Part time teaching doing lots of extras

[bobosparty]

I'm posting on behalf of someone else because I think her school is taking the piss.

She works 4 days per fortnight - was supposed to be more but had to drop down unexpectedly for personal reasons and her pay was obviously adjusted accordingly. The department she's in is very short staffed, and, as an experienced member of it she's voluntarily taken on a lot of extras- planning for the dept as a whole, marking assessments for supply teachers, helping HoD with data etc. No one has asked her to do this, but she can see colleagues/students would be in the shit if she didn't ...

Should she be paid extra for doing this?

She'll only be paid for the days she's actually in front of kids. This is why people are leaving teaching. It's the never ending job

She'll only be paid for her 4 days. It sounds like she has voluntarily taken on additional duties, so she can't expect to be paid for work she hasn't been asked to do and isn't part of her job. More fool her if she does work she isn't paid for!

But is that the law or could the school/the head choose to pay her more? Surely they could pay her a day or two overtime? I've seen the bag she brought home with her yesterday - it's ridiculous

They could choose to pay her more, of course, but they won't.

Lol no overtime in teaching. You just work lots and lots and pray for the holiday

Teachers are paid for time in front of a class, with a bit extra (directed time) built in to the pay. Almost all teachers work above that - I’ve brought home tonnes of marking (not all of it mine) over Easter, this is just the way it is. If this becomes a long term thing she could ask to be paid an honorarium as it sounds like she’s taking on work at a department level, but this would be entirely at the discretion of the school.

I would say being paid 4 days and actually working 5 long days is pretty normal, likewise being paid 3 days and working 4 longish days. A normal teaching load for a full time teacher is close to 60 -70 hours a week so working part time just takes you closer to a "normal" 35 hour week, it doesn't buy you a day off.

So on 2 days a week it would be normal to work up to one extra (normal length) day a week, do you think she is doing more? The compensation is, off course, the school holidays.

What's the point in being part time then??

Not sure how the compensation is the holidays when she's brought a sack of work home to do over the holidays!

Seems like a total rip off to me!

Someone is being paid extra to do this stuff, and it’s not her. TLR-holders should be doing the extra marking and data stuff.

Planning should be shared out fairly among the department and if it can be kept until gained time once exam classes leave, that’s the ideal time to be doing it.

It’s very easy to have the piss taken out of you in teaching.

Unfortunately the key word is 'volunteered'. She sounds wonderful and supportive to her colleagues, but realistically schools do not have the funding to pay for people to plan, prepare and assess for other people.
It's a hard place to be at the moment, but when schools are having to make serious financial cuts to safeguard core business in schools. Simply not as easy as paying for an extra day or two of overtime.

could the school/the head choose to pay her more?

They could pay her more, but they won't. They probably can't afford it, and why would they offer to pay for something they're currently getting for free? The only solution is for her to stop doing the extra work. If they desperately need it done they'll have to arrange to pay someone to do it, which may or may not be your friend.

she needs to stop doing it

Devil's advocate- Why would they pay her if she's volunteered to do it for free?

If they won't pay (can't pay most likely with funding cuts), then she needs to not take on extra.

Having said that, in primary as soon as you're beyond NQT you will always be given extra responsibilities and there's never any pay for it. But I know the culture in secondaries is much more open to paying people for doing a job over and above a standard teaching role.