Pregnancy discrimination? Sitting down.

[Namesfordays]

Hi,

Posting here for a bit of advice. I am a primary school teacher and I am currently 8 weeks pregnant.

Work are aware I am pregnant, I told them early on, when we came back from the Christmas holidays, as I was feeling a bit rough and thought it would be easier if everything was out in the open.

Anyway the past week I haven’t been feeling great and I asked my deputy head teacher if I was okay to eat in the classroom as I was getting dizzy spells. I was told no, I would need to find someone to cover me so I could nip to the toilet.

Today myself and another teacher from my year group were asked to stay behind in a meeting and we’re told that we have been sitting down whilst teaching, insinuating because of this the children aren’t making progress and that we need to ensure we are standing up.

The head teacher then followed this up with an email, with research on why standing up to teach is best practice.

I just feel totally deflated and unsupported.

I am going to contact my union tomorrow, I was just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation before or has any advice of how to deal with this.

P.S I do spend a lot of my day standing up!

Thanks!

Have you formally requested reasonable adjustments?
Is not eating in the classroom a thing?

I haven’t no, I’ve not had a risk assessment I just wanted to get the all clear to eat in the classroom to help with the dizzy spells.
Eating whilst the children are in the classroom isn’t allowed, but I thought a cheeky orange whilst the children are busy and on task every now and again might be okay.

You shouldn't need a risk assessment to request reasonable adjustments. You should just be able to do make a formal request. However you should also have a risk assessment done, I can't remember at how many weeks that's supposed to be done. I have no idea on the eating thing, I'm not in teaching. My daughter has snack time in her class but I don't know if the teacher can join in with that.or whether your class has snack time?

What's had sitting down got to do with eating? Two different things you are talking about surely

What year do you teach?

How would a teacher in a wheelchair stand to present in the class? 😕
I'd be asking for a risk assessment to be done and reasonable adjustments.

A cheeky orange!!! 😆You don't think the entire class would smell that in seconds? I'd be using barley sugars, sweets or something quick I could shove in whilst bending over to pretend to forage through the drawer behind the desk.

Edited to add: Are you allowed a drink in the classroom? Ginger tea might help.

I think it’s reasonable to have to stick to the rules of not eating in the classroom if the rule is there for a good reason, and be able to teach to best practice. However you need to request a meeting with your manager and request a risk assessment, it may be that adjustments could be made which could include cover so that you can have a couple of extra breaks during the day where you can sit down and eat.

A risk assessment should be carried out as soon as you inform your employer. Ask that this is done asap.

Sorry to be confusing it’s been a long day.

The relevance of the eating in the classroom was the fact that they were already aware I am having dizzy spells, and then a few days later I’m being told I need to ensure I’m standing up.

I am sneaking the snacks in on the sly as often as possible!

I will be pushing for a risk assessment and see what comes of that.

Thanks for your advice
x

I teach year 1, 5-6 year olds

This has been our exact argument today. It just seems very ridiculous.

Yea I’ve been having lots of ginger tea and changed my water to juice which seems to be helping too!

I wouldn’t ask them if you could eat, I would just subtly eat a biscuit etc every now and then once the kids are on task. Doubt anyone would even notice.

I do think it's a little year group dependent as to how well you can teach sitting down. But there's always some times you can do that, even if it's sitting at a table with a group of children. As you get bigger, it doesn't need to be a children's chair you are using.

I don't see how eating is needed the maximum is what? 90 minutes, 2 hours between breaks. I presume you can sip a drink. Sitting down would be a reasonable adjustment so just request it.

As a teacher I often go from 8:45 to 12 without any sort of break.

During pregnancy you are arguably one of the highest protected employees there is.

Sit down with the head and request reasonable adjustments + risk assessment ASAP and ensure everything is documented.

Having a sit down every now and again is not unreasonable, especially when you are feeling dizzy in you first trimester - you will inevitably go in to a period where you're unable to stand because of your swollen ankles and generally gravity not being on your side.

Not only this, you should raise that pulling you in to a meeting with another member of staff was unprofessional - this type of feedback should be done one on one in case neither of you want to disclose conditions. Thats putting you on the spot.

Having a food break is also a reasonable adjustment and you're not the one that should be finding yourself cover, that should be scheduled in and arranged for you.

I work in a large multinational company and everything is done 'by the book' to avoid legal problems and this is all very standard stuff.

If you are fainting and very nauseous at 8 weeks pg, and can't stand to teacg then you should see your Dr and ask them to note fit for work with reasonable adjustments on a fit note.

It's difficult to tell dc they can't have classroom snacks if the teacher is snacking isn't it. Also, yiu can't really tell the dc you are 8 weeks pg, can you?.

Oats at 6.30am, dry biscuit at 8.30, 10.30ish (bread time) a banana, 12.15ish a light lunch, 2ish dry biscuit. Surely that woukd stave off the dizziness and you can stand to teach.

Would ask for a reasonable adjustment for sitting.

For eating I'd eat something subtle quickly without asking.

Not an orange, about the most unsubtle thing you could eat apart from a boiled egg. That you think eating an orange would go unnoticed does make me question your judgement a bit...

Try something like yFood. I've been using them and they've really helped me not to feel as shit by the time my break rolls around.

https://uk.yfood.com/collections/drinks?view=bundle&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=|GBR|BR|SEA|All-Products|yfood-New&utm_content=Brand&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwOe8BhCCARIsAGKeD54Rt-uhhTcbMOxzZgaPgY72pbI-D7HbES4F9IQ1-0w4cD5nrtrio-MaAhXhEALw_wcB

I'll admit, I picked them up after seeing a YouTuber using them but they're actually pretty nice and keep my going!

Thanks for this, this all sounds reasonable
to me. I will mention these points when I have my meeting.

Do you mean 8 weeks or eight months?

Thanks ill give them a try
x

It’s been said several times but you should definitely have a risk assessment done. Make sure you have a chair that is the correct size for you (no squashing onto tiny infant chairs) to protect your back. My school also moved pregnant staff to the quieter garden area for break duties where there was reduced chance of eg a football to the tummy.

I had a small Tupperware of dry cheerios and used to nibble those throughout the morning to help my nausea. They’re pretty subtle if you aren’t crunching on a massive handful.

Put some lucozade sport in a sippy cup

Hi OP, I think the standing to teach is ridiculous, especially that age group, so I would definitely argue that point. I do agree with the not eating in class though (sorry) and I say this after recently being pregnant and teaching...I just find it unprofessional. However, if you do need a snack, then I think the head should be arranging cover for you to have a few extra 5 minute breaks. Hope you get the issues resolved soon!