Working time

Can teachers take a day off to move house? There are no specific sections in the STPCD or Burgundy Book which explicitly set out details on whether teachers are allowed a paid day off school to move house.

You may be concerned if there are changes to be made to your employment contract as a member of school staff.

In the unfortunate event that one of your relatives has passed away you will want to know how much time you can take time off school. You will want to check to see if your school has a compassionate leave policy outlining specific details for time off, paid leave and attending funerals.

In the winter months you will be keeping a close watch on the weather forecast to see if there will be impending snow and how it might affect your travel into school. In this article, we look at if you are required to attend school in poor weather conditions, whether you are paid on snow days, and if you have to make up any additional teaching days.

Gained time is a term you may have heard in relation to when your exam classes are on study leave or taking exams. The term was explicitly referred to last in the 2013 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD)

During term time you may have to request leave from school due to exceptional circumstances. This may be due to a range of reasons from attending jury service, going to a graduation ceremony to attending a wedding.

You might feel you are required to complete too many lesson plans, are being asked to upload plans onto the share drive each weekend or are unsure of what lesson planning expectations are from the Department for Education (DfE).

Teachers’ working hours can feel complicated. You are often expected to work as much as is reasonable to be able to effectively discharge your professional duties. With planning, marking, parents’ evenings, open days, revision sessions and after school activities, it is important teachers are able to manage their working time in such a way that allows them to perform well and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

You might be heading back to school from the summer holidays and wondering about the amount of INSET days you will have to attend this academic year. You might think you are being asked to attend an excessive amount of days, or you are attending additional training outside your normal working hours.

The government has announced that parents who suffer the devastating loss of a child will be entitled to 2 weeks’ statutory leave. The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Regulations, which will be known as Jack’s Law in memory of Jack Herd whose mother Lucy campaigned tirelessly on the issue,

You might be looking at job sharing in your school so you can balance demanding priorities. It can be a useful way to achieve an effective work/life balance with an increasing number of teachers, senior leaders and headteachers job sharing throughout the UK.

You may be unsure of how often members of SLT at your school can carry out lesson observations while you are teaching. Observations could have an impact on your workload, well-being and you might be worried about raising a concern with your school. 

The length of the lunchtime varies across the education sector with some schools having as little as 30 minutes and varying up to an hour in some schools.

Flexible working will enable you to change the normal hours you work in school. It might be impracticable for you to work set hours because of personal circumstances at home, caring for children or other factors. This article outlines what flexible working is, how you can request it and what happens if your application is refused.

As a teacher you might think if there are set marking expectations for the marking of pupils’ work? Is there a specific expectation for the type, depth or quality of marking from the Department of Education (DfE), Ofsted or even set by your school?

PPA time (planning, preparation and assessment) is a phrase which all teachers will be familiar with. Catching up with lesson planning and assessment is a vital part of a teacher’s role.

As a member of school staff you may be asked to cover another teacher’s class due to unforeseeable circumstances. This can be known as 'rarely cover'.

You might be asked by your school to teach outside your subject specialism for a temporary period of time. This might be because of staff shortages or restructuring taking place within your school or Trust.

You might be employed on a fixed-term contract at your school and want to know what your employment rights are. Sometimes fixed-term contracts are issued to cover maternity leave, long-term sick leave or for a specific time-limited task.

You might have joined a different school, starting a new school year or have been allocated new classes half-way through the school year. You may be confused about your new timetable, how much ‘planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time is allocated to you or concerned about teaching a particular class during period six.

When are my school holidays? As a member of school staff you should be aware of these in advance and can refer to your staff handbook and school calendar for more information.