I am a teacher too, and I can understand where parents are coming from. I too feel it is disruptive for students when teachers change often. Unfortunately when we are ill, we can rarely get the same supply teacher in as they are regularly booked in advance. Many teachers are on contracts, so if a longer contract or permanant position becomes available, they'll (understandably) take it. Teachers have a job that can't just be put on hold or 'caught up on' when we are ill.

And as the "Ali's" said so well, we have a highly stressful job that doesn't just go from 9 to 3 for 40 weeks a year like so many people think. Younger teachers are getting burnt out very quickly - I don't think we were prepared for just how full on it can be at uni - and when you think about the public perception of teachers, it's understandable that many young people don't want to stay on in the profession. I know quite a few teachers who have changed careers suddenly (or gone on stress leave, never to return). When you add the mothers on maternity leave into the mix, there is quite a high staff turnover. And don't get me started about illness - at school at the moment we have swine flu and whooping cough plus the whole gamut of colds and flu's. I am yet to get through a winter without at least one cough/cold or infection that has meant taking a day or two off.

If only teaching was just about teaching...