To complain about a teacher having honeymoon leave before the end of term?

[janegrey]

DDs are both in secondary school, DD1 doing GCSE.

One of their teachers, who teaches both of them, has been allowed to take leave to go on honeymoon this week even though it is still term time.

DD1 has already had issues about this particular teacher, whose marking has been inconsistent...fortunately her class is being taken by the subject head while he is away...and the subject head has helped her sort out the problems she had because of the inconsistent marking.

But DD2's class was supervised today by a teacher of a completely different subject. They had no work set, and in DD2's words they did "nothing".

I'm seething - I just cannot comprehend that the school/education authority has authorised leave in term-time for a non-essential reason...why couldn't he have gone on leave over the Easter holidays?

Do others agree? And if so, what's the most effective way to complain?

the leave would have been approved-presumably by senior staff?dont imagine teacher nipped off

and also they cant use cover supervisors indefinitely afaik.

Certain kinds of abscence needs a proper teacher.

ALSO re summer holidays
teacher are only paid for the term

they just spread the pay out so you get paid in August

this is a commonly held misconception,

JudithChalmers - don't I what???

I want to be on a lilo sipping cocktails right now, somewhere hot and warm.

I thought you had to go in for 2 weeks to show you were not on Mat leave any more
But am ready to be wrong.

GingerNutLover - 6 weeks between all 4 - she has an expensive build up to Christmas and New Year!

I think cover supervisors and TAs can only do a certain number of sickness days can't they? I know that I (I work as a Level 3 TA with one responsibility point for doing PPA) can only do first day sick cover for a class teacher. I also cover regular PPA time for my class teacher - I do the ICT lesson each week at this time.

yes I am supplying atm and i think they use me when the malingerer teacher is long term sick

i am genuinely quite shocked at how much this has upset people. maybe i am only looking at it from a teachers side and will feel different if it was my ds teacher.
do people really think that teachers sould not be allowed leave from school during term time for anything?
btw i went back from ds1 maternity leave pregnant with ds2 and kicked the arse out of it, planning leave around holidays. any sensible female teacher does.

JC - ah, yes. No - I checked it out with the union when I was going abck. No legal responsibility to go back at all before end of term. Maternity leave can start and end at beginning, middle or end of a school holiday. I still chose to go back for 2 days (school broke up on a Tuesday that year) for my own sake.

and maternity leave counts as continued service so if you wanted to you could just keep having babies and not go back at all!

well, am surprised how gentle people are wiht op, and infact at how many feel she is not unreasonable....

I think the issue is more the marking issues, and how this made OP feel and that that is why she feels so strongly about this....

tbh, if I ask my Es , who is in year 8, what he has done in school the answer tends to be...nothing....etc....I doubt, however, that that is true....

OP, I think yabu....there could be so many reasons of why the teacher had to take time off for Honeymoon outside the Holidays, and as it has been granted, it's non of your business, and to consider complaining....well..don't think you would be doing your dd's a favour...

My children's education is most certainly my business.

I think the biggest issue is the lack of cover for dd2, who maintains the teacher did not set them any work today; dd1 on the other appears to have benefited because the head of department gave them a new perspective on some of the syllabus.

how many classes is dd2 missing?

when one of dd1's teachers is off due to stress, dd1 often does little of great importance. S'only home ec though. But I can't say th odd instance like this bothers me. A rubbishy teacher all year is much more of an issue.

YABU, He is not just taking a holiday because he feeks kike it, It is his honeymoon and to me this is an esential thing to have a the start of your married life.

I think not being paid for the holidays is not relevant tbh, the fact is we are well paid for what we do, have fantastc holidays and immense job satisfaction, it is not much to ask in return for teachers to use their holidays for holidays.

Their will be extreme examples. I was once given three days off when my grandma was dying at the other end of the country.

I am glad Jane that your HOD was able to give your dd a new perspective on the syllabus.

Not being paid for the holidays would be irrelevant as far my employer thinks as you still have to pay for cover besides which we're not allowed to take unpaid leave if we have paid leave to draw upon (this point is often lost on some of our employees as they simply work lots of overtime beforehand to make up their shortfall in pay). However I don't feel that a well-planned lesson left for another teacher to cover in a school, should pose too much of an issue provided it's not a long-term thing.

The poor or inconsistent marking is something else though which would bother me more than a planned absence. Arguably a sudden sickness on the part of the teacher would be worse as there might not be lesson plans in place or someone briefed in what the class has covered. It does seem bad form but I imagine that there was a good reason for it.