Am I being taken advantage of??

[Jojotodd]

Hi all,
I’ve been teaching for 15 years and am on UPS 2 and have been for the last 5 years or so. I asked to progress to UPS 3 but was told no money in budget. However, since going up to UPS 2, I have been given increasing levels of responsibility but with no pay progression. Is it normal for a UPS teacher to be given: science lead (been told I will def be leading a deep dive if ofsted come in), assessment lead and organise transition programme for Y6 - as well as being the Year 6 teacher for last 4 years. I only get an hour a week release for all of that on top of normal 10% PPA time.
does anyone have any experience with this?
Any advice would be really appreciated!
Jo

My workplace tried this on and I said I wouldn’t do it unless the remuneration matched. Now they’ve got no one but I’ve drawn a ring around my time and health. Give these roles back, your time is valuable and if they don’t want to pay for it perhaps they can do it themselves!

Thanks @Blankstarer - sounds like you did the right thing! Were you on UPS when you said no to the extra work? It’s so hard to know as the union and govt guidelines are not clear on what UPS teachers should be expected/not expected to do! I think I will try to talk to my HT about this and hope for the best!

I've seen a few discussions online recently about subject leads in primary school and the consensus does seem to be that most don't get TLRs.

That said, if assessment lead is a whole school role, that seems like the sort of thing that should get a TLR?

I think it does sound like a lot, and if there's no option to move to UPS3, I think there is a conversation to be had about losing some responsibility. Or looking to move to another school which can offer you UPS3.

Thanks @Postapocalypticcowgirl I think you’re right - every year they seem to give me another responsibility but no extra pay - I need to have a chat to my HT but keep avoiding it as he can be a bit tricky to deal with!! 😂

Surely all teachers are a subject lead though? In a small school, you'd be subject lead of several subjects and wouldn't get anything like weekly release time. What does assessment lead involve? It's a pisstake saying they can't afford for you to be UPS3 though - bet they can afford head and deputy head salaries! The difference between UPS2 and 3 is negligible in terms of a school's budget.

You can’t be denied pay progression if you have passed your PM.

UPS is not about extra responsibilities as the standards for teachers on mainscale and ups are now the same. There is something that says contributes to wider school and that is where schools seem to put their extra work.

the word is no. And it is a strange one to say. Write down all of your responsibilities and ask them which one you should stop if asked to take on more