Favoritism in the workplace.

[sparklyroundhat]

When extra work comes up it's nearly always the same people that get given all the opportunities.
Does this only happen where I work, or is it the same at your school?
The staff sycophants polite word for Headteacher ass kissers seem to do particularly well?
And discuss.

Sounds as if you were lucky enough to work in a school were the staff were valued and people were given equal opportunities and encouraged to work to the best of their abilities and all skills utilized properly.

Surprising to think that the very institutions that are meant to bring out the best in people and are supposed to be environments that foster fairness and equal opportunities, are some of the worst when it comes to how they treat their employees!

I'm sure you do some very valuable work, but you are not an employee, OP. Schools need to keep in mind their priority - what is best for the children - not what the staff (or parent volunteers) want and the two are not always the same.

Well no, not really. I do now, but the school I got my experience in was pretty insular and cliquey. I just knew what I wanted to get out of it so I was pushy. Used it as a springboard, if you like.
If your school was being truly fair the other people wouldn't get extra hours, but neither would you. There's such a push for qualified staff these days and you can really tell the difference between schools that value those qualifications and those that don't. The latter aren't serving their pupils very well imo.

Schools need to keep in mind their priority - what is best for the children - not what the staff (or parent volunteers) want

As evidenced by numerous tales of teachers dreading going to work and wanting to leave the profession or, even worse ,workplace bullying and being hounded out lurking in the Staffroom has been a REAL eyeopener

I don't see why both can't be given priority: Children AND the staff that teach the children.
Treat your Staff right and you will get the best out of the Children surely?

Even a non-employee like me can see that's how it should be.

so true Sparky.

Yes, I agree all staff should be treated fairly. But what I was trying to say was that just because it would be fair to give X the job from the adult's perspective it doesn't that X is the best person for the specific role from the perspective of what the children need.

The standpoint I'm coming from is currently trying to timetable staff for September - teacher X wants to work in year 5 because it is alongside teacher Y who happily carries a huge chunk of the workload for whoever they work with. However teacher X is not the best teacher for upper key stage 2, but they are a great Y1 teacher. Should we give the teacher what they want and put them in a year group they struggle with as it is "fair", or should we put them in a year group that are brilliant with but be "unfair" as other teachers have been given the year group they want?