Is this reasonable or am I being taken advantage of?

[Kelly341]

Let me start with saying as teachers we’re all under a lot of pressure and you are all doing a fantastic job. I know my problem might seem trivial to some of you under enormous pressure right now so I apologise in advance and I don’t mean to be insensitive. Could you please give me advice........

Applied for a new job and got offered a position. My subject never been taught before so brand new to school. I am in charge of planning and deivering whole curriculum ( No TLR given). I’m in NO employment right now so zero income coming in. Contract starts in September so payment starts then. Have had meetings this week with the deputy head who has asked to see my planning and advising me on what curriculum templates to use. I requested seeing that there is zero resources in place and I will be planning everything from scratch can I start getting paid from summer but deputy said no the contract starts september. He even checked with head who also said no budget is tight so contract will start september. I just feel I am expected to get all planning done but not get paid till september. Am I being taken advantage of? Just want to point out I got offered this job before all the coronavirus hit so don’t think they are reacting because of this I think they’ve always intended to pay me from september.

[AllTheseThingsThatIHaveNotDone]

Was it not made clear at interview? Most teachers plan throughout the Summer holidays but they are paid/pro rata-ed if term time paid non-teacher. What were you doing before? What were you intending to do between now and September?
I am supply and my contract in a non-teaching role has been cancelled.
Am sad but not surprised - have no rights as an agency worker but needed the flexibility as have a neurodiverse son.

[Kelly341]

I was doing supply and intended on doing that till September but can’t now because of the current situation.

[Soontobe60]

I would speak to your union. However, whenever I've started a job in September I've worked through the summer holidays to make sure I'm ready to go from the first day of term. Wil you be expected to teach full time from the start? I'd negotiate a reduced timetable in the first year to get the curriculum up and running. I'd also speak directly to the Head about being paid some time for the work you're doing now. If the Head says sorry, no can do, I'd say that's fine, but I'm not able to spend more than a couple of days working unpaid somwill complete the task once I'm actually being paid.

[Sittinonthefloor]

This is normal. Teacher jobs start When you start teaching.

[Sittinonthefloor]

Also you don’t have to plan the entire year over the summer! Outline plan , weekly topics etc but you can do the actual lessons and resources as you go - and once you’ve met the class. Although it might give you something to do I suppose!

[Sewingbea]

Is the school part of a MAT?

[userabcname]

I've always spent summers planning and been paid in September. Normal I think.

[Kelly341]

@Sittinonthefloor I suppose I don’t have to plan entire year, that’s a good point, what do the rest of you think? The school won’t think bad of me if just the first units are done ready for September?

No not a MAT just a local school.

So it seems this is normal then from the responses. Previous schools I worked in have always paid from summer.

I don’t want to involve union as uncertain times and don’t want to start on a negative tone.

I could ask for maybe an extra period of non contact for planning.

[8by8]

Every job I’ve had I’ve spent unpaid time in advance planning/preparing for it.

[lamppostdog]

This is completely normal

[neverdoingthatagain100]

Normal to plan over the summer, but why are you planning everything from scratch? There's no need for that. An expert will have already published a scheme of work. Is there no government scheme in place? Find a good scheme and adapt it. Use the overview and adapt to suit you/your school, most provide resources too.
If you need to buy something in for the school, school normally pays for this.

[marly11]

Give them your long-term plan for the year outlining topics and where they sit, the medium term plan for term one with weekly focus areas outlined and then do you first week's detailed planning lesson by lesson. If you've taken on her management of a subject area you need to be able to see your big picture before September.

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

Normal.

[HaveAtEm]

Where in the world are you OP, and how long have you been teaching? I'm in my 28th year of teaching (England) and have NEVER had a September start job where I've been paid in the summer before I started!! It's absolutely normal to spend part of your summer preparing for a new role.

[PenOrPencil]

Normal, as above. I had to start a department from scratch but bought into textbooks that came with their own SoWs, ask your school to provide that. No point in reinventing the wheel!
People on your subject’s Facebook groups might also share theirs with you if you ask nicely.

[winewolfhowls]

I don't know what a curriculum template is or why you would need it, but sounds like making pointless work so you could specify you will plan willingly but not to templates.