Primary Teachers..

[sweetpeagarden]

If job hunting and applying for new class teacher roles, from your previous experience, what would you look out for?
What things would be ‘red flags’ in a school, and what qualities would be top of your list to indicate a good school environment?
😀

Look at staff turn over. If very few staff leave it means it's a good school that people are happy to stay at.

Good point!

Try and drive past early morning and evening to see how many cars are still there, will give you an idea of whether presenteeism is valued

I worked in a school in which there was little staff turnover. When I started the last teacher he started 5 years previous and everyone had been there 20 odd years. It was a close tight knit school and everyone got on really well. However, I found they were stuck in their ways as they did not get fresh ideas from ECT's or other teachers. It was the same repetitive teaching patterns with the odd training course thrown in.

How would you find out about staff turnover?

Staff turnover is a good one - although hard to measure unless you personally know someone who works there or you can see the vacancies advertised online….
If a school is always advertising then there has got to be some sort of problem.

the OFSTED report - what did the school get in their last inspection?
If it was years ago and the HT has changed since then might not be relevant….

league tables - how are students performing? If low attainment /results then it demonstrates that there is possible cause for concern with behaviour or the teaching is not up to standard.