Would you apply for an adoing job to work in a school you love?

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

I teach part time and need to get out of my current school. Location is wrong, too far from home, the area is very challenging, lots of other reasons. An administration jobs has come up in my child's school where I have wanted to work for years. I love everything about this school. The job would be more money but more hours- 24 over 5 days, term time only. However it would be school hours so much easier logistically. Youngest starts school in September.
DH says I might not even get an interview as I'm overqualified... I'm not sure how I feel about doing administration as I'd love to teach there but no jobs have come up in 4 years. The teachers don't want to leave! Would it be a foot in the door or should I wait for a teaching job to come up? Maybe I'd enjoy doing office work and it also includes child welfare work. I do think a lot of skills I have would be transferrable eg prioritising tasks, communication with parents, working to deadlines, using SIMS etc...any thoughts?

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Title should say an admin job

[Hugepeppapigfan]

If you can take the drop in salary, then go for it. :-)

[honeysucklejasmine]

Can't hurt to apply! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[KTD27]

I would say go for it! Seems like a no brainer to me. If I could have more money and do school hours term time only with no marking and all the other crap that comes with teaching I’d jump!
Never mind in a school I love especially if I’m currently in a school I dont!
You may be overqualified you may not be the right person for the role but what have you got to lose?

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Thank you for replying. I'm worried I'd miss teaching and I do have a good deal where I am- 2 days' ppa cover a week in a school in know inside out. But I need to leave. Going up to 5 days would be more money as although the rate of pay is lower obviously, it's 5 days not 2.
Would I be preventing myself from ever teaching there by accepting this job if I were offered it?
There may well be someone else with more experience doing school admin who gets it and I'm not assuming I would breeze through and snap it up!

[KTD27]

Yes. In all honesty I don’t think you’d easily transition from school admin to a teacher role there so if that’s what you want ultimately then perhaps not.

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

My youngest goes to nursery near my current teaching job but when she starts school (at the school where the admin job is) there's nothing keeping me there. It's stressful due to behaviour and I'd like to work in a 'leafy' area as opposed to inner city. To get my children to the childminder I will have to leave the house at 6.50 am on a work day if I stay where I am. If I get offered the admin job I won't get days at home without the children but I'll be able to pick them up myself every day and park in the staff car park if it's raining!
I'm not worried about my pension as our mortgage is being paid off in 4 years and DH earns well. If we were to split in the future (unlikely) I could teach full time.

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

I did think about applying for a TA job there if one came up but I think I'd be bored and frustrated bring in the classroom and wanting to teach. Nothing ever comes up anyway.

[PotteringAlong]

I work part time in a tough school and I’d go for that job in a heartbeat!

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Which one Pottering- my current teaching one or the admin one?

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Sorry my posts aren't well written- I can actually write but didn't sleep well and have an attention seeking cat on my lap nudging me!

[TheForgetfulCat]

If you're a parent then could you have an informal chat with the Head and see whether they might view an application from you favourably? You could also have an honest conversation about your desire to teach at the school in the future.

Depends on the school set-up but there might be other answers - ours is always happier if they have trusted people to do supply when needed, for example. Or they might know of a job coming up.

[xyzandabc]

I think you should apply and see what happens. They might get a whole lot more than they were bargaining for if they hired you. An admin person qualified to step in and take a class in an emergency. Give it a year or two, they'll have you doing small intervention groups, then PPA, then you'll be top of the list when a teaching job comes up.
Definitely a foot in the door but I think you'll really have to prepare a good answer for why you want to leave teaching to become admin.

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

I've been volunteering hearing readers for a few weeks (DBS check took ages to come through). It's going well and I enjoy it. I asked to see the head recently about possibility of supply and he just gave the receptionist a message foe me that they have 2 HLTAS they use for supply and use two agencies so if I'm interested in should go through them. Then this job came up. I don't really want to ask to see the head again but if I hadn't already I would!

[Mrsjellybum]

I'd do anything to make life easier with a family of little ones.
The teaching career may come back again once the little ones are older.
I've currently moved to a job close to home and best thing I ever did. I have no commute And can even walk the kids to school.

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Yes that's the question I know will come up- why do you want to leave teaching for admin. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot as I do want to teach there! I'm not interested in teaching anywhere else.
I applied for a local part time teaching job last summer and did really well at interview. I wasn't offered the job as it's a very religious independent school and although I lead collective worship every week and am involved in messy church I don't attend church every week. I would feel more comfortable in a reaching interview than an admin one as I had good feedback for my lesson etc.

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Thank you everyone for replying. I'm having a dilemma with this... a bit of an identity crisis and not sure what to do when youngest starts school. Things will be easier in lots of ways. I'm not sure which direction I want to take really.

[Mrsjellybum]

I'd just be honest with them and say that right now your little ones need you and you love the school and want to work there. That in this current climate you feel a break from teaching would do you good.

[cluelessclaudia]

Many school admin staff are overqualified, chartered accountants as finance assistants, CIPD ex HR professionals as HR Assistants and so on. You have a great chance. Good luck.

[BrownTurkey]

Tell them you really like the school (after all, they already know you are interested in teaching there, so you can’t deny this, and now you ‘know they know’ that you are interested in that side too) and that when you saw the role come up, you felt you had some strong transferable skills and that it would give you a great opportunity to develop some key new areas - list these - and emphasise that you would want to establish yourself in this role, learning to do it well, ‘hopefully over the next 3-5 years’, so they don’t reject you on the basis that as soon as a local teaching job comes up you will go for it.

[BrownTurkey]

But how does it work with teaching? Do you have to do a certain number of hours to maintain registration etc? Will you have to do return to practice?

[GreenTulips]

I would sign up to the agency - saying only X school should they request supply

I wouldn't come out of teaching as you won't get the continuous development opportunities

Keep volunteering!

See if a teacher wants and help with projects or kids with additional needs that need extra time - make yourself useful

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

I think I'm going to apply. Ideally I'd do ppa cover in this school but I've waited 4 years for a part time job to come up and nothing has.

[crimsonlake]

Do you have admin experience? I am sure you have read the person specification, do you match all the criteria? Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say. Good luck.