Would you say SLT can dictate the stress of teaching.

[greencaroetofleaves]

I'm really enthusiastic to start a PGCE in 2025! Am going to get time in schools and have been reading many, many different threads on teaching!

What appears to be a common theme is that a lot of SLT teams in schools are really not that great! They don't seem to respect their staff and there doesn't seem to be a united front (which I imagine is what you need to run a school successfully)!

When you teach are you given opportunities to feedback on how SLT work and what improvements can be made? Who do you complain to if you feel the school is being run appallingly?

I would urge you to remember that threads on here and other fora are started by a self-selecting group of people who are in need of support or advice. People who are happy with the leadership of their schools don’t need to talk about it. In the same way, if you read the Relationships board you would be left with the impression that all married are unhappy and unfaithful. Some are, of course, but many many are not.

There are poor senior leaders in the profession just as there are in any sector. All schools have grievance and whistleblowing policies if needed. In twenty years of teaching, however, and having been on several leadership teams myself, the vast majority of senior leaders I have known and worked with have been decent people who are doing their best with diminishing resources. Please don’t enter the profession assuming that the majority of SLT are inept.

Maybe I’m being a bit touchy, but I feel like you’re getting ahead of yourself a bit here.

You’re still over a year away from even starting teacher training and two years from getting QTS. I find it strange for you to assume that you will know better than SLT how to run a school. There are good senior leaders and crappy senior leaders (and sometimes just a good or bad fit between a teacher and a school’s culture), but most of us are doing our best in really challenging contexts. I meet a lot of other senior leaders in my work and they overwhelmingly seem like good, hardworking people who are doing their best for the communities they work with.

I’ve met school leaders who run schools that I know I wouldn’t personally like to work in, but I can respect that there are teachers who do want to work in those kinds of schools and parents who want what they offer for their children. There isn’t one right way to run a school well.

@Takoneko I was waiting for a response like this! I'm asking a question, in response to all the many posts of bad SLT in schools on here. I'm not getting ahead of myself. I'm not sure what I wrote that gave you the impression I would ever know more than a SLT when I haven't even started the training.
I'd be very naive to not have any questions to ask.

@ThanksItHasPockets thanks for your well-rounded and positive response! Really appreciate it! You're right, Mumsnet is the round up of all things negative sometimes so I really appreciate your positive spin.

I apologise if I read your post the wrong way. I accept I might be a bit touchy. It’s a tough time to be a school leader and it sometimes feels like a lot of the frustrations about the way the education system has been run into the ground over the last decade and a half get thrown our way.

Teachers are rightly frustrated with “SLT” asking them to jump through the latest Ofsted hoop but the pressure from above on HTs and their teams is very real. We are fortunate in my school to be in a position where our results are good enough that we don’t have to dance to that tune so much, but not all schools are so lucky.

An end to single phrase Ofsted judgements can’t come soon enough.

@Takoneko no worries at all AND it is a Monday!

I totally appreciate the pressure you are under! And I want to absorb as much information as possible to give me a well rounded picture before I make my decision. I really appreciate your feedback and time to post.

I think I read a few comments on here (negative) where people had complained that their SLT hadn't helped with behavioural issues or had undermined the teacher in charge! And I guess I was just enquiring in situations like that if you were able to feedback to SLT or how the process works?

Thanks again and sorry if my response seemed defensive too!

@Takoneko also, can't imagine the crap you have to deal with from parents, other teachers etc putting their frustrations on you when essentially all this stress is caused by an uneducated Tory minister, who thinks they know better than those who do the job on the ground! Must be infuriated. Out of interest, do you see things improving if Labour get into power?

Out of interest, do you see things improving if Labour get into power?

Yes and no.

In the short term, I don’t think there is going to be a huge injection of funding.

I do think even just the perception that things will get better under a labour government will help with the recruitment and retention issue though.

I also think Labour’s mental health hub policy, school breakfasts and anything that addresses child poverty will really help education. In the longer term, I would expect funding to gradually improve.

@Takoneko thank you so much this is really helpful! And if you have time (no rush to reply)! As an experienced teacher, what are your thoughts of someone in their 40s wanting to change career to teach? My current career is centred around children but in a corporate capacity! Do schools welcome older NQT?

I can’t speak for all schools, but we absolutely welcome career changers. We have a great ECT this year who is that sort of age and has been brilliant.

I do think that there can be ageism in teaching (like any profession) and some people might make assumptions about older ECTs and older staff more generally but good school leaders should recognise the value of having staff with a mix of backgrounds and prior experiences.

I work in a great school with a very realistic SLT, but they still pile the pressure on, particularly now as we are expecting Ofsted 2024-25.

Like all jobs there's good and bad management, and if you find yourself in a school where the management is bad, you just leave for pastures new, it's not the end of the world. There's certain things you can pick up from the application process to guage if a school is going to be a good one. Do they let you meet lots of current teachers during the interview process, with some more relaxed time so you can ask them questions? Do they let to meet and talk to the people who are leaving? I've been in interviews where they haven't let me meet anyone, other than other applicants. That's a massive red flag. Also have a look at their policies online. I wouldn't work at a school with an onerous marking or monitoring policy. I'd look out for a marking policy where lots of written feedback is required, or overly regular formal lessons observations, and give both a wide berth. I'd look to work at a school that does centralised detentions, I'd run a mile from a school where the behaviour policy only really mentions "restorative conversations" as the sanction. I wouldn't work at a school where the form tutor is expected to do admin tasks, like follow up absences every day. You're looking for policies that show they've thought about their impact on workload and teacher stress. That they recognise that happy, rested staff are what's best for their students. A knackered teacher who's expected to write all over 30 books in different coloured pens every night, after an after school meeting, because there's work scrutiny every half term, is not what's best for their students. A teacher who has used their lunchtime to run their own detention with a "restorative conversation", and their break to call parents about truancy in their form, and is busy at 9pm preparing for their weekly lesson observation, is not what's best for students. That teacher will quit. And so should anyone else working in a school like that.

The SLT in my school are great! Helpful, supportive and understanding.

My SLT are good - supportive as much as possible and try to listen. I can see they are managing a lot of variables and complex situations.
In answer to your question, yes they are important in creating the culture of the school as I think it filters down from the top. Schools who look after their staff, trust their (good) staff lead to happier workforce which equates to better teaching and taking better care of the children.