I do not understand this though. If teachers are not in loco parentis, how is it possible that a parent who would never leave their child unsupervised but entrusts their child to the school during the day while the parent is home or working, has to leave their child in a school where at any moment their child could be left unsupervised? Certainly the school has to take responsibility for the child while the child is attending school.
Yes - Teachers are often working parents too and have the same problems as everyone else when there are absences, however just because a teacher is absent your child's school day shouldn't change: he/she should go to étude/the CDI and get on with some work. Do not believe them when they say they haven't got any, there are ALWAYS leçons to be gone over, even if there isn't something new. If they & think they know it, did they get 20 in their last test? No? Then they can do better. If they haven't had a test recently there will be one coming up. (by the way this is what I say to my own children as their mother, not with my teaching hat on).
But to get back to the point: we as teachers have to tell admin everything, but how much they then communicate with parents is very varied and seems to depend on individuals.
It all boils down to money, really - we are a bit like the NHS in that it was agreat system when you were expected to educate everyone in a much smaller population VERY well in a limited way up to 14 & then about 15/20% to the Bac. That was the ideal of the 'Black Hussars of the IIIrd Republic' - élitist and meritocratic and unashamedly so. Now that we have to acheve the same results with the same means but the entire cohort it is a bit more complicated. The Collège reform is a scandal, yet more dumbing-down which will have a knock-on effect in Lycée.
I mean like the NHS because in 1948 it wasn't expected to afford heart transplants etc etc
Yes, private schools are better, at least in terms of providing substitute teachers, supervision and adequate warning if a teacher cannot be replaced. The student recruitment system is different and recently more people have shown interest in private schools, so they often have a waiting list (well, they do where I live!), which means they can pick and choose students and obviously teachers. I never regretted choosing a private school, even though I live just next to a state-run school which has an excellent academic reputation.
Is there a shortage of teachers Veronique or is it money?
I think you are very brave to want to work in a system which is wholly disgraceful!
Unfortunately the Rectorat supplies us with replacement teachers, we don't have them to hand any more as they are too expensive, while TZR posts still exist they are now so thin on the ground that they are usually used for covering eg a post that has fallen vacant for a whole year. They don't do it until the teacher has been absent for a fortnight (even when it is pre-arranged, eg for maternity cover or an operation that has been scheduled). When we are signed off by a dr we have to supply a special form in triplicate filled out by the dr & obtainable only from the dr which says how long we are off for etc etc within 48 hours & are expected to ring & warn school first. I suppose someone feeling like death might try 2x & get an engaged tone & give up. Or some people are just thoughtless or rude - after all we often have pupils who don't turn up, with no explanation (& parents who don't fill in the carnet or ever sign it later etc)
A bit different if you have eg a car crash though, I don't know what you do then.
I entirely agree that people who are or will be absent should inform their establishment & let their pupils know, it is the law in any case and we are at fault if we don't do it - if we don't jump through all the proper hoops to justify absence it is dereliction of duty & there are entirely deserved consequences. Parents however, aren't necessarily told everything - and I think that is fair enough, eg "Miss so & so is ill", "well she looked fine last week", "I'm sorry she, has been taken ill and is in hospital" [actually she's had a miscarriage & hadn't told yet her pupils she was pregnant & it isn't any business of yours either you awful prurient nasty-minded people.. ] I have had this exact conversation about a colleague minus the bit in square brackets which was in my head.
In Lycée it isn't always possible to 'leave work' as most colleagues & certainly most pions won't be a lot of use. We use the ENT as a resource and put work on that, pupils access it when & how they want to as do parents. I also expect my pupils to get on with a lot of stuff independently but with pointers in their own time so I expect they are delighted when I'm absent as it gives them more time.
Veronique I am also sorry to hear that as well, but,I agree with Donna, I don't think anyone was trying to have a pop at teachers generally, its the system that is not robust enough to provide adequate teaching support for students who need it and in some cases the mismanagement of the schools admin to provide advance warning to parents and students. I appreciate there will be occasions when a sickness can not be predicted but, there are also many long term absences that just don't get reported to the parents in advance. It is almost as if they do not think of the impact on others and if you are a working parent this is very difficult for families to manage as well.
This is tragic news indeed.
I’m sorry to hear the sad news of your colleague, whilst I can understand private life is private,teachers and especially head of colleges have ( or should have ) an obligation to teach pupils and therefore, I think the point we are trying to make, is that absences should be 1. Informed 2. Work provided to pupils to do in the teachers absence, or adequate cover if the teacher is away for more than a few days.
I thought pupils by law have to receive so many hours tuition per week/ year?
I'm so sorry to hear that Vero. Truly awful.
Re absences, that's a sore point for me today: a colleague of mine, a Physics teacher, is being buried this morning. He had eye cancer & continued to work in lycée during & after his treatment, that was 3 years ago. He is blind (he had only a tiny bit of sight in one eye and it was his 'good' eye that got cancer). He did his job, and did it well. He killed himself. He was still teaching last week. He has a young family. I am sure that parents will complain about his absence too. Private life is just that, private. You don't know why people are absent. There may be lead-swingers but in many cases, don't presume to judge.
We are not in loco parentis, Frances. Our job description is very explicit about that. We don't 'get teaching work in schools' we are state servants, category A so we are sent anywhere in the country to do our work in accordance with the programme.
I don't think you know enough about the whole system to criticise it properly, I'm afraid, you have seen only the ghastly bits - I can understand your bitterness as you are being used as cannon fodder by the institution but if you took the trouble to sit the " stupid competitive exam" you would see that it isn't quite as you imagine. Where are you teaching now, that you have teacher trainees ?
I don't think you can compare a little country like NZ with a country lke France when it comes to the problems faced in schools, the scale & nature of the problems just aren't the same.
I find the whole education system in France disgraceful but what can you expect from people who are untouchable. They have a job for life and NO accountability, just like the folks who take enormous amounts of time off working for municipalities on top of generous holiday leave. It's scandalous. I consider it immoral that teachers who are not sick just can't be bothered doing their jobs but get paid just the same. When I see the attitudes of my teacher trainees I despair. Yet I can't get any teaching work in schools because I didn't sit a stupid competitive exam which has nothing to do with one's teaching ability or dedication. No doubt there are good teachers somewhere but the standard in France is so below that in my country it's gobsmacking. When one is in loco parentis how can children be left alone? France has money for war but not sound education systems.
I think part of this is cultural, unfortunately. I noticed there is hardly ever any mail on Saturdays and Mondays. Sometimes there is no mail for days. I called the post office about it once and they simply said there was a shortage due to too many absences. I don't know how they manage in the US but that simply never happens. They cannot just shrug their shoulders and say, "sorry no mail today" like they do in France. I guess its the same for a lot of services, including schools. I cannot imagine in the US cancelling classes and sending students home or obliging them to stay in an unsupervised room. They don't seem to have much of a sense of obligation here.
Yes we have the same problem. In 6eme for Sep-Dec we had more than 40 hours of absences - kids do have a choice of library / study room / games room or come home... when I challenged the form tutor it was like she had no idea that this was such a problem... they are either sick or on formation or in a meeting it seems...
It appears our magic wand has broken down! It simply does not make the wish to have enough money for private education appear...
As for private education for a child with special needs as our older daughter, there is no such place locally. She would have to go some distance away as a boarder. It was a consideration but since we cannot afford it and she did not want to go then, it was not an option. Anyway, as the Service d'éducation spéciale et de soins à domicile (SESSAD) who are helping her have said, the ULIS provision lacks specialist teachers exactly the same as the state sector. Our other daughter has some excellent teachers but paying does not guarantee that.
Anyway, when money is insufficient that is all just academic.
Since my twin boys started at college absent teachers appear to be on the increase. On return to college following christmas they did a full monday, half day Tuesday, no Wednesday a full Thursday and then finished by 2 pm on the Friday! Apparently two weeks holiday was not enough for some of the teachers!
This theme has continued and I’m asked to collect them early as they have no lessons for the rest of the day! No home work or lesson plan given!
Ive been looking around at private schools. Are these any better?
Recommendations welcome!
I guess this is another "French exception". As a former teacher in the US, if I had been absent four times/days, I would have received a rather threatening warning about "excessive absenses", Never mind that when you work in a closed space with thirty students you are very susceptible to getting colds etc very easily as the parents did not want to keep their children home when they were sick. I just learned to toughen up and go to work sick. Another difference is, you could never ever leave students unsupervised. If anything happened to a student while being unsupervised, the school and/or teacher could be sued. I am very surprised that in France they would leave students unsupervised. I believe you, though. When my son went to a French school he sometimes had no teacher for a long period because the teacher was on some kind of leave with no qualified replacement.
Believe me, putting them in to private school doesn't always solve the problem either. We had no Music teacher since the beginning of Sept. No explanation, and others just turning up to teach with no warning or explanations. I am lucky to be in a position where my daughter phones if a teacher doesn't turn up and I collect her to come home and study. Under no circumstances do I leave her at the school. But in defense of private schools it happen less often.