To be a bit annoyed at Supply Teacher not having to do any planning?

[ioryou]

I am a Year 4 teacher in a 2 form entry primary school, my year group teacher left at Easter for a job in another school. Therefore, we have a long term supply in until the end of the school year and the school are advertising for a position with a September start. With my previous colleague we shared the planning between us, however I have been told by SLT that I will have to do all planning by myself as the supply only agreed to do the role if she was not required to do the planning. Supply also has been told she will not be subject to book scrutinies and will not need to attend staff meetings after school or INSET days.

AIBU to be a bit annoyed at having to all the planning now? I thought long term supply had the responsibility of planning?

I have taught for 35 years and know most teachers do plan everything all by themselves!

OP - your annoyance is with the wrong person.
It's not the job of the supply teacher to plan, unless they took in a contract which specified this and they were paid the enhanced rates. Same as meetings and INSET - supply don't usually do these and if they do they should be paid for them. Many schools chose not to todo this though. If there is an inset day they won't be paid if they are not there, that's how it works.

Many supply teachers will do live marking in the classroom, though many wouldn't be marking things that would mean they need to stay later than their paid hours.

Your annoyance needs to be with your SLT as they are the people who are increasing your workload.

@Poppinjay - it’s the same as anyone is advised in any other industry. Being worked to the bone or forced to do extra leads to stress, which leads to time off. It’s no reflection on the profession, rather on management/the government who expect 110% commitment for lower than professional level salaries. It’s no coincidence that this piss taking affects a predominately female workforce. If all teachers worked to rule, the powers that be would soon listen. Enabling a broken system to continue helps no one. Well done to the OP for fighting back!

Not in the region I live! I have never taught in a school with more than one class per year group.

I mean, yes it is unfair on you.
However, kudos to the supply teacher for having boundaries, stating her terms and sticking to her guns.
If teachers did that en masse it would not be such a shitty profession to work in.

I think if I were you I’d be arguing that as she doesn’t need her PPA, you should get her slot seeing as you are now doing twice the planning.

@AloeVerity it's still fraudulent to go off sick if you're well but don't like what you've been asked to do at work.

It's not a strategy I've heard of being used in other professions yet it seems to be quite routine in education.

I have taught for 35 years and know most teachers do plan everything all by themselves!

I don't know any primary school teachers, working in 2+ form entries who do all their own planning,
It's always shared, with subjects rotated, ime.

Long term plans - drafted by the subject lead across the school
Medium term plans - shared workload across the year group teachers, often done with subject lead support where needed
Short term planning and lesson material - shared workload across the year group

Then individual class teachers tweak these to meet the needs of their class, adding scaffolding support for specific children, etc.

Then some subjects may be bought in curriculums so the long and medium terms are already provided. Individual lesson plans are also using provided in such schemes, along with lesson materials. Teachers then tweak for the classes as and where needed.

It seems very inefficient for every teacher in the year group to plan every lesson for their class, when all need to be taught the same content at the same time - to ensure consistency and progression throughout the school.

What, so someone gets 20% PPA because they're planning for two classes? The planning is going to be the same for both classes, so the same for one class really.

I only get 10% PPA to do all the planning for my class in my one form entry.
The OP is lucky planning is shared. Most teachers have to do it all. In my area most schools are one form entry or.less.

It really isn't common in education either!
30+ years of teaching and it's not something I come across often, if at all.

@Longma yes, in 2 form entry+ schools.
There are a huge amount of schools that are smaller.
Like the person you quoted, I don't know many teachers who share planning either, but then I work in a fairly rural part of north Yorkshire, which is a huge county, with lots of village schools.

I think if I were you I’d be arguing that as she doesn’t need her PPA, you should get her slot seeing as you are now doing twice the planning.

The op doesn't say if the supply teacher gets any PPA time.
As supply, they may not get any.
Or they may get a reduced amount for classroom/lesson prep and assessment, but not planning.

Regardless - whatever the supply has organised with the school is their business. The op cannot dictate the supply teacher's work contract. It also isn't the supply teacher's fault that the op now has an increased workload.

I did refer to multi-class year groups.

I don't know the stats on how many teachers work in single entry or multi entry schools, or even shared year group classes - I'd imagine the prep and planning time in those classes must be even greater,

In my area, and where my teacher friends work, almost all schools have at least 2 forms per year group. Though my dd has been doing supply in the country next to ours which has much smaller classes in the villages - shared year group classes mainly.

This the attitude that gets teachers in a bad spot! Everyone has to work as hard as the hardest worker! Wouldn’t it be better if we used the cushiest job as the benchmark, rather than the hardest job?!

No point comparing OP’s school to a one-form entry. We all know schools vary massively. Some teachers have 17 well behaved children in a class, others have wild classes of 38. Just the way it is.

Every other teacher in OP’s school gets 10% time to do 50% of the planning. Seems fair for OP to ask for twice the time her colleagues get, seeing as she does twice the work. Especially as she is being held to the same standards as they are.

The head or DP should be doing the planning.

You know, here's a thing, for whatever reason new grads decide on teaching for a career; they spend a coupla years teaching, find it a bit tough, blame the parents/students as they're an easy target; then have a kid or two themselves. Making sure they eke out every bit of MAT they can.

Then quelle surprise having a kid or 2 isn't so easy peasy lemon squeezy, particularly if you're juggling kids, childcare, school and a job.

Life is difficult.

For many, not just teachers.

Unless the supply is contracted long term of course.
You shouldn't be doing it for them.

Quite possibly the supply doesn’t get PPA, which will mean the school is making a saving on the back of OP’s extra work. I think she has a strong argument that she should get some extra planning time at least (perhaps 15%, as presumably the supply teacher will do the marking).

To be quite clear, I work in schools and so I do realise that the request will get laughed out of the staffroom! BUT, I also think teachers need to start advocating for themselves more and fighting for their time.

We know that pay is never going to be high enough to compensate for the ridiculous working hours currently expected. So, the alternative is to push back on the hours.

If enough teachers did this, things would slowly have to change.

Who does the planning for a long term supply in a one-form entry school? Someone who doesn't know the class or year? Someone who is also doing their own planning? Doesn't sound ideal for the children.

Here's another thing...thanks to noblegiraffe inundating aibu with their 'poor teacher' threads for many years now; with an obvious captive audience given it's Mumsnet, we're all a bit numb/bored with it now.

Maybe take it to the Staffroom?

The head or the deputy or the key stage lead. If the school is in a trust sometimes you get the planning from a teacher in the same year in a different school.

Is it not the opposite that gets teachers in a bad spot? Constantly asking for more of this, more of that.

1. No she hasn't.
2. Captive audience. Do you know what the phrase means? Clearly not.
3. You're not so bored you couldn't post.

My mum
Used to be a supply teacher before she retired. She spent most of her time planning. Our lives revolved around her planning!

Yet you feel the need to open the thread and post multiple times.

YABU because supply teachers get paid less than a permanent teacher and do not get paid through the holidays so overall earn pretty much minimum wage over a school year.

If they were paid fairly then you'd have a very strong point though.