Have you ever gone to work sick? Why did you neglect your health, and sometimes the health of your pupils, and came to work?
Usually the reasons are as follows:
- the management will be dissatisfied, because there is no one to replace me, no one to leave the children or the class with;
- colleagues who are forced to work for me and receive meager wages with a huge load will be dissatisfied;
- i do not want to lose money because sick leave is paid less;
- i don’t want to stand in lines, go to the doctor, I’m better like working for patients.
The list can be continued in the comments in the article. But let's look at at least the first two points. Perhaps they are the most unpleasant for the teacher.
Is the administration shouting, cursing, accusing the teacher that the teacher often goes to sick leave, trying to put pressure on his conscience, consciousness and responsibility? And the teacher humbly agrees, but when he falls ill, he feels guilty and is afraid to call the school and say that he will not come. Excellent! Such a teacher is a typical victim of manipulation. The personnel problem is solved by you and at your expense. At the expense of your health, money, nerves.
Teachers and educators are not serfs or slaves to the director. And they go to sick leave at their "own" expense: in addition to the salary of each employee, social insurance contributions are paid 2.9%, which is a "dirty" salary of 15,000 rubles. is more than 5,000 rubles. in year. The school spends a not so significant amount on sick leave: sick leave, lasting more than 3 days, is paid by the Social Insurance Fund, not the school. Not a ruble of his own funds is spent by the director, who does not manage his personal funds, but fulfills the order of the state, only managing his money.
Why are directors and those in charge of the schedule so unhappy with our sick leave? Well, of course - who will work in the school if suddenly one or even several teachers go on sick leave !? The headmaster of the school must solve this problem, he receives his salary for solving managerial, including personnel tasks.
And by the way, the directors are coping: he looked menacingly at the teacher, raised his voice, asked the question: "Who will work instead of you?" and teachers with fever, sprained ligaments, injections and pills are at the blackboard. And they also feel guilty.
No director will solve the problem differently, more in a difficult waythan is being decided now. Nobody will be paid more than they are paying now. No one will be given fewer tasks if they are all done quickly, efficiently and for free. By the way, the director is also paid for minimizing costs, for doing more work for the same unit of time, this is his professional task.
But who will work instead of us if we go on sick leave?
Let's think it over.
- The principals can choose not to reduce the staff, leaving two teachers for a subject with a workload of 30 hours, but hire 3-4 teachers with a workload of about 18 hours.
- You can negotiate with a teacher training college or university to replace sick teachers: both students practice and the school is good.
- Principals can raise the issue in education management to hire several “replacement teachers” who will work in several replacement schools only.
- You can change the schedule so that the children go home sooner or later.
- You can conduct paired lessons, negotiate with the library, club, swimming pool to replace lessons.
- It is even possible to organize preventive measures at the school in order to strengthen the health of employees, not to burden them with unbearable work, improve the psychological climate in the team, buy a lemon for each teacher's tea at the school's expense.
- In the end, when it turns out that there is no one to replace the teacher, something will shift in the requirements for personnel and their remuneration.
Yes, there may be difficult unsolvable situations, such as in Donbass, but even there schools function and teachers work. And in our country, in a stable economy, with social insurance, where many directors, methodologists, managers work, organizing the replacement of sick teachers is a common professional task of a manager. If someone does not want or cannot solve it, this does not mean that a particular teacher should go to work to the detriment of his health.
And what about the colleagues who replace our lessons? They are not happy with the fact that we are sick. First, they don't have to replace anyone. They can say: no, I will not replace, I will only teach my lessons. Secondly, today they replace you, and tomorrow you replace them. And it is also the director's task to select a responsible team for the institution, to establish fruitful labor and personal relationships in it. And a specific teacher should not "settle" squabbles, envy and discontent with each other in the team either.
Our ancestors fought and made many sacrifices to protect the rights of workers: an 8-hour working day, sick leave, holidays. Let's thank fate for the opportunities that we have, for the rights we have, and enjoy these rights really, and not only in disputes, which country is better social Security... We get a job at a school under an employment contract, we are employees, citizens, our rights are protected by labor legislation. Something, but the rights of workers in our country are one of the most transparent and protected.
Once upon a time, the disciples of one teacher grew tired of him. They are tired of studying every day, doing their homework.
And then one day they got together and began to think: “I wish I could find a way to take a break from him at least for a day or two…”.
One of them said:
That is why this teacher will not get sick, he would lie at home a little, and we would have rested, no, it stands in its place, like a marble rock.
The smartest among them figured out how to play the teacher:
Tomorrow morning, when the teacher comes, I will go up to him and ask: “Master, why do you have such a pale complexion? It looks like you are not feeling well. This is probably because you caught a cold, or because you caught malaria! " Because of my words, the teacher will doubt, will begin to suspect that he has an illness. From suspicion and an intelligent person goes crazy. Then, when you meet him, do as I do, ask him: “Teacher, what's wrong with you, what happened? You look bad ... ”Thus, three of us, five, six and then all thirty will tell the teacher that he looks bad. When thirty people say the same thing, the teacher will believe that he is sick.
The students really liked the plan of their clever comrade, and they approved of it.
The next morning she turned them on, approached and greeted the teacher, said:
What's up, teacher? You have a completely pale complexion!
Nothing happened to me, everything is fine! Go sit down in your seat, don't talk nonsense! - scolded his teacher.
The teacher, of course, did not believe that he was sick, but suspicion had sunk into his soul.
After a while, another student approached him. He also told the teacher that he looked bad. The teacher's suspicion increased.
And thus, no matter which student approached him, which student he met, they all told the teacher that he looked very bad today, and asked him if he was sick.
The teacher's increased suspicion took the form of fear. He really felt more and more sick. Finally, he got up, wrapped himself in his coat and went home. The disciples followed him and saw him off at some distance.
The teacher walked and thought to himself:
Why, when I left for school in the morning, my wife didn’t understand that I was sick and sent me sick to school? - he was angry with his wife.
Indeed, she loves me little! Despite my miserable condition, she did not even ask what was wrong with me. She didn't even say that my complexion had changed. Maybe she just wants to get rid of me ...
With such thoughts, the teacher came home and jerked open the door.
What happened, why did you come so early? his wife asked him.
Are you blind or what? the teacher shouted at his wife. “Look at my pale face, at my unhappy state. Strangers notice, take pity on me, but you live with me in the same house and do not notice my condition!
His wife said to him:
Master teacher, you have nothing! This anxiety of yours comes from a baseless suspicion.
The teacher became even more angry:
An immoral woman! You stubbornly assert yours, can't you see the change in me, can't you see that I'm trembling all over?
Let me bring a mirror, and you look at your face, - his wife said to him, - look and you will see that I am right!
You failed with your mirror! Get me a bed as soon as possible, I'll go to bed. I'm sick, my head is splitting! he replied.
When the wife paused in surprise for a moment:
Hey enemy! the teacher told her. - Come on faster!
The poor woman, making the bed, talked to herself:
No exit! In this state, he will not obey my advice. If I insist and say that he is not sick, he will blame me; if I say that he looks sick, then he actually gets sick.
Surprised by what was happening and upset, the woman made the bed, and the teacher lay down. The disciples, sitting in the corner, watched what was happening. With remorse, they learned their lessons.
“All this happened because of us, we are tomboys worthy to be thrown in jail,” they thought.
And the one, the smartest among them, said:
My comrades, let us teach our lessons aloud and loud!
Friends, our loud reading is a source of concern to our teacher!
The teacher, confirming his words, groaned:
Everyone, go home! My headache because of you has intensified.
Saying goodbye to the teacher, they ran out of the house like birds flying for food.
When their mothers, angry that they had come from lessons ahead of time, scolded them:
What are you doing outside when you should be in class? - the children answered:
It is not our fault, our teacher is ill.
Some of them did not believe the words of their children. But those who came to visit the teacher the next day saw that the teacher was actually lying, wrapped in blankets, suffering from pain and heat.
What happened, master teacher? - they asked him.
Where does your headache come from? Honestly, yesterday we didn't even know that you were in such a serious condition.
And the teacher answered them:
And I didn't know about it. The children told me about my illness. I, not knowing about my illness, was busy with lessons. And I didn’t even suspect that it turns out that I was actually so seriously ill.
Disease of the mind - suspicion and suspiciousness. Belief in what is not.
If a person is engaged in any business, putting his whole soul into it, he does not notice his sores, pains and illnesses.
As you know, the women of Egypt, amazed by the beauty of the Prophet Yusuf, lost their heads, forgot about themselves. They were in such a self-forgetful state that they cut their hands and did not notice it. A spirit struck by beauty does not see anything around it.
During the battles, there were many cases when horsemen fought desperately with severed arms or legs, without even knowing it. And then they only saw that they had no hand, and they lost a lot of blood, and they themselves did not even notice it.
"Masnavi" Mavlyana Jalaletdin Rumi
A professional teacher is forced to spend almost the entire day at a school, gymnasium or other educational institution in which he works. He conducts lessons, organizes extracurricular activities, checks students 'homework, visits teachers' councils, and performs many other duties. Often working time teachers are several times higher than the normalized weekly workload. Of course, this cannot pass without a trace, so there are so-called professional diseases of teachers.
Negative factors that teachers are exposed to
At first sight, pedagogical activity not as difficult as it really is, but it’s not like that. This profession occupies almost the first places in the rating for harmfulness. The health of teachers is constantly being tested for strength, since it is influenced by a variety of factors:
- High physical activity caused by irregular work schedules, social events and work at multiple rates.
- Eye strain when checking exercise books, which is a must for every teacher.
- The negative influence of electromagnetic waves when working with computers. This mainly applies to teachers of computer science.
- High content of germs and bacteria in rooms educational institutions increase the risk of developing not only chronic diseases, but also viral and infectious ones.
- Constant moral stress is harmful to neuropsychic health. Due to stress, an increase in blood pressure, the development of peptic ulcer disease, ischemic disease, psychasthenia and neuroses can be observed.
- Teachers are constantly straining their speech apparatus. The work of the vocal cords for wear does not go unnoticed.
- Low physical activity leads to problems with the musculoskeletal system. Teachers are forced to sit and stand a lot, as a result of which deviations of a different nature arise in the cardiovascular system.
There are other negative factors that cause professional illnesses of teachers. The risk group always includes teachers working for several rates.
Occupational diseases of teachers
Throughout school year teachers can get sick repeatedly, as they are forced to come into contact with various viruses and infections. Medical statistics paint the following picture for the diseases of teachers:
The teachers, who have up to 5-7 years of experience, often have diseases of the respiratory and digestive organs. After 45-50 years, diseases of the circulatory system appear. According to statistics, in winter and spring, the number of teachers' visits to doctors increases, and in summer and early autumn, teachers get sick less often. The reason is not only viruses, but also in the accumulation of fatigue, as well as the growth of psycho-emotional tension on the eve of graduation and transfer exams, because it is long.
Frequent illnesses of teachers are neuroses. By the end of the semester, the teacher may yell at the class for lack of chalk or dirty blackboard, or even cry. The thing is that emotional tension increases during the school year, and at one point emotions can splash out uncontrollably. Overvoltage is the cause nervous system, that is, you need to see a doctor.
Scoliosis and slouching are also common among teachers. Orthopedic teaching chairs are rarely found in regular schools, which means that teachers have to sit in a crooked position all day and then spend a lot of time checking their homework notebooks. There is little pleasant in this, so when choosing your profession you need to think about it, stopping at teaching.
Teachers with diseases of the nasopharynx regularly come to the attention of doctors, including:
- laryngitis;
- angina;
- pharyngitis and others.
If in the first lesson the teacher cheerfully greets the students, wishing them good morning, then by the end of the fifth lesson he can barely whisper. This condition is caused not so much by fatigue as by dry mucous membranes and high load on the speech apparatus. Note that there are quite a lot of occupational health disorders due to work at school, and headache becomes almost a constant companion of all teachers.
Preventive measures
Proper prevention helps educators to avoid violations. Often teachers get sick from being infected by their students, but you also need to learn how to manage your emotions and not give in to stress. Preventive measures to avoid occupational diseases of teachers are quite simple:
- You need at least eight hours of sleep. If you need to check a stack of notebooks, it's best to go to bed early and start checking in the morning.
- Controlling water balance is very important. Many teachers drink more than three cups of coffee or tea during the day, and about clean water forget. At the same time, it is recommended to consume at least 1.5-2 liters of water.
- Fruits help replenish the supply of minerals and vitamins, so you need to consume them regularly at home and at work.
- It is important to learn how to deal with stress by purchasing an anti-stress coloring book or choosing another calming activity.
- During seasonal epidemics, teachers are advised to take vitamin complexes to strengthen immunity.
When the first signs of illness are detected, the teacher should consult a doctor for advice and undergo an examination in order to start treatment as early as possible.
On Saturday morning, I bravely prepare for work. The fever had lasted for three days already, I pulled out with all my might until the weekend, thinking: "I'll lie down on Sunday and everything will be fine."
All people get sick, some more often, some less often. In pedagogical collectives, often sick teachers are not liked: they must be replaced. I rarely get sick. No, I still get sick often, but I rarely miss work due to illness. So, this year I missed classes for the first time. All three days that I allowed myself to be ill at home, in bed, my conscience tormented me, especially if the temperature was lower than 38 °. My family members reassured me: “The school won't collapse without you! And children have joy! "
Yes, the news that the teacher is sick is good news for the students. They communicate it to each other with exclamatory intonation, with undisguised joy. Do you think this is because we teachers are villains? Do you think kids don't like us? Nothing like this! They are not happy about our illness, but about the lack of a lesson.
When I went to work after an illness, I saw my eleventh graders openly upset. In their eyes it could be read: “You are a little ill, Natalya Nikolaevna! You are not taking care of yourself! "
And I suddenly thought that I really needed to take care of myself. For her, for work. Experienced teachers, teachers who have worked at school for 15-20 years, almost all the chronicles. Chronic laryngitis, bronchitis, thrombophlebitis - this is my "bouquet". Voice with a characteristic hoarseness, fAQ: "Don't you smoke?" I don’t smoke, I don’t smoke! I just work at school, I have to talk a lot, moreover, to speak expressively. Bronchitis - because you never get over it. After "sick leave" to come to work absolutely healthy is bad form. If there are no symptoms of the disease - was there the disease itself? Isn't your "sick leave" phony? My legs hurt - nothing strange either: the work is standing.
The teacher in front of the class is a symbol of the educational system. Two years ago I sat down in class. No, this was not a sit-in, it was a necessity. She sat down and realized that the lesson did not get any worse. Maybe even better. Psychologists take into account the ratio of the "teacher" - "student" levels. If the teacher is “over”, that's bad. It is impossible to imagine a confidential conversation when one is sitting and the other is standing, right? So why is it different at school? The school system cannot be built on trusting relationships? But this is absurd!
A separate conversation is about nerves. The teacher's tone is often displeased, irritated. Do you know how students triumph over their teacher? "We have brought him to the table!" They brought me to shouting, to rude expressions (alas, this is not uncommon in school), to lengthy and tedious lectures on the topic “how to behave”. And the topic of the lesson was completely different: "Acids", for example, or "Spelling of prefixes". If the teacher deviates from the topic, then the lesson is disrupted. Why do children disrupt lessons? Yes, out of revenge! When a teacher builds his lesson on proof, "You are bad students," they certainly need to defend themselves and prove, "You are a bad teacher."
True, there are teachers at school who are never nervous, do not raise their voices, do not get upset. Children are on their ears, and they are absolutely calm. Take care of themselves. They get sick, as expected, at home, they are always recovered. It's okay if the "sick leave" dragged on for several weeks, the main thing is health. But there are few such healthy people at school. Fortunately!
I am convinced that a teacher must be sick: love for children, fanatical dedication to work, passionate desire to learn new things together with the students ... So I got sick many years ago. And, perhaps, to my bronchitis, laryngitis some more "-it" will soon be added, but I don’t want to work differently.