Changing to primary

[SmileEachDay]

I’m a secondary HoD in a core subject. I enjoy my job, but have recently been considering changing to primary. I really like the teens I work with - but I think my natural style of teaching is quite “primary” - that has been said, in a really positive way, in a few observations.

In my head, there is room for a bit more creativity in primary, whereas secondary is essentially just an exam factory 🙄 I like the idea of developing the whole child rather than just one subject.

So - is it possible? Advisable? Has anyone done it?

A friend of mine did it. She did supply in primary first for experience.

I wondered about it but Im not sure about creativity. I think primary teachers and schools around here (may be different elsewhere) but every 20min was preplanned/progress had to be demonstrated. Pink and green marking which is v specific and has to follow strict guidelines and every book marked everynight . The unions survey showed primary had a higher workload. Locally a lot more is asked of teachers with regular afterschool meetings and requirement to be at discos/fayres etc. My primary teacher friends are so fed up with the curriculum as they want more space to be creative.

However our trust had 6 classes across the schoosl all doing exactly the same thing at the same time. Planning is done as a yeargroup but v little ability to plan own work. This would be different in a smaller school. I was v lucky in secondary and had a lot of freedom.

Primaries can be exam factories too in order to get sats scores at year 2 and 6. A lot of forcing small children to work before they really want to/able to. Writing to fit in all the bizarre grammar phrases tather than old fashiomed creative writting. Much less art and drama... I have really been put off primary as ir currently is in England today (private would be different!)

However I do like the idea of my own class!

Interesting.
intents what was your friend’s verdict?

The marking load doesn’t put me off - it can’t be worse than my current one!!

Yeah. I can see how the current regime has given primaries a dose of examitis which must stifle creativity.

Presumably the workload is still within the 1265 though?

The crazy expectations of marking locally are far more than I did in secondary but perhaps that varies school to school anyway. Mayve do some supply or shadow some friends locally to get a feel for it?

Certainly my friends village school sounds far freeer and really lovely!

That would be ideal, but difficult to organise around my current job. I do work for a MAT so maybe I could sneak it in under the guise of cross phase CPD 🤔

Village school sounds lovely....except I live in the middle of a city...

My primary teacher friends all wish they had done secondary!
The marking load in primary is completely bonkers, and the exam factory vibe is definitely present as well.

Presumably the workload is still within the 1265 though?

Ha Ha Ha.
You do realise that is the part they can direct you to be in one place, and is a tiny fraction of what is needed to complete the role ?

In my head, there is room for a bit more creativity in primary,

that used to be the case, when teachers were trusted, and given a little autonomy. Sadly not any longer.

Ha Ha Ha.
You do realise that is the part they can direct you to be in one place, and is a tiny fraction of what is needed to complete the role?

Yes. I’m the HoD at a secondary school!! I was responding to the PP who suggested workload was higher because of school directed things rather than the planning and infinite pointless admin!

🙄 bold fail

I made this move. I enjoy it more on the whole.
But like you, I was blinkered to the difference in work load! The marking load is much heavier and there's a lot more expected of you in terms of planning etc. I work a lot more hours now. (I didn't think it could possibly be that bad either. It is.)

The other thing I've found is there's no progression. I gave up a hefty TLR to move to primary, assuming I'd go back into middle leadership when I found my feet.
This has not happened, there are fewer positions available.

Tummy that’s interesting- what is it that makes the workload so much heavier? Just the marking or other stuff also? (Were you an English teacher before?)

I’d wondered about progression- I’m in the same boat re TLR.

Having said all that you say you enjoy it more? Why? What good about it?

Was your secondary background a hindrance when it came to getting interviews/jobs?

Workload will massively depend on the school .

Marking can be anything from mainly core subjects to deep marking every single piece of work in all subjects.Marking the marking you just did. Yes,that can be a thing.
Planning every single lesson. Making/finding resources for the lesson.
Displays and role plays.
Random shit "necessary " in the classroom like language if the month,best work, this area ,that area that all need updating frequently. For example having a Volcanoes banner because that's the topic is not good enough because it didn't specifically say what they are learning.
Assessment sheets for every lesson.
School trips.
Meeting after meeting after meeting...staff meeting,progress meeting, EAL meeting, SEN meeting,KS meeting etc.
Christmas,harvest, easter productions/plays/activities.
A LOT of parent interaction. You are responsible for everything from what they eat to their lost unmarked jumpers to how dirty their clothes are.
Whatever random job needs to be done and there's no one else available/SLT think you'd be a good fit for.
Subject leadership( you might or might not get time for it).
Looking for fucking glues every single day because they disappeared again. All you've got is a pot full of lids.

That's just a few bits off the top of my head and I'm not even a teacher.

Yeah that list from RebelWitchFace covers it.

I'm a primary teacher and I have 120 books to mark every day plus paperwork, planning, assessment, resources and everything else on that list.

Yes I taught English.
The marking has to be every day, on the whole. That can be hard to manage. Because obviously you can't save it up, because you have the same class doing the same subject again the next day, and it's every day.

It's very prescribed- it has to be, to an extent, because you can't be a specialist in everything obviously, so there's lots of guidance. But it can be stifling.

There's a culture of doing unnecessary stuff, IMO. Typing up planning to a level of detail that secondary reserve for Ofsted, for one thing.

I enjoy it more because of the kids!

What’s your role Rebel? Great list.

I hear you on the glue lids. They don’t get any better at putting them back at secondary

120 books - how long roughly per book? Is that different classes or one class, several subjects?

Hmm. Do you think that varies across schools Tummy - the typing up planning thing, or is that how it’s done in the primary sector? If so, why? Is there a rationale?

I can see how the marking could get old, fast. Sounds like exam marking, but all the time.

Marking would be one class, several subjects. Eg. Maths, English, reading, handwriting every day plus whatever foundation subject you have taught in the afternoon. Plus updating planning for the following day and prepping resources.

Can be easier if you find a 2 or 3 form entry school where teachers often share the planning workload.

Are you prepared to teach a range of subjects? From foreign languages, music, DT to PE, science etc?

I am a primary teacher, DH is a secondary HoD. All I can say is that I do at least 1-2 hours prep at home every evening and he brings no work home! I have to do a break duty every week, frequent assemblies, and run a club for a term. He does nobe of these. He has more meetings and longer pieces of work to mark but he has time a available during the day to do it. I have 5% PPA time and that's it. Our planning also seems to have to be more creative (although not always in a good way) while he can use more textbooks.

I couldn't deal with teens though, so I wouldn't do his job. I'm also in a non-SATS year group so don't have the pressure of exam results.

Oh and i forgot about learning objectives. Which again differ. The really lucky ones print them on sticky labels and there's just one line. The unlucky ones is normal paper which needs chopping and typing and picking up x 4 and kids supervised when they stick them in. The really unlucky ones have the previous but also it needs to contain what they're learning,an extension and a challenge which also needs some kind of marking(pink tick,highlighting ,the blood of a virgin,whatever).
I'm a TA.

It's not all bad , the cuddles ,the jokes and lightbulb moments are great.

Are you prepared to teach a range of subjects? From foreign languages, music, DT to PE, science etc?

It’s one of the things which attracts me.
All I can say is that I do at least 1-2 hours prep at home every evening and he brings no work home!
HOW?? How does he bring no work home? I work for at least an hour, usually 2 each evening plus a big portion of Sunday.
*

which also needs some kind of marking(pink tick,highlighting ,the blood of a virgin,whatever)

This made me laugh 😂😂

I once worked in a school where the snazzy new head tried to bring in a policy of a colour coded tick list for staff to fill in at the end of every lesson to check they’d done all the other stupid policies he’d tried to bring in.

The collective staff face was like this >>

The detailed typed planning for every single session that day is usually on the wall in a plastic folder at one school I go into. Its crazy intense - I only did that for observations! I used to do a line or two in my mark book....

After 15 years teaching, I went from primary to secondary - I would never go back.