To be a bit surprised at this teaching job being advertised?

[kieofg]

Just saw this job advert being advertised on my LA website. Am I being unreasonable to be a bit shocked that a school would be recruiting for a job with so little hours? One afternoon every 2 weeks? I would have thought in this position they would cover the time internally with another teacher from the school or a HLTA or use a supply teacher from an agency?

I feel a bit surprised as I have never seen a teaching job being advertised with so little hours. I wonder what type of person would put themselves forward for this job?

https://jobs.derbyshire.gov.uk/teaching-primary-contract-class-teacher/44589.job

Maybe someone has put in a request for flexible working and they are advertising those hours to show that it isn't possible to recruit someone to cover those hours.

It might be that they have an internal candidate who is currently part time and could fill these hours but they have a policy to always advertise externally rather than just making an internal appointment.

If you teach supply through an agency then they take a cut. With a situation like that you get all the pay. I’ve done similar before, but every week rather than every other. You could take that on and then get supply work to fit around it.

Possibly for a PPA cover. But as others have said, a supply teacher isn't always ideal as it's more expensive and you never quite know what you're going to get. I think it's pretty good forward planning from the school tbh!

My Aunt is currently doing a similar job, only doing 8 hours a week after previously being head of department. She's basically retired, but wants a little extra fun money.

As a previous poster mentioned, it's probably for evidence that a flexible working request can't be accomodated. But that doesn't mean it's 100% that noone would be interested in it.

The type of person putting themselves forward for that job is one with few qualifications who wants to keep claiming UC.

It may appeal to someone already doing part time nearby . So to pick up an afternoon with little planning for a reasonable salary might appeal.

On the flip side afternoon is a pain as it breaks up the day!

(our adult ed classes are advertised in 2 hour chunks !)

My DC's went to a very small village school and the Head also had her own class. There was a retired teacher who lived fairly locally who used to come in one afternoon a week to teach her class whilst she did Head teacher stuff. It worked well as it gave the children consistency, didn't put extra pressure on the other staff and I think the cover teacher enjoyed herself too. The children really looked forward to her sessions and it was much better (and I imagine cheaper) than a string of supply teachers from an agency, even supposing you could get anyone to travel to our little village.
I imagine this is similar, though it says that it's a fixed term appointment to cover a project. Presumably the class teacher is on some kind of secondment or course on those adternoons. If there's a suitable teacher locally who can fill in regularly it seems like a good idea to me, and much less disruptive to the pupils than other options.

(Reply to @yeaitsmeagain )

No not at all -they are asking for a qualified teacher!

(And tbh they often fill half day slots with hltas...)

Perhaps the class teacher is doing a course and the money for cover is coming from somewhere where it's stipulated that it needs to be spent on cover.

And they want to either use someone they already have or get someone reliable.

They would have to be a qualified teacher so couldn’t have ‘few qualifications’ .

Depends what you mean by "few qualifications" because for a start they'll be a qualified teacher and you need quite a lot of qualifications to manage that

Bizarrely I've just met someone today who has recently retired from teaching. About 2 years after retiring he went back specifically to teach one A level class for 4 hours a week - the school was close, he enjoyed a bit of extra cash and he loved being able to share his passion for his subject whilst being essentially retired.

If I was a supply teacher doing day to day work I might take on something like this, yeah it’s not much but it’s a little bit of consistency. One of my good friends is a supply teacher and she does a day a week at once school and a half day a week in another, and then does “on the day” work the other three days. It’s not that different I guess!

It’s for less than a year anyway. Perfect for someone recently retired who wants to wind down slowly.

It could well be something like that that as they say it's a fixed term contract and "project" is due to finish in August 2025. Someone is on a course or being released to work on a specific project. It makes sense to try to get the same cover for that length of time.

I'm impressed that the school is looking for cover and not getting other staff to cover.
My mum did things like this after she retired. Short term contracts to supplement her pension. She loved the teaching less so the paperwork.
She had a zero hour contract with a couple of local schools so she got first refusal on all supply at a much better rate than agency.

It's a teaching job.

What makes you think that?!

8 hours a week is very different to 3 hours every two weeks.

It explicitly says it's for a project. So there must be a teacher doing a project one afternoon every two weeks and they want consistent cover. They might get a SAHM dipping her toe into going back, or something like that.