'They took their kids on holiday and expected me to help them catch up'

 "If they can afford to go on holiday, then they can afford a private tutor... who's in the wrong  here?"

A teacher has taken to Mumsnet to share her frustrations about being asked to help a student 'catch up' after they took two weeks out of school for a holiday. 

The parent insisted it was the teacher's "job" but she explained in the post that she "doesn't have the time" to tutor out of hours (hard relate for teachers everywhere...)

Luckily other members on the platform came out in full force to support the teacher and reassured her that she wasn't the unreasonable one in the situation.

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"The parents told me I'm refusing to do my job"

"Am I being unreasonable to refuse to give up time to help kids catch up?" the post was titled.

The teacher begins by explaining that two kids from the same family (in different years) recently went on a two-week family holiday, which hadn't been authorised.

"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 OP told the parents that she won't do that as she's already swamped with... well, being a teacher.

"Now the parents have accused me of being unreasonable and said that I’m refusing to do my job. Who’s in the wrong here?" she concluded. 

Image: IStock

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"If they can afford to go on holiday, then they can afford a tutor."

Most commenters agreed with her stance and that the onus is on the parents to help their kids catch up.

One of the top comments read: "They caused the problem they can take the time to solve it."

Another said: "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," agreed someone else. "There is a cost to taking family time in school time."

And then this person pointed out that the parents should be, "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 woman mentioned. 

Then this comment made the point that, "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 another member.

But others said they would, "Send the parents some bare bone notes and maybe recommend a local tutor."

Then someone else offered this advice: "The holiday was unauthorised as it meant their children would miss important parts of a core subject. So what do they expect?

"In your own case stop engaging with the parents and escalate up if they keep hassling you."

Originally published as 'They took their kids on holiday and expected me to help them catch up'