Teaching full-time 'unendurably hard', says Lucy Kellaway

[noblegiraffe]

Lucy Kellaway, the financial journalist who was so sure that teaching was a nice ease into retirement after a hard career that she set up a teacher recruitment path for older career changers before training to teach herself, has dropped to 3 days a week and switched from maths (core subject) to Business and Economics (mainly upper school I would have thought).

www.tes.com/news/exclusive-teaching-full-time-unendurably-hard-says-lucy-kellaway

I agree with her on the issue of full time teaching though - I think the only reason I’ve stayed in the job so long (over a decade) is because I’m part time. I honestly don’t know how you full-timers do it.

But schools are shit at part time teaching. My timetable is a patchwork mess over two weeks, and I’m not allowed to apply for promotion. I have the same number of performance management targets as a full timer and I’m judged on exam results from shared classes. Communication is terrible so if I miss meetings, I don’t find out what was said.

If part time teaching is the way forward for staff retention, then schools really need to get better at offering it in reasonable conditions.

@Hubanmao I absolutely agree with you and your perspective is very refreshing. I am a FT HoD of a core subject with 2 young dcs and I really feel it can be done, if you are strict with boundaries and work habits. I recognise so much of the martyrdom you describe.

I would hope that given her background, Lucy Kellaway might spend her time campaigning for a reasonable teacher workload so that she can complete her NQT year full time in the job that she was so passionate about only last year. I followed her because we started at the same time - I have just completed my first term NQT - and I am well aware I am not even on a full timetable yet.

@HolidayShopping you can add to your list:

Unqualified teachers in academies
HLTAs being allowed to teach
Cover supervisors

By the way, now that that initiative has been around for a few years - does anyone who works in an academy have any success stories of excellent unqualified teachers joining the profession?

Add on to this the way they manage out older staff too - more women than men imo. When I took VR a few years ago at the age of 59, I was the oldest full-time member of staff.

I got a part-time job in a primary school doing my specialist subject and am still there now in my 60s - the oldest member of staff by far!

I work part time though I was full time for longer. Children, the usual. I can’t imagine going back to having no “space” in the week to do what needs to be done for my own dc and home. But being part time is harder work wise than being full time. It’s just far more concentrated.