Teaching opportunity

[Bellash]

Hello everyone,
I have been offered the position of 0.5 teacher at a local independent school.
As per the HR they offer £26, 567 to full time and will be offering be at the rate of 0.5 so £13, 283 approximately!
As I am new to this can you please guide me if this will be a decent start or am I being offered less than standard salary?

Best regards 🙏

Take a look at state school pay scales, that will give you an idea on what they are paying.

So that offer is in between point 1 and 2 - how long have you been qualified?

I basically work as a freelance tutor and occasionally with schools at variable hours. At the moment I hold qts from India not from the UK- This school is offering me 1 year contract but as I have a little idea about how permanent salary range works so a bit confused to take it or not !

If starting in September, I believe you should be starting on £28k pro rata according to the proposed rises in salary (my school have told me these proposals are going ahead, but that remains to be seen!)

www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/teacher-pay-what-proposed-pay-reforms-will-mean-you?amp

As you are technically unqualified, that is a fair rate. You should talk to the school about their induction programme and how they can support you to gain QTS.

That's fantastic as you're basically unqualified but starting almost at qualified rates.

You say freelance tutor - what's your subject? How long have you taught in schools for?

Sounds okay to me. Definitely look at getting QTS. Much easier to be employed.

Thanks for your reply.
Even though I don't hold UK' qts status but £13k something before tax for 0.5 fte is not a great package to start with - please correct me if I am wrong.
As a tutor, I earn more than this if everything goes smoothly.

But surely tutoring work is less regular and it takes a while to build up a clientele and prepare. Is there immediate demand for your subject?Use the remaining 0.5 time to do so while having a regular income.

M1 (starting salary) for a full time qualified teacher this year was £25,714. As you are not qualified yet, then you are on a pretty good deal for September even if they put main scale pay up to £28,000. I’m moving to private school in Sept and will be on lower pay than this year but get other benefits to make up for the lack of pay.

You should also check if they are part of the Teachers Pensions Scheme - a lot of private schools are coming out of that and moving over to their own pension scheme which is nowhere near as good as TPS.

Can't you tutor for the other 2.5 days?

You dont think it's good? Its half the money because its half the days....

Its a similar starting salary to nurses/social workers/OTs etc so quite normal for this country.

Check out the pension arrangements. More and more non-government schools are dropping out of the TPS.

I would say it's ok given you don't have UK QTS. Maybe ask if they can help you get it? Independent schools don't always pay heaps more than state. Usually only the really posh ones are better paid. The conditions and lunches tend to be better than state though.

Also bear in mind independents are usually open around 4 weeks less than state

The government is publishing new guidelines in the autumn for overseas trained teachers who want to have their qualifications recognised and obtain QTS through assessment. Might be worth investigating this .

It is about the going rate if you haven't got Qts here. Usually independent schools have smaller classes so this could be a good way in for you to get experience. You might find it hard to get into a state school without Qts though this is possible with Free Schools. You could use it as a spring board to better things. If you do well you could ask for a raise next year or get a good reference for somewhere else.

Thats a great salary for an unqualified teacher working 50%. Bear in mind you will likely need to do extra duties, especially if they have borders, so it could be that you’ve started on a qualified teacher salary to take that in to account.
There will be marking, reports, meetings, training, planning, preparation, parents evenings, trips etc to do on top of your day so you need to think carefully if it’s actually worth it. I’m a teacher of 22 years and I work many more hours out of school hours. They could easily have offered you less for being unqualified so if you’re happy with the school and job requirements then take it.

I'd bite their hand off in your position

If you're not qualified as a teacher then it's definitely a fair rate. But look closely at the contract - independent schools often have dodgy terms (shit holiday pay, shit sick pay, shit maternity pay etc). Just double-check it's what you're happy with because many independent schools also refuse to engage with the unions (who're your ultimate power as a teacher).

Thanks so much to each one of you to help me in getting more clarity.
Have a great evening 🙂🙏

Its up to you if its worth it though. Lots of people are leaving teaching at the moment and some are preferring tutoring