working in school - want to request 2 afternoons a week off - how can I persuade?

[Hotpotatofood]

working full time and have 2 kids under 5. finish work really late (because of meetings after lessons, parents evenings etc). I am considering asking my headteacher to have 5 hours off within 2 weeks, so it would mean a pay cut. I would work 90% of the full time salary. this would be equivalent to 5 hours off. thinking to request 2 afternoons a week 2.5 hours finishing earlier, so in total within 2 weeks, I would miss 5 hours. How can I persuade the headteacher to agree? I will mention that with 2 kids I need to attend medical appointments and with full time it means taking time off school. if I have afternoons off, even a bit of the time - then I can still fit the appointment etc..please help me with ideas.

Are you in primary or secondary? Do you have any ideas of how the school could fill that teaching time? Do other teachers work flexibly in your school, and if so, how well does that work?

I've just negotiated exactly what you're suggesting (one afternoon a week) and it wasn't difficult at all. I didn't have to give any reasons, just say what I wanted. I suspect that I am lucky as I work for a very understanding head teacher, but at my previous school there were several of us on 0.8 contracts and those discussions weren't difficult either. This is secondary though, which might make a difference.

Personally, I wouldn't mention the medical apps becuase what if you got those hours but then needed different times for apps? I'd just say that you are finding work/life balance difficult and is there any chance of cutting your hours?

It might be worth you posting in the Staff Room too btw.

the thing is that I woudl like to teach till 2.45 pm so not just the WHOLE afternoon off but just 1.15 min off out of the 2 afternoons

Would this not be problematic from a timetabling point of view-would it be hard for them to never timetable you to teach the last period of every day?

Also-there are issues with working part of the day and after school meetings because if they occur on the days that you work, you may still be required to attend them which leads to all sorts of 'trapped time' issues. I presume you are a secondary school teacher?