Should Teachers take holidays in term time?

[superme]

Im really annoyed at this. My child's job share teacher who only works 2 days per week has been off last week on holiday...the other teacher who they have beginning of week for 3 days was not in the classroom for 1 day due to some kind of meeting. Hence 2 supply teachers

Am I missing something here? Should teachers be taking hols in school time? Shouldnt meetings be arranged after school or lunchtimes and surely parents should be told if the teacher(s) are absent etc...

I always thought holidays had to be taken holiday time unless pre-booked or an exceptional case? Meetings usually happen during day because that is typically most (or supposed to be), convenient for all agencies involved. As a parent it would be nice to be told, but wouldn't change much!

I think that if a head allows her teachers to take hols in term time she/he will have a very difficult time convincing parents no to do likewise with their children.

It's very unusual ime, unless there are special circs which maybe you are not privy to?

you expect to be told every time a teacher has a meeting? Get real.

And why should teachers have meetings at lunchtime - they are entitled to a lunch break too.

as for holidays, maybe there are special circumstances, it's unusual so I'd imagine there is something you are unaware of.

I often wonder if we were to "allow" teachers and pupils up to 10 days off throughought the course of the year whether the holiday companies would lose their stranglehold over holiday time prices. work can be caught up on by pupils, teachers could hand over to a designated stand in and lots of people could afford a really good holiday.

I think holidays are great for children and families and it's part of the wider world rather than classroom based curriculum learning.

Obviously there would be certain sensitive times of year for older pupils and gcse level teachers but on the whole it could be of great benefit.

How do you know it was a holiday?

I would be surprised if there weren't fairly exceptional circumstances or maybe the teacher concerned had time owed (from extra days worked during holiday periods or trips).

was def holiday as the supply teacher told me.

if they are job sharing it may be that the teacher who had holiday will be covering extra days later in the term - maybe to cover training time for the other one. So maybe rather than taking extra holiday she was actually just varying her working time in that instance.

2 different supply teachers in a week is not ideal - but without knowing the details it is difficult to judge if it was the best solution or not.

IME supply teachers often don't know why they are taking a class.

If there was a family wedding then teachers are allowed time off for travel and so on to attend. Just a for instance...

At our school, the weekly newsletter tells you who's out at meetings and who's covering the class. As with most things, fewer problems if expectations are set properly.

Unlikely that a "holiday" would be allowed, although as someone has already said it could have been a day or two off for a family wedding.

Colleagues of mine have also been allowed days off to attend their childrens graduation ceremonies.

Another colleague negotiated a short holiday in term time as she wanted to go away with her mother, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wasn't expected to be well enough to travel by the school holidays. Nobody complained.

I would agree that they must be some very exceptional circumstances.

I had one day off once (it was actually only two lessons in total) as my husband won an award at work with included an all expenses paid trip to him, his partner and about 30 others. It really was a WOW trip!

I was probably only granted it because I had no control over the dates, it was exceptional and I have had no time off at all in the six years I have been working at this school (no sick days, nothing).

He was the only person to every win this award the second year in a row and I didn't even ask the next year. He was a floating in the dead sea all by himself!

I have known one colleague have 1 day to be best man at his friends wedding.

For a regular holiday no one would even ask at my school! Your name would be mud for YEARS for even asking!

Alouiseg I suspect all prices would rise to be the same as school holiday prices, not fall in line with term time prices.

Have never heard of a real holiday being allowed. However, for example my neice is being Christened on a Sunday in France - I can't get back to work for Mon so have been allowed day off - unpaid of course. So it may be a simialr situation. Agree that often supply won't know why staff are absent.

I have never known a teacher take a holiday during term time. I would be surprised if there were not exceptional circumstances.

I like Alouise's holiday idea though. For some families, it would mean the difference between getting or not getting a holiday. I think kids learn more on holiday than they do in a week of school TBH.

My DM is a Reception class teacher and had 3 days off on holiday last year for a 'once in a lifetime' trip to Israel and the Holy Land. This was as part of a group and she had no control over the dates they were flying.

As she works in a Catholic school she had to seek permission from the governors as well as the Head and it was allowed on the basis that she present to the board of governors, staff and also seperately to each class about her experiences.

The children seemed to benefit from the trip and she bought back lots of teaching aids, things for them to handle etc.

Reception teachers seems to be forever off on training days...luckily DD has two teachers, so they can cover for each other.

DS2's reception class has a permanent supply teacher as the class teacher was always training, or visiting nurserys or something.

It's very rare for teacher to take holiday in term time, but I think there may be very rare exceptions.

Why are you so annoyed superme?

If the meeting went on all day then obviously it couldn't have been held at lunchtime, perhaps it was a training course to benefit your child.

I'm sure the holiday was a one off, I was allowed a pre-booked holiday during term time to celebrate a big family event.
I booked it before my contract was renewed and I didn't get paid for the time off.

Why should you be told everytime the regular teacher is not available?
Do you really think the school should phone the parents of every pupil in a class before 9:00 to tell them there will be a supply teacher.

Shouldnt meetings be arranged after school or lunchtimes and surely parents should be told if the teacher(s) are absent etc...

Often, teachers are running extra-curricular activities at lunchtime or after school (I do three lunchtimes and an after school). Sometimes it is difficult to discuss things properly in snatched time, so a day off to discuss in depth is sometimes required. The teacher does the planning for the supply teacher, so what is the problem? The teacher's world is not the real world.

If a teacher works part-time, then whose business is it what she does on her days off, whether it's term-time or not?
And if a Head Teacher is flexible about job-share teachers boxing and coxing their days on occasion (as many do, as it actually benefits them too as the flexibility works both ways), then I don't see what difference it makes if one half of the team isn't there on a day parents might expect. What difference does it make whether they are at home or away?

Having said that, I think it would be tactless and unnecessary to broadcast that around the staffroom to the full-timers. Or to the parents, for that matter.

I job share for three days a week and wouldnt be allowed ( or ask for ) holidays in term time, however a colleague in school has just had a week off because her father has died, we havent told the children why she isnt in, so who knows what the parents think - things arnt always straight forward

With regard to the meetings being at lunchtime or after school....when would the planning, lesson prep and marking be done? I barely get 10 minutes for lunch usually, because I'm marking the morning's work and getting the afternoon's lessons ready, or speaking to children, liasing with support staff and colleagues etc etc.

It makes me laugh when parents think the teacher should always be in class - that would mean no professional development to enable them to become a better teacher.

I'm sure the holiday was a special exception as others have said, or that the teacher has swapped days with her job share. Two supply teachers not ideal I agree, but it's really a bit unreasonable to expect the school to tell you about every absence.