It's become clear at my DS's school that when some pupils are absent from lessons for trips, sports, educational visits, etc., the pupils left behind are basically doing nothing useful.
It seems that the teachers (or replacements if the teachers are also on the trip) aren't setting proper lessons or giving proper work, but instead letting them do homework, self-study, watch a video, or even allow them just to play on their phones.
I fully understand that the teacher has to make a judgement call on whether to do a normal lesson, as they'll no doubt have to do it again for those absent who've missed something important, but why can't they set some proper work, or even give a lesson on something related to their topic but outside the curriculum, so the kids left behind learn something, but those absent havn't missed anything crucial.
From what I can gather, if more than a handful are going to be absent, then most teachers at DS's school just don't bother with having a proper lesson.
I noticed this a lot last year, (year 8), from what my DS told me, but thought it may have been because year 8 is generally accepted as an "inbetween" year that's not too important. But already this year, they've effectively lost 2 out of 3 Physics lessons because they only have Physics on Friday afternoon, and around 9 of the class are in the Rugby team who seem to play inter-school matches on Friday afternoons, and worse still, the Physics teacher is also a rugby teacher who goes with the team. So not only have they missed 2 lessons, the supply teacher isn't a Physics teacher and they've been allowed to play with their phones as nothing has been left for the supply teacher to hand out, not even any worksheets.
Is this normal, and is it acceptable?