Sixth form question

[ymayma]

My son started y12 in Sept and since he started there seems to have been a teacher absent every week. A range of reasons from illness, childcare, school trips, meetings have been given but no cover is provided so he just ends up missing lessons. Is this normal practise? I’ve contacted the school but they don’t seem to really be concerned/ taking action.
Just wondered if anyone else has had this experience.

This is the board for university staff. You might get more responses on the secondary education board.

I've found the same @ymayma . Schools don't need to provide cover for sixth form lessons. If you're getting reasons for the cancellations then you're lucky - my DS doesn't usually get told a reason. I've contacted the school too, but no reply yet. I mainly just wanted to know if they were actually monitoring it. 🤷‍♀️

Schools won't usually provide cover for sixth form lessons.

Are they being set work? DD's teachers would usually set work, and if the kids were sensible they would sit in the classroom and tackle it together.
I think it does need monitoring - the general principle is reasonable that if a teacher is off for a couple of days, sixth formers do not need supervising, but if a teacher is off too often, or for a couple of weeks, it does begin to make a difference. DD noticed it particularly in one subject, where she had one teacher only on Mondays, and the half-term after Easter they only got two lessons. They did at least realise in advance, so it was planned for.

This is the norm unless it’s a long term absence/illness. Teachers set independent work for students to complete.

It looks a lot more like the Secondary education section to me!

Our school doesn't provide cover for sixth form either. It is frustrating as many lessons have been cancelled this term due to staff absence and though they are set work it's not helpful if they don't understand a topic. It's true that they should be getting used to independent study now though.