Application form - tick if to contact referees prior to the interview

[energyfirst]

The form asks if employer can contact referees prior to the interview. I feel I do not want my present head teacehr know that I am looking someweher else. pelase advise what you think

[TheFallenMadonna]

It is very normal to contact referees before interview in teaching. Because of that, I would be surprised if someone asked for references not to be taken up first. I have made offers subject to references though, when they have been late coming in, but I would be cross if I made a subject to references offer, which I then had to withdraw because the references weren't positive. Because by then I would have rejected the other candidates...

[ilovesooty]

Your current HT should be contacted prior to interview under safer recruitment practice.

If you don't let them know you're applying there's every chance they'll be asked for a reference out of the blue and that will really annoy them. In any case you'll need to ask for a day off work to interview if you're shortlisted.

[energyfirst]

yes, I am happy to say to the headteacher that I am off to interview but would prefer that she does not ask departments I work for prior to the interview. The headteacher willknow as I need time off it is just departments - I do not want them to think I am looking for a way out ...

[Finickynotfussy]

Couldn't you use the HT as a referee then? IME from jobs outside teaching, you can't rely on personnel departments to act on the ticks anyway - I have had referees contacted when I had clearly ticked that I didn't want them taken up before interview.

[energyfirst]

if I put HTshe will contact departments for their opinion...or could she give reference without cv intacting tgem?

[ilovesooty]

You have to put the HT if it's a teaching job and they would talk to your line managers. I really can't see your problem with this.

[TheFallenMadonna]

My head doesn't ask me when he writes a reference for someone in my department. We tend to do our own. He/she may well talk to the HOD though, because planning for a potential loss of staff is important. You could ask them not to I suppose, but I'm not sure the head would think that in the best interests of the school.

[42notTrendy]

Unless it's known I'm on the lookout for a new job (ie on a temp contract), I always ask for my current head not to be contacted unless I'm short listed for interview. If my form isn't enough to get me an interview, there's no reason for them to get a reference.

[ilovesooty]

You aren't supposed to be shortlisted without a reference from your HT though.

[r3dh3d]

Mandatory safeguarding recruitment training (which the HT of the new school legally MUST have done) says schools HAVE to take up references before interview and those references should include the most recent employment working with children. To put it bluntly, if you've recently taken up being a sex offender as a hobby, a reference from 10 years ago isn't going to tell them anything, and anyway it's all too easy to cherry-pick referees from places where you weren't actually caught. They need to ask your current employer what your safeguarding record is, and they want to ask them beforehand, so they can ask you the same questions at interview: if you and your employer have a different recollection, the fact you have lied at interview about what x said you did in the cloakroom is going to be pretty damning.

So, if they stick to the letter of the guidance they have every right to refuse to interview you without a written ref from your HT or relevant SMT.

You could try giving them an equivalent reference (eg HT last school) and saying you are very happy for them to contact current HT as well - after selection - and see what they say. Schools differ in how they interpret safeguarding guidance. But be aware it might look dodgy.

Tbh, we (I'm a guvna) tend to know if people are going to interview, and that would imply to me that HTs are used to giving references for people who then don't leave - and have to work with them afterwards with no hard feelings. Maybe a better question than: "How do I get out of telling the HT I'm interviewing?" is "How do I spin the fact that I'm interviewing and come out of it with a pay rise?"