Total mess at new teaching job. Advice please!

[fklps]

I was hired for this new role as teacher of Spanish at a secondary school back in March, which I started on 1st September.

When I accepted the offer, the MFL team was comprised of two French teachers and two Spanish teachers, one of the latter, a head of Spanish.

When I started my new job in September, the Head of Spanish had left in July and there was no recruitment process to replace her. There still isn't. I had never taught GCSE Spanish and at the interview, I clearly stated that I was looking forward to gaining experience teaching GCSE as, since completing my PGCE, I had only taught at a sixth form college. The conversation included me saying that I was keen on gaining experience along the Spanish Head.

Upon my arrival at the school, I have been made responsible of all Y10 and Y11 groups: three classes in Y10 and two in Y11. There are no resources for Y10 because there is a new exam specification and I am creating Power Points, worksheets, homework, etc, all from scratch.

The worst part is that the Y11 resources are all over the place: no audios are in place and the homework sheets also include audios that don't work at all. The lessons are dull and zero engaging.

At the interview I mentioned how much I love teaching sixth form and upon my arrival I got the news that they had not open Y12 for 5 interested students from the school and I was only going to teach Y13.

There are other issues and I am extremely unhappy to the point of having submitted my resignation today. HR came back to me today and said I cannot resign until APRIL! because the notice period to resign for January was 31st August. How does that even work if I started working at the school in September? I felt sick today when I heard this news and cried in private. I am working a two people job and have been made responsible of the entire GCSE Spanish with no experience and no resources in place.

I am also teaching KS3 and completed overflooded with work and I have not even started marking exams.

Please help. Surely teachers are not slaves and they cannot keep me tied to the school until April if this job has ended up NOT being what I signed up for. I feel like I was totally set up by the school.

Sorry to hear youre having a rough time. It sounds as if the job is not at all what you were led to expect. Is the school an academy/private school? If not, they definitely can't require you resign in August. If it is, ask to see in writing which policy defines that. I'm not sure whether academies are allowed to set their own resignation dates.

Sorry to hear youre having a rough time. It sounds as if the job is not at all what you were led to expect. Is the school an academy/private school? If not, they definitely can't require you resign in August. If it is, ask to see in writing which policy defines that. I'm not sure whether academies are allowed to set their own resignation dates.

Thanks for your reply. It is a stand alone state academy. Policies are not clear. They don't seem to have a probation period either so I don't know how it works if the role I encountered is different to what we discussed and to what I was shown throughout the interview process. I am in shock that there seems to be no intention of hiring a Head of Spanish or at least another Spanish teacher. The spare Spanish classroom is now used by multiple members of staff at the school to teach other lessons, and the MFL office has been given to a new member of staff from SLT, who has nothing to do with languages.

You need to check your contract and consult your union about the notice period. It’s incredibly unusual for a state school not to follow the resignation dates in STPC, even if they are an academy.

Hi, I’m sorry to hear that you are in this awful position. As an ECT you should have a mentor in school who is supposed to help you navigate the first stages of your career. I believe that the resignation date for Christmas is still October 31st so you will be able to leave then. You need to join a union if you haven’t already done so and contact them immediately for advice. Don’t struggle with schemes of work - contact colleagues in other schools nearby and ask to collaborate. MFL teachers are a supportive bunch and someone will be able to offer advice. Tell your head of faculty that you need some resources for Y10 and try to find something from publishers. Don’t lose heart - there are lots of sources of help and advice!

Yes. Happened to me. I am a Spanish Specialist.Very experienced French teacher left , not replaced and I was given all the French classes!. I left.😀

Check your contract carefully and speak with your union. If need be take a day off to speak with someone while you are not bogged down by the school day. I am imaging that the last person resigned for a similar reason.

Speak to your union asap. You need clarification about the resignation dates

Thanks everyone. I took two days off because I was not sleeping and was feeling sick. GP prescribed sleeping pills and today I feel better.
I spoke with the union and I am unfortunately f...ked. The resignation notice is indeed one full term and the school does not have a probation period in place in which my resignation would have certainly fallen as I resigned only four weeks into the job.

It really does feel like the school set me up. The amount of work that has fallen upon my shoulders is indeed impossible to complete. Please note that I am a teacher with extremely high standards and so far in my career I have been willing to put LOTS of extra hours, including a lot on weekends to get the work done to the standard I like.

In this job that I am now, even if I worked full time on Sat and full time on Sunday, I would still not get the job done!

The school says they will try to replace me by January but think this may prove difficult.

My plan if I have to stay until April is then to strictly work to my contract hours and not do any weekend work anymore. I never felt like I had needed to look after my mental health at work but for the first time, only four weeks into the job, I have been borderline to having a mental breakdown.

It is so disheartening to experience this treatment. No wonder the teaching world is in disarray.

@fklps I'm so sorry to hear about the situation you're in. It is an appalling way for the school to treat you - and not sensible from their perspective given how rare MFL teachers are! One suggestion and one offer of help:

• do you know who the SLT link for MFL is? Are they approachable? Might it be worth talking to them about your workload?
• I'm a Spanish teacher and do a lot of GCSE, so would be happy to share all the resources we have done so far for the first Module of the new spec, and resources for where Y11 will most likely be at. Send me a private message and I'll happily send you PowerPoints, and I'd be happy to advise of GCSE marking for Y11 if you would like.

Best of luck and please take care of yourself.

You need to not do all of this extra work. If you do, you are telling the school that it's okay to treat you like this.

Send a very clear email outlining all the stuff that is not in place, and that would be normally done by a Head of Department (e.g. SoLs, long-term planning for GCSE, arranging assessments, sorting mock exams, arranging for correct audio files etc). Ask them when you can expect them to be in place. This is their problem, not yours. Make it clear that their failure to provide these is causing you stress, that this was the cause of your previous absence and that you want to avoid future absences. If needed, continue to keep getting signed off.

As teachers, we know that if we walk past poor behaviour from students and ignore it, we are sending a message that their behaviour is acceptable. Likewise, if you do all this extra work, you are sending your school the message that it's okay to expect you to do so.

I would also contact a solicitor (not your union) about the notice period - if you didn't sign a contract agreeing to it, and it wasn't communicated to you, I don't see how they can hold you to it. If it were standard teacher T&C, they might have an argument that by starting the job, you implicitly accepted the conditions that came with it, but I don't think that argument would work if the conditions are so drastically different.

Thanks so much, everything you say is so true especially challenging unacceptable behaviour from the school just as much as we do from the kids.

I have sent already two letters outlining everything. Yesterday, when I went back, I was told that the school will try their best to find a replacement for me by Dec so I can go in January. I wish I had money to bring in a solicitor. I am also sure there would be a legal case for me as I started a job in September that was not what I had accepted six months before.

Yesterday I started marking some written assessments from Y11, I had not idea what I was doing. I have no one to moderate with. Its disgraceful.

I have plenty of experience teaching A level Spanish and it is just obvious the different it makes to have experience vs not having it. I am very confident doing all the planning, marking, creating exams for them but when the school hired me they knew I had zero GCSE experience. Now I'm in charge of all of this. The kids flood me with questions, are they gonna do Higher, Foundation, can they move from one to the other, and I have no clue. And on top of everything, the Y11 resources are a total mess.

Oh dear, that does sound really difficult. I'm also a MFL teacher, so if you've any specific questions about tiers etc. just let me know.

I'm so sorry, OP. This sounds very difficult. I can't offer much curriculum advice as I'm not an MFL specialist but have a look at Oak for planning support, and find out the Language Hub which covers your area as they may be able to help with curriculum and resources.

Thanks so much everyone. Your replies since I posted first really kept me going this week. I'm feeling better as I have voiced all my frustration to the school and it is obvious they know they are in the wrong.

I am praying for a miracle that they find a replacement for me for January. Also, it actually feels quite nice to not put any extra hours on the weekend and I'm looking forward to the October half term and Christmas break doing ZERO work. This is something I have never done since I did my teacher training and I wonder if this is all a lesson for me to be less workaholic anyway.

Thanks for all your offers for support, advice and resources. A wonderful member of this forum sent me a bunch of amazing Y10 resources for the new GCSE this morning, which will certainly give me some breathing space for the next few weeks. She and you all have certainly kept my faith in humanity alive.

Big round of applause to mymbly
MN is a truly lovely place sometimes!

Hi OP, this sounds shitty, I'm so sorry.

I belong to Edapt and they have properly trained paid employment law advisers. I've found them v helpful in the past. I recommend giving them a call.