Remission from teaching on return from maternity/parental/adoption leave

There are to be no teaching obligations in the first term back for those returning from maternity leave or from extended shared parental leave/adoption leave, in order to smooth the transition back to work. In cases of doubt as to which academic term this applies to, or the extent to which leave is ‘extended’ Nominations Committee will adjudicate.

This policy applies to all teaching which is carried out on behalf of the department – i.e. lecturing and any class teaching from departmental stint.

Those having to relinquish a lecture course due to going on maternity/extended parental/adoption leave have the right to take it up again when they return to teaching, under the general provision of the ‘four-year rule’ (i.e. they have a right to retain a lecture course for four years, and any periods of maternity/parental leave and subsequent teaching remission are ignored for the purposes of calculating the four years). All those arranging lecturing must uphold this right, as any breach is likely to contravene equality legislation. The precise arrangements should be made clear in advance to any lecturer ‘covering’ the lecture course during the absence, and the expectations on this lecturer should not be onerous – for example they should not be expected to write a new course, but might base the material on the existing one, and should have access to the source files for the existing lecture notes, problem sheets and solutions.

Please contact us with feedback and comments about this page. Last updated on 02 Apr 2022 21:54.