Pregnancy Issue

[mikesh909]

I wonder if anyone has some advice for me??

I teach at a FE college on a sessional contract. This means there are no fixed hours - I am offered classes that run for varying lengths of time, which I am free to accept or turn down. Generally speaking, it isn't a good idea to turn work down as once it has been offered to another teacher, its very likely that they will become the 'established' person for that course, so you are less likely to be offered it again in the future.

I am employed as a lecturer in one department but there is another department which operates slightly differently to our one, but in which I am still qualified to teach. I have done some cover work in this department before and the opportunity to do more work there would be beneficial to my career, both long and short term. The manager of that department has offered me the chance to teach on two of her courses starting from September for 13 weeks. We met a few weeks ago and the offer was formalised by email yesterday.

Under normal circumstances, I would email straight back to accept. The complicating factor is that I am 19 weeks pregnant and that I have not told anyone at work yet. Our 20 week scan is next Friday, and I really wanted to wait until that had passed if at all possible. With regard to my own department, it should be no issue. I will tell them soon and they will presumably factor in my dates to the scheduling for Autumn. My question is, what is the right thing to do about the offer of work from the other department? The dates would take me one week over my due date. It feels like it would be wrong to email back my acceptance and then announce my pregnancy a week or so later. It also feels like if I feel forced to turn it down, that is really not very fair to me. The manager offered me the class, presumably because she thought I was good enough to teach it. Like I said, it is a good career opportunity for me.

It would be great to hear from anyone working under similar employment conditions or who is otherwise knowledgeable. It would also be great just to hear some opinions. My hunch is that there may be a legal standpoint but the ethical one might not take the same perspective. Any thoughts?

So how much of the course will you be unable to teach? Is it just one, or would you be planning to finish a good bit before your due date? I have taken a job under similar circumstances (not similar job though) and I just gave them 110% while I was there, and then stayed as close to my date as I could.
I would take the role, and then plan yourself the best way round it - so, this is my lecture plan and this is the work that will be set for the last two weeks. Or, can you just teach it all a bit more quickly and give them revision time?

This will be my first baby, so I am not sure, but I would hope and expect to work up to the due date unless of course the baby arrived early. Good advice about making sure to give 110% and leaving plan of work for last session(s). Do you think I need to tell the manager when accepting the hours or is there a way I can wait until after my scan as I had planned?

Email saying you are delighted to accept. Have your scan and then email the news along with your plan to minimise disruption. Tbf you shouldn't need to do the "extra effort" thing (and you don't know how you'll feel, though hopefully the sickness part is subsiding) but it looks good. If you could only do a few classes it would be harder but sounds like you don't need to miss much.