SLEs

[Piggywaspushed]

I posted something a bit like this a while back but things have moved on a bit.

Are there any SLEs out there (preferably secondary) who can describe their role, how it impacts upon their role within their actual school - timetable, pay and responsibilities wise... and what the pros and especially cons are?

For example, would it be considered normal for a head of faculty in a very large school to continue with that role and become an SLE, or would they normally drop that role? Would an SLE expect a pay rise of some kind? How much free time would be manageable for an SLE? How much impact has the role had on your ability to do your 'proper' job to the best of your capacity and ability?

I have no axe to grind : am investigating for a friend who can't get straight answers from her school and who , I think, is being told some odd and / or discouraging things.

My HOD got put through this (rather than applying for it iyswim) and as far as I can tell, it made bog-all difference to his role because he already works across schools within the MAT, develops teachers and so on. I think my MAT is angling to have a teaching school so it looks good to have some on the payroll. That would be my take on it!

He must have dome it through a TS though as only TSAs can appoint them?
This is what is putting my friends and others off : that it is an easy way to send envoys out to other schools without compromising your own school . There is a fear of big increase in workload with little to no increase in pay and having to hold on to current responsibilities.

To me , it sounded like only a martyr or a real keen bean would do it. Or someone very fulfilled by getting out and about. I couldn't see where the increased planning time would come from...

Yeah I think he only did it because he was already doing the work and it was just a nice label for the school to point to. If you’re not already doing the work it’s probably a bit of a nightmare.
Good stepping stone for becoming some kind of education consultant though.

I applied for and was appointed SLE about 4 years ago. It meant sod all. I got no extra money or time and continued as a HOD. I was expected to help with CPD in school but since I was a subject SLE (Drama) and the only Drama teacher in the school the CPD wasn’t exactly relevant. I went out to other schools twice to work with their Drama teachers (one was starting BTEC and I was already established as a BTEC teacher) and the other was having issues getting high grades. Both schools paid my school for my time but I didn’t see the money, despite the fact that the BTEC training was in my own time! To be fair, the HT let me have some extra money for the School show as a thank you. It was more a kudos thing for the school but for me, it was meaningless.

Interesting evil and sort of what I thought.

I was certainly under the impression that the info my friend and others got in a meeting actively put them off applying..

This is something I've been interested in for a while. I spoke to several people who are SLEs (primary) and was told it means absolutely nothing - schools don't have the budget to call on SLEs to support them, so it's a nice label to have but makes absolutely no difference to them. I've now been invited to apply and will do it, because I'm no longer class based and my role within school is very similar to that of an SLE (very very large school). If I'm off at another school doing SLE work, I can't be working at my school so I don't see my workload increasing. Let's see what happens!

My take on it is the workload increases because on your days in your own school you are busy prepping stuff for that and then have to get the SLE stuff ready too in pretty limited time : I may be being a bit negative in my perception though.

But it sounds like you current role might not actually involve a lot of lesson prep and planning?

I'm a secondary SLE. I've got a reduced timetable but it rarely matches with the schools I've been asked to go into- still trying to get into one for an initial meeting but they are not making it easy for me.
I work across a collegiate but am still HoD in my own school- as for pay, it's the same as I was on last year but I've been moved to the leadership scale to allow for progression going forward

I think the pay/time varies from school to school, I know I get more time than the SLE's in the other collegiate schools.

I have found I'm being called on more in my school to assist with T&L stuff.

Thanks kreme that is more or less as I imagined.

I had that problem with non matching timetables in my role too. It becomes very irritating!

I may ultimately be in a position in my own school where I am nominally senior to SLEs but not on the leadership scale myself. Bizarre.