One of the things that I took for granted when teaching in America was the fact that we were given sick and personal days. 10 sick days and 2 personal days per year. Unused days were carried over each year. You could have loads of sick days piled up and a max of 4 personal days. When taking a day off (sick or personal) you were able to put it in the computer system so that a sub would come and cover for you or whoever might be out (teaching assistant). Only on a rare chance at the peak of flu season was it almost impossible to find coverage and even then, we were given additional help when needed within the school. Most times it was someone amazing that came to help or cover and as a teacher, I was left with peace of mind knowing that things were running smoothly in my absence. Yes, I realise that some subs weren't worth much (such as the readers, the sleepers, the 800 year old ones, or the bossy ones) but most were great.
At my current school and in all of England (as far as I'm aware of) there is no such thing as a sick day or personal day. If you are sick and need a day off, you call the headteacher and you are "allowed" to stay home and rest if needed. If you need a personal day (because heaven forbid you have a life or something and just need a day for whatever reason) you basically need to pretend to be sick or they make you come in? I actually have no idea what happens. I'm assuming you get docked pay or something. I'm not sure though.
The biggest issue at my school is that apparently the budget for supply (sub) teachers has run out due to too many teachers being sick early in the year, so if you or your teaching assistant are sick, it's basically too bad so sad. There is no coverage. Sometimes they will send someone from within the school (an assistant from another year level if possible) but in Reception, we usually just deal with it the best we can. We have 3 teachers and 3 teaching assistants for a reason. 74 children at ages 4 and 5 is A LOT OF CHILDREN.
We shouldn't be made to feel guilty when we are sick nor should we feel like absolute chaos is going to ensue when we are down a person. It is a ridiculous system. As teachers we know that missing a day isn't usually worth it because you miss out on so much (even for just 1 day) PLUS you create even more work for yourself when you go back. I don't like to miss days for being sick, however, guess what? PEOPLE GET SICK. THINGS HAPPEN. IT'S CALLED LIFE. I cannot understand why appropriate coverage isn't given and why days aren't built in or why the budget for supply teachers disappeared way back in December probably when we weren't even halfway through the year.
The reason for writing this is because today we were down 2 TA's, both of which had extremely valid reasons for being off. I know they both felt awful and guilty for not coming in, mainly because they both knew we would be lacking coverage and on plan XYZ for the day. My point is, they shouldn't feel bad for this! It isn't their fault. It's not a fault to be had. No one needs to be sorry for being sick. Of course no one was given to us for additional support and we did manage and made it through the day. Was it crazy? YES. Chaotic even? ABSOLUTELY. Did I come home with an insane migraine from the stress? OF COURSE I DID. Will we have to do this again tomorrow? YEP! Will we do it again with a smile on our face? YES. Because teachers know how to "play the game" and we play it well.
Sorry for the complete and utter rant. I figured if I didn't start blogging about some of my issues with UK schools, the list would be too long to ever blog about in the future because I won't remember it all! I know I am being totally negative and grouchy and I'm really sorry for that. Not everything has been negative and I want to share all that I've learnt, too. Today is just one of those days and I needed to vent!
