Deputy Head already not liking me?

[hotthetemperature]

I am a student teacher on placement, I got a catty remark from the Deputy Head, after leaving school around 3.30 this week. Something like "You're straight out of the door as soon as it is possible to do so".

It is my first week and I am not teaching any lesson yet but I have to admit I feel upset, which I know is stupid and I need to grow up and just carry on, which I will do.

[EntertainingandFactual]

@Teacherontherun

I am on SLT and that is a rubbish comment to make however, in the nicest possible way if you have taken this comment so badly then I think you are going to need to toughen up. Teacher training year and your first couple of years in school are brutal- it does get easier. You will have daily constructive criticism and be judge on everything. Take the little wins and dont take things too personally otherwise you will be broken. Good luck! Best job in the world still

I disagree.
The OP doesn’t need to toughen up. The member of SLT concerned needs to learn some manners and understand that the management of people doesn’t involve making snide little remarks to new, inexperienced staff.

Good managers lead, facilitate and support.
Poor managers intimate, dictate and humiliate.

As I said above, I leave school straight after the children. I have a break and I then spend every evening doing school work. My work gets done.
We have enough to deal with without snippy little comments from SLT (or other colleagues).

[EntertainingandFactual]

@Teacherontherun
I do agree with the rest of your post though!
I know you are being supportive!

[Violet91]

On of the (few) benefits of being a teacher is that you can choose when to arrive and leave, obviously before and after the children, so long as you have what you need done or are going to get it done when you're home. I had a similar remark when I was a trainee, I was frustrated because I was working until 1am every night to get everything done and beyond tired. Ignore her.

[DottyLittleRainbow]

OP - you’re not being paid so why shouldn’t you go home? It’s healthy to set boundaries early on to protect work/life balance and not burn yourself out. Planning doesn’t need to be done in the classroom. And presumably you’re still doing academic work alongside your placements too.

The posts on mumsnet from everyone who expects teachers to martyr themselves for everyone else’s kids are unreal. This thread reminds me of the one where the teacher who couldn’t do unpaid work in the summer to setup their classroom got roasted.

Even half an hour extra per day stacks up over the course of a year.

I hate the thought of my children’s teachers sat in unpaid time doing hours of prep when they should be at home with their families. No wonder there is a shortage of teachers if this is what the working culture is like.

[Flugelbinder]

Passive aggressive comment from a poor leader. Whether what time you left is relevant or not, the deputy handled it v badly.

[EntertainingandFactual]

@Fuuuuuckit

In week one of your teaching practice, even with zero % teaching I would expect you to stay until 4, unless you've been given express permission to leave early. Any investment you put in now (policy reading, planning, observation write-up, schemes of work etc) will pay dividends in the coming weeks.

Remember the time they are putting into hosting you and that your mentor is giving on top of their own work. I would be in touch with your link tutor/placement team about your floating off as soon as the kids leave. Huge flag for professionalism and teaching standards. There is never nothing to do in school, certainly not in your first week in placement.

You are not making a good first impression op.

@Fuuuuuckit
That’s not how you do it.
Back to Management training for you…

[Explaintome]

IME (as a teacher) teachers don't work quite the hours MN would have you believe they do, but straight out the door at 3:30 would be very unusual and to leave a new job so promptly when colleagues are still working will raise eyebrows, even if most don't say it. I think I'd at least expect you to ask if there's anything you can do to help.

[BogRollBOGOF]

It's a catty, unhelpful comment. While staying for a while at the end of the day is generally productive (and whatever time you leave, the workload needs to be dealt with at school or home), the way this comment has been made has left OP no wiser about what the school expectation is and what productive deeds are expected.

This should come from the mentor anyway.

Talk to your mentor about it. They should give constructive feedback and next steps. It might also reveal if it's down to the DH's personality

A good mentor should be clear about expectations, particularly in the early stages, and build you up to going solo with space to work things out for yourself. Overly prescriptive or too laissez-faire isn't good for your development.

[nancydroo]

Take no notice as this type of person has been dropped by alien life in every workplace in the country. Their lives are crap so they like to poop on the young people full of promise with their lives ahead of them. You learn to live alongside their kind over time. Remember it is them and not you.

[Dd2ds12014]

As someone who has run a PGCE course and is now SLT it’s entirely reasonable for an ITT to leave early in September. It’s that odd point of the year when you’re not yet teaching classes but you don’t yet have assignments so you have more free time. As a 21 year old PGCE student we even managed the odd mid-week night out! Enjoy it while you can as the later months will get a lot harder! That said, there are lots of very reasonable suggestions in the comments that will make the upcoming months easier: staying a little bit longer will enable you to have a look through schemes, get to know the teachers better, see an after school club. So whereas being present for the sake of it is just the DHT being catty, staying back for a good reason can genuinely be useful.

[Blahdeebla]

So many people judging working hours of an unpaid student ! So the rest of the world can now be trusted to work from home as long as the work gets done but people in education have to still stay until at least x o'clock sharpening pencils and making small talk to prove they've got everything done ? Policies are ONLINE, lesson plans are ONLINE, student teacher paperwork is ONLINE.

OP I am really rooting for you now ! Don't give in!

[Blahdeebla]

@Explaintome

IME (as a teacher) teachers don't work quite the hours MN would have you believe they do, but straight out the door at 3:30 would be very unusual and to leave a new job so promptly when colleagues are still working will raise eyebrows, even if most don't say it. I think I'd at least expect you to ask if there's anything you can do to help.

Not true in my school, they'd be told to make the most of it ! Eyebrows would only be raised if lessons weren't up to scratch.

[donttellmehesalive]

I'm a teacher and a master at work-life balance. I work the fewest number of hours I can to get the job done to a decent standard.

But even I think walking out with the kids is bad form. The students I've had usually want a debrief on the day, to discuss the expectations for the next day, to give me a hand so I can get away earlier (to make up for all the time I spend supporting them maybe).

I think you should at least ask if there's anything you could do to help before leaving, if you want a job or a good reference.

[Mamansparkles]

Don't worry too much OP, this is the downtime and you'll have plenty of work soon. The nice thing about teaching is that although there is lots to do after 3.30, it's basically flexi time. No one cares if I pick my kids up then do it in the evening, or whether I stay in school until 5.30 to get it done in peace.
I would say:

• when you have prep and planning in a few weeks, stay later at school at first rather than taking it home if you can because if you do it there, chances are another member of department will be around still to help you if you need it.
• do make sure you ask your teacher if there's anything you can help with before you head off e.g. photocopying etc. It's just good manners given they are giving up time to mentor you. If they say no, then off you go whilst you still can.

[Choconut]

She sounds like a cow, you should have laughed breezily and said 'Yes, making the most of it while I can'.

[EntertainingandFactual]

I just want to add some of the reasons I have left school 10 mins after the children over the years…

As a young teacher (didn’t have a car) - the first bus home was at 4pm and a walk away from school. My bus journey was an hour. The next bus was 6pm.
I got the earlier bus so that I could have a break before doing work for the next day.

As a young mother I picked my DC up as early as I could so that I could make tea, put them in the bath, settle them for the night before doing some work for the next day.

As an older teacher I leave soon after the children so that I get a break before planning for the next day at home. I go to bed at 9pm so need a head start!

I have stayed on and I don’t find it time well spent. People pop in for a chat, site staff work around me cleaning (and chatting!) I’m in their way. I get more done at home.

[Mum233]

It’s pretty unusual to leave so early so maybe she was surprised. At my school we don’t leave until between 5 and 6. I know people are saying this is what’s wrong in the profession but no one goes into teaching expecting to work 9-3 with no work in the holiday surely? It’s a profession!
As you’re a student though I can see why this is trickier. Could you make sure everything is done at school? Even assignments you could do?

[Mum233]

@Explaintome

IME (as a teacher) teachers don't work quite the hours MN would have you believe they do, but straight out the door at 3:30 would be very unusual and to leave a new job so promptly when colleagues are still working will raise eyebrows, even if most don't say it. I think I'd at least expect you to ask if there's anything you can do to help.

I assume you aren’t a teacher? Maybe try some work experience as a teacher and see what you think then!

[Explaintome]

@Mum233

I assume you aren’t a teacher? Maybe try some work experience as a teacher and see what you think then!

As I actually said in my post, yes I am a teacher. I don't know what I've said that's so controversial?

[sydenhamhiller]

@Mum233

It’s pretty unusual to leave so early so maybe she was surprised. At my school we don’t leave until between 5 and 6. I know people are saying this is what’s wrong in the profession but no one goes into teaching expecting to work 9-3 with no work in the holiday surely? It’s a profession!
As you’re a student though I can see why this is trickier. Could you make sure everything is done at school? Even assignments you could do?

I didn’t expect to work 9-3, but I walk in the door (with other colleagues) at 7 am and leave at 6 pm. And work on my day off . That is 44 hours a week in school on 0.8 contract, on about £24.

Like other teachers I know, I work 4 days a week just so I can do all the planning/ admin done on my unpaid 5th day, and still see my own family.

If you don’t need to be there, just go. And I’d also say - have you thought of other careers? I am planning an exit…

[winewolfhowls]

@Duille

^^ This is what’s wrong with teaching, the expectation to stay at school and work extra hours. This is why I left teaching, there is very little work to life balance and there is an expectation on teachers to stay after their working day is finished. As a student I rarely stayed after school. So many schools expect teachers to attend meetings in their own time, it’s ridiculous.

This x a million. If you aren't being paid, don't stay. The whole education system is propped up by well meaning, underpaid and overworked people. If you paid a professional wage you stay and get stuff done but teaching is no longer sufficiently paid.

[user1487194234]

I think in most professional jobs it would be odd for the trainee to leave sharp
Mine would always ask me if there’s anything more to do

[StarWitness]

I’m SLT at a school. I’d take this as a first warning sign of what the culture might be at this school. Watch closely.

A good school culture is one where SLT realise that teachers work incredibly hard, and that at certain times of the year you WILL be staying late and coming in early to stay on top of your workload. While you can, you should leave on time. When your workload is manageable, you should get home and enjoy some work-life balance, because Lord knows, there will be times when that’s tough.

A student who hasn’t started teaching yet should go home on time. I wouldn’t expect anything else.

[glamourousindierockandroll]

I can see both sides. I do think it's a good thing to just check if there's anything you could be doing: helping a teacher sort some photocopying, putting away a practical, discussing a behaviour incident. I'm not a newbie but my department will usually drift together for a brief chat at the end of the day to discuss how the afternoon's lessons went and it is both interesting and useful to compare notes.

However, the right culture is important. Sometimes I walk out with the children if I need to for childcare reasons, or if i've had a PPA last lesson and can do everything I need to on my laptop at home. I'm there 7.15am - 5.00pm plenty so I feel no compunction getting a flyer whenever I can.

[Phineyj]

@CorvusPurpureus knows what she's talking about.

I have been a teacher for 12 years and have always done most of my work at home, apart from the actual teaching part - at home my computer and printer work properly, I have a full set of textbooks and a conveniently nearby kettle and loo!

Plus my own DC needs picking up/feeding/etc.

And I absolutely do leave on the dot if there's nothing specific to stay for.

There's nothing morally better about working at school rather than at home.