Pregnancy discrimination as a teacher…help!

[MamaOf2ToBe]

Need advice desperately! Will contact union on Monday but will go out of my mind this weekend ..
recently told the head I am pregnant and head of HR. Was clear I wanted it to be kept confidential and only those 2 people were allowed to know at present.
Just had timetable through for next academic year (done by a different member of SLT) and I’ve been allocated approx 45% of my maximum load to my subject specialism. New member of staff joining in September has been allocated pretty much 100% of their max load to our subject specialism.
We are overstaffed anyway so I anticipated only being able to teach 80% of my max load within subject specialism and when filling out the distribution/allocation spreadsheet for our small department I made sure both staff had 80% of our max load in our subject specialism.
Two massive concerns here are: has confidentially been breached to make the SLT in charge of timetables allocate my teaching load like this? I feel like I can’t share this timetable with the new incoming member of staff because it quite simply raises all sorts of questions I’m not prepared to answer until I know my pregnancy and baby are doing fine.
I can almost guarantee my timetable would not look like this if school weren’t aware of my pregnancy.
also, is this discrimination? ive taught at the school for years and always had a fair share of the subject specialism. I’m almost certain I’m employed as a teacher of ___subject rather than the contract (which btw they can’t show me because it got lost when school became a MAT - a year after I joined) saying “just” a Teacher.

I would like to help OP but never supported education HR so have some daft questions first.

When you say they’ve only given 45% have they given less hours or less overall work? Or work of a different kind?

Either way.

I would put your concerns in writing to the Head and the HR person you told and ask why the work has been allocated in this way. It’s reasonable to give them the opportunity to explain and then you can get your ducks in a row for next steps.

OP - just to understand - as you are in FT employment by the school - does your salary depend on your load?

Please don't spend the whole weekend stressing about it - as it’s not good for you and the baby.

Schools need to plan around all kinds of circumstances. And of course - the timetable for next year needs to account for your pregnancy. How it has been done - is less relevant - maybe one of the two people you informed did the scheduling themselves. Maybe they just told the scheduling person to do yours at particular % - as senior leaders they don't need to explain the reasons to the scheduler. And pregnancy is NOT the only reason a teacher can have a lighter teaching load in an academic year.
There are a lit of other circumstances - health, family, other pursuits - it just seems to you that pregnancy is the one and only….

Finally - I’ll say it as a parent of children who had had pregnant teachers over the years - with varying success/host of issues.
Think about what is best for those kids.

School has responsibility to get the best education to their kids. And it is entirely sensible to plan accordingly if the teacher gets pregnant. And if that means one extra person is told about your pregnancy - i do not think it is discrimination or unfair.

That is unless they are planning to pay you less in the time before maternity leave. THAT would be discriminatory.

The ht has probably told them HOW to plan your work, but not the reason why.so I can't see there is evidence of any breach of confidentiality.
I am not entirely sure what you mean but the head teacher needs to plan things do that your forthcoming absence haz the minimum negative impact on the kids. That is his legal and moral priority.

I can teach a maximum of 26 lessons over a fortnight. My timetable looks like I have been allocated 12 lessons. This potentially means the other 14 lessons will see me shifted over into a non-specialist subject.
Most teacher have a “second subject” which isn’t actually a specialism and they aren’t qualified in it but it’s typical.

my issue is that in my several years working at this school I have never had such a low proportion of lessons in my specialist area whilst my colleague has 97% of their allocation in our subject specialism. The balance is WAY OFF and I am convinced it’s because they know I am pregnant.

I do appreciate this but the remaining % of my teaching capacity will inevitably go to my second subject (which I am not trained in beyond having a GCSE in it!) and that means the students who we need to ensure are not impacted by this actually are - two fold…one, by putting a non specialist at the front of their room then secondly, that teacher going on maternity in the spring and a replacement being needed.

I do appreciate this but the remaining % of my teaching capacity will inevitably go to my second subject (which I am not trained in beyond having a GCSE in it!) and that means the students who we need to ensure are not impacted by this actually are - two fold…one, by putting a non specialist at the front of their room then secondly, that teacher going on maternity in the spring and a replacement being needed - which could end up as agency supply.

The alternative is not much better but if they were to keep both mine and colleagues subject specialist load shared our more fairly, that person will not be going on maternity (tho paternity/SPL is possible) and the number of lessons and classes I would be teaching as a second subject would reduce meaning when I do go on mat leave, less children are effected by needing a replacement teacher.

Also, I am under the impression my personal health is to be kept confidential and if the people who I told of my pregnancy felt it necessary to tell anyone else, they would have to tell me first.

OP - I am sure you are not the first pregnant teacher the school has ever had.
So between the Head of School and Head of HR - maybe they have a way that they know works?

And maybe - you need to sit down with them and have a grown up conversation, rather than assuming they are doing something wrong or trying to discriminate you.

I would not presume discrimination. They may know that it will be easier to get cover with this schedule distribution.

confidentiality can only go so far. Management does need to make arrangements to make sure the work still gets done. They don’t have to explain why they are making changes, but sometimes changes do have to be made. You happen to be in a field where schedules are done far in advance.

I had something similar when I had cancer. I lost a huge project because it could only be done by one person, a legal requirement, and I wasn’t going to be able to see it to the finish. My replacement had to be brought in quickly because they had to get approved and trained. It stung, but it wasn’t discrimination. My employer made sure I had work that was compatible with my constraints, while making sure things still got done.