Being set up - to fail!!

[Peterpickedapickled]

I have worked for the same school for 9 years in an admin role. I recently got promoted to a higher grade. The role was new and covers HR, line management and being responsible for cover when staff are absent. Staff absence was dealt with by a member of SLT previously due to the insight they have into the school/classes etc.

I have been in the role for 3 months. All going okay but I haven’t had much support, guidance or mentor support. I am just finding things out in my own and pushing ahead.

The absence cover is very challenging due to the existing process. For example, classes are fighting over staff and making demands on me that are time consuming and not necessary. Mornings are very stressful but class leads are constantly emailing or texting on my work mobile telling me that they don’t want that supply person etc. I have never done cover and I have never worked in class so it’s a challenge for me. I am trying new ways of working to help reduce my workload whilst still providing the right sort of cover that fits the needs of our students but this is becoming impossible. Each year lead wants me to work a different way, they don’t work together as leaders and instead are cherry picking and giving me unreasonable demands. They like me to update a cover spreadsheet even if that absence doesn’t need covering and when I challenge it, it’s so that it reminds them that their staff are off!! I am acting as their PA. The work is now taking me the majority of my day to complete.

We use 9 different supply agencies because that’s how the member of SLT ran it before. She never checked what they were charging the school and dealing with that many agencies is time consuming and means we can’t and never have negotiated on the cost. The school is on its knees financially! I wanted to tackle this and had a plan but this member of SLT is still keeping a foot in and she has made her own agreements with yet another new agency without letting me know. The checking and approving of time sheets takes me hours! She is also meeting with me as she still deals with staffing as a whole. In these meetings she is trying to encourage me to do what she wants with supply. She isn’t offering suggestions, she is manipulating me and the situation. I have considered these suggestions and some I have knocked back. She doesn’t like this even though I can give reasons for why.

So I have been feeding all this back to my manager who has seen the issue with his own eyes. The amount of time I spend on this is now effecting the rest of my work and meeting deadlines.

My boss spoke to me yesterday about it because that member of SLT and the Headteacher have told him to “sort me out”! Apparently it’s all gone to shit since I have been doing the job, I am making mistakes (again I have raised this with my boss because I have made some mistakes but I am new to role, no real support from anyone and just told to get on with it). I can’t meet their HR deadlines, for example, because they are giving me a few days to get job adverts out, get our vetting checks done before they want them in school working! It’s a safeguarding nightmare.

So they want to take the supply work off me and give it to a new lady who works in admin! Nothing wiil change and she will struggle too! My boss told them that it wasnt me, it was the process and how they work. He told them it was not my incompetence. He has been telling SLT for years that there are major issues and he has proposed working practices as he is the Business Manager. He told me that he will be looking at it this week and proposing a business case for staffing and costs. He said that if the spending does not reduce, the school will fail. If they don’t agree, he is taking it to Governors.

I am really upset and angry. I feel like I have been setup to fail. The role is so stressful and I am crying at home about it. What they want me to do is impossible in the hours I work. That member of SLT was even calling me in my private mobile having got my number off the staff database. I had to tell her not to do this which she didn’t like!
I want to ensure I am not the scapegoat here. My plan is to push forward with my plans to make the role more efficient and streamlined for us all whilst focusing on needs. What can I do? I feel they are tarnishing the reputation I have spent 9 years trying to build at this school.

I really admire the attitude you show in your post, maintaining your boundaries. It sounds as if you know what needs doing and how it might be done, and your line manager has your back, so I really hope they let you get on with it.

Sorry, nothing useful but you sound great, they need to let you do the job.

It sounds like your boss has your back and is helping get it sorted?

It’s only been 3 months and and I get all the other drama but it doesn’t sound like anyone’s set you up to fail and your boss seems happy with how you’re doing?

@WearyCat thank you. It’s been hard because setting boundaries doesn’t come easy to me but I have been determined to succeed for me and the school. Your comment means a lot.

@Bigtreeesss I understand that it’s change for them and they don’t want this so are pushing back. I am just really disappointed and angry that they would take this to my boss and tell him I am rubbish and to give that part of my role to someone else. They are not getting what they want so deal with me! To think the headteacher was agreeing! She gave me the job and part of the interview was about how I could bring positive charge and have an positive impact on school culture.

I was warned about that particular member of SLT and I didn’t listen. They said she has favourites and is manipulating.

You are doing very well in a challenging role working with senior, intimidating and unprofessional-sounding people and you've done the right thing in raising it all with your manager. He does sound like he is supporting you which is not a given!

Do what you can and keep records but hopefully your manager can now improve things by looking at the process and governance side and in time this will improve things for you or whoever is the unfortu ate person to have staff cover on their plate.

I'm a supply teacher. You lost me when you started talking about negotiating on price with supply teaching agencies FFS. Pay teachers their worth. We are not a commodity like baked beans. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Personally I think you can't do your job.

We use one supply agency that contacts all the others for us, so it’s only one phone call, one billing, one supply contact, much easier and less stressful, It doesn’t work out any more expensive for us because the agency we deal with takes their cut from the other agencies! You could suggest that as a first step!

The OP is the only one responsibly checking that the prices charged are affordable and agreed by the school. There will be no school if they can't keep control of costs.

Not the point of your post but…how much do supply agencies charge schools?!

@Pawparazzi you are misunderstanding. It’s not the price we pay for supply, you are worth your weight in gold,. It’s the mark up price the agency takes. They charge the school a fortune and pay you less. The money the agency keep is unbelievable. It has to work for you as supply and not cripple the school. If you are dealing with 9 agencies, they are not exclusive so the school can’t negotiate on price.

It sounds really tough. Cover is a thankless task. Has your school considered directly employing one or two people as permanent cover supervisors? My current school does this and it's great..the kids know her, she knows the school and the systems and if she has free time she offers admin support for photocopying, doing displays. It sounds like your direct manager is supportive. Ignore the chippy post from the supply teacher upthread..it's a perfectly normal business process to negotiate good rates.

@justasmallbiz well one example is £1600 per week for 1 person from an agency we use! The supply person doesn’t get that of course!

When did she say she didn’t want to pay teachers what they’re worth? She’s dealing with 9 different agencies and by the sounds of things budgets have never been agreed or managed effectively and it’s spiraled out of control. It sounds like they’re not paying peanuts but still getting monkeys.

What a stressful situation. Sounds like you have done brilliantly but wither slt doesn't want you to do better as it would highlight their failing or they are so micro-managy and odd they want this more convoluted process. It's so stressful and makes you want to pull your hair out.

Honestly, I would approach it as thank you for your feedback, sorry I couldn't meet your needs in this instance. Then prepare a handover document to 'ease the transition and highlight your learnings.'

This should include:

1. What the current process is or is meant to be if your colleagues allowed you to follow it properly. This shows you do know and understand the process.
2. Where colleagues are asking you to diverge from it but in a professional way i.e. 'The process is that I update the staff cover sheet with the staff member who is absent and who the cover is. Mr X asks that this is done for all staff absences even if cover is not required'. This shouldn't be 'tattling' but a good faith list of colleagues preferences for doing the process differently so the future admin person understands.
3. SWOT analysis of the process. Again, not trying to throw anyone under the bus but 'weakness: Checks on potential cover takes 3 days and must be completed 48hrs before class starts so lead time is 5 days minimum. 30% time requests are sent with a lead time of less than 3 days resulting in rushed or incomplete checks posing a safeguarding risk. Opportunity: We deal with 9 agencies resulting in time and cost wastage, recommend a single agency contact (recommended agency and why) with two back ups.
4. Recommended process: based on my experience and analysis I would recommend the process be x,y,z. Your manager can then get feedback and buy in from the staff and it makes it easier to push back on deviations.

Even if it is moved from you, this will show you aren't the problem, they are. It will also protect you should there be further problems.

@RhaenysRocks thanks. They have had this business model before and we had 2 cover supervisors but they just got absorbed into the school. My boss tells them how many staff they need to run the classes but they don’t listen and now I cover supply with supply and they are adding additionals to classes, which I then have to get supply for. It then becomes impossible for me to know where and when I need cover. If a dinner lady is off (we are an SEN school) that takes a TA out of class to help at lunch and I have to cover it, even though we do t cover dinner ladies! It just so, so overwhelming and complicated. Not to forget, I am also HR for over 350 staff and line manager for the admin team of 6 that are also demotivated due to the way SLT have run the school.

Make sure all requests are documented/ emailed
mske sure you’re part of a union, in case poo hits the fan
being given too much to do, seems to be the norm when working in a school, and female slt are the worst.
business managers usually work for slt , so just be mindful of that.

re cover- it’s normal for staffing demands - I don’t know anyone who lives doing cover .

@Firstsuggestions what a really useful comment and suggestions. Thank you. I will do this!

I take a great deal of pride in my work and have worked many years, taking on extra work for no reward other that to advance myself and to help the kids in the school. I am absolutely gutted that they had to have this conversation without my input and that they are telling my boss I have made mistakes and never given me the opportunity to correct or learn from them. I am 3 months into a new job, 2 grades above with responsibilities that I feel I can manage.

What grade is your new role?

Oh my god, that’s awful!! £1600 is insane. Is this for a non specialist (ie a history teacher is off so you have a cover who usually does PE) or a subject specialist (need a maths teacher and get a maths teacher)?

I would love to see schools actually go through their accounts and take responsibility and look for improvements. Sounds like you’re actually trying to do something and you’re just being seen as creating problems.

it’s not fair OP, you have my sympathy!

OP I feel for you.

I work in a high school and the person who sorts cover and supply is treated universally with gratitude and awe.

Your problem is with the HT undervaluing and undermining your role, which is then reflected in SLT and everyone else.

Don’t waste your time ‘documenting’ everything… for what? Shit leaders don’t listen and change.

Request an urgent meeting with your HT and line manager and explain everything you have said here.

If you don’t get the response you need then it’s their problem and their loss… find another school who respect and value your skills, deep understanding of, and commitment to the role; and keep your own mental health intact in the process because you’re not wrong.

So they want to take the supply work off me and give it to a new lady who works in admin! Nothing wiil change and she will struggle too! My boss told them that it wasnt me, it was the process and how they work. He told them it was not my incompetence.

If it's too much work for you then it's too much work. One thing that will change is that you'll be able to use all that time you were fighting through the supply stuff to improve your output elsewhere.

If the new lady struggles like you did, you'd hope that they'll realize that it's a process issue rather than a personal issue. If they don't, then at least it's not your problem anymore 🤷🏻‍♂️

That’s life

they told you they weren’t happy with, they’ve now gone to your boss, standard stuff 🤷‍♀️

let your boss deal with it and decide what to do. It’s. It you’ve done something wrong they just do t agree (regardless of what the best action for the school is) This isn’t something that’s unique to you and your role, this happens daily across all industries and sectors

There's a few bits of your post don't make sense.

We use 9 different supply agencies because that’s how the member of SLT ran it before. She never checked what they were charging the school and dealing with that many agencies is time consuming and means we can’t and never have negotiated on the cost.

If there's 9 different agencies, why aren't they competing on costs? Having that many involved should be driving costs down. Pointing that out to them should be your first job.

So they want to take the supply work off me and give it to a new lady who works in admin!

That's a good thing isn't it? They see you're overworked, so they're taking some of your workload away.

I'm sure what you're doing is a tough job, but it really doesn't sound like they're setting you up to fail.

just to address a couple of questions:

last time I did supply in 2019 I was paid £120 a day and I had to push for that, they wanted to pay me £90.

I am signed up with an agency now but haven’t worked for them. They talked about £160 a day, but as I say, they haven’t offered me any work yet.

Schools will pay upwards of £200 a day to the agencies. This is meant to save on checks both time-wise and paying for DBS, references etc.

They wanted to pay you £90 as a qualified teacher? That’s below daily M1 on the payscale, they can’t do that. I was getting £100 a day on supply straight out of my PGCE in 2013 in the NE during the pay freeze! Why on earth would pay have gone down?!
Secondly, having managed supply contracts at school, basically double the cost that the school actually pays vs what the supply teacher receives, don’t add £40. 😂🤦‍♀️

You do understand the concept that on top of your 1/195 salary an agency will load on a massive charge. That’s coming out of school budget when it could be spent on teaching and learning. OP is talking about negotiating the agency fee, not your salary.