Expectations for 0.6 UPS teacher

[ShyLavender]

Hey ladies, returning from my mat leave soon and wanted to pick your brains around what I am being asked to do. I have been at the school for 9 years and was put on UPS last year for my sustained contribution to the school (also I think they wanted to retain “good” teachers due to high staff turn over). I have requested to go part time so I can be more present for my daughter. There are multiple other UPS teachers at the school who have no additional responsibilities. My head is expecting me to job share with an unqualified member of staff who has no teaching experience outside of being an LSA for two academic years. I am expected to mentor this member of staff and also complete the bulk of the planning (core subjects) to provide continuity for the class. The partner teacher (two form entry) is a first year ECT who will also need support during ppa sessions. I will be also expected to lead one, possibly two subjects. My head has said she is giving me a full ppa session (obviously more than I am entitled to on 0.6) help mentor and support the other members of staff. I fear that the bulk of this session will be spent answering questions and helping them with things rather than on prepping and planning my own lessons. I have also been put in a year group I haven’t previously worked in so cannot use and adapt my own planning. Does this sound fair? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

As an experienced teacher on UPS that sounds fair. You’re being given some time to do it in. All teachers lead a subject in primary schools.

I don't think this is fair at all. When I was 0.6 UPS 2 I had nothing of the sort and just did my own planning etc (secondary though, so different). I hope you get some decent advice as to how to manage this. I'm sorry it's being imposed on you, as I expect it's making the last months of your maternity leave less enjoyable.

Having read Strictly's reply, I'm now wondering how long the full PPA session is. In secondary this would be a single lesson (so an hour or so) - is it longer for you?

This sounds far too much for 0.6. Talk to your union. Are they trying to manage you out given that no other full time UPS has those extra responsibilities? If you’re mentoring an ECT and your job share isn’t qualified then that’s a lot in itself.

So you’re mentoring an ECT AND partnering with an unqualified teacher? As in the unqualified teacher will basically deliver what you plan?

It seems unlikely that you’re going to be able to do this and plan and deliver your own timetable and be anywhere close to sticking to 0.6.

It might be an acceptable duty for UPS but it’s not really appropriate to lump on to a part timer. What does the ECT do when you’re not in etc?

One additional free for mentoring is standard. I don't quite understand the planning, do you mean writing medium term plans? That's always been part of my job, we all pitch in and if you are experienced as ups suggests then it should be much easier for you to take the lead.

When I was 0.6 ups (secondary) I was very much 'encouraged' to take on unpaid addional responsibilities because I was ups. I found it quite unfair because many ft colleagues could fulfil their 'whole school' contribution through tlr's they were being paid for. That's why I went back ft. I decided I might as well get a tlr and get paid for all the extra work.

Hi thanks for your reply. Yes the teacher of the other class will be fresh out of uni and the staff who will have the class on the two days I’m not in is unqualified. I’m really concerned about the workload but feel in a very sticky situation as when my head explained all of this over the phone she just kept saying I was a UPS teacher. I feel like I’ve been given a rough deal given the fact I am dropping my hours and pay to reduce my workload but we all know with teaching, planning and resourcing for others is more work than teaching your own class!

I think it would be fair enough to be a subject leader of two subjects if I was job sharing with another experienced member of staff and responsibilities and planning could be shared out proportionately but I think this is overload on 3 days a week.

This is my concern as historically I’ve seen other ups teachers hounded out. I’ve got a bit of a reputation in the school for being that supportive, helpful member of staff but this was obviously before children on a full time salary. My priorities have changed massively and I’ve taken a big pay cut to reflect this.

Not sure about subject leading as it’s so different in primary but ect mentoring has specific requirements and the DfE is providing funding so you should have additional time off timetable to complete it.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-and-eligibility-for-ecf-based-training#dfe-funding-for-ecf-based-training

So you're getting 0.4 of a PPA session to support two members of staff, and 0.6 of a PPA session to lead two subjects, and plan for all the core subjects?

I'm not sure that's very realistic.

With kindness, I think you’re making this bigger than it is. Your ECT has trained and will be planning - you won’t be planning all on your own. Unless your school is very different to others - a lot of that planning will be saved and you will need to tweak/adapt it to meet the needs of your class.
With regards to the mentoring, you will be best placed, as you will be working alongside them and know their strengths and areas for development. You will need to ask your HT for some time to complete the paperwork each term but it doesn’t take that long.
Subject leadership is what all primary teachers have to do.
If you think the distribution of responsibilities is unfair, you need to talk to your HT. However, all primary teachers I know and work alongside, wear several hats whether they are full time or not. It is the nature of the job.
You are getting a full time PPA session and whilst that won’t cover it all, it is something.
I hope it works out but don’t let it taint what is left of your maternity leave.

I'm secondary so my experience may not be so relevant, but I am UPS 0.6 too.

My experience is full time is about 60 hours and 0.6 is 40 hours. However, I teach only GCSE and A-level so do benefit from gained time in June and July (therefore would expect some weeks at busy times in the autumn and spring might be nearer 50).

So one option is to add up the hours you spend at home and at school, set a cap on what you're personally prepared to tolerate and then make your line manager prioritise if it's not possible in those hours.

You do need pretty hard boundaries to work part time in teaching. One of mine is I might choose to do work on days "off" but I don't actually go into school those days unless I'm paid for the. And I use the delay send function on the email so I reply at 8am my next working day.

I'd ask your union if I were you.

I'm 0.6 and UPS3. My UPR is pretty big but it's something I wanted to do so I am happy with it.

Speak to your union. It sounds as though the head is trying to impose a leadership role on you. This isn’t justified by UPS payment

I’m with this. You shouldn’t have to plan lessons for the other teacher - they are qualified and need to plan their own. You may wish to consult each other if you’re teaching the sane class but you’d do that with anyone

In my school in this situation, I’d split the topics and let them get on with it.

I never found PPA allowed me to mark and plan in school. What can you realistically do in an hour - bit of admin, a few phone calls, copy resources - it’s gone. It’s not a great loss.

I’d start with strong boundaries, keep a record of time and see how it goes. Many schools offer no time off timetable to mentor - it’s ‘career development’

When I worked.8 I spent my whole free day doing school work. But I had weekends completely free, plus holidays, plus exam leave. It’s doable.

Are you a headteacher by any chance?

Have you missed the part where other UPS members of staff who are working full time do not have these extra responsibilities?

No and that’s why I said they need a conversation if this is the case.

You shouldn't be planning FOR an ect... you shouldn't even be planning for a teaching student!
The rest sounds within the bounds of normal. Have you calculated the take home pay difference between your new 0.6 UPS and MPS6 0.8? That might help you draw a boundary- for example even if it takes you your extra ppa to support the ect and you have to wfh half or all of the fourth weekday, it might be around the same pay, and better for your career long term?

I think mentoring is fine. Planning lesso s for someone to teach on the days you don't work is not. There should be medium term plans and you and your job share partner need to split the lesson planning. Being part time should not mean doing work for someone to deliver whilst you are not on contract and not paid.

Agree with what others have said.
your school will be receiving funding specifically to cover your mentoring time with the ECT. I work 0.8 and have 1 hour in addition to my PPA time to mentor my ECT. I don't do any of her planning. Steplab is pretty comprehensive and quite prescriptive, so stick to that (is this what your school uses?)
you should def not be planning lessons for the unqualified staff member

This-you don’t lesson plan for your job share partner. SLT consider them either able to do the job or not. If it’s not then they have no business in putting an unqualified teacher in front of the class for 2 days.

Probably also ask how much time are they giving you to lead subjects-how is that going to work for you to do learning walks/book looks and pupil voice? It’s not just planning the sequences of learning through the whole school-you’d need to monitor what that looked like in practice and the impact.

speak to your union rep.

Some schools do dump a lot of responsibilities on UPS teachers in the grounds that they should be contributing to the school.

Ect mentoring is more time consuming than it used to be although a lot will depend on the mentee. If they are struggling it will take up huge amounts of time.

Sounds like you'll have a heavy workload. No advice, sorry.