4 form entry having to be identical

[Chiffandbip]

I have been becoming increasingly frustrated by the insistence from my HOY that each of our classes teach in exactly same way and all of us adhere to her planning and all the work in our books look the same.
I feel like a supply teacher.
Why can’t we each teach the national curriculum in our own ways?
I feel I’m being micro-managed and forced to teach in a very boring way that doesn’t bring me joy.
What would you do in this situation?

Find a new school?

Think about it the other way - do you want children in each year group to have totally different experiences, even totally different learning, in their passage through a year? The national curriculum isn't detailed enough, in the vast majority of subjects, to ensure consistency of learning within a year group if every teacher just plans their own lessons.

I teach in a multi-form entry. We share planning - so we each plan the subjects we are strongest in / most interested in and then share the resources across the year group, based on the school's long term curriculum (much more detailed than the NC for each subject).

Exactly how we deliver those lessons is up to us, but the expectation is that we keep in step week by week, and that we use the shared resources as the core teaching in each lesson (obviously some children need differentiated work, and we adapt mildly according to the needs of our classes).

Sharing planning and resources is great - shares the workload, means we each plan what we do best. If a particular subject is very boring, perhaps volunteer to adapt the shared planning you already have to be used across the year?

This is tricky. You should be able to adapt the planning. I provide planning and the teachers adapt to suit themselves and their groups. I do think however that kids should have a consistent experience. The answer to this may lie in getting involved in the planning. Could you ask to be involved in adapting lessons for a unit? Why is this approach being used? I think you need to talk about it with the HOD. If it is simply rigidity for the sake of it, consider moving if it doesn't suit. I would not like this. I always tweek my lessons or find new ways of doing stuff. I hate a very prescribed approach. I am always pleased when my dept use new, exciting ways to deliver the curriculum and am open to other ideas! Your HOD should be too.

My schools the same and it annoys me too. I understand each child shoukd get the same experiences etc but every piece of work shouldn't need to be identical.

I used to work in a school like this as an NQT and I hated this aspect of it. There was no real autonomy or ability to adapt things to your specific class. When the kids had been mixed, my incoming class had somehow become the academically weak one (assistant head decided to take all the previously brighter ones into one class). My class needed more time on things, they needed closer support and better structured learning journeys. I wasn't allowed to do any of that because, in the head's words, "I should be able to walk out of one room and pick up the exact same lesson in the next room."

I'm now in a one form where I have complete autonomy as to what I do and how I do it. It's a lot more work but I'm so much happier and it's so much better for the kids.

Ime teachers who insist on this are afraid that one of their colleagues will somehow show them up. It’s insecurity.

I think co-operation, sharing planning and a certain degree of consistency is a good thing, but expecting lessons to be exactly the same and at the same pace in different classrooms, or insisting that the work looks identical in each class's books - that way madness lies.

Thanks all for your thoughtful replies.
I have never been great at marching to someone else’s beat.
I think I’ll just agree then do what I think is best for the children in front of me when the school day starts!