Second subject

[Sara798]

Hello,
I have middle leadership responsibility for a core subject in a secondary school but this year I have been made to teach a subject at a-level which I have never taught before. I have asked the HoD for support and received nothing. I have asked to be taken off the subject. It is causing me huge anxiety and I feel sick before going to work every day. The resource on the system are not fit for purposes. Teaching the subject in KS3 would have been ok but a level seems ridiculous especially for the students’ sake. My LM spoke to SLT but they said that they haven’t got anyone else to do it. Am I wrong to feel so miserable? I’m currently looking to leave this school asap.

have all your requests for help been in writing? Email trail?

have you joined any facebook groups for the subject and asked for help?

any resources on tes?

All on email, yes. I’m not on Facebook and today I had to pay for resources on TES. I just think it’s absurd, I would never want anon specialist teaching my first subject, but if I had to there would be a full set of resources available to them. It’s the first time in over ten years I’ve had this.

Fill out an invoice for finance for that department.

email the hod repeating that you need resources and copy in the dept head in charge of curriculum.

Good ideas, thank you.

If you can make specific requests, that might be helpful. If you can make contact with a teacher of the subject in another school, they may be able to make recommendations, or even offer help.
Possible things to request:

• exam board inset course
• time to meet with a teacher in another school (plus payment to that school for their teacher's time)
• subscription to website(s) with useful resources
• budget for resources bought ad hoc, so that if you are planning at half-term you do not have to spend your own money with the risk of not getting it back
• additional non-contact time for preparation (either regular or time off timetable).

Put requests in writing and keep a record. If they turn round and complain about results/progress, you need it recorded that you've asked for help and not got it.

It's a really tricky situation - the alternative was presumably to cancel the subject.

It may be worth mentioning that you are considering applying for other jobs; they may realise that it would be better for them to invest in supporting you rather than have to start again on finding someone to teach it.