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Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

Aged 54 and just been put on an 'informal support plan'

29 replies

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 13/05/2021 22:18

I'm fucked aren't I?

OP posts:
EnoughnowIthink · 13/05/2021 22:36

Hope you’re OK. Speak to your union rep in school if you have one or contact your union for advice and support. It happened to me a few years ago. I resigned to avoid issues and with the help of the union rep ensured that any future reference would be non-biased. I then switched to supply. 6 years later, I have a lovel, permanent job in a lovely school where I am appreciated and where I enjoy teaching, It doesn’t have to be the end.

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 14/05/2021 04:52

Thank you for that positive post! We have no union rep in school but I have contacted the regional rep and so they are aware. I'm just going to do what I can to survive and try to scrape through to the summer. This will be the longest 8 weeks of my life.

OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 14/05/2021 16:20

You're not fucked. In my school, I often work with people on support plans to help them to improve the areas which have been identified as a weakness. Many of them go on to come off the plan.
You should have very clear targets and very clear lines of accountability to help you meet them.

EllieNBeeb · 14/05/2021 16:40

@MrsHamlet

You're not fucked. In my school, I often work with people on support plans to help them to improve the areas which have been identified as a weakness. Many of them go on to come off the plan. You should have very clear targets and very clear lines of accountability to help you meet them.
Yes, I was going to say the same. Sometimes any of us get a bit too settled in our role, it's not a negative to have target to improve on.
MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 15/05/2021 09:09

I don't gave one target. I have 5 which have all been subdivided into about 5 mini targets and had a meeting with the HT yesterday who did not say one positive thing despite my making inroads into the plan. If this was genuine support, I would embrace it. But it's not. It's a tool to demoralise me.

OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 15/05/2021 09:25

You have a choice to make: you either speak to your union and negotiate a way out (which I had to do many years ago) or you speak to your union and get them to help you force the head to help you make the improvements they claim you need to make.

RuleWithAWoodenFoot · 15/05/2021 10:04

Do you want to stay there?

TortolaParadise · 15/05/2021 10:04

Sorry to hear this. We have hardly been at school 'normally' for the past twelve months. What are these targets based on? Remote teaching? Sometimes your pay scale can cause discrimination and resentment - although funnily enough no staff member earns more than the Head. Good that you have the union involved. Stay strong.

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 15/05/2021 10:07

I have informed the union. I don't want to stay there but I need to pay the bills!

OP posts:
hedgehogger1 · 15/05/2021 11:39

Look for another job in the meantime

MrsZola · 15/05/2021 12:05

Definitely look for another job. You are older, exlerienced and ultimately expensive. I sadly know too many teachers (me included) who have been put on 'support' plans which are a euphemism for getting rid of you. If you know it's not genuine support, spare the pain and go. I was speaking to a young teacher who qualified 4 years ago and she's looking to move on from her current school - she's being priced out of jobs already because she's more expensive than an NQT.

EnoughnowIthink · 15/05/2021 12:56

Supply really may be an option for you. I left my school utterly demoralized and felt useless and that there was no way I was going to be able to continue. I signed up to 6 local agencies and for the first term, I think there were only 2 days where I wanted to work that I wasn't able to because no one phoned me. Yes, some days I worked as a cover supervisor or a TA or a HLTA, but I always worked. Several schools began to ask for me by name and I became known as a specialist in a couple of primary schools (I am secondary trained) which opened doors I hadn't previously considered (about half of my job is now working with nursery, EYFS and KS1). The agencies appreciated my flexibility and a couple of them phone me every year to check if I'm back on the market! After that, I started on longer term contracts for a couple of years till I got my current job where I just stayed. The school paid a fee to the agency that had supplied me, no questions asked, because they wanted me to stay.

What supply did was give me breathing space. It also taught me - very quickly - that I was capable of teaching anything and everything with the minimum of planning put in front of me. Really helped with the thinking on my feet skills and whilst I had always worked in challenging schools and was no stranger to having to manage behaviour, it massively honed my behaviour management skills. I am a far better teacher today than I was without that supply experience.

I would urge you to speak with supply agencies now and sign up for them - it can take up to 6 weeks to get a DBS through and several weeks to manage the registration process (although you will have to provide references from your current workplace so I guess you need to be clear on whether you're staying or going). You will need to put a DBS on the update service to avoid having to pay for separate checks with every agency. Don't do what many supply teachers do and stick with one agency because they're all chasing the same work and the work within a given area is limited. Schools change their allegiance to an agency at whim. Signing to several agencies mean you are seeing all the work, not just some of it. They soon get to know who can do the job and will pay a premimum for you to work for them - and for longer term roles, you can play them off one against the other for the higher daily rates. It's a game but once you learn how to play it, supply can really work for you.

Anyway, take care of yourself and don't let them get to you. It's a sign of the times that experienced teachers are being subjected to this kind of treatment.

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 15/05/2021 13:11

What a positive outcome @EnoughnowIthink. Definitely food for thought!

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hedgehogger1 · 27/05/2021 20:09

@MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers how's things going?

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 17/06/2021 12:19

I have resigned and have been signed off sick until end of term. The HT escalated things and my health began to suffer.

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somethinghastogive46 · 17/06/2021 18:18

@MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers

I have resigned and have been signed off sick until end of term. The HT escalated things and my health began to suffer.
I'm so sorry to hear that, it's utterly shit when they do this to experienced teachers. There must be a better way to save money!! Have you got any sort of plan for the future?
MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 17/06/2021 18:34

I'm definitely never setting foot in a classroom again. I can take my pension in a year and have some rainy day savings to tide me over.

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CoRhona · 17/06/2021 20:15

Op that's so sad. My LM put me on one but I fought it, achieved it and then was moved away from them; the difference is my HT was very supportive.

You can't succeed without their support, can you?

StaffRepFeistyClub · 19/06/2021 13:10

@MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers

I have resigned and have been signed off sick until end of term. The HT escalated things and my health began to suffer.
Really sad to hear.

One of my former colleagues is now targeted as she is UPS 3 and early fifties - her dept haven’t given her any A level for the past couple of years and her timetable for next year is going to be the mainly weaker groups. She has been told to suck it up but she is fearing the worse.

StaffRepFeistyClub · 19/06/2021 13:12

You can do some supply work as a fill in? Maybe some tutoring?

Seashor · 20/06/2021 08:34

I’m SO frustrated and angry for you op. It’s absolutely outrageous that they can get away with this; but they do! These people are narcissistic bullies who know exactly what they’re doing. There is a special place in hell for them all.
I promise you, it will get better for you now you’re out of that toxic environment and when you’re feeling stronger go for constructed dismal.

somethinghastogive46 · 20/06/2021 10:03

@Seashor

I’m SO frustrated and angry for you op. It’s absolutely outrageous that they can get away with this; but they do! These people are narcissistic bullies who know exactly what they’re doing. There is a special place in hell for them all. I promise you, it will get better for you now you’re out of that toxic environment and when you’re feeling stronger go for constructed dismal.
Unfortunately this is a tried and tested method of "encouraging" older (more expensive) teachers out of the profession. Unless you get to management level, teaching is not kind to older teachers. It's horrible and needs to be tackled nationally.
MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers · 20/06/2021 14:02

I have just got back from meeting two friends who also work there who have said that the HT has now started targeting others. I'm so glad I'm out of such a toxic environment.

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Historytoo · 22/06/2021 22:10

I'm so sorry OP. All that experience that you had to give and that the school has lost.

StaffRepFeistyClub · 23/06/2021 11:24

I met a check-out operator at Sainsbury's who used to be in teaching. I met her late one night after some stupid TAG meeting. She said got out when approaching 50 as it was getting too much. She said she loved her shifts, can get extra shifts if she wants occasionally, no stress, no observations hoops and she can take holiday when she wants.

Another example of an experienced who was probably 'managed out.'
As a country, we try to do education on the cheap with large class sizes and lots of contact time.