The International Schools Review Forum

I'm about to renew my contract with a British International School in South East Asia. I'm pregnant and due to give birth before summer break. Both my husband and I work full-time at the same school, working very long days (7am-4pm but often later). Now that I'm expecting my second child, I can't imagine being away from my newborn baby this much. I therefore thought of asking SLT if I can possibly work an 80% contract next academic year (taking a 20% pay cut). Giving me a full day off, or two half days. This is my third international school in Asia, and I've never met an international teacher who worked anything less than full-time. This is why I'm trepidatious about asking SLT. Does anyone have experience negotiating reduced hours or working part-time? Especially after maternity leave? Would be very grateful to hear your experiences.

Are you willing to loose your job/non-renewed?

Here's the thing, if you only work 4 days and 80% or whatever, who is going to work the rest? Other ITs either have to work that day or more instructional periods or the IS has to hire someone else, and if they are going to hire someone else, than why continue to employ you?
Are you going to expect a full OSH package as well?
Are you going to put in those extra hours to get the job done or is baby going to be priority?
Focusing on your new infant is going to cause more work by your IS, leadership and fellow faculty, and while they wont say it to your face, your child is not their family.

I've seen it happen twice and I've heard about it happening a bunch of times at other schools, but most schools won't be open to it.

How likely it is that they'll accommodate you will probably depend on (amongst other things) your subject and the number of cross-certified teachers that happen to also be certified in that subject, the size of the school (the bigger it is the easier they can make the schedule work for this), how much they like you and how keen they are to keep you (and your husband if you want to play hardball). Being part of a teaching couple definitely helps a lot (as in, otherwise you'd have almost no chance).

Sometimes there are departments that have (for example) 5 FT teachers but would be better served with either 4.5 or 5.5 FTE, and you could be that 0.5, or have a cross-certified teacher in another department that has too few hours and could take part of your fulltime load.

I doubt you can set a percentage yourself, they'll offer you what what will work for the schedule (if you're lucky), not what will be ideal for you.
You will likely be considered part-time though and lose some of the benefits, although with your husband also teaching there that might not be a huge issue. It might help if you can tell them you'll be willing to go back to full-time after one or two years.

If you get on well with the HoS then maybe float the idea, but only if you think they won't use it against you.

I also think it depends on whether you can continue working part-time with your current visa.

Loads of factors at play here, but I also think your location is a big one. You are in SE Asia where the labor laws that are on paper are worth about as much as an m&m's wrapper, so I don't think you can play up the maternity/newborn angle (I've seen (female) admin harass pregnant teachers for taking maternity leave "too early"). Best of luck.

buffalofan wrote:
> Loads of factors at play here, but I also think your location is a big one.
> You are in SE Asia where the labor laws that are on paper are worth about
> as much as an m&m's wrapper, so I don't think you can play up the
> maternity/newborn angle (I've seen (female) admin harass pregnant teachers
> for taking maternity leave "too early"). Best of luck.

Yeah, @buffalofan is right, you're not entitled to anything, even if your contract says otherwise. Then again, some schools do actually respect the contract, even if it inconveniences them.
All you can do is hope your admin is sympathetic - you can probably already make an educated guess about that -, flexible, and that the schedule allows for it.
If it's not possible or they just don't feel like it, it you can also look into tutoring (online or in-person) and/or being a sub, and then go back into teaching when/if you feel ready again.
To be fair, admin at my previous school actually advised a pregnant colleague to take maternity leave earlier than she was planning to, because that way it would end right when Summer holiday would start and she'd have the maximum time off possible.

Thanks for the input everyone. The benefits are no problem because of husband working full-time for the same school, but the visa might be a different story. I get on well with line manager and HoS so I might see if can have an exploratory chat. They are not legally obliged to offer me anything, so I would very much have to rely on goodwill I hopefully have built up with the school. I certainly don't intend to make any demands or set ultimatums. If anyone else has any wisdom or experience to share, I'll keep checking this thread. Thanks again to the community.

We have many people at our school in China that work less than full time. The only job that this wouldn't be suited for at our school is a homeroom teacher in elementary. But EAL, Learning Support, PE, Art and others all have some people employed at less than full time. The bigger the school the more likely this could be needed.

You may want to consider waiting until fall. Renew your contract, dont say anything and then if you cant handle it bring it up to leadership then that you need a change to the schedule and you need some release time. Even if you plan to do it all along, and drop it on them a few days before students return. You will have better leverage the less time you give them to find options.

As @schoolofrock says it can very much depend on what you teach, and then the capacity of the school to give the classes to someone else. In many locations it would be hard/impossible to hire someone to do the 20% but it could be redistributed within a department.

Primary Homeroom would be the one position we wouldn't be able to consider. Most others could be looked at.

Don't do what @PsyGuy suggests.

It's disingenuous at best, downright dishonest at worst. It would put your school, and other teachers, in a potentially very difficult position. Also, it will most likely be seen for what it is, which will have a negative effect on your relationship with the school.

Be open and honest and talk about what might be possible.

x

There are a lot of variables that are unknown (to the forum at least) but of the ones that are:

1) Youre in SE Asia and youre likely entitled to nothing and the IS owes you little to nothing.
2) This is a BS, and like most BSs ITs often have a schedule with more instructional hours and are assigned a broader range of classes. Its very likely ITs teach a full day with only a lunch and a prep period. The LWs schedule may be different but if it isnt than somehow those ITs with little time already have to now be carefully scheduled so that they can fill in for a Friday/Monday. This might be doable in a large IS with a substantially sized department, but if the department is small there is isnt likely the warm bodies to do it.
3) There will be a continuity issue in the courses for the students. They will have IT X for 2-4 days a week and then effectively have a substitute from within the department for those Monday/Friday classes because classes are either T, TH, M,W,F, or M-F.
4) The LW claims they dont have to worry about the OSH package but as it is they are going from a 2:3 too 2:4 traveler ratio which is typically the limit, but if the LW is non-renewed or otherwise no longer employed than that ration changes to 1:4 which vastly changes their cost and expense. It may be cheaper and to the IS benefit to dismiss/non-renew both ITs, and just find 2 ITs who are cheaper.

Its disingenuous for sure, but dishonest only if the ISs leadership can read minds. ISs are first and foremost concerned primarily with their own self interest. No one is going to be concerned with the IT and support the IT more so than the IT themselves. Yes it would put the IS and leadership in a difficult position, but thats a position more likely to be in the LWs favor as the LWs advantage improves. Which is to say if the IS can easily replace the LW with ample time to do so, thats an easy position for them to be in and more disadvantageous to the IT. The metrics are simple in this scenario, the fewer options the IS has the more likely they are to grant the LW their request and work with the LW out of necessity.

Depending on the subject/grade level this:

3) There will be a continuity issue in the courses for the students. They will have IT X for 2-4 days a week and then effectively have a substitute from within the department for those Monday/Friday classes because classes are either T, TH, M,W,F, or M-F.

might be able to be worked around by scheduling classes only Monday to Thursday, for example.

Also why, morals aside, early conversation with the school would be best so that all factors can be considered when building the schedule/timetable for the coming school year.

At my school the part time teachers are where we start when making the schedule as their availability is fixed.

From a scheduling perspective having no part time teachers would be best, but that just isn't real life!

PsyGuy wrote:

> 2) This is a BS, and like most BSs ITs often have a schedule with more
> instructional hours and are assigned a broader range of classes. Its very
> likely ITs teach a full day with only a lunch and a prep period. The LWs
> schedule may be different but if it isnt than somehow those ITs with little
> time already have to now be carefully scheduled so that they can fill in
> for a Friday/Monday. This might be doable in a large IS with a
> substantially sized department, but if the department is small there is
> isnt likely the warm bodies to do it.
> 3) There will be a continuity issue in the courses for the students. They
> will have IT X for 2-4 days a week and then effectively have a substitute
> from within the department for those Monday/Friday classes because classes
> are either T, TH, M,W,F, or M-F.

However, as it's a British school, the SMT will most likely be British too and therefore well used to making these adjustments. Certainly for 3 - yes, there's a continuity issue, but it can easily be resolved through careful planning (eg the teachers teach different parts of the course, one focuses on exam skills while the other focuses on content, etc.)

Update:
Had a very positive conversation with HoS, and they are happy to support me with whatever I decide is best. They were more than reasonable and very sympathetic.
Phew!
Thanks everyone for your valuable input.

@Teacher789

I hope the positive experience continues going forward. Keep your eyes and ears open though as it would not be the first time an IS and leadership said one thing while doing another. You want to inquire periodically throughout the course of the spring term what the upcoming schedule will be for you and youll want to verify it through confirmation with other ITs in your department. You will also want to keep an eye on your ISs HR website and various other recruiting services to see if your position is being advertised.

@secondplace

Not likely scheduling follows the students by class not the IT or even the department. It could be done but thats a lot of work to accommodate one IT.

Because the decision in that scenario maximizes the time and opportunity for the IS and leader to solve the issue by simply hiring a new IT. ITs arent special, they have value and it differs by situation, but fire and hire is a very reasonable strategy that increases in success the more time a leader has to employ it. If the IT delays until the latest possible time, the IS will have fewer options available to them, and thus more likely to accommodate the ITs request, because they have to.

Many ISs (especially small ISs) dont have PT ITs/DTs.

@expatscot

Such adjustments in BSs is very uncommon, much less so then in an AS or IBS or other NC IS.

Teaching different parts of the course is exactly the continuity issue an IS (and BS) wants to avoid.