looking for advice from school principals and vice principals

Eimee90

Hi I have a quick query. I'm a qualified post primary teacher with 3 years of experience behind me. I haven't been lucky to get my own hours yet but I've been subbing short term contracts since qualifying with loads of subbing in between in about 5 schools.

Financially this year took a turn for me. I needed to have an income coming in as a few things reared their ugly head. I accepted an SNA position that pays holidays in a school I've taught and subbed in whole actively job serarchibg for teaching posts. I'm getting nothing back now however and I'm worried principals think I have gone backwards when in reality it just so that I don't end up without a house or food on the table. I miss teaching so much and the minute a post comes up im all over it.

Just looking for advice from principals and vice principals about how to approach this and also would you dismiss me. I'm only 25 and want a long career in teaching. I'm very upset over this
Thanks very much

Crazyteacher

elsa21 wrote: »

Hi I have a quick query. I'm a qualified post primary teacher with 3 years of experience behind me. I haven't been lucky to get my own hours yet but I've been subbing short term contracts since qualifying with loads of subbing in between in about 5 schools.

Financially this year took a turn for me. I needed to have an income coming in as a few things reared their ugly head. I accepted an SNA position that pays holidays in a school I've taught and subbed in whole actively job serarchibg for teaching posts. I'm getting nothing back now however and I'm worried principals think I have gone backwards when in reality it just so that I don't end up without a house or food on the table. I miss teaching so much and the minute a post comes up im all over it.

Just looking for advice from principals and vice principals about how to approach this and also would you dismiss me. I'm only 25 and want a long career in teaching. I'm very upset over this
Thanks very much

Are you worried that seeing current employment as an sna that it's putting principals off? You could just leave that off and see if it makes a difference . What are your subjects? It may just be there are not many jobs going in your subject area. I know in my subject English that there are people with years and years of experience ahead of me for jobs.

Eimee90

I am yes, but if I didn't declare it, I'm guessing that could land me in trouble. My subjects are extremely common so hours are hard to get. I'm incredibly depressed over this to be honest. So worried this has ruined my chances of employment.

I always get subbing but I couldn't take the risk of waiting by the phone this year. But now I'm worried I made a bad choice.

Crazyteacher

No principal is going to punish you for taking a full time job in current times. They might be surprised because a day or sub teaching a few days a week can bring home more pay than a week of full time sna work. Surprised they might be but they wouldn't punish you for taking the work. How are you finding the sna work?

Eimee90

Crazyteacher wrote:

No principal is going to punish you for taking a full time job in current times. They might be surprised because a day or sub teaching a few days a week can bring home more pay than a week of full time sna work. Surprised they might be but they wouldn't punish you for taking the work. How are you finding the sna work?

I couldn't risk sitting at home waiting for the call. I've gone weeks before without it and somedays then I'm inundated.

It's grand but I love teaching, I'm aching for it right now

Crazyteacher

Exactly . And there are many is the same position as you. So hold your head high

Eimee90

Crazyteacher wrote:

Exactly . And there are many is the same position as you. So hold your head high

Thank you, I think my biggest worry was that my cv will be discarded immediately, plus I feel very disconnected in the school.

Crazyteacher

There are many highs and lows in being a job seeking teacher right now. The high of getting sub days , the lows of not knowing where you will be following a sub day , wondering when/if you will be called by a certain school again, did you do something wrong when they don't call, when the next pay day is coming etc. The uncertainty once you are in a school subbing with no contract /no long term rights. You did the right thing for you under the circumstances

RH149

Are you currently working as an SNA?

If so, and if your current CV reflects that, then presume you aren't available for subbing? I imagine that's how it looks to a Principal or DP when it comes to filling their subbing jobs.

Eimee90

Crazyteacher wrote:

There are many highs and lows in being a job seeking teacher right now. The high of getting sub days , the lows of not knowing where you will be following a sub day , wondering when/if you will be called by a certain school again, did you do something wrong when they don't call, when the next pay day is coming etc. The uncertainty once you are in a school subbing with no contract /no long term rights. You did the right thing for you under the circumstances

Thank you, im constantly applying as we speak and this will be for a year max. I just needed savings but also to be somewhat in the system whilst doing so

Eimee90

RH149 wrote:

If so, and if your current CV reflects that, then presume you aren't available for subbing? I imagine that's how it looks to a Principal or DP when it comes to filling their subbing jobs.

I'm not looking for subbing, I can't afford the risk this year. I'm am however applying for Mat leaves ect but I'm worried I'll be overlooked

RealJohn

I would say that most principals would be quite sympathetic to that. It's not as though you're stacking shelves. You're still in a school setting. In fact, you could spin it in your favour by pointing out that you're experiencing a lot of different styles of teaching first hand.

Edit - though I would think that if you say that in an interview, the next question will be "... And what methods have you seen that you feel positively influenced the students?" or something along those lines, so you should probably be ready for that.