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 was really shocked that parents thought i had been on holiday, (it was my second week in my new post), when in fact i'd had to fly to Canada for my MIL's funeral, it was awful to think that parents thought i was off on some jolly and so embarrassing for everyone when i had to explain why i had been away-could this be the case here?

Meetings are part of the teacher's job and often do take place within the school day through necessity. All employees are entited legally to a lunch break - that is a break from work. Teachers are not exempt. You will also find that teachers also do have meetins after school as well as those during the day. The school does not need to inform you of if the teacher will be absent for whatever reason - so long as they cover te teacher's absence appropriately - that is their responsbility.

It is very rare for a school to sanction a term time holiday for teaching or support staff. I have worked in schools for 13 years now and have known of it occuring very very rarely. For example, we have a TA currently absent (who is being covered by supply TA) as she is getting married abroad and it is exceptional circumstances related to that and the dates that had to be done. her family is abroad so not marrying abroad through choice.

I am intending having a day off in June, the first day back after half term infact. However I will make up my hours in the week before half term (I work PT so this is possibly) so in my case there won't even be supply. However, because of a family wedding I will be flying back fromt he US on the Saurday/Sunday - and both I and my class teacher agree that the children will benefit more from my wide awake, alert state the week before than the jetlagged nightmare I would be that Monday.

The other time a teacher may be given term time holiday is if he or she is owed time for working additional hours previously. This can be particularly the case in part time or job share situations.

i doubt it's just a 'holiday' as others have said - more likely to be a small hospital proceedure or a family event like a wedding or a bereavement.

sometimes it's easier not to explain (and if it's health-related it's confidential anyway).

Yes I had time off after each of my mc and would have been mortified if parents had thought I had been away on holiday!

I have a job share and there are times when I have worked a whole week for my colleague so she can take a term time holiday and this favour has then been reciprocated at another time in the term.

But this has been a situation where the pupils are taught by one of their regular teachers. Very strange that supply teachers were involved in your DDs case.

However you are being very unreasonable to assume that the teacher should be all meetings at lunchtimes. Contrary to what some parents believe teaching is not a 9-3.15 job.

At my school we have a long meeting after school on Mondays. My job share attends another long senior management meeting on a Thursday after school. I take two lunchtime clubs and on my third lunchtime (before I go home after the two and half days I work) I have a handover meeting with my job share.

Many meetings that teachers need to attend(annual reviews for SEN, child protection meetings, consultations with other professionals, conferences and courses which help with professional development which ultimately improve the classroom environment for the pupils) can't all be done in lunchtimes and why is it that people think teachers aren't entitled to a lunch break anyway?

Having said that most teachers I know DO work through lunch breaks- our staff room is like a ghost town most lunchtimes as this is when they catch up on marking and prepare for the afternoon lessons.

""was def holiday as the supply teacher told me.""

Have you thought that :

1. the supply teacher might just be assuming

2. the supply teacher might have been told to say that to protect the teachers privacy if there is something personal going on?

I have never heard of this before - very odd.

However, I wonder whether things could be done very differently with school holiday shorter but children (and teachers) allowed to take off time during term time.

It would enable families (and teachers) to have cheaper holidays and be less frustrating for the spouses of teachers.

Say, official school holidays of 8 weeks a year with teachers and children allowed to take off 4 weeks during term time.

I know this message was posted a while ago but I've just heard of a teacher who has told her head that she is having an operation when she is actually going on a weeks holiday - surely that isn't right or fair?

DH is a teacher and recently took a days unpaid leave as we were coming back from his brother's wedding in Australia which ran over the end of the Easter holiday.

He went in on the Tuesday and felt incredibly rough though.

He has meetings after school hours at least 3 days a week and works for a couple of hours after school hours every day at school itself, plus several hours every evening and weekends as well.

As a non-teacher I find the inflexibility very difficult because I have to deal with all the school hours stuff that inevitably happens regarding DD - sickness, appointments etc - out of my annual leave or by making time up.

I am also finding it very sad that he won't be able to come to DD's new school for her first day . He will also miss all the things like concerts, sports days etc that I'd love him to come to with me

I am sure we have had a thread not long ago that reads almost identical to this, or am I imagining it?

Meetings should not take place in lunchtimes. Teachers are entitled to have a lunch break. Many already take place afterschool as it is.

Some meetings have to take place during the school day due to their nature or if outside agencies are coming in. The meetings are normally for the benefit of a child or children in the class anyway, so are essential.

The school do not need to tell parents every time a teacher is going to be off. The practicialities of that would be madness.

It is, IME, very rare for a teacher to take time off for a holiday in term time. I have known it to occur but only with very special circumstances. It has to have not just the head's say so, but also the Governors.

With jobshare it can be different as often the jobshare teachers can/will arrange the cover between them, and that is fine. This is acceptable IMO. However, it is still unusual and not likely to happen often IME.

Also bear in mind the teacher may not actually be on holiday. It may be for another reason which they do not or cannot specify.

Ah, silly me - just seen date of OP! Thought I'd read it before!

happychops - if that is truely the case then the teacher faces major disciplinary action if and when she is found out. How is she getting around the fact that she will need a medica note?

This reminds me of a teacher in school I used to work in took unpaid leave to visit Australia, where he was thinking of emigrating to.

It was a lie - the british Lions were touring Aus and he wanted to go and watch.

Cheeky beggar.

My job-share partner is going to her brother's wedding in the final week of this term. I'm covering two days for her, and in return, have had an extra day off last week and this week which she has covered.

Far from having had a lovely time on those days off, I'm writing reports .

Our headteacher is more than happy for us to cover each other occasionally in this way.