Can a teacher go on a stress leave in probation period and how long?

[Sev124]

i am crying my eyes out every night, overwhelmed in marking over 120 books a day, they are placing me on informal support plan after giving me the most difficult children in the year group - although a more experienced teacher joined at the same time as me and she seems to have no behaviour problems and she says I have a more difficult class herself

you cannot give me the most difficult class - then say the planning of maths (done by other teacher) is not good enough and children are getting bored as we teach year 1 and 2 together- then say i need a mentor

A mentor might not be a bad thing, they can be really helpful. Are you an ECT or fully qualified?
In your other thread, you talk about an authoritative TA - could they do some marking while you focus on the children? And it is OK for you to say that you can't take on the maths unless you swap over responsibilities for eg English - you can say that realistically you don't have any extra capacity at the moment, given the challenges with your class. Maybe someone more experienced can support with the maths.
If the TA is good with behaviour management, work with them on developing consistent strategies within the classroom so that the children expect the same from either of you.

Just don’tdo all that marking. Cut back on workload.Get real.

My niece was on her probation last year and had only a certain amount of time she was allowed to miss. She ended up in hospital for 5 days and was told to rest when allowed to go home but was back at work the next day due to fear of not passing probation and then when her grandparent died she took the funeral off and that was it. She was exhausted throughout it all.

can you speak to your mentor? Head of subject, head teacher?

The rules are different depending on where you are.

Are you in England, employed as an ECT?
Or Scotland?

I've already commented on your other thread about this..but speak to your union rep about workload issues and what is a reasonable request. But ultimately the school doesn't sound Iike it's for you. Look for another job. But going on stress leave won't make anything better because as soon as you return the workload issue will still be there! You need a long term solution.
You can't physically mark all those books - you need to be more clever with your time. Peer assessment, self assessment, verbal feedback, stamps, online marking. You can't give in depth feedback on every piece of work every day.

I don't understand the situation? There is a one/two class and you have some of them and someone else has some of them?

Why are there 120 books a day?

What's the school marking policy?

What behaviour problems are you having?

Like Savoy, I'm a bit confused.

When I read 'mark 120 books a day' I assumed you were teaching secondary.
Why are you marking 120 books a day in Yr 1 / Yr 2 ?

If there are issues, then surely having a mentor is a positive thing ?

Don't get me wrong, I know the workload of an ECT is ridiculous. I know virtually every ECT wants to give up at this point in the year.
But , if you've got this far, then you need to tackle this one bite at a time. The mentor is there to help you do that.

I’m not an ECT. I have completed my ECT last year. 30 books for maths, 30 books for English and 30 books for afternoon lesson. And sometimes we teach 4 which means 120.

You should not have to mark 120 books a day, that's ridiculous! In year one and two they should not be working in their books every single lesson.

I teach year two. I 'live mark' maths. We have to, it's in our policy. The children know not to close their books until it's marked.

Then for other subjects I just mark to the learning objective. So if it's a lesson on adjectives, I look for and tick adjectives in their piece of writing. I wouldn't also look to see if they had spelling mistakes in other words for example. And as much as possible in the lesson.

It's more effective anyway. A six year old does not look back and see if they did a good job yesterday writing some noun phrases.

Did you lose your thread from yesterday?

school is placing me on a mentoring/couching programme as they think I cannot manage behaviour in my class- is this a informal support plan? | Mumsnet

Op what is it you’re hoping to achieve by going on sick leave? It doesn’t appear stress is the issue, more your ability to do the job. They have offered you support. I think you need to take it. Or resign. Going off sick isn’t going to get you through probation, if that’s what you’re thinking they will just extend. Also work with your mentor on how often children should need their books marking,

It sounds like a mentor is exactly what you need-you need some support with planning how and what needs marking. 120 books a day in KS1 needs looking at. There should be some live marking, some self-marking, some ongoing work which doesn’t need marking until the next day etc

If the job isn’t for you, then leave. Presumably you’re under the BB and can put in your notice at February half term to go at Christmas? If you enjoy it but need support with strategies and organisation, then take the held that’s being offered. Going off sick with stress won’t resolve your issue though.

There's something badly wrong if marking year 1 and 2 books is a major effort. Firstly the school should be doing marking within the lesson. It should be simple - ticks, smiley stamp etc, not long winded comments the children can't/ won't read. Secondly not everything should be recorded and / or "marked". We have floorbooks for most foundation subjects. Kids might draw a picture and / or write a sentence on a piece of paper that is stuck in the book OR the teacher might just record their ideas. Those are not 'marked' - but they show what the child has learnt.

You are absolutely responsible for the quality of the lesson. If the plan isn't good enough or doesnt meet the needs of your class, you should be adapting it either beforehand or in the moment.

Tbh you should have learnt to manage all these things in your two year ECT programme. It doesn't sound like you had a good experience - not sure if it was at the same school? - and current expectations sound crazy, as I can't imagine how flicking through 30 books x 3 or 4 at that level, even if it is required, would take so long. Time to move on?

You didn’t like the answers you got on your other thread asking the same thing then?

If your job is too much for you, which it sounds like it would be for many people, then leave and find a different one.

Don’t screw the school out if it’s already very limited money because you neither want to leave or accept support to try and improve your performance.

The school have recognised that you need support and are trying to give it to you. If you take that support, something might change for the better.

If you run away on stress leave the problems will still be there on your return, you will still have lots of books to mark and you will still have a difficult class. Learn how to deal with these things instead of trying to run away and blame everyone else.

In your shoes, I would accept the coaching / support plan and be honest. “Yes, I am struggling. The workload is overwhelming and I am not experienced in dealing with this age group or level of behavioural need. I need help.”

Then take a deep breath and do your best. You don’t have to be perfect. You just need to get through a day at a time.

The Christmas break is coming soon and you can take a breather and re-evaluate. Is this the right job for you? If not, start looking for something else in the new year and leave with your head held high and a plan.

Going off sick in your probation period is going to affect your future prospects. It won’t look good and I think you know that, which is why you are starting multiple threads.

I'm confused about the "probation period".

Stress leave is not a thing, it is sick leave. You will not be tackling the problem though and it will affect future prospects. You will be left on sick leave with immense worries about returning and so the leave won’t actually help your mental health. You would be better to accept the coaching and address the marking issues, advice given above and on your other thread.

If teaching is not for you it is better to resign than to cost the school a fortune in supply etc. and damage your mental health further.

Accept support, it will be expected as part of the plan to help you develop.

The plan will be time limited with milestones to achieve. Your school/LA will have a policy to follow. Read it so that you know what is expected. The plan will be monitored so that you can show your improvement. If you don’t the plan will move to a capability stage, where the policy will be explained and includes ending your contract ( and ability to still teach).

if you are ill, follow the attendance management policies. Again you will be under support and scrutiny. I think ‘two occasions of absence in 6 months’ starts attendance management procedures.

Also use the other school policies to support you. Marking and feedback, behaviour etc. Are you following these? Unusual these days for schools to expect every book marked everyday. Does the policy include ‘live marking’, are you following this? Ask for more support as part of your performance plan.

Your union will help you work through this and advise on your choices.

You need to contact your union for support. If you are being placed on an informal support plan, you should be receiving coaching and mentoring. If you go off with stress, the plan will be put on hold until you return.
If you go to formal capability procedures and this has been given to you in writing, you can go off with stress and the procedure continues in your absence. That means that you can be in the process for 6-8 weeks, not be in school for that time and they can still make a decision about your performance, probably ending in dismissal.
If you are that unhappy, look for another job where the marking policy isn't so onerous. Sometimes you just need to find the right school for you, sometimes teaching just isn't the right job.
Again though, contact your union.

Having read some of your other posts, I am confused. You talk about a year's ECT. Teachers now have two years ECT and should have access to a CPD programme in school time and a mentor whom they meet with weekly. On top of that, there should be an induction tutor overseeing your progress and writing termly reports. If you don't pass that, you can not work as a qualified teacher, so either you did pass or you are still an ECT?

If you are still an ECT you must accept the support and mentoring. If you have already passed, then it sounds like they might be going down capability - support has to be given first.

Either way you need to accept the support or resign. If you have passed your ECT then you are fully qualified and can look for a teaching job better suited to you. If not, then you need to find a school willing to take you on as an ECT so you can finish the process.

Behaviour management is key to any teaching job. All children can play up if it is poor. Classes usually have a few challenging children. Moaning about bad behaviour conveys a negative attitude. Asking for help and guidance with strategies or the chance to observe another colleague's strategies would be seen as a positive, showing you are willing to work on this, rather than blame the children for the problems you are having.

I absolutely agree with @Onelifeonly regarding the behaviour management. You need to get on top of this. Have you got an effect rewards system in place? If not, review it and put something in place that will help this class better. Learn from your effective colleagues.

You cannot complain about being an eyfs teacher and having to teach a different age group, the nature of teaching is that you can be expected to teach any age group, even if you have a specialism. If you only like early years you may be better working in a nursery with a preschool.

Accept the help of a mentor. Be honest about how much you can mark and what you’re willing to mark. Self marking, stamps etc should be enough. Look at the schools marking policy it should have passed a workload audit. It will not say mark all books everyday as Ofsted look at workload now. Start looking for other jobs if this is not the school for you. Try not to go on sick leave, it’s normally a rolling 2 week thing anyway, they don’t just sign you off for 3 months.

Either your school has crazy policies -or you need support with understanding what to do about marking. Most newer teachers are still learning behaviour management.

Help is good but if it’s unsupportive leave and look else where. Teaching in different school is very different.

I think it was pretty much agreed by the OP on her previous thread, that teaching was probably not the career for her,

Yesterday, you were being asked to do the maths planning. You were being asked to attend meetings at lunchtime and after school, which you didn’t like. You spoke of a month’s notice I think.

I agree with @Onelifeonly

I'm having my doubts about the whole situation having read the other thread.