number 5, its against health and safety and if you got caught you could get a warning.

And this doen't include the various rules about classes leaving or welcoming the next class. Remember that not only every child matters (quite rightly) but every second matters as well.

Yes the OP's post is about
“doing work” when she’s “on holiday but would’ve been on mat leave if she wasn’t on holiday”

And my points for that remain the same.
She is opn holiday and doesn't have to
and
It the job of the HoD/SLT, which they get paid to do.

You really have no idea about going to the toilet when you're a teacher

Our school has a policy that we do not need to deal with emails during the holidays. REVIEWS can and should wait until term starts. Your HOD is perfectly capable of looking through a paper and making a decision without you being involved. Your HR department would not be happy that he/she is causing stress to a pregnant member of staff.

I appreciate that it's tricky for teachers to go to the toilet sometimes. What's not fair is assuming that everyone else has free access to three toilet, kettle etc. Many are just as constrained as a teacher, others more so. For those that work longer hours, the same challenges arise but for longer.

It's not all teachers, but on these threads, a sizeable proportion of teachers on them seem to think that teachers are unique in the downsides of the job.

I don't know any professional that gets a paid lunch, not just teachers

Exactly!
I know so many people in other jobs who can't go to the toilet /grab a coffee for very long stretches

I find it astonishing how often teachers think their role is so unique.

Nobody has assumed that everyone else has free access to the toilet, kettle etc.

And once again no teacher has said that the downsides are unique to teaching sizeable or otherwise.

But you have proved what I posted upthread.💐

Thanks.