part time teacher training - struggling

[sunnysideup05]

I'm currently doing a part time secondary SCITT (QTS/PGCE) and am coming to the end of the first school year. I'm really struggling with protecting my time away from the course and I have lost any grasp of what might be reasonable or not in terms of my mentor's expectations. I am supposed to be in training one day a week and in school two days a week. I have two young children who I look after on the other two days. In practice though, I am working five days a week and on a Sunday and still feeling like an utter failure!

I think my mentor pretty much disapproves of the very idea of part time teaching and also keeps emphasising that it's impossible to do teaching part time. She talks a lot about how she is up until 10pm every evening and works all weekend. And she emphasises how common it is for people to burn out and give up, unless they are 100% committed. She also expects me to work on my weekends and days off and recently got cross with me for not replying to an email she sent me on the afternoon of one of my days off, with a request to get something done by the following morning (my other day off). I was told that I had let the whole department down. This is just one example, but she also regularly contacts me by text message on weekends/evenings etc, and gives me marking/other tasks with timelines that would be impossible to complete without them eating into my days off.

I'm really struggling as on the one hand I am being to made to feel like a slacker or lazy or not fully committed for trying to protect my two days. On the other hand I feel like it's really unfair that I should have to work on these days. Maybe I have been too naive about teacher workloads?

Whilst it would be lovely to say that you should be able to fit in all the work needed on the three days you are in college/school, this is completely unrealistic of teacher training ( and indeed, of teaching in general). If you are teaching part time, it's a full time job, especially when training and when you have course work to do too. Once qualified and with several years experience, you will get better at fitting everything in , but not yet!
Do raise it, however. There MAY be some leeway in deadlines etc, but I know of very few teachers who manage to keep the whole weekend free, and especially not when training.

I think it sounds like you both have unrealistic expectations. Your mentor should respect people are doing the course part-time and not expect 100%. Being cross at you for not replying to an email on your afternoon off is ridiculous, and hurtful to say you've let the department down.
However, as PP said, teacher training is incredibly full on and inevitably takes way more hours than it is timetabled to. Just to warn you, it will be like this when you qualify - when I (as an teacher with 12 years' experience) was employed 2 days a week: I estimate I was working approx 25 hours a week. A full time teacher would probably be doing between 50-60 hours, especially if they're newly qualified. Good luck!

I do agree with the posters above, unfortunately. You are never going to be able to fit everything that you need to do within your working days during training and the first few years of teaching. I'm sorry it's like this, it shouldn't be, but teachers simply aren't given enough time. It's a big reason why so many leave within the first few years, as if they're full time, they're likely working 6 days a week and evenings too. Being part-time makes it bearable, but only because you have fewer lessons to plan/mark for and more time in which to do that planning and marking, i.e. your days "off". Can you get some additional childcare for your days off so you can work? If not, weekends it is. It's shit, but recognising it's shit doesn't change it, there's nothing you can do about it, the work that needs doing is the work that needs doing. The attitude of your mentor is absolutely not acceptable though, you do need to raise this with your training provider, they're a bully. They should be communicating with you using the school email only. They should not be insisting that you complete tasks for the following day, let alone a day when you do not actually work. And when you do look for jobs, look for one in a school with a minimal marking policy (often billed as being based on "Whole Class Feedback"), where planned lessons are provided, and where teachers don't need to contact home about every little behaviour infringement. That will help somewhat, but there's a reason why recruitment and retention is in such a crisis. Workload is too high, with no easy ways of reducing it significantly, as you have discovered.

Thank you all, I really appreciate the advice. I do understand about the workload and I have been working late on my three working days, often until after midnight, and also all day on Sundays. I also work during the evenings on my ‘non-working’ days.

I suppose that what is making me the most concerned is that my mentor seems constantly fed up with me despite me putting in the extra hours. I do all my planning etc on time. I always offer to help with additional tasks at school and have filled in lots of gaps due to understaffing in the department. When I ask questions eg. How to plan assessments she simply won’t offer any guidance and makes me feel as if even asking is somehow an indication of me being lazy. And when I don’t answer text messages/emails over the weekend or on my days off I am told that I am
unprofessional. Maybe this is the culture and I am being unprofessional?! I just feel very unsure.

If this is the school culture it's toxic and you need to leave, it is not like that in all schools and it's not OK. You need to complain formally to your SCITT provider.

She is out of line. She is also wrong. Put in some boundaries and stick to them. If your lessons are prepped and you have communicated with staff you share classes with then they should be nothing that is so vital.

When I was training I was only teaching 10 hours a week but the planning was basically taking all my time from Monday to Friday 9-5. I couldn’t understand how anyone could teach more than 10 hours and was sure that there were shortcuts that people were hiding from me! Sadly, often a part-time teaching job means full- time hours and a full-time teaching job means far beyond full-time hours. That said, 3 years later it is much easier and more manageable. It sooo depends on the school though, so my suggestion is to hang in there and choose your next school very carefully, if at all possible. Good luck with it all.

Working all the time with no rest and not spending time with family is what leads to burnout.
Yes you have to do extra work, but have a cut off point and do something nice for yourself at the weekend.
Lots of teachers are part time so of course it's doable.

And absolutely do not do work on your days off! Don't check your email and don't reply until you are back in work. You need to set boundaries.
Also, make sure you are in a union if you aren't already.

Thank you all. I really appreciate this advice and the encouragement. I think my mentor really resents the fact that I look after my kids
two days a week and that I’ve chosen a part time option. It just doesn’t fit with her philosophy and she seems unwilling to support me. I will speak to my SCITT tutors.

Yes, speak to your SCITT, she should not be putting these expectations on you as a mother with parental responsibilities. Her own views are immaterial, she should be professional and maintain professional expectations and boundaries.

When I was teacher training my mentor told me that I couldn't use the toilet when I was responsible for the class (8am-12pm). Ended up getting cystitis. When I was desperate I would ask the TA to keep an eye while I nipped for a wee (literally took 2 minutes). Looking back I can't believe that a mentor would say that, however I felt that I needed her to sign me off so went along with it all.

How confident do you feel to challenge her back when she says unhelpful stuff about you not replying on weekends etc? She sounds like she has no life outside teaching and that sounds quite frankly a recipe for burnout. It is better that you learn now how to protect yourself and your wellbeing rather than further down the line so try and use this opportunity to push back a little and say no when you can. I understand that her opinion is important however you seem to be integrated into the school you work in so that feels enough. She sounds like a nightmare so hopefully you will look back at this experience and be impressed that you endured it. Your capacity and energy to teach are the most important thing here. You have other responsibilities and that is absolutely fine.

Yes and your SCITT have a duty of care for you too. The pressure of the teaching profession can make some people lose their moral compass unfortunately. I'm a governor at my son's old primary and staff well-being is always high on our priorities and if I send a member of staff an email at the weekend I schedule it for Monday morning. We need to look after our teachers.