When I return to work...

Some things have been put to me regarding my return to work next year. I don't really know if anyone can help, but I need to get all of this out of my head and with any luck that may help me find some clarity and make a decision.

The background - I teach maths in a private school. I have taken maternity leave for the entire 2009 school year and will return to work when school resumes in 2010.

Problem - the school has been fairly badly mismanaged by the previous principal (he took a leave of absence for term 1 but instead of returning, decided to resign). In trying to maintain student numbers by not tossing out the trouble makers we've lost a lot of good kids. Numbers are down, the school's reputation is in the toilet, they are in debt, and just to make things really good, the current financial climate is seeing a further reduction in numbers.

During the course of this year and next, they need to make around 10 teachers redundant. There's already one gone from the maths faculty who will go at the end of term three.

Fortunately, being on maternity leave, my position is safe and I have a job to return to next year. We are planning on having me go back full time while DH becomes a SAHD (his job issues are a whole other thread - his employer will shortly be moving so that he'll have an hour and half drive each way instead of the current hour, my school is only 10 minutes away). I have the choice of not returning full time, but the financial straits of this year make that one of insanity. If we can have DH at home and avoid childcare fees we get much more family time this way.

Now... I was called in to work last week for a meeting to talk about arrangements for next year. I'm told there's a possibility that I may need to teach out of my faculty area... they looked up my teaching qualifications and have noted that I'm qualified to teach science, including senior physics. Strange, but no mention of the fact that I'm also qualified to teach senior chemistry and my degree was in chemistry, not maths, and maths is actually my minor teaching method, so it certainly shows what they are thinking.

Now we strike a few more problems. I haven't taught science since my first two years straight out of uni. I was the ENTIRE science faculty at a school putting their first year 9 and then year 10 through as well as going through registration in my second year there... that's when my health problems began and I resigned for health reasons, found a job teaching only maths and have never looked back. I was a beginning teacher with no support, no assistance in setting up for practical work, no assistance in programming, etc, etc, etc. It was hell.

It was mentioned that they may need me to teach either year 7 science or senior physics next year. Great, back at work after a year off and jumping in at the deep end with stuff I either hate or have never taught before... EEP!

I was told to go away and think about it for a while and let them know... What I'd like to do is come back and teach extension maths. It means longer days as there's a lot of off-line teaching, but it also gives me more holes in my timetable so I think I can cope with that. There's no way I could cope with teaching extension maths as well as trying to get my head around science courses that I'm completely unfamiliar with.

I'd love to say no to teaching science (at least for next year, I'd feel a bit better after I've got back into the swing of teaching). There are issues with the head of science not being firm/strong enough with either staff or students. I don't like the way the science faculty allocates marking (one person does all marking for the entire year, unlike maths where we share the marking amongst all people who teach the course) so I'll either end up marking all year 7 science or none at all.

There's a teacher in the science faculty who is rather slack (got the year 9 exams marked the day the reports were due which meant all year 9 science teachers were late, and this is not unusual). Another problem - he's the physics teacher. The person employed to replace me for the year was required to teach some senior physics and this put this teacher's nose seriously out of joint (and it will get worse if I come back teaching physics - he's been incredibly selfish of resources this year, which will make life hard). I suspect it's a move to try to push this teacher out... that if they can get a permanent staff member in who can teach physics they can make this teacher redundant in one of the next batches of teachers to go...

It's all incredibly hard and complex. It was put to me in such a way that it's entirely up to me whether I take on science teaching or not, but I suspect that if I don't it will put me in the firing line for a future redundancy - particularly if there's a science teacher happy to teach maths (the physics teacher will, but there's even more problems there that I'm running out of time to do into)...

I don't think this has helped at all... if anyone managed to get to the end of all of that and make sense of it - any advice?

BW

:hug: Oh honey - tough one!

I suppose that you have to think about what you want to do in yoru heart, but also have to do a bit of strategic thinking. Do you want to stay at that school long term, would a redundancy (if it happened) actually provide a bit of breathing space which would enable you to find a better position somewhere else? Or is this currently the best place for you and you should do what you think they want you to do so that you are more secure in your position?

I don't have any answers - but did they give you a time frame in which you had to reply? If I were you I would use that time to think aout what you really really want long term and then that will (by the sound of it) help you in the decision making process.

Good luck.

I was told "a few weeks" and then told that they were doing next year's timetable early. I think they'll want to know pretty soon after school resumes for term 3 - so I've got about three weeks.

I do wonder if I'd get a clear answer if I asked them about the implications of refusing to teach science and future redundancies...

I do want to stay at that school - after 6 years we've finally got a fantastic HOD (unlike the previous one who spent years trying to beat me into the ground and/or get me fired) and I know the faculty will work really well as a team next year... it's 10 minutes from home - there's only two schools closer, one's catholic (and very hard to get a job at) and the other is the state school... and that's in the category of never in a million years will I work there!

If I do get made redundant, we'll likely head West... and I'm not prepared to leave Sydney until we're done with IVf clinics, so I need to be here for a few more years yet.

It is tough... and I know nobody can give me an answer - but thanks for taking the time to read and help me work through stuff, Muppity.

BW

I think Muppity is right. You have a lot to consider. You have had a tough time at that school in the recent future. I know thinking about moving and looking for a new role might be daunting, and hard with your particular health issues, but perhaps a new environment might make things more stable for you and the family.

But a thing to consider with accepting a redundancy, are the conditions placed on receiving that payout. For example, unable to work in a certain area for a period after your redundancy date, and if that limited your ability to work.

I cant imagine being in your place right now... Hope you are able to find clarity in this situation and a solution that can work for you and the school. :hug:

It sounds to me like you would be under a lot of stress if you do what they want you to do. Just going back to work after having a baby is challenging enough without adding extra stress like that to it. If you really don't want to do it then just say so. Things will either work in your favour, or they wont and then you will have to deal with the fallout.

One thing I know is that there are no certainties in this life. All you can do is make the best decision you can at the time in order to have the life that you want. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't but you need to try and get yourself headed in the direction you want to be in.

hey there,

i'm in a similar position as you re: redundancies. I had my baby in march this year and was planning to go back to my same job in the new year on a part time basis for 2 months before going back full time. working for an investment bank, there has been a major push for redundancies as a result of the global financial crisis. there was talks even before i left on maternity leave that the branch was reducing numbers by 30%. i thought in my situation it could work both ways. if i got a redundancy at least i would get a payout (although looking for a new job would be annoying, and i would have to work on a full time basis straightaway after being off work for almost a year! or i could take my time and live off the redundancy pay out for a few months), on the other hand, if i didnt get a redundancy i would resume in my normal position. I was just wondering because you mentioned that because you are on maternity leave you dont have to worry about your job security? i went to visit work with bubs last week and had a chat with my boss. they told me that they dont need me to come back to work next year as the volume has significantly dropped and i would be getting a redundancy. do they have the legal right to do that if you are on maternity leave?? i really enjoy my workplace and would have loved to come back to work there (been there for 5 yrs) - im not fussed as i get a payout but just curious about the legal side of it all. is this legal?

Xo

I can't answer your question, I'm afraid. I think it depends on the individual award/work place agreement that applies. I do know that it's something built in to ours that we have to be able to return to the same job we left, and (the school tells me) that I can elect to come back part time and they have to make it possible for me to do so. I have to admit, that teachers in independent schools in NSW really do have a good deal when it comes to maternity leave and returning to work. Check into your conditions of employment and see what you find.

BW