SLT role- worth the extra stress?

[mrwhitesfly]

Please give me the pros and cons of being a full time primary teacher with SLT role when you have a family. Is it doable or not? Is it worth the TLR? I feel I am just about keeping my head above the water being 'just' a classteacher- I'm not sure if I want the extra stress of being on SLT or if the extra workload would finish me off! Really interested in your views, thanks.

It depends on many factors:

How much reduction in teaching?
How sorted is the school (would you just be keeping things ticking)?
How much focus is on the role in the SDP?
How many people would you line manage and do they need a lot of support?
How is recruitment in your area?
How supportive are the rest of SLT?
How career motivated are you?
Can you cope with the fact that people love to hate SLT?

and I'm sure many other things..

All good points!

I have recently given up my role on SLT. I was being paid £25/30 a week and very simply it wasn't worth it.
I was in and out of class for various things. Had more work to do and although none of this was anything huge there was something pretty much every week so the amount of family time I had was disappearing.
Personally I would say that if you are concerned about how it will affect your home life balance then best not to. I am so much happier if not a little poorer.

It is very, very school dependent.
I worked for 1 head who decided all SMT meetings were at 7am. I worked for another who released staff from teaching to come to SMT meetings.
Depends on things like size of school, and what responsibility you wold take on, over and above your teaching role, that you aren't already doing.
Depends on what the TLR is for, and whether it is a whole new project, or carrying on a smooth running machinery that is already in place.
Depends if you want to go on to promotion in the next few years.
Depends if you feel you can make a difference to the culture of the school, or to the families attending the school, by taking on the role. Depends if you are more concerned about what another person taking the role in a different direction might do to your workload, too.

Thanks everyone, lots to think about.

depends, i know i wouldn't do slt personally having had candid conversations with some over the years.

Everyone is different and some people can handle it better than others but I had a mate [in a primary school] who had left slt as she said it was killing her marriage.

Another[an asst head in a primary school] admitted to me that it had destroyed her marriage and quality of life and she was now a single mum because of her dedication to her job, I met her again for coffee recently and she seemed quite disillusioned and bitter with it all.-This woman worked hard and was very respected but you have to ask yourself-is it worth the price on your happiness and well being??

Even roles such as hod in a secondary school can be brutal and can leave a teacher overwhelmed,stressed and miserable- I've seen that in several friends in the profession over the years.

Also, is the money going to make a difference to you? Is it going to mean you can move to a bigger house or pay for a holiday abroad every year? Or is it going to mean you can afford music lessons for your kids?
If it's just money that you will just "waste" on more clothes or takeaways etc then it's probs not worth.

Not that same situation but I am moving from part to full time this year and hopefully a tlr in the next year simply due to finances