Teacher - always absent for medical reasons (pregnancy)

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I'm trying to understand how other schools deal with absence for medical reasons as I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with my kids school over this.

Last year DD1's teacher was pregnant. In the term before she went on mat leave she was barely in (I'd say 2 weeks max over the whole term). The school dealt with this by splitting the class up and over-filling the other class in the year group and the year below (to the point my DD was commenting she was sick of sitting on the carpet when there was not enough tables and chairs...) Once teacher went on mat. leave they covered her position by depriving another year group of a teacher (so another class having to deal with change mid-way through the year).

This year, 3 days after the start of the new school year there was another pregnancy drop out, this time in DD2's year (I don't live in the UK and here, by law, pregnant women cannot work a) until they have blood tests proving immunity to certain things and b) if the government says the risk of certain viruses, eg: flu, is too high - as happened last year).

Yet again the school have split up the class without a teacher and overfilled the two remaining classes in the year group. We have had no timetable for this year for DD2 and signs the teacher is way too busy (one reading book home so far). Next week marks half way through this half term and we are in a state of stasis regarding how the year group will be staffed for the year.

I'm getting the usual - she's pregnant it's the law, what can we do, from the school - but surely there are other ways to deal with absences for medical/personal reasons? Using other available staff at the school who have free periods? Ensuring the school is staffed enough for this suggested method? Hiring supply staff?

I should say this is a private school - £10k to join and £5k per term - I'm not talking about a head teacher having to cope with austerity cuts.

Please could you share how your schools deal with staff absence for any medical conditions (or perhaps compassionate) which will be ongoing over a period of months.

I feel sorry for the remaining staff and for the kids being messed around in this way. Not to mention furious about being short-changed over the service we are paying for.

Thanks

The thing is the OP doesn't know what the alternative is.

E.g. I've had my GCSE class increase to 33 once when a teacher left and we couldn't get someone we were happy with to do y11 at short notice

Option 1- keep a class of 20 and have an ok supply teacher who could get the group through the course
Option 2 - split the class between 3 strong teachers so the classes were bigger but all the children got an excellent teacher.

Option 2 was better for the children. Plus, there's no evidence that class size makes a massive difference unless your groups are under 15 I think.

Equally, I can recall schools who have unqualified non-specialists covering exam classes. I would rather my child was in a larger class with a good teacher than a smaller one with a cover supervisor.

I really don't get why the OP is so annoyed at kids going into slightly bigger but still reasonable classes.

In case it's not been mentioned; I believe that schools have a type of insurance policy that helps them to afford supply teacher to cover classes for absence of more than a week. Hence why a drs note is needed for the absentee. Thus classes should continue as per normal. (With supply).

The problem is obviously not that the women are pregnant but that the school seem to be unwilling to spend any money on fixing the problem.
They should be finding suitable supply staff.
Splitting the class is not a solution for more than a couple of days.
You are right to be cross and expect this to be sorted.

Norestformrz
Rarely cover (last I heard) only applies to PPA time.
It doesn't apply to people who are under their teaching allocation.

E.g. teacher 1 has 22 lessons and 3 hours PPA a week. Rarely cover applies.
Teacher 2 has 20 lessons. 3 hours are PPA so protected through rarely cover but the other 2 can be used for cover an intervention because they would otherwise be teaching if their timetable isn't full.

No Rarely cover doesn't only apply to PPA.

https://www.atl.org.uk/Images/ADV44%20Mythbusters%20rarely%20cover.pdf
https://www.teachers.org.uk/files/cover-teacher-cover-guide--feb-12-slpb.doc

Rarely cover applies to all non contact time.

E.g. If a teacher is under their teaching allocation in a school which follows the burgandy book then they can be used for cover in the extra time that isn't PPA. Whereas in a private school staff can (and often are in my friends' experiences) be used to cover.

^this is incorrect. A teacher in this type of school cannot be expected Ted to cover because they are under allocated.

We've had it used occasionally. Maybe they they did it under rarely cover then. I've lost mine twice in 3 years.
We can also be directed to do intervention if needed in that time (but that usually only kicks in during the spring).

rebel you state Because in UK in state schools teachers can't be used for cover and then go on to correctly say unless due to unforeseen circumstances. Most schools interpret this as people calling in sick on the day. So therefore, I still stand by when I say not strictly true to your comment that UK state schools can't be used for cover. They can in some circumstances.

A teacher can cover in unforeseen circumstances (rarely) but a pregnancy isn't an unforeseen circumstance so teachers should never be expected to cover.

A teacher can cover in unforeseen circumstances (rarely) but a pregnancy isn't an unforeseen circumstance so teachers should never be expected to cover.

I agree. And know. Was just disputing the blanket statement that uk teachers can't be used for cover. We can (and I am) under certain circumstances. And the word 'rarely' is applied differently in different schools sadly.

I work in an independent school and organise cover. A short term absence we cover internally, so we have a a teacher off first thing tomorrow to go to the doctors, wil, be in around 10am, am sending in another TA to cover that with her usual TA.
Ditto courses and trips etc, people who are freed up by their class being off, or have free time on the timetable cover.
If it were a week or more we would get in a supply teacher, unless it is someone with a very light teaching load. So I was off with a gallbladder problem most of the spring term, we upped a very part-timers hours to cover some lessons and the caretaker (a former engineer and also does tutoring so not as weird as it sounds) did the rest until I was fit enough to be back in the classroom.

British school, not in the UK here.
One of my children had a teacher who had a fair amount of absences last year (visa issues followed by illness and then pregnancy), although not as high as you seem to be getting.
We had a mixture if EAL teacher covering the class (not sure what happened to the students who were supposed to visit him that day!) And TA teaching - especially where the planning had been done and it wasnt a brand new topic to start.
Chatting to the year, it is really difficult to get supply staff -basically that concept doesnt exist here, so he over staffs on TAs who are amazing, and highly trained to try and keep them going, and to try and provide consistency to the kids.

kitty
Our school never touch PPA fir cover, but you do occasionally lose any additional non-contact time if you're under allocation. Seems fair to me. Better people who have additional free time get used than the rest of us.

I'm curious about these teachers in primary who have free time above PPA. In my school everyone has a full time teaching commitment except the head.

First, find out what normally happens in these situations in state schools in the country that you are in.

Secondly - pull out whatever information you got from them on enrolling, contract, terms and conditions etc. See if there is anything expressly stated on it, either in terms of covering staff absences or guarantees class size numbers.

Thirdly - get together with other parents of children in the class and approach the head collectively to see where you get.

Personally, I would be hopping mad if I paid that much money to a school and that was the standard. There must be some form of cover for brief absences. Sounds to me like they don't want to pay for it.

I'm curious about these teachers in primary who have free time above PPA. In my school everyone has a full time teaching commitment except the head.

Me too. Some SMT have extra management time but that's it. Maybe I'm in the wrong school.

The school could afford to hire a replacement teacher but they choose not too.

Saves money.

Bet you're ripping.

Are the teachers unionised?

It's not something I'd be prepared to put up with OP , especially since you are paying for the privilege. Would it be possible to just HE until you move back to the UK , as that's what I'd do .

Very different in a private school in the UK. We are expected to cover other teachers absences in our free lessons. Cover, not plan or mark. Some ear easier than others. In my school, cover would be used for 1/2 days but anything more and a supply might be bought in. This is very common and has been the case in all 4 private schools I've worked in. We have someone in charge or organising cover who keeps good records of it and ensures it's as fair as possible.

I would certainly expect a better solution than you are being given. HOWEVER if they can't get supply in then merging classes may be the only option. They can't use other staff members for extended periods of time as their teaching would suffer as they would have far less planning time etc.

I would go in and say nothing about the teachers absence, just discuss the cover and say you are unhappy with classes being merged because it is impacting your child's education which you are paying heavily for. They are to an extent bound to provide a certain level of provision. Like you said, its not about the teacher herself, it's about what the school is doing to replace her.

I agree the arrangement is unsatisfactory especially as you are paying privately. However most such vacancies in the UK would I imagine be dealt with by supply staff, and I suspect where you are there just isn't anywhere near the availability of suitably qualified supply/short term contract staff able to fill the boots.
Presume they generally recruit perm staff from abroad which takes several months.
Most schools in the uk will have a list of supply staff they can call immediately and have someone onsite that day.

My school get in a supply teacher or the headteacher or a HLTA will cover, or very occasionally, if the planning has already been done and its something the kids can get on with rather than a new subject a TA will supervise, but that's as a last resort.

Daughters private prep school has a brilliant retired teacher they bring in as supply, or if there's more than 1 person off/she's not available they have subject teachers for some subjects and they cover between them depending who is free.

DS' school (grammar) seems to have a never ending supply of teachers with free periods, or will bring in a supply to cover lower years so one of the other regular teachers are freed up to do GCSE/Alevel lessons.

I'm curious about these teachers in primary who have free time above PPA. In my school everyone has a full time teaching commitment except the head
I'm secondary so our timetable allocation goes like this:

• main teacher PPA
• leadership time for TLR holders / SLT

Anytging extra tends to be odd hours where classes don't quite fit. If you're lucky you gain 1 hour extra a cycle but it does mean that if they nees cover and the cover team are all busy then they'll use you. It doesn't happen often.

I'm SLT, have a TLR and a full time teaching commitment.

Maybe primary is very different.

Most TLR holders in the schools I've worked in have had some reduction for their role. But then we are significantly bigger than a primary. My department has more teachers than most of our feeder primaries