Being assertive at work with colleague

[colonelgoldfish]

My situation at work is that myself and another colleague who has newly graduated work together. I'm senior to her with a management role.

The trouble I'm having is that she doesn't treat me as senior to her. In fact quite the opposite. She steamrolls over everything I do and is massively competitive. She seems to take over everything and even things I've implemented she will take over and claim it as her own. This has resulted in it looking to our boss as if she does everything which is totally untrue. I work very hard at work and I do a lot of work behind the scenes to do the best I can. She has a much bigger focus on doing things that are on show to others.

I'm wondering if I'm the problem and need to be more assertive with her. On a personal level she's lovely but work wise she seems to be trying to belittle me and take over.

What tips can you give for dealing with this kind of colleague?

I think, what's tricky in teaching are the grey areas that people volunteer for, and are vaguely expected to do beyond the actual teaching, such as trips, enrichment etc. You obviously know her better, but she might be all guns blazing ambitious because she wants to get ahead and prove herself. I think the Teach First lot are all told to try and be Hods within the first few years, aren't they?!
So she may not even realise that she's slightly stepping on your toes and think that any extra stuff / shouting loudly will help her case. You might want a meeting with her to establish a project she could get her teeth into that's just hers and nobody else's. Abd that that would be enough for her. We have an annual day trip to France that's usually the NQT+1's remit. And also state- in the politest of fashions-that other people's projects shouldn't be meddled with. On top of ahem....meeting the Standards and passing the NQT year, that should keep her more than busy. Pushy people are bloody annoying though!

I'm a teacher too and have encountered many similar individuals in my time. I think NQTs today are under a lot of pressure to impress so it's probably just that in this case. I wasn't like that, I'm always told to promote myself more but I do remember the days when I was full of enthusiasm and not constantly exhausted. I've not been in your position OP but I have seen many like this and they are usually the first to burn out. I also had an incident today when a teaching assistant came to me with a great idea which I later found out was actually the idea of another teaching assistant.