Job woes

[Newcareer1]

Had an interview at a school I really liked this week but didn’t get it. Still really disappointed but will get over it.

Has made me think about how much I want to leave my current place. I have been there for 8 years so it’s time for a change anyway but the situation at my current school is not brilliant: RI ofsted with all the pressures that brings, some weak management and teaching, subject lead in a subject I don’t really want to do and which needs a lot of work and most of all a lazy job share partner.

Part of me feels I am just fed up of the place and feel my heart isn’t in it now. On the other hand I was a lot happier when I job shared with someone else there so maybe it is worth trying to move year groups/ change job share.

Not sure what to do for the best, resign in December to leave at Easter and hope something comes up but possibly end up with nothing to go to and do some supply in the meantime. Or wait till the summer and leave then. The problem is that I am at the top of the pay scale and lots of September jobs seem to be for NQTs.

I would also like to reduce my hours to either 0.4 or 0.5 and part time jobs are quite rare, my current head might agree to this so I could be cutting off my nose to spite my face if that makes sense?

I’m a bit worried that if I just leave I could end up in a much worse school and really regret it or, on the other hand, will I end up really hating my current job if I don’t leave.

[likeafishneedsabike]

Well, see how you feel when the disappointment wears off. If I’ve read this right, there are two key factors here. 1) your job share is a bit crap. Don’t let this colour your judgement too much, as you aren’t shackled to this person forever. 2) you want part time hours and think that you will get them where you are. You sound like primary: isn’t 0.5 standard fare in primary? Or am I getting this wrong? I thought it was half of the week with handover Wed lunchtime.

[Newcareer1]

Thanks likeafishneedsabike I am going to take some time to reflect. I am part time but do the majority of the week, I want to cut back a bit so family life is less impacted. The third factor is that my current school isn’t the best place to work at the moment and I have been there a while so I would be considering leaving anyway.

[Newcareer1]

Losing out on this job has confirmed how much I want to cut my hours, the idea of working my current days over the next few weeks/rest of the year is filling me with dread!

[capsule]

I am in a similar position. I had no idea how stressful being RI would be and my school is no longer a nice place to work. I have resigned but I do have another source of income so if nothing else comes up I will manage. I carried my resignation letter around in my bag for a couple of weeks while I built up the courage to speak to my HT. Now I've done it, I feel elated. You know you could wait until February before resigning and still leave at Easter?

[Newcareer1]

I didn’t realise RI would be so stressful either capsule. Are you leaving at Xmas or Easter? Good idea to wait till February half term, maybe something will come up in January/February I would rather not leave without something else to go to. We can afford for me to work less days but not for me to be unemployed!

[capsule]

I'm leaving at Easter or before if they agree to let me go. I hope something comes up for you. Our staff are all either leaving or looking for other work.

[Newcareer1]

Thanks capsule, hopefully something will come up for you too. About half of our staff are actively looking for new jobs or are off sick. Maybe we work at the same school 😀

[BackforGood]

It is a big risk to resign with nothing to go to.

Is it worth asking around your colleagues if someone who is FT, is looking to reduce to a 0.6, so you could then go with a proposal of a job share with them ?

I know it doesn't resolve the issue of the RI inspections and poor workplace culture, but, it isn't going to be easy getting a job 2 days a week, and it isn't going to be easy getting a new job anywhere if you are top of payscale.

[Newcareer1]

It’s a fairly small school so I’m not sure how practical reducing my hours would be.

2 out of 7 classes are job share (mine being one) I would have to swap to work with one of the other job share people (which would be fine as they aren’t lazy) but it would mean someone else having to reduce/increase their hours to accommodate my wants. My current head really wants to keep me but I don’t know what could be done if I said I just want .4 or .5.

[astuz]

If your Head is reasonable and wants to keep you, then I would have a really honest conversation with them. Tell them exactly why you're thinking of leaving i.e. you don't like you job share partner and you want 0.4 or 0.5.

My sister did this, after applying for a few jobs and not getting anywhere. Her Head was really relieved that she went to talk to her. The Head was very keen to keep her, and offered her everything she wanted - my sister didn't think it was possible, but as a classroom teacher, she had no idea of the bigger picture or what other teachers in the school were thinking about doing.

[fedup21]

The problem is that I am at the top of the pay scale and lots of September jobs seem to be for NQTs.

It’s not just September jobs that want NQTs-it’s all of them round here. Sadly that’s what’s making me stay put-I haven’t seen a UPS job advertised for years.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Loads of teachers at my school are part time. Including myself. I’m in a department of 10, 7 of us are part time.