Any Advice For A Teacher That Has Been Put On Informal Support.

[midagetrolop]

My friend has been put on the above, out of the blue, after teaching for ten years, no warning nothing. He is at his wits end and it has made him ill and is currently off work with work related stress. There is no way he wants to go back to teaching after this. Any advice please?

[woofgang]

Surely if they do this it must be explained to him why its happened?

[MargoTester]

I think most teachers are in a union. He should ask for a meeting with his rep for advice

[-SharonA-]

Whatever, it's not good. It could be his attitude or actions towards the school.
Union rep is the way to go.

[midagetrolop]

He is in touch with the union.

[Tilly2]

Has his school recently had an Ofsted inspection?

[midagetrolop]

Yes a couple of weeks ago. The union has advised him, he is off with work related stress. He also had applied for another job and was going for an interview, but they said they did not want him to leave and then dropped this on him. He is not sleeping, eating and is stressed out. This is a teacher who has had outstanding, and exemplary lesson observations over his 10 years. He does not know what he has done, but they keerp saying they don't want him to go. But the way he feel now he will not go back.

[Tilly2]

They must have given him an explanation as to why he was being put on informal support. I suspect it was as a result of the recent inspection.

[Neveracrossword]

Wouldn't 'informal support' be the first step, so likely to come out of the blue?

[midagetrolop]

Apparently he has been given nearly all the difficult classes, those who messa bout and don 't want to work. Like rolling cigs in lesson and playing on phones and telling him to F...off. He asked for support from various leaders. It was the leadership team who did a book inspection and said his books were inconsistent, some were progressing and others weren't, and that was the reason for informal support.

[fiction-factory]

Informal support does not sound to me like a disciplinary step- it sounds like some form of coaching/support has been identified to meet something that has arisen, maybe through a change in methods or culture at the school- such as anew bahaviour policy, to meet performance appraisal issue, to help with changes to the curriculum, to deal with OFSTED findings- or lots of other things. Of course it could be a euphamism for "we don't think you're up to it" but that doesn't fit with what they are saying. They should have given the reasons. Maybe there is more to this than he has told you?

[fiction-factory]

Crossed posts. That seems to explain it then. It is not uncommon for those affected to take the 'stress' route out of the job. maybe something like supply teaching, private tuition or adult education- or find one of the few schools where he won't face these pretty common behaviour issues

[fiction-factory]

^ euphemism.
It is possible he is being made a scapegoat for some Ofsted findings,maybe regarding marking, although I do think all teachers now have to accept that they need formal or informal support at times- and after all he did ask for support

[Tilly2]

//He asked for support from various leaders.//

...and they are trying to help...

[midagetrolop]

He asked for support but it wasn't forthcoming. Apparently he had been asking from about February time with these difficult classes.

[chrissa1]

Sounds like he has been given the really s*** classes. If he is being given support now though surely, that’s a good thing.

[fiction-factory]

Maybe he has just had enough of this school (maybe even career) and this was just the straw that broke the camel's back - or maybe this offer of informal support is just his way of justifying his decision to himself to keep away from work when really there are underlying issues that make him unhappy in the role as perhaps he knows he'll never be able to work well with these more difficult classes.

Anyway, the Union are the best people to help here. They will probably just advise him to keep getting doctor's notes for now as it makes things easier for them and puts the onus on the school to organise a managed/phased return