Odd One Out

Today I had four old ladies ranting at me whilst I sat at my desk. Allow me to explain why.

The contract at the Oman Tourism College requires each teacher to teach 11 classes. Each class lasts 1 hour 40 minutes. 1h40m x 11 = 18h20m of what we call 'contact' hours (the time spent actually in front of a class) each week. When teachers are not in class, they are not required to be in college and are free to do whatever they choose. A good deal, I'm sure you'll agree.

The problem with letting us all do whatever we want when we're not teaching is that it's impossible to provide a fair system of 'covering' if anyone is off sick. What ended up happening was that a register would be taken and a handout given to keep a class amused in the event of their teacher being off. It wasn't the most professional set-up and gave students a pretty raw deal to boot.

To address this problem, our Head of Department (HoD) has compiled a cover timetable which allocates two extra slots to our timetables which are to be put into use if someone phones in sick.

You should have heard the complaints from the old-moany-faced-bags:

"Why should we do this?"
"We already do 18 hours!"
"This is so unfair!"
"We are so tired!"
"We are so busy!"
"Where will we find time to go to the gym/get our haircut/go for a coffee?"

Etc.

In a masterful stroke of mismanagement, the HoD added to the timetable that nobody actually has to be in the college during their slot! They were reasonably pleased with this get-out-clause as it meant they could pretty much stick to buggering off straight after their lesson as usual.

At this, and knowing the ramifications of what I was about to say, I cleared my throat to attract the attention of the old-moany-faced-bags and as articulately as I could, replied:

"What's the point of having a cover system when the person supposed to be doing the covering is out shopping or at home? If they are needed quickly, it would take at least thirty minutes just to get back to college, which anyone with half a brain-cell can see makes a joke of the system. In my opinion, if it's your cover slot, you should be in college, at your desk, and therefore physically capable of providing cover. It's only two slots each week, and the chances are you'll never actually need to teach during them anyway so the extra time can be used to do some planning."

Cue four old ladies ranting at me:

"Why should we be here?"
"We already do 18 hours!"
"This is so unfair!"
"We are so tired!"
"Where will we find time to go to the gym/get our haircut/go for a coffee?"
"Who do you think you are?"

The HoD joined in by asking if I was "being the boss and telling everyone what to do this afternoon?" At this point the ranting stopped and they all went outside to bitch and complain about me (as needlessly reported to me by another colleague).

I feel privileged to work with such inspirational, professional, dedicated and wonderful teachers.

Roll on June.