Stress

gaeilgegrinds

Serious trouble in our school since we came back. Major management issues. And my health has really begun to suffer. Not sleeping, eating or even communicating properly outside of school. Quite worried which of course only adds to it. Any tips? I don't know is it all worth this.Sorry for the rant and please don't let someone come on and say I'm lucky I have a job (for now) cos God knows I know that but I'm literally punching in double the hours I'm down to do.

banshee_bones

I know this is probably alot easier said than done, but once you leave work, can you not just leave your worries and stress there? I know its hard when your working with young adults but if its inflicting your health its not worth it.

peanuthead

I can sympathise with you as my hours have gone down too.

Is there any chance you can do a night class?

Going on your name I assume you do Irish? Are there any gealscoils near you where you could teach a night course? Do you have a tefl/tesol qualification?

rainbowtrout

I assumed from the post that you're doing extra hours, not taking a cut in hours? Are management trying to get teachers to do unpaid supervision?

peanuthead

gaeilgegrinds wrote: »

the hours I'm down to do.

yeah I wasnt sure, but I took from this that he/she was down hours.

Like me.

Yeah without a med cert, teachers who are out sick wont be paid (fair enough)

but neither will those supervising their classes (not on)

gaeilgegrinds

Hours were down a bit but I more meant due to meetings over hours and supervision and union meetings outside of hours and trying to get assessments and meeting psychologists for that and God the list goes on. We're working much harder than we ever did before in my opinion. And we get no support whatsoever in my place, none at all, the opposite in fact. Thanks for the replies.

sitstill

peanuthead wrote: »

Yeah without a med cert, teachers who are out sick wont be paid (fair enough)

Is this correct? I hadn't heard this. Those of us on permament or RPT contracts will not be paid if we phone in sick with no med cert?

dolliemix

sitstill wrote: »

Is this correct? I hadn't heard this. Those of us on permament or RPT contracts will not be paid if we phone in sick with no med cert?

one day is fine....but if you're out two/ three days in a row etc you will need a med cert. Cant believe this hasn't been explained to you!

spurious

There is some misinformation in this thread.

The situation re uncertified days seems to vary from place to place. In the CDVEC a permanent teacher can miss 7 days (not together) and not need a cert. After that, uncertified results in loss of pay.
If I'm out on a Friday and a Monday it counts as 4 days. Very few people in our place even get the letter Head Office send out reminding you you've missed five. It's certainly not abused in our place.

For people employed after (I think) 1995, they are on the higher stamp and AFAIK they have to claim sick days from social welfare and send the SW cheque to Head Office. I don't have direct experience of that myself, it's just from observation, so if there's someone knows the system better, please post.

TheDriver

In my place (CC VEC), they claim off the social welfare for you and give you full pay.
Must say there is a lot of misinformation as teachers position of being sick doesn't change, its merely the way supervision etc is handled in school.
GaeilgeGrinds: I know how you feel but stick it out and see how it pans out, things always improve in school ultimately

Delphi91

peanuthead wrote: »

...Yeah without a med cert, teachers who are out sick wont be paid (fair enough)

but neither will those supervising their classes (not on)

The last part of this is not true. The S&S system in schools was set up to deal with this very issue. The S&S system is used to cover for teachers who are out uncertified. If a teacher has signed up to be part of this system, then they get paid.

Under the new arrangements, schools are not entitled to cover uncertified teachers once their (daily) allocation under the S&S system is used up.

gaeilgegrinds

We were told our S&S would run out about Feb...based on average stats they had for our school.
I just meant stress from school as am constantly working on timetables, books, projects, quizzes, staffing problems...basically everything. And of course it'll get better, but will get worse again then.

TheDriver

can i ask why are you doing all this stuff. I don't mean to sound patronising but in my place, people volunteer for this stuff (bar timetabling) and its spread amongst all the staff. No one is made do anything thats not in their post or job description. And why are staffing problems giving you stress unless the problem directly affects you i.e. if people are out sick etc and you are picking up after them

freire

I'm with TheDriver on this one and do not want to sound patronising but if you're looking for tips, yellow snow and not eating it comes to mind! If all this extra curricular stuff that you're doing is impacting on your health and most of it is on a voluntary basis then give some of it a rest - let someone else pick up some of the slack. You can't take the world (school) on your shoulders, unless you're super ambitious and want to advance your career, in which case you should know that thanks to the ASTI all you have to do is grow older and not get the sack!! And maybe pray the whole country doesn't cave in on itself. Take a load off GG, nothing's worth running yourself into an early grave for.

rainbowtrout

TheDriver wrote: »

can i ask why are you doing all this stuff. I don't mean to sound patronising but in my place, people volunteer for this stuff (bar timetabling) and its spread amongst all the staff. No one is made do anything thats not in their post or job description. And why are staffing problems giving you stress unless the problem directly affects you i.e. if people are out sick etc and you are picking up after them

I'd agree. From my experience in my school the more you volunteer to do the more you will be asked to volunteer or someone will say 'oh rainbowtrout will probably be able to do that, she usually does stuff like that' and eventually enough is enough, i've cut back a bit so i have a bit of time to myself. I was away examining last may and came back after the week to find i had been put down to do a 10 mile mountain hike/overnight camp with transition year, the pe teachers said the principal had said i would be doing it and the principal said the pe teachers had suggested me.... it was nice to be consulted, no one ever asked if i had any plans for that night

Cut back on stuff you really don't need to be involved in and let someone else take on some of the work. You need some time to yourself