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.

My summer holidays are sacred. I refuse to look at my work computer. I’m not paid for it, I don’t want to do it and I’m not going to do it!
My days at work, I work like a dog, I’m run off my feet, no breaks, constantly spinning plates, but that’s what I’m paid for. Sod doing it during the holidays.

Next time a sahm posts on mums net their husband not pulling their weight we can tell them to ignore any boundaries or limits on cooking cleaning, wife work and mental load etc because it will show they care about their family....

Well if I felt as you do I wouldn't have even looked at teams messages. I do think it is nice to reply as you have done by signposting them appropriately to the relevant person as you've taught them in one of their most important school years.

My ex director attempted to call me when he knew I was being induced that day! Then called me 10 days post partum to ask when I'd be returning to work...he got the hint when I sternly replied that the baby and I were still recovering given we both came very close to dying. Now that's overstepping! 😂😂

It’s a very cold truth. And it takes a long time of working in any sector to finally accept that having a job is just a transaction between employer and employee. True in education and true in any paid employment. If anyone thinks I’m lying, give it a minute and find out for yourself the hard way.

Read ‘Careless People’ about the author’s experience working for Facebook. She was in a coma after birth and nearly died. When she went back after maternity leave she was immediately given an appraisal criticising her for being unresponsive during mat leave. I mean, Silicon Valley. But still.

She is though, as it's the summer and 39 weeks pregnant and won't be going back. She's not a HOD or exams officer and not responsible for resits.
I often answer emails from students as I care for them and I choose to, however, teachers shouldn't be answering in the holidays and they definitely shouldn't be working on something that's not their remit.

I'd acknowledge the student emails and guide them to email the HOD/Exams officer but it is not acceptable for a HOD to expect a teacher starting MAT/during holidays to work.

If the HOD wants to work/ is being expected to work as part of their role that they are paid for, that's on them.

So many members of staff are leaving/ have left the profession in the last few years due to unsustainable and excessive demands. It is perfectly acceptable to pass on (or ignore... as it is the holidays and she is starting MAT) a task which is not her remit. (Or any task, as no teacher can be mandated to work the summer holidays!)

Are you telling me you absolutely categorically never spend 10 mins on a task on my day other than those 195, as a salaried professional?

Don't get me wrong I'm an advocate for correct working time and it's me that checks the directed time budget with a fine toothed comb every year, but I think a low-key task which takes 10 mins on exam results day is hardly an imposition or a surprise.

It depends what they’re asking you to do. If it’s just a query, then you should respond. I’ve spent the last two days recalling papers and remarking them to see if they should be appealed or not, and that takes up quite a bit of time, so I wouldn’t be doing that if I was on maternity and passing it onto the hod to do.

No but most teachers say they don’t get 13 weeks holiday because they have so much planning to do.
This is kind of proving that they do…..

It also makes no sense how many people on here say that the summer holidays are sacred, they don't open their computer during the holidays, they don't work outside directed days etc, when we are also told on pointless other threads that teachers actually work a lot of the holidays.

I'm not expecting teachers to work outside the holidays, save for what makes it easier for them, but then they can't claim that they don't get any more holiday than anyone else because they work in them.

Not that anyone on here is saying that, but I'll certainly remember this thread the next time it's raised

If it is irrelevant, why wouldn’t OP mention it?

She's not, she's on summer holidays, due to start maternity leave whenever suits her.

If she was on maternity leave,she'd have said "my maternity leave started on 2 August during the holidays"

Well you are not on MAT leave so yabu. You wanted the summer off paid before taking your MAT leave. You should be giving a shit about your kids GCSE results it's what they have worked hard for and could affect them getting into college. A lot of teachers aren't contracted to be at school on results day but want to offer support to thier kids. You should have taken your MAT leave at the summer if you didn't want to be contacted.

This is a very narrow view of all paid employment. It also assumes “employer” is always one single entity. It can be way more complex than that. My sister is an employer, I have watched her bend over backwards to accommodate employees, sometimes not to the immediate benefit of her company. However, it does mean all of them have been with her for a very long time, whereas her competitors’ staff turnover is quite high. Large companies are far less likely to do that, but even then, I’ve been in situations where heads of departments or other offices take a similar approach. I’m sorry your experience of working hasn’t had that.

This. Plus you are pregnant not sick or officially off work most likely.

It sounds like an easy request. I worked until 35 weeks as a community nurse, it was twins and l was 43 years old. So a bit like still being at work at 45 or 46 weeks pregnant. Only took 2 days off from in the whole pregnancy and they were only due to COVID

on this one im 50/50

Being close to your due date has nothing to do with it, you have decided that you are not on maternity leave. I have always gone in for results days whether I was a HOD or not but that decision is for each individual teacher. You have made the decision to check your Teams/emails during the holiday, that is on you.

I don’t really understand what your HOD wants from you? Have they asked you to look at the paper? You are within your right to say no. Results do mean a lot to students for obvious reasons so you either pass it back up the line like you have done or you scan over the paper quickly and see if you think a remark will help.

I don’t think you can be angry when you have decided to read the messages in the first place.

She is 39 weeks pregnant.

She could literally go into labour any minute now

If she starts a task and then everybody thinks she is doing it so don’t bother doing it themselves , but unbeknownst to them she has gone into labour , that would be letting the students down far more:

Dont be a martyr

She is on holiday ahead of her maternity leave and her contract explicitly states she should not be contacted for matters that are the Head of Department's responsibility. In all honestly, no one queried grades 10 years ago, now everyone does if they are in the top part of a grade boundary.

I can’t workout if op is on mat leave or not
it all hinges on that

Are you actually on mat leave yet or still being paid in full?
Im a teacher and my baby was born last August. I was told my mat leave could/would begin the day before the baby was born. He was born 18th August so my mat leave started officially on 17th August. So until then, I was technically still required to work if needs be. Fortunately for me no one needed me, but if anyone from management had contacted me and wanted/needed anything then I would’ve responded as I was still being paid in full. I imagine it’s the same for you?

I can see both sides. I was really grateful that DD3's teacher, who had left the school in June, came to see her open her results on results day, even though she was her only GCSE student this year (special school).

How are you even receiving Teams messages? Do teachers have work email and Teams on their personal devices?
When I'm on leave my work phone is switched off and my out of office is on. I'm not sure what's expected of teachers, are you actually on leave during the full 6 week holiday or are you supposed to be working at this point?
If you shouldn't be working put the out of office on and mute notifications. If you are working you need to reply to the messages.

YANBU. The maternity leave element is actually irrelevant in my opinion. While it’s lovely if teachers without a TLR or SLT role want to go in on results day, decisions about reviews of marking really should be kept within a small group of more experienced staff to reach a consistent and balanced decision. This benefits the students too.

However, given that your school evidently doesn’t have a clearly communicated procedure in place (for example, contact the exams officer who then liaises with the relevant middle or senior leader) I would say it’s reasonable that you continue to check messages just to ensure students are contacting the correct person, so they don’t miss out.

YANBU - I wouldn’t have checked Teams let alone responded.