Anyone else paranoid that there maternity replacement will be a million times better than you are?

[chocolatestar]

I am! I am the only person at my school who teaches my subject. I set the department up, everything that has been done has been a decision I made. Now someone else is coming in and I think they will be better than me and my classes and colleagues will prefer her. I feel I've been able to hide being rubbish because I am the only subject specialist in school and that my cover is about to be blown.

I think my replacement will be better than me and I'm not even being replaced. Main tasks just being shared around. I can't say that I'd be surprized in these times of auterity(sp) that my role may have been, or at least will be in the consultancy period for redundancy after they've managed without me for a whole year.

Hey hoe, other things to think about first.

As an update to what I posted a few weeks ago, I go off on maternity leave on Dec 24th. I got back into work yesterday after a lovely long weekend to discover my maternity cover has quit, he leaves this Friday.

So, now I'm not paranoid he'll be better than me, I'm just wondering what shambles will await me in Jan 2012 if I decide to come back!

Wow Katie, what scared him off ? Were there any other suitable candidates who may still be available?

My mat cover has been appointed today. I feel very, very strange about it. I chose not to be involved with her recruitment, but my colleagues who interviewed her say that I will be leaving things in extremely capable hands. She is older than me, so I guess more experienced. After a bit of a scare and hospital stay this weekend, I have been told to take things a bit easier, so it looks like she's going to be brought in after Christmas for a four week handover period, then I'll finish at 36 weeks. Like the OP I set up my department- I am paranoid she's going to mess it all up in one moment, then scared the Directors will prefer her to me in the next. I know I should be gearing up for the arrival of my baby, not stressing about this but I feel so strange about leaving for the best part of a year and leaving things behind

Sorry- rant over!

I think when it is your own department it's like your other baby. I met mine last week, very nice which made me both happy and nervous!

oh god, this was awful for me. I just found it so difficult. My maternity cover was the next junior member of staff (v. small organisation). I was so upset as all the skills and experience I had to have to get the job he just didn't have, and I felt it was so unfair. Of course he was seamless, knew the organisation etc, so it made sense, but to me it downvalued what I did. I had my eye on someone I respected and valued to cover me, and it felt such a comedown!

Then when I came back part-time after a year they kept him on at the same level. Which I also really struggled with and it has honestly taken me a couple of years to feel ok about the whole thing. What really helped was discovering that in one area of my job he had really struggled and been totally crap (finances) so I was able to make this apparent to my boss and clear it all up, and feel valued and important.

Then possible redundancies came up and it looked like it would be me for a while there and that re-ignited the whole upset in me. All ok in the end luckily. But for me at least there is always a slight tension in our working relationship - I can't help thinking he should be more grateful to me for having a baby in the first place!

Rant over. Hit a nerve!

funny this thread should find its way to the top again this evening since my school has a candidate in tomorrow for my maternity replacement. He will be teaching my wonderful top set year 8s which they will just love since it is their last lesson before Christmas. I'm quite anxious my replacement will be better than me and even more worried that he'll actually be able to get along with the classes I don't. I'm strangely finding comfort in that my school has problems recruiting due to its (unfounded/outdated) bad reputation.