After my school said they wouldn’t implement the adjustments recommended by occupational health because of my severe asthma , I wrote to them asking to discuss their reasons (as advised by my union) and suggesting ways of enabling me to work safely. I hadn’t got a reply before I had to go to work, so I turned up with my laptop-all ready to Zoom teach. The head didn’t speak to me or tell me what I was expected to do, there was no room allocated to Zoom from or staff to be with the children so I compromised by teaching my five different French classes outside. Then I received a very unpleasant email from the head saying that since he had to let me try, I had two days (full teaching days) to learn how to use Teams and prove I could teach acceptable lessons! He also threatened punitive observations and said that there weren’t enough people to staff the classrooms, the children would misbehave, the sound quality would be bad and the parents wouldn’t accept remote teaching. We don’t even have Teams on our computers to practise on! I was so upset and felt that I was being set up to fail.
After speaking to the doctor and the union, I have been signed off with workplace stress and the union will contact school. I don’t understand why school is being so horrible- I just want to work with them to find away to do my job to the best of my ability and in reasonable safety. As a teacher I have often felt overworked and tired out but I have never felt stress and anxiety like this after over a month of delay and obstruction and now outright hostility. (My colleagues are lovely and supportive and very angry at my treatment which they say is simply bullying)
Sorry to ramble on!
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TeachKat
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Awww teachkat I'm sorry for the ongoing stress work are causing/creating you. So glad you turned up though even without getting a response from work as I said previously it all goes in your favour, it really does.
You've done nothing but try to compromise and find a new way of working keeping everyone safe in these unprecedented times and its unfortunate the head is just an idiot and unable to adapt while very clearly discriminating against you.
But as I said it strengthens your case. I'm pretty sure your union will be advising mediation/ucas for grievances. Just keep all emails,texts, etc as evidence any conversations with head record.
You've absolutely done right thing going off with stress - I had to do this too for my sanity few years ago while pregnant. It's awful feeling like your being bullied out your job when you've done nothing wrong except give your all.
Please be kind to yourself, whatever destresses you, do. Candle lit bath, meditation, walk, read, watch a box set. Just have you time and keep talking to us. 🙂 don't keep it all in. Big big hugs. 🥰💐
Thank you for your lovely, kind response- it really helps! All this comes on top of the stress of adapting to my asthma quite suddenly becoming severe after a chest infection and pneumonia last Christmas. I’d had mild to moderate asthma for over 45 years which never really gave me much trouble and was well controlled with clenil and ventolin. Now suddenly I’m on Fostair 200/6 4 puffs a day, then Montelukast was added, then Braltus, and now I’m starting on Uniphyl Continus as well. I’ve had more oral prednisone in the past 9 months than in the previous 15-20 years - it all takes some getting used to! Thank goodness I’m over 60 - at least the prescriptions are free!
I know asthma along with meds an side effects are a full time job in itself! Haha. Silver lining being over 60 then 😆. Some people are just mean and dont deserve your stress. Take care. X
Thank you Troilus, unfortunately my teacher pension is quite small due to several career breaks for family caring responsibilities and spells abroad for my husband’s work. I can’t get my state pension until I’m 66 ( another 3 years) and can’t afford to retire before then. It may end up with that, I suppose.
I am so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. You are being treated so unfairly. I would definitely follow others advice. I am glad you have a union on your side that is at least something. I can truly relate to how you are feeling. I am having a battle with my workplace at the moment but we don’t have a union. I logged a grievance but yesterday they wrote to me to say they had rejected it. They ignored the entire point of it and never addressed half the points. It was in relation to setting me up to work from home. They still haven’t when others in the business had been working from home since March. It’s such a horrible place to be in & a horrible feeling. Take care and I hope you can come up with a solution. xx
How awful for you teachkat. It does sound like bullying. Heads and governors are skilled in getting people to leave and retire At least you will be getting paid on sick leave. X
Oh boy! That is indeed workplace bullying. What a thoroughly nasty piece of work your head teacher is.
I’d start keeping detailed notes of times and dates and any possible witnesses to what the head is up to. Go back through everything that has happened so far and start from the beginning. Once you’ve got enough evidence tell him (and your union) and maybe even the school governors, that you will be taking him to a tribunal because his bullying is affecting your mental health - that ought to scare him, which is no more than he deserves.
I don’t know what it is with heads - I used to work with one who was like that - for years if we came in and found her tidying the stock cupboard with pursed lips, humphing and tutting and refusing to say good morning when we said it to her we knew it was going to be a bad day. She didn’t pick on any one person although she had a favourite - think when she was in that sort of mood she was just generally unpleasant to us all. Parents included!
Eventually though I got so fed up with it all that left teaching. I should have looked for another school but I was so demoralised by it all that I gave up teaching altogether.
So don’t let the little tyrant get to you and don’t feel it’s your fault. It’s him, definitely him who’s the problem. You need to get really mad at what he’s doing - not feel down, although it’s hard not to in your circumstances. Good luck with it all.
Unfortunately, the Head is being wholly unreasonable as someone who is responsible for staff welfare. He has a duty of care towards you and has failed in that. This is certainly not your fault and you've definitely gone the extra mile and acted reasonably.
It's good to hear that your union is acting as your advocate, it can be very difficult to stand up for oneself in these circumstances. And I'm pleased to hear that your doctor is supporting you. Use them and accept their help.
If the union can't get the Head to budge from their stance, you will have the option of making a formal grievance as the Head has failed in their duty of care, ignored the reasonable adjustments to the point of discrimination as recognised by the Equality Act, as well as the H&S Regs in terms of welfare. The basic point is, he has acted unreasonably. Ignoring your written request and blanking you is wholly unreasonable and does him little credit.
In my experience, once HR get involved with their knowledge of the legal implications, things tend to get resolved.
One of the things to also highlight in your grievance, if you go down that road, is to ensure that you describe the feelings and affect that this whole episode has had on you. It's important to think ahead to the possibility of an Employment Tribunal and to demonstrate the impact this matter has had on you and your health. I'm not sure if it's something that can be added at a later date, unless it relates to a period after the grievance was made.
I know people shy away from grievances as they seem such a leap from dealing with things informally and they hate to be seen as someone who is somehow "difficult". However, I've only ever seen people regret they didn't follow through, as wishing a problem would go away rarely works.
Wishing you all the best and a good union advocate.
Dear TeachKat, I have been following your posts and feel for you. It’s not a good position to be in. Reading the other posts, you have received helpful pieces both on how to approach it and also self care, and when I read about the suggestion of ill health retirement and your reasons why it’s not for you it resonated with myself. I struggled to remain at work following serious illness- pre asthma, had reduced years of contributions due to children etc and was now a single parent. All a very stressful combination. Anyway I retired at 57- well short of a pension age of 66, but it’s been ok. Yes I needed to make adjustments but I have a peace that money can’t buy and more important- life! I know that we all have our own path, but I wanted to share this with you ........ take care x
I'm having a big wtf moment here. Seriously? I can't believe how they're treating you. Have you actually had a face-to-face, or Zoom, or Teams meeting with this head to talk things through. You can't cover everything via email, especially if they're not prepared to be civil. I'm outraged for you.
I had one meeting face to face when the OH report arrived- he just kept asking me why I didn’t want to teach the French classes and why I was asking for the adjustments. I just kept saying that the whole point was that I wanted to teach the French - just safely and the OH was asking for the adjustments, not me! After the first refusal to implement the recommendations, I asked to discuss the decision but had no reply until the last, unpleasant email. The union rep has taken over communication with school now, thankfully!
Thank you for your support - it really helps. For one thing it reassures me that I’m not being unreasonable. Xx
Thank you Bevvy, for your encouragement. I would be fine with Teams, if given the time to get to know it. The problem is that I was given two days to be ready - days on which I didn’t have a single free period, the equipment is not ready, we don’t have Teams set up in the junior school and the head has already told me that it wasn’t going to work. I feel that I am being set up to fail because I am inconveniencing them my ‘demands ‘ (as they call it) for adjustments.
I understand this. I've also suffered with harassment and bullying from work with my severe asthma. Im in the extremely vulnerable group and a shielder. As I am unstable brittle asthma waiting for a consultant appointment since July I have continued to self isolate. Problems started back for me when shielding and furlough stopped. I think I have been suffering with long covid after a bad exacerbation in Dec 19, but fighting to get it diagnosed.
Employers not suppotive, been shouted at for my number of sick days by manager I think they want me out. I feel like I am being set to fail on competencies as they are making my job much harder by not assisting with the tech needed to do it. I've had lots of anxiety and stress. Union been great, but now Ive just exacerbated with asthma after trying new medication to calm asthma, which did the reverse!
I will follow your example here as I need to concentrate on my health.
Dear Lola2009, what a difficult time you’ve been going through! Our experiences really are quite similar- my asthma became severe after a really bad chest infection and pneumonia last December. I shielded too and the problems with work started when I had to go back in September for the new term. I naively thought that my school would do its best to keep me safe and their attitude has been a real shock, on top of all the extra new symptoms and medications.
I hope you find a way through this and that your health improves. Do keep in touch with how you get on!
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