Is anyone awake? Bad work situation :(

[badworksituation]

I work freelance teaching adult learners.

Half way through the course I am currently teaching, I was told I had been doing everything wrong, by a manager. I should have been making students fill in two sets of forms every session. I had no idea.

They are long, complicated forms too one after every session.

Basically one form logs things then the other references this first form and that's what I mark off(I know it sounds stupid to me, too).

I didn't understand so had a meeting with my manager (this was a few weeks ago). She explained, I thought I understood-but I had to put it to the students, as we were now very behind in all of our work.

I wrote them some instructions, ran it by the manager-she okayed them, I put them on the portal. I addressed it in class too and they all seemed okay with it although they did say they thought we should have been doing it from the beginning (I know but I had no idea these forms existed)!

Then she told me a few days later after all students had heeded them that they were wrong.

After more emails/chats back and forth with her and my other manager, I was confident I understood. Students began uploading these forms. I marked them. I was so agitated with the amount of work (I have a lot of learners, It's TONNES) I did not sleep a wink last night worrying about it all-I've always been an organised person, I make sure I understand everything before I do anything, I don't get into situations like this! Nothing like this has ever happened before-I mean seriously I had no sleep at all and I had a class to teach today too (well, yesterday now I suppose) and tomorrow I teach the students in question.

Tonight I spent all night marking these forms off until I finally had done it all. Then I did my normal work prep for tomorrow.

I didn't check my emails until now and I have had an email off my manager saying I have yet again done it all wrong. I've marked forms right that are wrong. I've not updated something I should have updated that I didn't know how to or that I had to update it.

I am about to send my manager an email saying I have had no sleep, it is after midnight, I am clearly not the right man for the job and this is a constant cycle of her telling me what to do, me doing it and then It's wrong. I am clearly not the person to rectify this situation so I recommend they get someone else in to do it.

But I know that's a bad idea.

I have never felt so stupid in my entire life. Ever. I am clearly not the right person to rectify this situation.

Manager's email is all bright and breezy don't get me wrong but I have no clue what she wants me to do or how she expects me to fix this-the course ends in a few weeks!

I am meant to be teaching the concerned students tomorrow.

What on earth do I do

Hope the meeting goes well today op! And the practical bit on Friday! And hope your manager takes responsibility but they will probably say “ it’s the system “ and “all of the paper work has been foisted on us too”

If considering pulling pints, I would say don't forget the tips and work for a pub/restaurant where you get to keep 100% of yours. I have done plenty of pub work and can say look for a good busy pub with a good reputation and good staff and you'll slot right in and be well rewarded with far more per hour than min wage just in tips..

The meeting was meant to be begin at 17:20 and manager hasn't sent me a meeting invitation and hasn't responded to my email asking about it...

Unacceptable, unless by chance a one-off emergency's occurred. Otherwise why the hell couldn't the manager pick up the phone or send an email (or get someone else to do it if they can't)? Your time's valuable - probably more so than theirs. But check your 'spam' folder, just in case an email's gone in there.

So typical though. Any excuse from them yet? "IT problems" is an oldie but goody! 😄

All of you, I know it has been MONTHS but, my latest update in case anyone's interested is..

I didn't know anybody at the concerned organisation other than, I had one colleague there who I didn't speak to , we'd worked together at a different place not long prior to this and she'd fallen out with me.

She's recently come back to me and apologised and we've began talking again.

Turns out, a very similar thing happened to her while working there. She taught a different level of the subject to me, but it was still to do with discrepancies over paperwork and them not training her properly and she's a VERY experienced teacher-I'm not saying I am not good at my job, at all but she has a lot of years on me.

She reacted by telling them this situation was completely unacceptable and she was leaving.

And the company begged and pleaded with her to stay, offered to help sort it out more than they'd already done, told her she could have extra perks etc.

In contrast, with me, who didn't threaten to leave and if anything blamed myself, they took the course off me that I was meant to be teaching following the one that this happened with, because of it! And it wasn't my fault, at all.

Don't get me wrong, at the time I was just relieved. To be out of there, and to not potentially have something go wrong on a new course. I didn't want the job, I was afraid of what might happen next and I didn't trust them.

I didn't mind that they told me I couldn't teach that course any longer but what has made me quite annoyed is the contrast in treatment over two almost identical situations!

Your update shows that they thought you were the problem. Now another more experience person said the same, they've now realised that it's not you. It's the paper work and the way it's filled in. Hope they change exam boards for the course, so it's marked differently.

They obviously don't know what they're doing and which way is up, OP. Total mess and like so much of education today it sounds a disorganised shambles.

What happened to your friend is quite common, they will wait until you slam in your notice and say 'that's it, I'm off' and then make you all the promises under the sun. But console yourself with the thought that even if they had begged you to stay, (a) chances are the promises wouldn't materialise and (b) would you want to continue working in such chaos and where you're likely to get the blame for any failings, even though the communication was dire?

My personal view is that by the time it gets to that stage, the only option is out. They won't change.

Thanks both, it's a good point isn't it! Once, they could blame me, but twice, and with a more assertive, experienced tutor they took a bit of a look at themselves!

Yes, I agree, they did seem to have a constant chopping and changing of things and neglecting to form the people it directly affected!

No, I definitely wouldn't wnat to work somewhere like that again!

I am glad that course has ended and that I didn't end up doing another one for them.

A few teachers I've worked with in various organisations are meeting for lunch/drinks this weekend including the one I mention. I will see if she's had any other experiences with them as I am interested to hear exactly what happened. It is quite shocking to me as, within this particular subject they're one of the most expensive organisations to train with as they have such a good rep. Madness.

It's probably a good job the prospective students don't see the chaos that lies behind the scenes! Don't blame yourself - you did what you could and sadly your experiences are not uncommon these days. Poor management (crisis management, more apt description) and people who have never taught a day in their lives running things incompetently - these are the realities.

There are good places out there, where responsible and competent management exist and tutors/lecturers are treated fairly and well, but there are a lot of others where it's the total opposite. This (and many other reasons including ever-increasing irrelevant paperwork) is why education and training is in such a poor state in this country. I hope you find a job where you feel valued and supported. 🌻