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Timetable query

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  • 28-08-2018 9:34pm
    #1
    helenl711
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭


    Hi all,

    My timetable for this year has changed a lot, to the point where I have more resource classes than actual teaching time in my subject. This is not the job I left in June, and am wondering if I should contact the union? I have just under half of my hours in one subject, and the rest made up of resource hours. I have no issue with taking some resource hours (and have done for 12 plus years), but the fact that I am losing out on my own subject teaching hours is a worry. Worth contacting the union or not? No point talking to principal as they take the line that "every teacher must be a resource teacher", which is true but surely a change as drastic as having 20 hours in my subject to having only ten is a bit much? Many thanks.


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    #2
    mtoutlemonde
    Registered Users Posts: 2,125 ✭✭✭mtoutlemonde


    helenl711 wrote: »
    Hi all,

    My timetable for this year has changed a lot, to the point where I have more resource classes than actual teaching time in my subject. This is not the job I left in June, and am wondering if I should contact the union? I have just under half of my hours in one subject, and the rest made up of resource hours. I have no issue with taking some resource hours (and have done for 12 plus years), but the fact that I am losing out on my own subject teaching hours is a worry. Worth contacting the union or not? No point talking to principal as they take the line that "every teacher must be a resource teacher", which is true but surely a change as drastic as having 20 hours in my subject to having only ten is a bit much? Many thanks.

    Did you stay in your old school? If you did, I would definitely question it - if there are that many resource hours - surely that should be a new post? Has anyone's timetable been changed as drastically as yours? Where did your hours go to?


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    #3
    doc_17
    Registered Users Posts: 6,885 ✭✭✭doc_17


    Who has picked up the other 10 hours of your subject?


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    #4
    helenl711
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭helenl711


    mtoutlemonde wrote: »
    Did you stay in your old school? If you did, I would definitely question it - if there are that many resource hours - surely that should be a new post? Has anyone's timetable been changed as drastically as yours? Where did your hours go to?

    Thanks for the reply. I have stayed where I was before the summer (the practical risks of not finding another suitable job outweighed the benefits of leaving). Quite a lot of resource hours have come on stream, but nobody is teaching as many resource as their main subject, as is my case.

    Regarding where the other hours have disappeared to, I had 3rd and 6th years last year so finished up with these, and have not been given any 1st or 5th year classes. It is really discouraging and embarrassing to be honest as I would be a senior teacher (always with above average results) in the department. I do find resource rewarding, and have had some great relationships with kids over the years through one-on-one tuition but ten hours of it a week is just not on.

    Reckon I might give my union rep a ring, has anybody found them helpful with this type of thing? Thanks.


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    #5
    mtoutlemonde
    Registered Users Posts: 2,125 ✭✭✭mtoutlemonde


    helenl711 wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply. I have stayed where I was before the summer (the practical risks of not finding another suitable job outweighed the benefits of leaving). Quite a lot of resource hours have come on stream, but nobody is teaching as many resource as their main subject, as is my case.

    Regarding where the other hours have disappeared to, I had 3rd and 6th years last year so finished up with these, and have not been given any 1st or 5th year classes. It is really discouraging and embarrassing to be honest as I would be a senior teacher (always with above average results) in the department. I do find resource rewarding, and have had some great relationships with kids over the years through one-on-one tuition but ten hours of it a week is just not on.

    Reckon I might give my union rep a ring, has anybody found them helpful with this type of thing? Thanks.

    I'm presuming those classes were taken by other teachers on staff and no new staff getting those hours? If new teachers get some of your hours - fight it - there's something going on. If you are the more experienced teacher in your subject - fight it.

    Resource is very rewarding but I see it as a nice reward to my main subject but depending on the students it can be stressful also. Just off at the deep end here ... would there be a SEN co-ordinator job coming up in the next few years ... could management be putting you 'in place' for that role???

    I don't know what the union would do but I'm sure they would go through your CID with a fine tooth comb and then question your principal why your subject hours were reduced considering that's what you got your CID for??


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    #6
    helenl711
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭helenl711


    mtoutlemonde wrote: »
    I'm presuming those classes were taken by other teachers on staff and no new staff getting those hours? If new teachers get some of your hours - fight it - there's something going on. If you are the more experienced teacher in your subject - fight it.

    Resource is very rewarding but I see it as a nice reward to my main subject but depending on the students it can be stressful also. Just off at the deep end here ... would there be a SEN co-ordinator job coming up in the next few years ... could management be putting you 'in place' for that role???

    I don't know what the union would do but I'm sure they would go through your CID with a fine tooth comb and then question your principal why your subject hours were reduced considering that's what you got your CID for??

    No SEN post coming up in the near future, so that's not why I'm there. Will ring the union tomorrow. Some staff have said to grin and bear it for the year, but I feel like it's a really personal thing to do on the Principal's behalf, to reduce my subject hours for no reason. And if I do it this year, who's to say it won't be the same next year and I have zero desire to be a full-time resource teacher. A colleague mentioned earlier that they think the Principal found out I was thinking of leaving during the summer and is now "punishing" me by taking my classes off me and giving the new 1st and 5th years to more junior teachers. I can't believe I've even had to type that, I know how petty and unbelievable and paranoid it sounds, but it may well be true.


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    #7
    2xj3hplqgsbkym
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,181 ✭✭✭2xj3hplqgsbkym


    Would you not talk to the principal first and ask why this is so?
    Maybe there was a shortage of resource teachers so they had to give it to you?
    Maybe someone just got CID in your subject so they had to get more hours?
    Maybe as you said, if the principal thought you were leaving , they made your timetable less academic , so if they couldn't get a replacement , lots of classes wouldn't be left without a teacher.
    I would talk to the principal first, express your disappointment and find out are they planning in you having a similar timetable next year.


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    #8
    helenl711
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭helenl711


    Lane Prickly Fries wrote: »
    Would you not talk to the principal first and ask why this is so?
    Maybe there was a shortage of resource teachers so they had to give it to you?
    Maybe someone just got CID in your subject so they had to get more hours?
    Maybe as you said, if the principal thought you were leaving , they made your timetable less academic , so if they couldn't get a replacement , lots of classes wouldn't be left without a teacher.
    I would talk to the principal first, express your disappointment and find out are they planning in you having a similar timetable next year.

    Good advice, thanks. Will try to talk to Principal again tomorrow, but their standard line has been "every teacher has a responsibility to be a resource teacher". Interesting about the CID of a more junior teacher, surely that wouldn't mean that my hours in the subject would be cut though? Thanks


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    #9
    rainbowtrout
    Registered Users Posts: 15,382 ✭✭✭✭rainbowtrout


    Lane Prickly Fries wrote: »
    Would you not talk to the principal first and ask why this is so?
    Maybe there was a shortage of resource teachers so they had to give it to you?
    Maybe someone just got CID in your subject so they had to get more hours?
    Maybe as you said, if the principal thought you were leaving , they made your timetable less academic , so if they couldn't get a replacement , lots of classes wouldn't be left without a teacher.
    I would talk to the principal first, express your disappointment and find out are they planning in you having a similar timetable next year.

    I'd call shenanigans on that straight away. Principals can't base timetables on hearsay. Unless the OP went to the principal themselves and said they were looking for a job, which doesn't appear to be the case, they just can't remove a heap of hours and replace it with resource. Ten hours is not just doing her bit, it could easily be viewed as a downgrade.
    Resource itself is not a downgrade, but putting 10 hours on one teacher's timetable with no prior agreement to essentially take on a new role, and no prior issues with her teaching and results is fishy.


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