Part time - no staff allowed Monday or Friday off

Today I received my timetable for next year and my days have been changed; I did have a Friday off last year but now I have a Wednesday off.

When I went to speak to the member of SLT responsible for timetabling I was told: “we have decided that no part time staff are allowed Mondays and/or Fridays off from now on because a lot go away for long weekends; that’s not fair on other staff.”

I find this absolutely ludicrous! Other staff get paid for the extra day(s)!

Is this happening in any other schools?

 

To be honest unless it was in your contract for a specific day there's probably not a lot to be done but I would be looking at all those little extras that happen, typically on the Mondays, like the weekly meetings and be working out and asking - if I was on a 0.5 contract - which 50% of them they wanted me to attend.

 

When I worked part time I used to ask for a Wednesday off!!!

Advantages are you work two days have a day off and work two days with two days off

At the end of any school day you are never more than one day away from a day off

Also having Monday’s off mean you miss bank holiday- having Friday off means you miss last days of term and any other special day

Plus ofsted always come to school on a Wednesday so you will miss them as well!

 

@50sman playing the glad game today

Sounds total rubbish to me.

 

Not heard of it at any other school but it's an absurd reason, and as you point out also lacks any logic.

Sadly what it mostly illustrates is that staff wanting to work p/t should get it specified in their contracts which days they are working. Without that then probably the head can deploy you this way.

Maybe p/t staff could bring a collective grievance? Get union support first.

 

If that was a decision made before they started timetabling, then it should have been communicated some time ago. Being told now could be a very big problem for some staff, if their childcare can't be rearranged (either because the nursery or childminder can't accommodate the change, or because their partner covers it and might not be able to change their days at this point).

Fairness with full-timers is a stupid argument. Is it also unfair that those not working Wednesday get the opportunity to swim for half-price at the local pool, or to join the local walking group? And sometimes it's not that they're having a long weekend away relaxing, but that they do a long weekend caring for a relative to give respite to whoever does it the rest of the week.

There can sometimes be an issue if all the part-timers want the same days off - we once had the ludicrous situation where all the part-time SEN teachers had Friday off. The only saving grace was that some of the children with the biggest behavioural problems were out of school on Fridays. However the solution to that is not to ban Fridays, but to agree who will do Fridays this year, and who will do them the following year - with plenty of notice so people haven't got problems with childcare or having already booked those long weekends away.

 

It is a **** reason, but I bet there is some sourpuss on the staff who resents the part-timers having a long weekend and they have moaned so loudly that the HT has given in.

As said above, Wednesday is good to have as a day off. It splits the week up, you never have to work 3 days in a row! You do get paid for the Bank Hols, and you get to do the low-key Friday thing, too.

What about staff meetings, though? If they are on a Wednesday, you won't ever be there!

 

There are NO staff meetings on a Wednesday, it would be the only day I could run a club after school - or leave 15 minutes after the school day. Monday’s is now compulsory CPD, Tuesdays is department meetings, Thursdays are working parties/coaching - all these finish at 5:30pm. Fridays are dept time until 4:30pm.
There are now also compulsive meetings before registration from 8:15 to 8:45 EVERY SINGLE MORNING?!

So with an hour commute in the morning, and a 1.5 hour commute home because of rush hour traffic... all-in-all it’s a sh1t deal for a new parent.

I’m currently writing my resignation letter to hand-in at the end of my first week back, just in case I get nowhere with having a chat with the HT.

It’s absolutely ridiculous! Never have I worked in an LA maintained school that enforced this many hours on staff!

 

If you are on an 80% contract, as it may appear with the 1 day off make sure you start the process now of finding out which 80% of the after-school meetings etc they want you to attend. (Of course if this year you didn't go to any of the Friday department time meetings, when that was your day off, it may be a little awkward)

 

@lindenlea - I genuinely did ask for and get Wednesday off - best day of the week not to work.

 

I do believe you @50sman, but imagine that being made policy because full time staff don't like part timers going away for a long weekend.
How is that justifiable!! I'd be seriously complaining.

 

I know - it does seem a bit sour grapish from the youngsters on SLT - just proves that they have no people management skills at all!

 

Crikey, in my last school some staff went part time with the expressed purpose of being able to go away for long weekends - and where possible their requests for Friday and/or Monday off were granted.
No one objected, I was envious of their long weekends but we f/t staff could also have applied for part time work but chose not to ( for various reasons) but that was our choice.

 

I would be asking for a copy of the directed time budget, and speaking to your union rep asap as judging by the figures you post here, it could well be that your school are way over the 1265 hours limit of DT (assuming of course school is subject to STPCD, but if LA then should be)

 

Definitely, for an LA maintained school STPCD is a statutory legal document that schools must comply with, including the 1265 hours. If they didn't they would be in breach of the law.

 

I think you are taking the right approach - if not happy, vote with your feet.

FWIW As a former timetabler, I always asked p/t colleagues which day, ideally, they would like off, and if I could satisfy that preference (which normally I could), then I did.

 

A time table of x groups needs y teachers to run. Basically most days are broadly the same as regards to staffing. It makes sense to timetable part time staff on meeting days.

 

If the demand for staffing is the same for all days, how come more staff are needed on Mondays and Fridays than on other days?

I agree that it is a silly policy, but can't see anything to stop them doing this. However, the directed time issue does look like a problem for all staff. Directed time works out at an average of about 6.5 hours per working day. It seems that your teachers have to be in school for 9¼ hours three days a week and 8¼ hours another day. Not all of this will be directed, but I struggle to see how the average can be no more than 6.5 hours. This is not one you should take on alone. Your union(s) should be sorting things with the Head. Even if directed time were at the limit, which I doubt, they could not expect you to attend all the after school meetings.

 

What? When on earth do teaching staff get time to mark pupils' work and plan for the next day? I have never heard of an LA school timetabling meetings every day before and after school. As others have commented: this must take teaching staff over the 1265 hours of directed time. Union involvement at regional level.