To say no! Twilight sessions (unpaid)

[LorlieS]

Can't sleep I'm so stressed!!
I'm working as a HLTA - paid hours 8.30 until 3.30.
Just picked up an email sent today telling me I need to attend two twilight sessions from after school until 6pm. Needless to say these will not be paid for and the first one is this week!
AIBU to say no?
Oh, and I also have a 3 yo and her childcare only runs until 4.30.

You need new friends then if you have some that won't help you for a couple of hours when you're stuck and need a bit of help!

@NitsGalore Our friends all work ft with much older children. Some of that is probably due to our ages (43 and 48).

Agreed. It isn't unpaid, just short notice. As a teacher (I know you're not working as one at the moment) I'm surprised you haven't come across insets/twilights before

Not only that, but on a 39 week contract OP has done quite nicely until now if she has only been expected to complete online training on INSET days - and if at one point she was being paid for this then she was being paid twice! I suspect someone has looked at the contracts and realised that HLTAs and TAs should have been attending along - which might also account for the unreasonably short notice as the date may have been previously published for teachers only.

None of that changes the fact that she doesn't have childcare and this work ought to be done during her normal working hours, unless it's specifically in her contract about working outside of normal hours on occasion. Even then, there has to be sufficient notice.

I think OP sounds ground down by regularly doing work that's above her pay grade , when she's specifically chosen a non teaching job. And now can't see the wood for the trees. It really is okay to decline short notice work for childcare reasons and to request it's carried out during your normal working hours.

None of that changes the fact that she doesn't have childcare and this work ought to be done during her normal working hours, unless it's specifically in her contract about working outside of normal hours on occasion. Even then, there has to be sufficient notice.
Twilight sessions in place of inset days is quite standard in education. It's surprising that the OP isn't aware of this.

Term will often finish on a Monday or Tuesday in July where Monday/Tuesday are inset days. Rather than have 5.5 weeks holiday a lot of schools will do twilight sessions through the year and then everyone breaks up on the Friday before.

It's short notice, I agree though.

I explained to my HT I can't get childcare for my toddler and she understands. She has said instead could I do the training course online at home. Of course! 😀
But I will speak to SLT about all of this cover. I've covered nearly all of this week - only been EHCP supporting for 20 mins.

Twighlights are usually announced well in advance, we do one per term and know when they are in September for the academic year, if you start somewhere mid school year it is just luck as to when they fall I suppose. But even if you start after the school year and only do some you will still have the training day off so you are winning in some respects!

I agree entirely about the short notice.

It’s relevant, however, because OP complained at length about the unpaid nature of the session and the lack of overtime and TOIL, and wasn’t interested in hearing from the multiple posters who patiently tried to explain to her that it was, in fact, not unpaid.

@stomachameleon I've never worked in secondary. The PRU I worked at was permanently excluded children of primary age. It's tragic really when you think about it 😞

@Castleview6 Planning whole class lessons is not in the remit of a HLTA.

@LorlieS I work in one now. Starts from primary.

@stomachameleon Yes, same as the one I
worked in. R to 6.

Did you resign then? You said you were resigning yesterday or today.

@LuluBlakey1 Letter done but hubby wants me to wait until I've secured another job (pt so I can do my MSc). I'm at a loss to know what to do tbh re the new job.

Do you mean in terms of what to look for?

Definitely is in the JDs for the schools in out MAT. That why we pay at that grade. Then HLTAs plan and deliver PPA, sickness cover etc

@LuluBlakey1 Yes. The only thing I can think to try to look for (for the two years I'm studying) is a 2 day p/w teaching job. It's not really want I want but only temporary? I can't afford to drop my pay by much.

@Castleview6 Planning has to be under the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher.
Otherwise really, what's diffentiating an HLTA from a qualified teacher?

No idea where you’ve got that from and I’m a school leader with 25 years in state schools. You don’t even have to have qualified teachers in schools (apart from SENCOS) so this obviously isn’t correct.

The difference between teachers and HLTAs is that you don’t have all the class responsibilities that a teacher has. We don’t use ours for long term cover and we wouldn’t expect them to do reports, parents evenings, SEND reports, assessments, queries from parents etc. We’ve often recruited qualified teachers as HLTAs as they love teaching and being with a class but don’t want to do all the other stuff.

Your contract may be different but I’ve never employed HLTAs to work with individual or small groups of children - TAs do that.

@Castleview6 HLTAS can plan, but this must be under the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher. It may not be what it happening in your school, but this is what should be happening.

HLTAs are legally allowed to deliver lessons. However, the following conditions need to be met in maintained schools, according to the Education (Specified Work) (England) Regulations 2012:

• They are assisting or supporting the work of a qualified teacher or 'nominated' teacher in the school
• They are receiving supervision from a qualified teacher or nominated teacher in line with arrangements made by the headteacher
• The headteacher is satisfied they have the skills, experience and expertise required.

@LorlieS that's what I would do if I were you. Or approach your local PRU, particularly if you are thrive trained, they will snap you up!

@stomachameleon Thank you. Yes I will do, I suppose I can grin and bear it for a couple of years.

There appear to be very few part-time teaching jobs going, however. Guess the majority of schools are using HLTAs!!