Secondary English teacher returning after 11 years

[Technoprisoners]

Hi - would appreciate some feedback from any secondary teachers out there - especially English ones.

I am planning on returning to work next September, by which time I will have been out of the classroom for (gulp) 11 years. My LEA is no longer offering any RTT courses, so my plan is to offer voluntary work of 1 day a week for a couple of terms to my local schools, and hopefully get some up-to-date experience and current references that way. Good idea? What about my CRB check? Will schools' budgets be so tight as to be reluctant to fork-out the money for one for just a volunteer, and if so, should I offer to have them re-charge the cost to me?

What's the market like out there at the moment? Will I be on the scrap-heap because I'm 45 and have been out for so long? Are cheap, young NQTs still favoured by budget-conscious heads as they were back in my day (when I was a cheap NQT)? What about all this interactive whiteboard malarkey - will that totally confound me?! What new technologies do I need to bone up on?

Thanks for any advice and experiences - I'm getting myself into a panic thinking about it. I was a really good teacher once but my confidence has taken a knock. I applied for a temporary TA job recently and didn't even get an interview .

I had 18 months out and have been back at work as an English teacher for 18months. I am on a temprary contract and, yes, schools still favour cheap NQTs or TeachFirst placements who are free.
Could you do some supply first?

I think I'll have to supply first. Are temporary contracts the norm now then?

As a HoD, I'm not sure how I would use you as a classroom teacher one day a week. Small groups maybe.

New technologies easy to pick up. Curriculum changes and new strategies more of an issue. I had 5 years out, went back to the same school and had no idea what people were talking about half the time. The first half term was amazingly stressful.

But two years later I was appointed HOD, so it is manageable!!

I agree, doing some supply or short term contracts would be a good first step. How about volunteering to help with extra curricular activities too? One of the biggest changes that I have found is the replacement of GCSE coursework with controlled assessments, so it would be worth getting to grips with that.

Yes sadly they seem to be more and more the norm.

I went back as a maternity leave cover. A good way to get back in and show what you can do.

Defo look at controlled assessment and new exams. Perhaps dare I mention it have a look at the new OFSTED framework. It's all about the learning and progress so a different emphasis to a few years back. Not all contracts are temporary but mat cover good idea. Perhaps the reason you didn't get an interview was you were too qualified?!
Where in the country are you based?

I had 7 years out approx. I was turned down for the first job I applied for after being at home and it came as a real shock as I had always walked into whatever job I wanted.

I managed to get back in through a mixture of voluntary work in the local community and teaching in a school that had an awful reputation as no one else would apply. I worked as a volunteer for home start and then got some paid work as a family support worker in the area that I wanted to teach in . I then started running groups in the primary schools which fed into the secondary school that I ended up teaching in . They found out that I taught and they approached me about working 2 days a week. I made myself indispensable , worked an extra days for free. I then was offered a promotion which required me to work full time . Because the school had such a high number of vulnerable children they liked the fact that I had a lot of experience working with families.

After a few years I moved on to the kind of school teachers fight to get into . However in order to do that I needed to take a demotion and work my way up again as they were unsure of me because of the reputation of my previous school.

It was really tough and in some ways I am glad that I started in a sink school as they were just so glad to have someone who could work with the kids and turn up every day it gave me time to catch up with the developments of the profession . When I left teaching you wrote with a pen on a whiteboard if you were swish, some rooms had blackboards. There were no projectors, no PowerPoints, no starters or plenaries, no WALT or WILFS. I could not have coped working in the pressured environment I am in now . I also found that working in an 11-16 setting helped me ease back into teaching in stages and then in my next job I could focus on a level teaching.

I know my current school has turned away quite a few women who have been at home with children for 5+ year so it may be that you do not get to pick and choose. You may have to take a temporary contract or maternity cover to get your foot in the door. In fact , because there is a surplus if teachers at the moment even those can be hard to come by.

I think a growing number of jobs are being given out as temporary contracts with an eye to keeping you on if you are good. It is difficult to get rid of a poor teacher and therefore many schools are nervous about taking on staff. Budgets are also uncertain and therefore again schools are nervous about making long term commitments.

Volunteering sounds like a great idea. I'd add some observation in local schools as well. Have you thought about exam marking? Could be a good selling point and a good way to re familiarise yourself with syllabuses.

Wow, thanks for all the experiences, everyone.

FallenMadonna - for my voluntary one day a week, I had thought I would be most use doing small group, one-to-one, or even helping out with assessments and marking if they'd let me! As a HoD, would that appeal to you? I would love a maternity cover - a great way to break myself back in and I actually don't want anything to be permanent until certain on both sides anyway. Glad it worked out for you so well.

FullBeam - volunteering with extra curricular sounds positive - might be a bit difficult for me to manage after-school things though until I'm properly employed and can arrange wrap-around care. Maybe I could offer a lunchtime club ... Can I ask you what you have found to be the main differences between coursework and controlled assessments? I imagine you spend far more time on the latter now?

Wolfiefan - I am trying to tell myself that I was overqualified for a job that didn't require a teaching qualification! Maybe they were swamped with very experienced teachers after a 'downgrade' job ... who knows. Depressing! I am in Glos.

Kellogg - thanks for your post. I too had always been very confident about applying for jobs and always came across as a strong candidate. Fast-forward 3 children and 10 years, total changes in the profession and an economic downturn, and it's a different story. I cut my teeth on "difficult" schools and actually feel more at home in them, working with kids who don't have parental back-up and who need me. The thought has crossed my mind to approach schools with just this demographic as it might put off others from applying! Do you honestly think your current school has turned women away purely because they have been out of the classroom for a few years, or did they look professionally weak anyway? I'd like to think, if I got my act together, I would come across fairly positively, as I was a senior manager when I left teaching, so I could play that card for all it's worth ... but at the end of the day, I just want a main scale job now ... I think, if I can get some voluntary work under my belt, my confidence would grow and they would see I'm a good bet. I know how difficult it is to get rid of a poor teacher (had a few nightmares in my old school in that regard) and I don't want to give a school any problems. I want to make it easy for them to hire me.

Thank you, DialMforMummy, for the idea of adding in observation. Yes, I have done quite a bit of exam marking over the years, but I've now had more than 4 years since last doing it, and am no-longer eligible to undertake any more without current classroom experience.

Our school has genuinely turned women away although it is quite a strange ultra competitive place to work, with a higher rate of applications for posts than other schools.

However as far as I know they did not have your experience, they were at most ex HOD applying for standard teaching posts. I know one of them did not come across well , I can't speak for the others. At the end of the day they did get an interview from a big field do they were not totally disregarded.

I think you need to be prepared to explain why you are taking a step down in terms of responsibility.

Really interested in reading this. I have been out of sec English teaching for 5 years in August, apart from some One to One tuition. I have 3 children and my DS is now just over one. Ideally I'd like to spend more time off with him, but I am getting worried that the longer I leave it, that I won't get a job. Like you Kellog and Techno, I always would have walked any job I went for so am quite concerned! Techno - please let me know what you do and how you go about things!! Would love to share thoughts.

Hi Wendy. I am now thinking about TA jobs as a way back in, especially fixed-term part-time contracts, so that I can just get some current experience before looking out for a mainscale job. What do you think of that? I have an application in the pipeline but I really have no idea what the market is like out there, and if the school will just think I'm overqualified, or perhaps be inundated with so many applications that I don't even get a look-in ... who knows. My 'USP' for it is that with my English specialism, I'm in a good position to be able to help individual students across the curric. through literacy. Will let you know if anything comes of it!

I think, if you are sure you want to return at some point, it would be a good idea to get some voluntary work under your belt, just to keep up to date with current practice. Your youngest is still very little - my youngest starts school this Sept - how much longer are you hoping to be a SAHM? I have really really loved my time at home and apart from a bit of exam marking, the odd bit of tutoring and setting up a Sunday school, I have done little that is teaching-related for all these years, so I am expecting it to be hard. This is the first time I'm properly dipping my toe in the water, so I don't know what to expect.

One thing I do know is that I can't return to being the sort of teacher I was pre-DCs. Then, my job was everything and pretty much defined my life. Things have changed.