Teaching in the UK - how bad is it?!

sitstill

So, I am being let go from my school in May having been there for 4 years on RPT contracts and I really don't want to go doing maternity cover etc and have been looking at teaching posts in London. There seems to be quite a few advertised for September already.

I am just wondering if anyone is/has taught over there, can they give me a realistic picture of what it would be like? I'm talking about day-to-day work in a normal school - we've all heard the stories of extreme indiscipline and long working hours. What do they do totally differently, what's better over there and what's worse?

I know that I want to go, but when I think about the actual job, it fills me with anxiety!

implausible

You have done 4 consecutive years RPT contracts - why are you being let go? Surely you are entitled to your CID

sitstill

implausible wrote: »

You have done 4 consecutive years RPT contracts - why are you being let go? Surely you are entitled to your CID

I thought so too. But apparently you only get the CID if you are actually being offered a 5th consecutive contract as the job is viable and my school is claiming that the job is not viable. The ASTI have confirmed all this for me.

raytray

Pros
Excellent resources- netbooks, interactive whiteboards, mini whiteboards, materials to make posters, prizes, colour photocopying etc. You do not have to pay for anything yourself.
If you work somewhere decent you can pick the training courses you want to go on.
Easy to bring students on trips with regards cover for classes
Loads of opportunities for various types of promotion
Departments tend to be large so you really feel like part of a team. In my department we have a teaching and learning meeting weekly so its really good to share lesson ideas, resources, if you have questions about the syllabus, find out what trips people are organising etc.
If you teach science you will have a lab technician, art you will have an assistant, languages you may have an assistant.

Cons
The pressure of exam results. In my work we have to go through our students one by one and if any underachieved (students are assigned National Average Grades based on their GCSEs so if they get below this it is underachievement), we need to be able to justify it. This all has to be documented. This for me is the biggest downside. You really feel the pressure all year round but especially when the results come out!
Hounding students throughout the year to make sure they don't underachieve.
Keeping a paper trail of what you have done to ensure a particular student doesn't underachieve.
The holidays are shorter
A lot more resource making than at home. There is a lot of coursework which, depending of the course the school follows, you may have to mark yourself. Also, where as with science at home you are given options of what coursework you want to do, in the UK you have to design it so its a lot of work.
A lot of paperwork on individual students. Every time they do anything wrong it has to be documented.
We have to give up 2 lunchtimes for 'support' a week. This is not just for our own students, but other peoples as well. (a lot of free s are also spent with the A level students looking for help) That's on top of extra curricular.

If you do apply I would recommend looking for a job where you will at least in part be teaching A levels. Students tend to be better behaved than leaving cert students because they can be kicked out and they are choosing to be there. Make sure to read the OFSTED report for the school. Look for an 'outstanding' school or at least 'good'. Don't go near a satisfactory school in London.

sitstill

Thanks a lot for your help.

How many hours a week would a full-time teacher be working there and how many of those would be actual class contact time?

Do you enjoy it more/less than teaching here?

raytray

In my school for full time its about 21.8 hours class teaching time plus 50 minute support session per week (my department make us do 2 though!). Hours that you have to be on site are 8:40 to 4:00. On Tuesdays we are in at 8:30 for staff briefing and we have to have a one hour teaching and learning meeting per week outside of school time, the department chooses a time. We have a 15 minute break & 50 minutes for lunch. That's basically contracted hours and then parent teacher meeting and staff meetings are outside class time too.
I really like the school I work in so I enjoy teaching here. Apart from the focus on results I have no major complaints. For me it's not about the UK system vs Irish. There are good & bad points for both systems. A lot of it boils down to the principal and the staff and how the school is managed.
The reason you hear about such bad behaviour & horror stories is because most Irish teachers use agencies to get work. And obviously schools that use agencies are generally the ones that can't attract staff!
If you are looking for jobs just be sensible. Read the OFSTED report and that will give you a good idea of what the school is like. And if you get interviewed somewhere it is a whole day so you can pick up a vibe from the place.

sitstill

Thanks again for all of this. Definitely very helpful.

That doesn't sound as bad as I had expected.

I have been looking at the Ofsted reports of 2 schools that I am thinking of applying to.

Can I just ask you one more thing though, how did you prepare for interviews? In particular for the trial lesson that they get you to teach... Like what are they looking for? Spending a whole day there sounds very intense!

Jolly Red Giant

sitstill wrote: »

I thought so too. But apparently you only get the CID if you are actually being offered a 5th consecutive contract as the job is viable and my school is claiming that the job is not viable. The ASTI have confirmed all this for me.

I would go back to the ASTI rep about this - actually contacting the ASTI headquarters would probably be a better idea.

The school can only claim that the job is not viable IF they have stated such in the previous RPT contracts that you have signed -

Those fixed term teachers with 4 years or more successive teaching service on 1st September 2006 or on any date thereafter and who are deemed to be qualified shall receive contracts of indefinite duration unless the employer can demonstrate:

That a post will not be viable within a reasonable period and where such a ground was set out as an objective ground in writing in the previous contract.

Or

That the person is covering for a post holder on an approved scheme of leave of absence.

In other words IF the previous contract that you signed did not include the 'objective grounds' then you must be offered a CID.

The 'objective grounds' would include things like covering for maternity leave, the subject being dropped by the school, job sharing, teaching a specific group of students - but it must have been stated in your previous contract.

One further point - if 'objective grounds' were included in your contract and the school is entitled not to offer you a CID then you, after 4 years, are entitled to a redundancy payment.

Schools occasionally try and pull a fast one in relation to CID's and the union reps are sometimes not up to speed on the rules. There is a procedure that you have to go through including writing to the school's Board of Management outlining that you are of the opinion that you are entitled to a CID and you want the Board to offer you a CID as per Section 8 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act, 2003. There are also a series of different forms that you may have to fill out. If the Board of Management refuse to offer you a CID then you can take it to a Rights Commissioner and if necessary Court. The ASTI should be able to assist you on this and are obliged to give you legal representation (that is what you pay your union dues for).

sitstill

Jolly Red Giant - I sent you a PM!

mazda2

Jolly Red Giant - could you please tell me where i could get info on the reduncancy payment that you mentioned. I was turned down by BOM for a CID and am currently going down route of rights commissioner. I never heard anything before about reduncancy.

micropig

raytray wrote: »

Pros
Excellent resources- netbooks, interactive whiteboards, mini whiteboards, materials to make posters, prizes, colour photocopying etc. You do not have to pay for anything yourself.
If you work somewhere decent you can pick the training courses you want to go on.
Easy to bring students on trips with regards cover for classes
Loads of opportunities for various types of promotion
Departments tend to be large so you really feel like part of a team. In my department we have a teaching and learning meeting weekly so its really good to share lesson ideas, resources, if you have questions about the syllabus, find out what trips people are organising etc.
If you teach science you will have a lab technician, art you will have an assistant, languages you may have an assistant.

Cons
The pressure of exam results. In my work we have to go through our students one by one and if any underachieved (students are assigned National Average Grades based on their GCSEs so if they get below this it is underachievement), we need to be able to justify it. This all has to be documented. This for me is the biggest downside. You really feel the pressure all year round but especially when the results come out!
Hounding students throughout the year to make sure they don't underachieve.
Keeping a paper trail of what you have done to ensure a particular student doesn't underachieve.
The holidays are shorter
A lot more resource making than at home. There is a lot of coursework which, depending of the course the school follows, you may have to mark yourself. Also, where as with science at home you are given options of what coursework you want to do, in the UK you have to design it so its a lot of work.
A lot of paperwork on individual students. Every time they do anything wrong it has to be documented.
We have to give up 2 lunchtimes for 'support' a week. This is not just for our own students, but other peoples as well. (a lot of free s are also spent with the A level students looking for help) That's on top of extra curricular.

If you do apply I would recommend looking for a job where you will at least in part be teaching A levels. Students tend to be better behaved than leaving cert students because they can be kicked out and they are choosing to be there. Make sure to read the OFSTED report for the school. Look for an 'outstanding' school or at least 'good'. Don't go near a satisfactory school in London.

Well put raytray - was going to add my 2 cents here but I'd be more or less repeating this post

micropig

Just to add - be prepared for other teachers and principals watching your lessons and getting you to analyse your teaching with them afterwards!

(Some schools are big on teachers peer assessing each other)

Postgrad10

micropig wrote: »

Just to add - be prepared for other teachers and principals watching your lessons and getting you to analyse your teaching with them afterwards!

(Some schools are big on teachers peer assessing each other)

In a way that sounds great but you'd have to be pretty comfortable with your colleagues first . Although you probably wouldn't have a choice

micropig

Postgrad10 wrote: »

In a way that sounds great but you'd have to be pretty comfortable with your colleagues first . Although you probably wouldn't have a choice

No choice, I found a lot of adults will be watching your class, In some schools they just wander in and out, chatting to the children about what they're learning.


Principal, colleagues, Ofstead Inspectors (although this will have lots of prior warning that they're coming to the school, but won't tell you exactly what classes they're going to), Student teachers, SNA's

When I was teaching there between one thing and another I probably had other adults watching me teach 20% of my classes.

Also if your teaching a lesson next week and unsure what to do, in some schools (and increasing), just sit in on another teacher (help the children, kind of like a helper-teacher) who is teaching that lesson before you and get ideas from them if possible, Nobody minds. If you know an another adult will be in the room it's standard practive to factor them in to your lesson plan, give them a plan of the lesson, indicating what you would like them to do while each task is going on. SNA's are great, they don't just focus on the one child they are supporting


If your teaching is good, it shouldn't matter who's watching:D


Edit just to add, don't be intimidated by other adults in your class. They'll be helping you out and less behaviour management issues for you to deal with. They'll be more interested talking to the children to see what they know and are understanding from your lesson. Be prepared to justify the tasks you are doing are meeting the objectives of the lesson

Also in one school, I had to give individual advice & mentoring sessions to each student in my tutor group. 1 on 1 sessions, recording their achievements and aims how they could go about achieving them. Then meeting with them again a few weeks later to see achievements, aims met etc and set new targets-30 minutes 1 day a week before the start of the lessons