Can't get AHT role : secondary schools

[ILikeBeansWithKetchup]

Is anyone else finding it impossible to break into SLT in secondary schools?

I have been applying for AHT roles for the best part of 10 years now and have been shortlisted three times. I think I have applied for 40+ jobs and it is destroying my self esteem, to be honest.

There is probably a bit of a backplot about my current school not being great at developing middle to lower senior leaders sufficiently - so we have no extended SLT or associates for example. All the stuff that could have measurable 'impact' which seems to be what applications want is done by SLT.

I was a head of year (huge school so that is in charge of 15 staff and 400 kids) for 14 years. I have led small departments (successfully); I am a much valued commodity as I teach a core subject. I now lead the work of our National Support School. I am making this sound more important than it is because that's what I do in applications, obviously! I haven't worked in more than one school (because I can't get a job!) but I am a governor at another school and do now work in school to school support. I just don't get it. I have part NPQH equivalent, safeguarding lead training and a 2:1 from a RG university. All this should help?

I now see whippersnappers coming up form below me with about 8-10 years teaching experience and think I am now too old..

It sounds arrogant but I always thought I would lead a school; they need school leaders, after all! It makes me desperately sad. And makes me wish I had never gone into teaching at all.

I keep being told 30 -40 people are applying for assistant head posts... I do ask for feedback. It's generally a bit nebulous but I get told I wasn't 'quite right for their role' or they had people already doing a similar job, or I get told I don't sell myself enough .

Any empathy or advice gratefully received!

I have cast my net wider in the last two years but I do have a DH who is not very domestic and two DSs at secondary school so a key age - not keen for them to experience upheaval so am not able or prepared to have a longer commute than about 40 minutes or to move house - so my options have become more limited. One of the few interviews I had was for a pastoral role in the Lake District (300 miles away) but, after some soul searching, I didn't go. Bad mistake.

Missmac - our situations sound almost the same (although where I ma HoY sounds a bigger role perhaps : we' d never go from HoY to HoD in my school ; HoY is only one step down form SLT). It's comforting to hear your story : we feel ach other's pain!!

My head has seen my application, too - and my friend who is a senior adviser , and works on advising headteachers in recruitment, and they both like my application so I am a bit stymied.

I think one issue in my county is that we are predominantly three tier so I have no year 7 or 8 experience (oodles of KS4 and sixth form though). I sometimes wonder whether that gets me shifted down a bit for schools which are 11-18.

Olivers - I do think teachers tend not to commute all that far. It's a combination of demands such as meetings, parents' evenings and so on with the need always to be moving about at peak travel times perhaps.

Out in the sticks there is no public transport . My DCs use school buses/ walk, so they aren't the issue during the school day : it's after hours clubs and stuff that cause a few issues. My DH is also a teacher.

I do agree in other jobs people commute further sometimes. However, most of the people I know who do that have the flexibility to change hours/ occasionally work from home and/ or don't do a job where they have to be 'on the ball' the minute they arrive or where it would really really matter if they were late. My friend has just moved half an hour closer to our school because she kept getting stuck in traffic It wasn't going down well with the cover man!

The only people I know who commute over an hour have company cars/ expenses and so on. DH is a maths teacher and he has sat and worked out extra travel costs versus pay increases!

I'd move too if it was just me : DCs and DHs complicate things. really, I'd go back to Scotland in a heartbeat if I had no ties. And I'd definitely do that for less money. There's so much to consider when you have a family, especially if both partners work.

My commute is an hour. Is your DH SLT? I think there is less flexibility for SLT in terms of in school hours than for classroom teachers. You only need one parent for the drop offs and pick ups though.

user : that's interesting. 40 mins is a notional thing. I'd certainly go up to an hour for a really great job. But as we M1 corridor, any journeys which are notionally 45 minutes take a lot longer. An hour or so in the other direction takes me into grammar school territory and I am trying to steer clear of that for the meantime.

My DCs are older than yours - year 11 going into sixth form and year 8 going into year 9, So they are able to egt themselves to school no problem. I'd happily (well as happily as naoyoen does!) move house but the kids would have to move schools (owing tot he woeful public transport issue!). Schools admissions round here are very fraught so a new school would never be guaranteed. I do have to consider that the last time we moved (which wasn't for work) it didn't prove to be the greatest move. We don't like where we live -and DCs school is quite disappointing- but DS1 is very socially anxious and last time we moved he school refused for a while. Not keen to experiment with another move for that reason -and also because DS can't change job very easily. So, hence the 45 mins or so radius.

Ironically, I applied for a job at DS1's school and wasn't shortlisted and the head there tried to headhunt me as a governor! Cheeky sod.

From the advice I've been given (middle leader aspiring to SLT) they're after a mixture of department and whole school experience and experience of different contexts. And as you said, it's all about impact.

I'm quite grateful that my SLT in both my schools have been very up front about what's required to get to SLT so I've been able to plan my accordingly. I am a younger teacher but I'm not one of these SLT in 6 years types. But I do think that one reason some younger teachers may be getting the posts is because in a shorter space of time they've managed to rack up the appropriate experience if they've had SLT like mine who've been quite open about how to get there. (Though in some schools near me I'm cynical and it's because they'll take the money and work excessive hours and be yes people).

As I said, I have applied for 40+ jobs, so if I sound like I am being fussy, I genuinely am not. It may be that I am actually not being picky enough!
I have steered clear of most of Luton though

haha! The last bit of your post certainly resonates Maisy !

What I should never have done is moved form my first school. I was persuaded to apply for a job at my present school because of its fabulous local reputation. I was really highly regarded at my first school - at my second one I walked into a bit of a political shitstorm.

But people told me 'if you want to get on, leave your first job after 4 years' - which I think generally can still apply. In my case, though, I reckon if I had stayed at my first gaff, I would have been promoted pretty rapidly. However, the school di massively decline (after I left! Haha!) so it may have been at a cost.

ILikeBeansWithKetchup
Oh yes. I hear you.
Usually the more rapid promotions like that round here are for the schools who seem to go through SLT quickly. Same few faces seem to be rotating around the grade 3/4 schools across local counties. So if the school went down hill you're probably good to be out.

I tend to do 3 years places. And during my time there get as much experience as possible and keep well out of the ongoing politics, cliques and Bitchyness.
Maybe a sideways move or a secondment opportunity might be helpful. Or see if you can get onto some more quantifiable projects at your current place.

My friend did a secondment and has done reasonably well out of it. he's a SENCo though so had a very particular skill. He is now in an AP school but does want to get out.

Lots of SLT round here is internal appointments. the best school in the county never ever advertises.

Politics is one of the reasons I want to leave. I know it happens in all schools but I have experienced bullying for a few years ( the main culprit has left but the impression he created of me sadly and unjustly lingers). It's a separate issue and shouldn't stop me from being shortlisted (other than the knock on effect of not being given projects perhaps , but that's not unique to me in my place) as I am hardly going to state it in an application : but it does make me feel very despondent when I know another year has gone by..

I wish the people you line manage could testify for you rather than the poeple who line manage you! I'm actually a very popular line manager. Trying to think of how to word that in an application and how to prove it! Impact!

You could incorporate that in your application perhaps.

I don't really know how to say it Squeeze !

I believe I am a decisive yet compassionate leader. I regularly seek feedback from those I line lead to this effect.

It is very important to me that I inspire those who I lead as much as I seek to be inspired by those for whom I work. I am always interested in seeking feedback in order to improve and have been told that my "visible leadership" project, in conjunction with supportive yet challenging line leadership meetings, has brought about significant change.

Hahaha! That's amazing!

Might need to work on a 'visible leadership' project answer!!

Thank you : you're a legend!

I try to inspire other professionals and have even been called "a legend".

I think you should use that if you ever apply for a job, definitely.