Teachers Being Ill

[Richard1978]

A few times while I was at school one of my teachers were Ill, mostly at secondary school.

If it was only for 1 -2 lessons it wasn't too bad, but I had a few times when a teacher was off for an extended period, which often occurred during the middle of a project.

Sometimes the lessons were covered by full time teachers with a spare slot, but mostly a supply teacher came in.

They could be hit & miss, especially if they couldn't help with the above mentioned projects.

[Twocky61]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

When I was seven in '68 at primary school, we had a supply teacher Miss Ward, whilst our regular teacher was on maternity leave

I found Miss ward to be a better teacher than our usual one. I am sure she went on to making teaching her career

[George 1978]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

Supply teachers, along with student teachers and new members of the staff were often the pupils' target to "try things on" and get away with it.

I remember first year Juniors - our regular teacher was off for around two weeks, and we had a different teacher each day - except Friday, whereas our regular teacher would have been off anyway, and so we would get our regular Friday teacher.

One supply teacher was Polish which I though was very interesting - it helped me learn about Poland with her just being there.

My fourth year (aka Year 6) teacher had a two week stint off due to ill health, and we had a range of different supply teachers. (One who left at the end of my first year made a surprise return many years later). The third week was half term, and our regular teacher was back after that. There was one teacher who, shall we say, I would liked to have been as absent as my regular teacher when she was there.

Not the same thing as being ill, but our English teacher in Year 7 was on maternity leave, and we had an interesting mix of different supply teachers then as well.

In Year 8, there was quite a young teacher who also filled in for another English teacher. She couldn't control the class and she thought that she had had enough and left halfway through. By the time the bell went at the end, all hell broke loose and the other staff didn't even know that the class was on their own. One lesson the same regular English teacher turned up with just ten minutes to go, and on another occasion, the teacher didn't even turn up at all. This was an inner-city comprehensive, may I add, and it closed down for good not long after I had left. Thank goodness.

It reminds me of Ruth Thomas' book the Class That Went Wild where Class 4L had so many supply teachers.

[George 1978]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

Supply teachers used to make a big entrance - "my name is Mr/Mrs/Miss..." and write their name on the blackboard.

Regular teachers with an otherwise "free period" were allocated a slot in the school timetable "based cover" to cover for regular teachers, probably in order to save time and money on getting supply teachers in, but also to save lazy teachers from skiving off to the staffroom for a warm cup of Nescafe and a read of the Guardian.

[marc]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

I used to hate it if the teacher was ill.

In the primary (junior) school, the teacher from another class would pop in and out checking on us to see if we were doing the work set. In general, there would be uproar until a pupil, generally a girl, from a higher class would sit in with us. This would be of has far has things went, until she had her back turned to us. Something would then get thrown, but the culprit would blame somebody else. I got blamed once, and ended up outside the headmaster's office. I was eight year old and terrified. Fortunately, he believed me when I said I didn't do it. This was backed up has I had done most of the work set. I didn't see the real culprit throw a chalk covered rag at the girl, but we all knew who it was. The head also had a good idea.

In comprehensive, we were generally taken or told to report to another class. We did have a couple of supply teachers, but generally, they could control the class. Unfortunately, we did have one supply teacher who was in her forties. She had a quiet personality, and was softly spoken. Some kids made her life hell in class. Somebody actually threw a book at her, that caught her in her face. She did not leave the class, but was visibly upset. She stayed for about three months, then moved on. I don't know who threw the book, the culprit got away with it.

[George 1978]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

I suppose the prospect of getting a different teacher each day was a good reason for attending regularly (even if your regular teacher didn't do so themselves).

[staffslad]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

I don't remember many times when teachers were absent through illness at my school. The teacher population was quite stable over the 5 years I was at secondary school. We got the odd student teacher, who were almost exclusively female, but I don't think any got a job at my school.

[George 1978]

Re: Teachers Being Ill

I have wondered how many teachers have became ill as a direct result of their job of teaching? Perhaps the kids misbehaving have made them ill. Let's face it: I bet it's like being a single parent and having 30 kids nearly all day long - as well as needing all the relevant qualifications, they probably still need the patience of a saint to do the job.