I think my PPA is wrong

[Blueshells]

I have 4 hours of non contact for leadership of a core department. Plus I have a form.

I feel like it's not enough - really struggling What do others do?

How many lessons do you teach and how many lessons are in the school week?

We have five one hour lessons a day. I teach twenty and then have one meeting and do two hours after school (compulsory.)

So in total I teach 22 out of 25.

Are the two hours after school intervention sessions? That most teachers would do? Or are they something you are required to do which aren’t in the standard teaching remit? I think five frees out of 20 is probably about right and the two extra after school hours don’t seem unreasonable as long as it’s not just you that has them. In every school I have worked in time allocated for tlrs is generally very little and the additional responsibilities frequently get people asking why they bother!

What are the 2 hours compulsory? They may come from directed time budget but not be included in the ppa calculations.

It should be a minimum of 10% of teaching time. So you teach 40 hours a fortnight so 4 hours ppa a fortnight.

I teach a core subject with leadership responsibilities and do 41 hours a fortnight plus an hour a week revision session. Also have meetings etc on top of this.

What were you offered in terms of management time when you took on the role? It should be written in your job description so if there is a discrepancy it would be perfectly reasonable to raise this with your line manager.

You are teaching 88%. The minimum number of frees you could have is 3 (10%). So you are not actually getting extra time for your role. In our school I think heads of core teach about 37 a fortnight. Full time teacher teaches 44/50.

PPA would be 2.5 hours a week. For all full timers. Management time is on top of that and not protected in the same way. Is your department short staffed. I never got my full allocation of management time when I was Head of Science. Never had enough teachers!

Your PPA is 2 lessons. You do not seem to have much allocated time to run your department. What do the other core dept leaders get?
In the school where I taught, we gave curriculum leads for core depts - Eng, Maths and Sci - 6 x50 min additional non-contact time for dept leadership. Large comp of 1200-1300 11-18 yrs. The meeting would have come out of that time.

In my school full time allocation is 40/50 per fortnight. Head of department gets 37/50

I don't know. It's a nightmare though.

I teach English and have two huge classes and the marking is horrendous.

What's the schools marking policy?

Why?

If that's one of the issues then can you change it? Or adjust how you interpret it but still "tick all the boxes".

Is the compulsory 2 hours weekly and forever? Or until y11 go? Ask to see your schools directed time budget if you are worried.

The question about marking policy is relevant as there is a huge push on reducing teacher workload, one way of which is to have a less intensive marking policy.

Yes but I teach a subject that is marking intensive. That's how it is be coupled with huge classes and limited PPA and I am buckling.

But it doesn't have to be marking intensive. Eg. Our English dept acknowledgement mark most work (ie tick in lesson) and mark 3 in depth pieces of writing every 10 weeks. Feedback is done in preprepared sheets so you aren't writing the same thing over and over, and a short individual comment added if required.

Your ppa doesn't sound limited. There is a question mark over these 2 hour compulsory sessions but you don't know if they are timetabled lessons or not.

Well yes, I do, but the students do far more than three pieces of writing a term!

Of course they do. I'm just suggesting that not every piece of writing needs intensive marking. Cut yourself some slack. How are other teachers finding it?

I suggest you meet with whoever is responsible for the marking policy and come up with some sensible workload reducing ideas.

You know I'd be fast tracked to capability if I did that.

Time to move schools then I think.... Honestly not every school is like yours.

No, but lots are, let's face it.

It may well be correct.

You teach 20 hours per week
2 hours PPA
3 hours for leadership responsibilities during teaching time (assuming the 4th hour allocated is the meeting you mention and that it falls within directed time but not during the school day)

20 + 2 + 3 adds up to the 25 teaching hours in the school week.

What are the 2 hours after-school? Daily or weekly? Are they 2 hours of taught lessons, with the associated planning and assessment? Or are they the time allocated to carry out non-teaching tasks? They should be shown on the Directed Time Budget, which you should have been given a copy of at the beginning of the school year.

I wouldnt be counting the after school sessions against your PPA/Leadership time because that is standard for most staff.
The rest depends on the size of the department, size of the school and what other responsibility posts exist in the department

That's not enough for the larger departments I've worked in (think 10-15 teachers). But friends who are HOD in English/Maths departments of 4/5 teachers tend to get what you've got, but they don't have a form and it's them plus a 2nd in team (one does ks3 and the other ks4). If you're a small core department then I'd have thought you should have your form removed Though.

My TLR meetings happen in my leadership time. I think that's fairly standard as it is doing leadership duties.

I think you need to talk to your union rep. It is not normal to teach lessons outside of your allocation. We do revision sessions but not every week and not compulsory. I’m not sure teaching can be counted in directed time. I’m looking for a way out.

5 frees out of 25 is tge equivalent of a whole day out a week isnt it?

More than that would be unusual surely.