Volunteering In Secondary Schools

Shadow Lady

Hi,

I am a qualified English and Religious Education teacher, with a few years experience.

At the moment I am currently unemployed (I've been to a few interviews but haven't gotten anything yet).

I am wondering if anyone could give me any advice on whether I could volunteer in a/some secondary schools. Somebody mentioned that the unions might take issue with this...?

I was thinking of approaching schools proposing that I take a few classes of Religious Education/S.P.H.E (which I have experience teaching) and suggest that I could take them for a period or two a week and take on to teach them about certain issues, relating to those subjects and also which I am particularly passionate about. Issues such as mental health, social justice, etc.

Firstly, I am seeking advice as to whether this is a done thing or not. I have met a primary school teacher (currently unemployed) who is volunteering in a primary school teaching the children 'creative writing'...

Secondly, I am seeking advice about how to best approach this issue with schools/principals.

Any advice would be extremely helpful.

Thank you

whiteandlight

I have no experience with this in practise but I would be very careful that you are not timetabled in for these classes as this take hours off another part timer. If you are a volunteer who later gets s and s taken off other part timers then I know I would be annoyed. I understand that it's a foot in the door for you but those of us in place had to jump through hoops and interviews to get our job and many of us rely on s and s to survive on short hour contracts.

However if it is just a voluntary thing that has no impact on the timetable/s and s then it would be ok. Not sure how it would work in practise though!

rainbowtrout

Shadow Lady wrote: »

Hi,



I was thinking of approaching schools proposing that I take a few classes of Religious Education/S.P.H.E (which I have experience teaching) and suggest that I could take them for a period or two a week and take on to teach them about certain issues, relating to those subjects and also which I am particularly passionate about. Issues such as mental health, social justice, etc.

I'm with MusicMental on this. I can't see how this would work. If those classes are already timetabled then someone is being paid to teach them. What benefit is it to the school to bring in someone to teach a set of classes that are already timetabled for a contracted teacher? You're not a student teacher so it's not like a teaching practice scenario. Creating new classes for you to take on a voluntary basis would be risky, if say an existing class was split in two. What happens if you don't turn up one week, or if you get paid work. Naturally you're not going to stay in a voluntary position if paid work comes up and those classes are left sitting there with no teacher or lumped back in with their old class. Disruptive to students and teachers alike.

castaway_lady

Wouldnt there also be the fact that the school could easily get landed with a drive by inspection where the teacher chosen at maybe 15minutes notice could be planning for you to be there at that time.

Fizzical

I think there might be merit in your idea. If you don't displace anyone's teaching hours it might work and you'd need a detailed plan to present to the Principal so they know exactly what you're proposing.

For example, I've known RE classes to be split occasionally, sometimes on a regular basis, for work on self esteem etc. The specialist teacher takes half the class and the regular teacher does something that works well with smaller numbers, and later the teachers swap halves. I could see it working well in English too in cooperation with the standard teacher. Teachers enjoy the reduced numbers and the variety, as do the students.

The Principal and regular teacher would need to be confident that you would actually complete the work - and that you would be worth having over and above the regular teacher. Usually, if you were a paid specialist, you would turn up to get paid. Here, the school has little or no hold on you and this could make them reluctant. How could you persuade them that you would be reliable? For this reason I think quite short courses would be more saleable than longer, and they could be adapted perhaps for different years (more classes in the same week). Also, you would need something special to offer.

If can come up with a well planned package, it could be worth trying.

Karpops

have a look at ansiol.ie and www.volunteer.ie
They can find you teaching/educational volunteer work thats not school-based, more like homework clubs in disadvantaged schools or tutoring early school leavers in FAS centres. Very worthwhile experience and they always need people

Shadow Lady

Thank you everyone for your advice. I was a little apprehensive about this idea, for the reasons outlined in your responses. Just at this stage, willing to give anything a go, to get experience, and have something on the C.V. that shows I'm committed. Also, I was trying to think outside the box a little. I do see the drawbacks though, so thank you. I certainly understand that it wouldn't be fair to take hours from someone already in there, relying on those hours to get by. We've all been there, I'm sure.

To get it to possibly work, I think you are right though, it would need to be a very detailed and promising proposal... so I'll have a proper think about it, but in the mean time, I will look for something from the volunteering link above.

Thank you.