primary teacher 4 days or 5?

[mumnosbest]

im thinking about working 4 days instead of 5 when i return from maternity leave. is it worth it? will i just be doing as much work in less time? will i have to plan for the 5th day? how much ppa would i get?

please share ypur experiences. i've done ft and a 50/50 job share. ft is too much with 3 dcs and 2.5 days isnt enough money.

[Quicksie]

Hi mumnosbest
Quite a few of the ladies I work with work 4 days a week - the way our school does it (and it is going to make a difference if you are in an academy, as they can make their own rules) :

1. They do tend to do more work than 4 days - but then, working full time, everyone works more than 5 days a week in teaching don't they! They all say that it is less work than full time.
   
2. You absolutely should not plan for the fifth day!
   
3. Your PPA should be worked out pro rata, so you will get 10% of your total hours in the week for PPA. One of the ladies I work with has her PPA on top of, not part of, her 4 days, so she gets paid for 4.4 days instead of 4.
   
   It is also worth knowing that the governors are legally bound to give your request for reduced working hours due consideration, and must prove that the request would be detrimental to the school in order to turn it down. You can get more details from your union rep.

[mumnosbest]

Thanks Quicksie, you're right about us all working more than 5 days. My plan is to spend my 5th day with my baby but also getting all most of my planning/assessments/reports done so my weekend is free for my other 2 DCs (sounds good in theory). I thought I'd check about the planning as I'm sure school will try asking me to plan (want to be armed with the facts first). So far school seems happy about me dropping a day and other staff also work flexibly.

Where would I stand with classroom management? Would it be reasonable for the other teacher to take some responsibility, e.g for one display board?

[Quicksie]

As far as I am concerned, and my Head would back me up on this, you don't plan for hours you are not being paid for. We don't plan for the people who cover us for PPA either, which I know happens in some schools. Even if your 5th day is covered by a supply teacher, that teacher should be paid for 10% PPA, so yes they should do their share of other classroom tasks, such as marking the work they have taught, preparing for their sessions and perhaps being responsible for a display board (which would be good practice anyway, as they should have ownership in the classroom and it would help the children to 'tune in' to their sessions the following week)

We only plan for lessons we are not being paid for if we are off on course or other planned absence. My Head is really good but I can't imagine he would have those rules if they are not statutory! It is worth checking with your union before you go in - then you can mention it if they suggest you do the planning! Are you a primary teacher? If so, the one day a week gig is a bit of a gift, as they could teach one off subjects like PE, music, RE, which won't clash with your topic lessons etc. If your school already have other people on flexible hours, they would have a very hard job justifying why they were not letting you have it too, so that is good!

Good luck with it all and it sounds like a great plan - you should get your 4 days teaching paid, then 0.4 days for PPA paid on top. Nice!

[mumnosbest]

all sounds really promising. i am primary so hopefully they could do the 1 off lessons RE and music would be great i think id include ppa within my 4 days even though ill be using the 5th day for this, as i dont want to go in on the 5th day and i would have to be in school for it. also they could decide to put my ppa in the middle leaving me with an additional 0.4 days to teach.
does that make sense?

[BackforGood]

IME, 4 days is not a good thing in Primary. Everyone still expects you to do the whole of your job (except those 5 hrs teaching on the 5th day), but for 4 days pay - so, you are still responsible for reports, assemblies, arranging trips, Christmas Play, attending staff meetings, parents evenings, all the APP stuff {or whatever the trend is this year}, a subject area, notes home, your stall at the Summer Fete, etc.,etc.etc. The person coming in to do the 1 day will do just that - the 1 day of teaching.
If you do 3 days, you are in a better position to remind everyone you are PT, and will only do 3/5 of all the other cr*p stuff that actually takes up so much time.
I'm also not sure you'd get much done if you have your baby at home with you on the 5th day. I used childcare for one day I was at home, and did all my work on that day, leaving all the weekend completely free to be a Mum.

[mumnosbest]

thanks backforgood. im not worried abput the extracurricular stuff (fayres n things) as 2 dcs are at my school so ill be there anyway.
im planning on using the 5th day as extra ppa so my weekends free(er). i know i wont get a lot done with a 1yr old around but managed with 2dcs so one on her own should be ok. hopefully will fit in a few cuddles too!
surely if the other teacher taught 1 off lessons. they would then have to do those assessments, marking, planning and add to the report?

id love to work 3 days but cant afford to :(

[RedPencilPot]

Just wondering how the 4 day week is going? Am interested to know if it was a good thing?