Tough choice

Bobsammy

I'm in the lucky position of being able to chose between two jobs.

I've been offered a maternity leave for 22 hours which is due to run from September to May - meant to be starting this week. It's a great location for me - couldn't ask for better and on Friday I got the keys and signed the lease for my new apartment near the school.

Today I got a phone call offering me a 15 hour contract about an hours drive away. It's an RPT contract so my own hours and I would be paid for my holidays, however moving again isn't an option so I would be facing into another year of doing a long commute

Does anyone have any opinion on which would be the better option? This is only my second year teaching, I'm very torn now and utterly confused!

thefasteriwalk

Bobsammy wrote: »

I'm in the lucky position of being able to chose between two jobs.

I've been offered a maternity leave for 22 hours which is due to run from September to May - meant to be starting this week. It's a great location for me - couldn't ask for better and on Friday I got the keys and signed the lease for my new apartment near the school.

Today I got a phone call offering me a 15 hour contract about an hours drive away. It's an RPT contract so my own hours and I would be paid for my holidays, however moving again isn't an option so I would be facing into another year of doing a long commute

Does anyone have any opinion on which would be the better option? This is only my second year teaching, I'm very torn now and utterly confused!

If it was me I'd go with the RTP as you're far more likely to have hours there next year. But that's just me.

Postgrad10

I'm sure you can get out of that lease if you need to . Check the terms out carefully. Even if you lost a percentage of your deposit , the possibilty of your own hours is worth it .

Millem

thefasteriwalk wrote: »

Bobsammy wrote: »

I'm in the lucky position of being able to chose between two jobs.

I've been offered a maternity leave for 22 hours which is due to run from September to May - meant to be starting this week. It's a great location for me - couldn't ask for better and on Friday I got the keys and signed the lease for my new apartment near the school.

Today I got a phone call offering me a 15 hour contract about an hours drive away. It's an RPT contract so my own hours and I would be paid for my holidays, however moving again isn't an option so I would be facing into another year of doing a long commute

Does anyone have any opinion on which would be the better option? This is only my second year teaching, I'm very torn now and utterly confused!

If it was me I'd go with the RTP as you're far more likely to have hours there next year. But that's just me.

Totally agree! You need to look out for yourself in the long run! Who knows you could even get an extra hour or two before final contracts are sent in at Halloween

km79

An RPT contract of over 11 hours is a rarity these days.... I'd go for it

whiteandlight

Despite the commute you need to take the Rpt. The other has minimal chance of a long term contract. I had to make a decision last year to take a huge cut in hours in order to get out of a privately paid position. Now I'm in the lucky position of full hours, half of which are RPT and I am the only teacher of music in the school

happywithlife

definitely go for the rpt !
congrats

Miss Lockhart

I would definitely go for the rpt. Unless money to pay bills is the most pressing concern at the moment that is definitely the best offer.

Millem

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

I would definitely go for the rpt. Unless money to pay bills is the most pressing concern at the moment that is definitely the best offer.

Would there be a huge difference in wages when you break it down as deductions would be huge on 22hours?

Bobsammy

You see there's more than just me to consider, I'm getting married early next year and the maternity leave position is in a great location leaving both of us with a relatively short commute. If we were to move again we'd both have an hours commute each way. We did it this year and it was very tiring, not to mention expensive. The maternity leave is in an area I could see us settling in long term.

My head is screaming at me to take the RPT contract and yet something is holding me back. I've signed the contract for the maternity leave, visited the school, set up my classroom and everything.

Millem

Bobsammy wrote: »

You see there's more than just me to consider, I'm getting married early next year and the maternity leave position is in a great location leaving both of us with a relatively short commute. If we were to move again we'd both have an hours commute each way. We did it this year and it was very tiring, not to mention expensive. The maternity leave is in an area I could see us settling in long term.

My head is screaming at me to take the RPT contract and yet something is holding me back. I've signed the contract for the maternity leave, visited the school, set up my classroom and everything.

No offense bobsammy but you are getting attached to job that is not yours! I know that sounds do harsh. But I see my co workers and after 4 years they are covering for someone and they are so comfortable in the school they don't want to leave but in reality they will be gone in a second when the person they are covering for comes back! I don't know anyone who would quit a permanent teaching job in this day and age! You need to think about your long term career and trying to carve your way to a CID!

Bobsammy

I know, I covered a maternity leave this year and it really is hard to watch the other teacher come back!
I know that there is almost zero chance of the maternity leave becoming anything more and I am viewing at it as just a years work.
Getting your own hours is like the Holy Grail, I should be jumping at it but it really is the location is holding me back.

seavill

In relation to settling in the area you like with the maternity cover, have you considered next year what are you going to do if next years work is further away again.

Unless money is not a problem settling in one area as an unemployed teacher these days is dodgy, you really don't know where you are going to end up from year to year, the ability to settle seems like it is not an option if you are unwilling to accept a long commute if the need arises.

Rather than you having a hour commute in one place and your partner having the hour commute in the other, why not look into locations that are half way between both for the year and see what happens.

Realistically an hour commute is a bit on the long side but its really not too bad, half hour commute each is so handy, half hour is nothing. Teacher in a school I worked in was 17 years there living 1.5 hours away, so 3 hour drive a day for 17 years. Madness

Bobsammy

It's not that I'm unwilling to accept a long commute, this year I was living 55 miles away from the school! It's just that it's hard when there's another option. The distance between his job and the school is around 120 miles so living at the halfway point will still leave us both with a long drive.

I know what the logical decision is! I just need to get my head round it, I had just got used to the idea of a short commute and now we're facing into another year of 2 hours a day driving!

Thanks for all the replies by the way.

bearhugs

Definitely the rpt! The commute is really not that long compared to many teachers I know. And it's your own hours, I know the maternity leave probably seems very enticing now and you have your heart set on it, but with the serious shortage of jobs you're in a great position and so early in your career too!

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

smallgarden

id go with what you want to do rather than what you should do,live for today rather than longterm.that may sound stupid but id say there are plenty of teachers in schools with their own hours and too scared to leave whether theyre happy there or not.if you can afford to put happiness first!

happywithlife

smallgarden wrote: »

id go with what you want to do rather than what you should do,live for today rather than longterm.that may sound stupid but id say there are plenty of teachers in schools with their own hours and too scared to leave whether theyre happy there or not.if you can afford to put happiness first!

omg has the recession not taught you anything? please tell me you are 19 with little or no real life experience. i can't believe anybody would say that in this day and age! rpt hours which may potentially develop into something more are a much better prospect than a mat leave cover - even if that mat leave had the full 22 hrs. next year the op could be left high and dry with no work at all -- what good is that then? i am just gobsmacked anybody could say that today. if the op was in such a financially good place right now that she could 'afford to put happiness first' she wouldn't even have posted in the first place as she would have accepted the job nearer home and not even give the other job a second thought.

smallgarden

i just dont believe in being in a job you dont like if you can afford not to be.if she has mortgage,kids its different as she would have financial responsibilities so unable to make choice based on wants but would have to choose on needs. i was more saying choose what she wants to do than feeling pressured into taking the more secure option. yeah she could have no work next year, she could also have different offer where maternity cover is,you just never know.the question is,is it worth taking the risk, and if she doesnt take job this year and ends up unemployed next year will she regret not taking it and only she knows the answer to that.i was encouraging her to explore what she wants as plenty of people choose things because they feel they should or someone is telling them to

She Who Dares Wins

You're trying to talk yourself into a bad decision here. The longterm job is the one to take. It could be years before you get any work again let alone something as secure. As regards a tiring commute, you have to work for 5-9 weeks per half term before getting at least a week off.

thefasteriwalk

I think that if you take the maternity cover you'll be devastated next May having to leave after settling in the area and having to send CV's all over the country again, most likely to a lot of places far further than an hour away from where you are now. I'm going into my second year of teaching too and I'd probably chew my right arm off for 15hrs RTP in a school that was an hour away from where I'm happy.

doc_17

The RPT hours are probably no more secure than anything else's if there are more cutbacks (almost certain) then new entrants beat the brunt of that.

Have you done any other research? Possible retirements? Spoken to the principal an asked what the chances are of staying there long term?

Dahix

I think you know which is the sensible option, the RPT contract. However, if your heart is telling you to go with the maternity leave position take it. But it may be a risky one which leaves you with no job for next year.

There are things to consider...

1)why can't you just move closer to the RPT contract school??..you might lose deposit for your rent but rarely anything else.

2) Apart from distance, do you have a reason to prefer maternity leave school? Is it enough to take such a risk

3) Very importantly what are your subjects...because if they are irish and maths for example I think it might be worth taking your prefered job as it is likely you will find hours in them next year. If however its english and CSPE..not so much!

Good luck with your decision!

bdoo

Definitely agree that subjects will make a difference. If I was offered a woodwork maternity leave I'd pick the rpt cos another maternity leave would be unlikely!

If you have good subjects and as doc says the age profile of the school is right you could land a good job there in a year or two.

The job I have now was a sick leave cover job from march to July. Yet here I am after several years on a cid school is only 10 miles from my home. On the face of it I was gone in Sept but the guy I was replacing moved jobs! So I was kept on as the job was twt. 8 years on I'm on the senior management team as they call it!

I really disliked the school at first to be honest, staff were nice but the kids were difficult and disinterested, stuck with it and love the place now.
My head said no but my heart said yes. It could have gone the other way very easily I know before people start telling me I'm talking nonsense.

like I said it's your head versus your heart, I think your heart is in the maternity school, you can make your head go there if you like. Equally you could make your heart go the other way if you had to.

Explain to the principal, tell them you don't want to let them down so close to the start of the year but they you got an offer and you need to think if you have a future there, if they are half decent they will be honest, they know the score better than anyone.

Millem

bdoo wrote: »

Definitely agree that subjects will make a difference. If I was offered a woodwork maternity leave I'd pick the rpt cos another maternity leave would be unlikely!

If you have good subjects and as doc says the age profile of the school is right you could land a good job there in a year or two.

The job I have now was a sick leave cover job from march to July. Yet here I am after several years on a cid school is only 10 miles from my home. On the face of it I was gone in Sept but the guy I was replacing moved jobs! So I was kept on as the job was twt. 8 years on I'm on the senior management team as they call it!

I really disliked the school at first to be honest, staff were nice but the kids were difficult and disinterested, stuck with it and love the place now.
My head said no but my heart said yes. It could have gone the other way very easily I know before people start telling me I'm talking nonsense.

like I said it's your head versus your heart, I think your heart is in the maternity school, you can make your head go there if you like. Equally you could make your heart go the other way if you had to.

Explain to the principal, tell them you don't want to let them down so close to the start of the year but they you got an offer and you need to think if you have a future there, if they are half decent they will be honest, they know the score better than anyone.

Bdoo I think the days are gone for now, going in on a sick leave and it turning into a CID, especially if you are just in the door of a school. I think that anyone who takes a maternity leave now needs to accept the teacher will 99.9% be back. In my own school the teachers last year couldn't afford to take unpaid maternity leave or even career breaks for next year (which they would of loved to). In fact there are no career breaks at all in my school for 2012-2013 and I think we have about 60 teachers!

gaeilgebeo

bdoo wrote: »

Definitely agree that subjects will make a difference. If I was offered a woodwork maternity leave I'd pick the rpt cos another maternity leave would be unlikely!

If you have good subjects and as doc says the age profile of the school is right you could land a good job there in a year or two.

The job I have now was a sick leave cover job from march to July. Yet here I am after several years on a cid school is only 10 miles from my home. On the face of it I was gone in Sept but the guy I was replacing moved jobs! So I was kept on as the job was twt. 8 years on I'm on the senior management team as they call it!

I really disliked the school at first to be honest, staff were nice but the kids were difficult and disinterested, stuck with it and love the place now.
My head said no but my heart said yes. It could have gone the other way very easily I know before people start telling me I'm talking nonsense.

like I said it's your head versus your heart, I think your heart is in the maternity school, you can make your head go there if you like. Equally you could make your heart go the other way if you had to.

Explain to the principal, tell them you don't want to let them down so close to the start of the year but they you got an offer and you need to think if you have a future there, if they are half decent they will be honest, they know the score better than anyone.

Bdoo, I don't think it would reflect well on a new teacher if they asked about their "future" in the school after a maternity leave.
The teacher would come across as quite naive!
A maternity leave is exactly what it says on the tin.
A job is not going to magically appear when the contract is terminated.
Schools are struggling to hold on to their own staff as it is.

bdoo

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

bdoo wrote: »

Definitely agree that subjects will make a difference. If I was offered a woodwork maternity leave I'd pick the rpt cos another maternity leave would be unlikely!

If you have good subjects and as doc says the age profile of the school is right you could land a good job there in a year or two.

The job I have now was a sick leave cover job from march to July. Yet here I am after several years on a cid school is only 10 miles from my home. On the face of it I was gone in Sept but the guy I was replacing moved jobs! So I was kept on as the job was twt. 8 years on I'm on the senior management team as they call it!

I really disliked the school at first to be honest, staff were nice but the kids were difficult and disinterested, stuck with it and love the place now.
My head said no but my heart said yes. It could have gone the other way very easily I know before people start telling me I'm talking nonsense.

like I said it's your head versus your heart, I think your heart is in the maternity school, you can make your head go there if you like. Equally you could make your heart go the other way if you had to.

Explain to the principal, tell them you don't want to let them down so close to the start of the year but they you got an offer and you need to think if you have a future there, if they are half decent they will be honest, they know the score better than anyone.

Bdoo, I don't think it would reflect well on a new teacher if they asked about their "future" in the school after a maternity leave.
The teacher would come across as quite naive!
A maternity leave is exactly what it says on the tin.
A job is not going to magically appear when the contract is terminated.
Schools are struggling to hold on to their own staff as it is.

There is every chance that someone else is in their last year before retiring. All I'm saying is to ask, there is a conversation that needs to happen there anyway, the principal obviously thinks that the op has something to offer.

I'm not saying ask about your future I'm saying have a conversation about how you are weighing up your options etc and the principal may indicate if there may possibly be hours there next year.

Anyone would think I was suggesting you profess your undying love for the school.

Fizzical

The OP has already signed the contract for the maternity leave.

Does that not entail an obligation?

Millem

bdoo wrote: »

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

bdoo wrote: »

Definitely agree that subjects will make a difference. If I was offered a woodwork maternity leave I'd pick the rpt cos another maternity leave would be unlikely!

If you have good subjects and as doc says the age profile of the school is right you could land a good job there in a year or two.

The job I have now was a sick leave cover job from march to July. Yet here I am after several years on a cid school is only 10 miles from my home. On the face of it I was gone in Sept but the guy I was replacing moved jobs! So I was kept on as the job was twt. 8 years on I'm on the senior management team as they call it!

I really disliked the school at first to be honest, staff were nice but the kids were difficult and disinterested, stuck with it and love the place now.
My head said no but my heart said yes. It could have gone the other way very easily I know before people start telling me I'm talking nonsense.

like I said it's your head versus your heart, I think your heart is in the maternity school, you can make your head go there if you like. Equally you could make your heart go the other way if you had to.

Explain to the principal, tell them you don't want to let them down so close to the start of the year but they you got an offer and you need to think if you have a future there, if they are half decent they will be honest, they know the score better than anyone.

Bdoo, I don't think it would reflect well on a new teacher if they asked about their "future" in the school after a maternity leave.
The teacher would come across as quite naive!
A maternity leave is exactly what it says on the tin.
A job is not going to magically appear when the contract is terminated.
Schools are struggling to hold on to their own staff as it is.

There is every chance that someone else is in their last year before retiring. All I'm saying is to ask, there is a conversation that needs to happen there anyway, the principal obviously thinks that the op has something to offer.

I'm not saying ask about your future I'm saying have a conversation about how you are weighing up your options etc and the principal may indicate if there may possibly be hours there next year.

Anyone would think I was suggesting you profess your undying love for the school.

I think anyone who only had one year to retire would of gone in February otherwise they would lose out on a significant amount of money?

Bobsammy

Guys thank you so much for all the replies, I had my decision almost made but unfortunately it never rains but it pours! I got a phonecall today from another principal offering me another RPT contract, the catch with this is that the location isn't great but I've been teaching in the school for the last year. So now I'm more confused than ever! I think it will be this one I go for though.

bdoo

So you got hours in the school following from a maternity leave! But that is impossible according to what I've been reading here!

Well done on all three fronts.

bdoo

Millem wrote: »

I think anyone who only had one year to retire would of gone in February otherwise they would lose out on a significant amount of money?

No in fact they won't as the will not pay the pension levy on their pension unlike those who retired before Feb. It was not the great financial incentive it was portrayed as.

I can't remember exactly but I think that if a teacher stayed on until the end of this calendar year instead of going in February that the loss / gain would have balanced out.

smallgarden

3 job offers in this environment! you must be doing somthing right or have rare teaching subjects,it sounds like you probably wont have much to worry about next year if youre in that high demand now

Millem

bdoo wrote: »

Millem wrote: »

I think anyone who only had one year to retire would of gone in February otherwise they would lose out on a significant amount of money?

No in fact they won't as the will not pay the pension levy on their pension unlike those who retired before Feb. It was not the great financial incentive it was portrayed as.

I can't remember exactly but I think that if a teacher stayed on until the end of this calendar year instead of going in February that the loss / gain would have balanced out.

O, the two teachers who retired in feb (one stayed on until June) gave the impression they were being "made" retire! If they stayed they said they would lose out? One went as far as writing a letter to the minister!

Pebble on the Beach

It still must be nice to be able to 'pick' which job you take when there are so many teachers struggling to secure something for the new term ..... I wish you well in whatever you choose though, good luck!

solerina

If I were you I would contact all three principals and tell them your position. Principals are well aware how tough the jobs market is and would not hold it against you if you tell them your dilemma....work out which job is most likely to lead to the most work in the longer term and go with that one, regardless of the commute...you will get used to that !!