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Original poster

Directed time

14 replies

pinkyponkyplink · 01/10/2023 18:58

Do displays come under this? Lunchtime duties? After school clubs? We have had a breakdown of directed time given to us and we are under the 1265 hours. Our SLT want us to do more

OP posts:
LolaBear66 · 01/10/2023 19:57

Don’t forget to add any trapped time- time between the end of the day and a staff meeting. Also I’m sure you add 5 mins before the start and end of the day, plus 5 mins at the start and end of the lunch break which acts as a buffer to children coming in early or dealing with them. Parents evenings plus break duties too. Any online training. It all adds up!

Toddler101 · 01/10/2023 21:02

Lunch duties would come under directed time. After school clubs would too unless you've volunteered or offered to run them. Displays I don't think would be directed time, unless time is specifically set aside to do them. In my school, we get a staff meeting a term dedicated to updating displays.

Original poster
pinkyponkyplink · 01/10/2023 21:29

After school clubs come under directed time? New website says not so I'm confused

OP posts:
Original poster
pinkyponkyplink · 01/10/2023 21:29

Neu website not new website

OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 01/10/2023 21:30

You can't be directed to do lunch duties. And 1265 is a maximum, not a target. You need to ask your union reps to follow this up.

ProfessorGambol · 01/10/2023 21:34

If you're directed by SLT to run a club, it would come into directed time. If you volunteer to run a club, it wouldn't count within the hours.

echt · 01/10/2023 22:18

MrsHamlet · 01/10/2023 21:30

You can't be directed to do lunch duties. And 1265 is a maximum, not a target. You need to ask your union reps to follow this up.

This. If you do a lunch duty you are literally working for nothing, though some schools give a "free"lunch for this. For the same reason you can't be directed to do any work at all during lunch.

echt · 01/10/2023 23:37

Don't accept SLT's calculations at face value. Check them against the NEU's guide. Be prepared for SLT to piss and moan about staff watching the clock on hours and minutes when that's exactly what they're doing. Grin As Corporal Ridley used to say in "Dad's Army": They don't like it up 'em.

Caveat. I was a workplace union rep in my Victorian school and the system there means the rep goes in directly to the principal and works out the the hours. More effective than the UK system.

Toddler101 · 02/10/2023 16:48

pinkyponkyplink · 01/10/2023 21:29

After school clubs come under directed time? New website says not so I'm confused

Yes, unless you've volunteered to run a club. If you run a club 'because you have to' or SLT tell you to then it's directed time.

noblegiraffe · 02/10/2023 17:19

Lunch duties should be paid. Sometimes this pay comes in the form of a free lunch. Lunchtime is absolutely not directed time, teachers went on strike to get a lunch break!

There should be some contingency time in the budget in case anything unexpected needs to be added.

Look very carefully at the time allocated to INSET days and compare it to an actual timetable for an INSET.

Elendel · 03/10/2023 06:03

State school or academy?
If the latter, anything goes, really, beyond the minimum legal entitlement.

In my school, we have our non-contact hours calculated on the actual number of lessons taught, not the total possible (i.e. I only get 4 non-contacts rather than the standard 5 because I teach fewer than 50 lessons/ fortnight), and not including the after-school mandatory lessons.

We also have daily lunch duties for all staff (half a lunchtime duty each), but because we get a 20min break during the day, school can get away with that.

Training is done online, so doesn't count into our directed time, even though almost all of it is done at home in our own time because there is no time during the day. Same for displays.

So then we get to do even more during the hours that are actually counted into our total.

Lancrelady80 · 03/10/2023 20:17

Ah, the mythical directed time calendar. Only seen one in the wild twice in the past 20 years of teaching!

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 04/10/2023 19:08

Elendel · 03/10/2023 06:03

State school or academy?
If the latter, anything goes, really, beyond the minimum legal entitlement.

In my school, we have our non-contact hours calculated on the actual number of lessons taught, not the total possible (i.e. I only get 4 non-contacts rather than the standard 5 because I teach fewer than 50 lessons/ fortnight), and not including the after-school mandatory lessons.

We also have daily lunch duties for all staff (half a lunchtime duty each), but because we get a 20min break during the day, school can get away with that.

Training is done online, so doesn't count into our directed time, even though almost all of it is done at home in our own time because there is no time during the day. Same for displays.

So then we get to do even more during the hours that are actually counted into our total.

Most academies still follow STPCD/burgundy book. So they should still follow directed time e.g. no lunch duties unless paid, no dictated after school clubs and so on.

If you're teaching after school, that should still be included in your PPA calculation. Your lunch also needs to be included in your directed time.

They are presumably doing this because staff are accepting this and not challenging it- not because they're actually necessarily "allowed" to.

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 04/10/2023 19:11

pinkyponkyplink · 01/10/2023 18:58

Do displays come under this? Lunchtime duties? After school clubs? We have had a breakdown of directed time given to us and we are under the 1265 hours. Our SLT want us to do more

You should always be a bit under 1265, there should be at least a small contingency left in, otherwise the school is in trouble if they need to make any changes.

If you are right on the 1265, and your school need to call an urgent meeting later in the year, or something comes up that hasn't been foreseen, then they'd be really stuck. It might be worth staff or a union rep mentioning this to them?

What does your rep think of the calendar?

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