Jobshare

[danro]

Hi everyone,

So I’ve been doing supply since September and have started completing my NQT sessions through short term supply (which you are able to do in Wales).

I haven’t been looking for a full time position but a jobshare has been offered to me in a school I’ve been working in very regularly and I really love.
I’m having a think on it but pretty sure I will accept the jobshare (2 days a week) - has anyone had any experience of job sharing and how did you find it?

I’d still be completing my NQT and I will be job sharing with a very experienced Deputy Head so I am more than a little nervous!

Thanks!

I've jobshared, and know quite a few people who have.
Not sure if there is anything particularly you want to know ?

As far as I'm concerned the key is communication. Much easier these days with e-mails / text / Whatsapp, etc.
It makes life a lot easier if you can divide up subjects a bit, so you aren't dependent on knowing where the other person has got to / what the children hav or haven't grasped by the time you start, as that makes planning difficult, so apart from subjects the dc do every day (English and maths) I'd divide the other subjects up so one of you does - say - all the music and the other, all the art, or one does all the Geography and one does all the history, etc. Mkaes planning, marking, and the physicality of taking books home or not, much easier. Even with maths I used to do all the 'number' and my jobshare all the 'topic' stuff, for example, as if they were separate lessons. Obviously there is some cross over, but it can be really difficult if you want to take books home and the other person needs them to work in, and also if you want to do your planning at the end of your 2 days, but they will have 3 other days teaching before you see them next.
Of course, as your partner is the DH, and the experienced on and the established one, there may be a lot that is done her way to begin with.

It will be much easier / better than doing irregular supply though. Lovely to start building relationships with the children and their families.

Thank you so much for your reply BackforGood

No nothing in particular I wanted to know- just how people have found the experience I suppose!

There is still quite a lot I need to ask in terms of the planning etc - I have a meeting today so need to make a list of any questions I have - but that does sound much easier if you take responsibility for a subject/topic each! I just feel worried at the moment that as I’m an NQT, my planning and lessons etc won’t be up to scratch and I’ll look stupid compared to me job share but I also realise that’s my own insecurities that I need to put to one side!

I agree that it will be nice to get to know the children and their parents a bit more, the class is Year 4 - a huge ability range - but also lovely so I am looking forward to it in lots of ways

I'd second the communication being key - particularly going up the year groups as they get a bit more savvy about how to play the system. I used to see what was going on in other classes in the school because of how the layout of the building and where my classroom was - and I saw one class of middle-KS2 who'd sussed out that if they clobbered their school mate on the way out of the door (then scarpered off home) on the day the jobshare changed over... it never got sorted out properly and passed on to be dealt with the following day (the school generally had behaviour problems at the time granted) - and there was a definite and distinct pattern of "wind yer mate up and leg it" on a Tuesday evening and again on a Friday evening.

One of my kids has had a job share teaching their class this year and it's worked well though - they've basically split things so they have a whole morning of Maths on the days one is in, and a whole morning of English the day the other is in and split it that way across the week (they've swapped subjects over during the year so the coverage has been equal).

Thank you WeightedCompanionCube - will certainly bare that in mind and ensure that our communication is as good as it can be. I’ve not met the teacher I will be jobsharing with yet as they are being appointed DH from September - so unlike other teachers in the school I haven’t had chance to build a relationship at all through the supply work I have done there. However I hope that we’ll get on and work together well from the off.