“If They Can Afford to go on Holiday, Then They Can Afford a Tutor!”

A teacher says it’s not her job to catch kids up on class work they miss after being away on holidays. Is she right?

Writing into discussion forum Mumsnet, the teacher explains that some parents expect her to give up time after school to make sure their kids are caught up on work they’ve missed while being away. She believes it’s not her job and that if the parents can afford a holiday then they should be able to afford a tutor for the kids also.

“Am I being unreasonable to refuse to give up time to help kids catch up?” was how the post about two kids from the same family who recently went on a two-week family holiday began.

“I’m not going to particularly question their parents’ decision because it’s up to them,” she explained. “But they’ve come back having missed two weeks of a core subject and the parents have now requested we give up time to help catch them up.”

The majority of comments were in support of the teacher agreeing that she already had enough to do without having to also give up up any little time she had to tutor the kids.

One commenter wrote: “They caused the problem they can take the time to solve it.”

Another added: “Of course, you’re not being unreasonable. It’s their prerogative to take their kids out but then if they miss stuff it’s the parents’ problem. I have been a teacher for 20 years and with the best will in the world, I have virtually no time to do anything extra. They’re being completely unreasonable.”

“This is not the school’s problem,” said someone else. “There is a cost to taking family time in school time.”

And this, “Damn grateful you didn’t report the kid’s absences!”

“Legally, they don’t have a leg to stand on in terms of making you do specific stuff outside of class time,” another person noted.

While this person made the point of affording a tutor: “This is the perfect example of feeling the consequences of your actions. If they can afford to go on holiday, then they can afford a tutor.”

“They can now take responsibility and tutor them themselves,” said one parent. “The holiday was unauthorised as it meant their children would miss important parts of a core subject. So what do they expect?”

What do you think? Is it the teacher’s job to catch the students up?

Images: Pixabay