Teacher - always absent for medical reasons (pregnancy)

[121onandon]

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

School should be proving a cover/supply teacher not merging classes to that extent, especially when it's long term. Sounds like they are just unwilling to spend the extra money to provide cover.

Thanks for all the helpful insights. I'll try to address a few of the comments made:

Re: Home ed, not an option - it is illegal to home educate in this country.

Re: those who work in schools where the TA pitches in - that's great for consistency, these classes don't have a TA to begin with - hence my concerns: large class, many kids with limited English, no support staff in the classroom - not a great result for £5k a term.

Re: numbers aren't that big it it won't make much of a difference:
On the first day of school this year DD2 had been moved into a different class than the one we were informed of back in June. The reason given was that the year group had grown so much it required being split into 3 and not 2 classes - this was the Head's assessment of the staffing requirements....until 3 days later when the new teacher can no longer come to the school for an unspecified amount of time..... so the kids are them merged into 2 classes, despite that being unsuitable just 3 days previously.

Re: Difficultly of getting Supply for International Schools: If this is the case then the School must organise itself so that it has enough staff to cover absence in a similar way that the private school system in the UK does - there was a poster who confirmed this for 4 private schools she worked at (I'm pretty sure it was the case in DD's old school too) - ie: other staff are obliged to provide cover, but likely to teach less lessons over all to allow for this.

Staff absence is a fact of life, it needs to be properly provided for. Can you imagine being one of the 2 remaining teachers and coming down with an illness? Do you drop your remaining one colleague right in it and give the Head a massive headache or do you force yourself to go in although you are too ill? The School has an unsustainable staffing model.

Re: they don't want to pay. I'm sure this is right - the Head tells me he doesn't control the budget. The school is apparently run for profit (I wasn't even aware this was allowed!) so there's a family creaming off cash at the top whilst the Head is over-stressed, the staff are over-worked and the kids are under-provided for. It's maddening and I'm trapped in it.

RE: Difficultly of getting Supply for International Schools: If this is the case then the School must organise itself so that it has enough staff to cover absence in a similar way that the private school system in the UK does - there was a poster who confirmed this for 4 private schools she worked at (I'm pretty sure it was the case in DD's old school too) - ie: other staff are obliged to provide cover, but likely to teach less lessons over all to allow for this.

Yes it was me that said that. Large schools though so cover only the equivalent of maybe once a week or a few times every half term. Occasionally we could get stung more than once in a week but rarely. When I worked in a smaller school we used to call for supply as soon as we could. If it was an unexpected sickness (called in on the day) then we'd just all pull together a bit and do our bit. But only until appropriate cover was organised.

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.

We have a literacy coordinator and a maths coordinator who don't have a full teaching load. It is a requirement of their role that they step in as cover when required. A classroom teacher with a full teaching load will not be asked to provide cover. On the very rare occasion that it has happened (and it has only ever been initiated by the teacher offering, we have never been asked or told) we have had that time made up by one of the coordinators on another day in the same week. We've had times when the Principal has actually taken a class in order for staff to still get their APT that week.

OP, you can say as often as you wish what should be happening in this school but if it is the only international school in the area, home ed is not legal and the only other available schools teach in the local language, then I suspect you are on a hiding to nothing! If most expat parents have little choice, there is no incentive for the Head/school to sort out this staffing situation.

I don't know if whoever accredits international schools would be interested but I suspect not because it sounds like class sizes are still reasonable (although possibly not by private school standards) and students are presumably still making sufficient progress. If the school has a large number of students whose parents work for a few companies, those companies might be able to exert some influence if there is a possibility that they are going to have difficulty in relocating staff because of concerns over education. However, even if either of those options are possible, it is still a long-term solution and doesn't help with what is happening right now.

Unfortunate you are so right, it's making me so stressed I'm getting in a state over it. DD1 made scant progress over last year and now DD2 is in the same position.

I actually hate my DH for putting us in this position or possibly myself for going along with the bullshit expat adventure crap when I could have divorced him, upped my own hours and protected the kids from this shit. I'm watching them be failed every day and can do nothing to help. Believe me there are many other issues, this is just the longest running and biggest. Two years of damaged education so we can say 'we lived abroad'.

I do feel for you. I just think you will have to do the extra school work at home. Do you have the curriculum for the term? Can you not come home with the children and rent? Cheaper than school fees!

Of course schools can make a profit. They are not all charities. Even then they can make a profit and plough it back into the school. Lots of private schools don't have TAs for small classes under 20. I would rather agree that this is poor value for money. I would also agree it is complacent. Come home!

If I come home I can't get the kids into a decent school until September 2018, so we have to cope with another year of crap until then.