Secondary HoDs non contact time?

[PumpkinPie2016]

Just out of curiosity really as my non-contact as a HoD in current school is quite a lot less than previous. Not complaining BTW, just interested to see what others get 😊

We have a 50 period fornight.

A full time teacher with no additional responsibility has 5 PPA per fortnight.

As HoD (core subject) we get the 5PPA a fortnight plus 4 Mgt time. It's roughly equally balanced so you are 'free' 5 periods one week and 4 the next.

We have form groups as well so all the work that goes with that e.g. making calls if they have two periods of absence/sitting on attendance meeting with pastoral worker/admin around things like behaviour points, school events etc. Monitoring and supporting with issues that arise either academic or personal. It's quite a big role at our school.

We also have more duties which is fair enough.

Previous school was a 25 period week.

Teachers with no additional responsibility got 3 PPA a week (not enough imo!).

As HoD we got 10 a week, so 3 PPA, 7 Mgt. No form group. Did have lots of duties though!

As I say, I am not complaining! I like my job, even though its tough at times! Just surprised at the difference between two schools (both state).

It seems pretty high. If you have 9 non-contacts out of 50 that is teaching 82% of the time table.

I am HoD for a core subject I teach around 66%. Though my school has a low teaching % for normal teachers as well without TLRs. They teach around 79% of a full TT.

Wow @rebotfc your school sounds generous 🙂

I do think my current school is less generous in terms of management time so it's interesting to see what others do.

We have form groups as well so all the work that goes with that e.g. making calls if they have two periods of absence - I would argue teachers should not be doing this as it's an admin task. It will eat a HUGE amount of your time potentially (I've been in schools with a similar policy) and is essentially unworkable, let alone if you are a HoD.

Current place HoDs don't have tutor groups, and have I believe a minimum of 7 additional non-contacts spread over a fortnight (above PPA), some have more if it's a big subject etc. They also do one or two periods of "on call" a week, which in theory could allow you to get some work done (but also sometimes you'd get nothing done). The non-contact isn't protected though, so some of them get hammered with a lot of cover.

We have 30 50 minute periods a week. Normal teachers teach 25 (school attempted to up it to 27 but we threatened to strike and they backed down); HODs teach 23 so 2 lessons of management time, one of which is taken up with with a Line Management meeting. Core HODs don't have a form but all other HODS do.

We have 50 lessons a fortnight. We have 40 teaching hours. During my 10 free lessons I have both my PPA and mgt time, including a one hour line mgt meeting plus we have a one hour duty. On top of that I am mentoring a trainee this year and haven't been allocated time to do that so I'm down to 6 hours a fortnight to do everything 🤷‍♀️.

It seems to vary quite a bit between schools doesn't it?

@niclw similar for me. Out of my 9 ppa/management per fortnight, I have 1 taken up by my line management meeting, plus another taken up meeting my technician for her line management meeting. I am mentoring an ect but in fairness, I get 1 extra period for this, though past experience says it's never enough. So, that leaves me 7 a fortnight for everything else. Some of those are 50 min period instead of 1 hour so probably about 6.5 hours.

There's then mentor training and subject network meetings I have to attend which inevitably means more work setting cover etc.

I think without the form it would be easier - they are a nice group but lots of need/parents wanting info etc. So it does take a lot of time. Last year, some didn't attend parents eve so then another free was taken with sending emails/making calls to the ones who hadn't attended.