worried and very very anxious - time off for interviews

[worriednow1]

have attended about 5 interviews since sept and no job offers ( teacher jobs). So frustrating... just thinking what to do next term - worried and very very anxious ....about HT and the school will not like it... BUT there is no other ways to move on for me apart from going to interviews... what sort of approach would you take please? Not applying? spacing out my applications? Thank you!

Why are you leaving your current school? Is your anxiety related to the fact that you are unhappy/worried in your current school or because you have attended so many interviews and not had an offer? Have you asked for/received feedback from the interviews?

Yes not happy at my current place...politics, lack of progression. I have a general feedback from interviews. It is about what best fits for the school and if there are candidates who fit better, then they choose them. My confidence is low and i feel stuck ...I really need to change environment, have a fresh start and at the same time my current place not satisfied with me going to interviews and missing school time.

Is there any chance, if you could afford it, that you could reduce your hours to have one day a week off, and try to arrange interviews on that day?

Anecdotally, it has been alleged to me that there are currently a lot of qualified teachers doing teaching assistant jobs these days and a lot of schools filling their teacher vacancies internally by appointing someone they know from among their teacher-qualified teaching assistants rather than an external candidate. Could you identify a school you want to work at and get your foot in the door with a lower-paying job?

Fish teaching interviews don't work like that I'm afraid. It's usually a whole day planned as a set of 5/10 candidates who teach, do a written task, do some other random task and have a formal interview and governors are present (who mostly have their own jobs to get time off from) and jobs are offered on the day. The dates are set early and usually on the advert.

OP - a friend and colleague of mine had 12 interviews between Easter and May half term, yes 12!!! And finally landed her dream school after really hitting rock bottom with it all. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it so forget what they say, you're entitled to the time off, and focus on nailing the interview. Keep applying to everything and anything you want, don't limit your options as you'll never get out.

And good luck!

thank you porcupine - this is really encouraging. I feel completely devastated by HT pressure not to take time off and by my feeling of work frustration. I also think I have a mid-life crisis and desperately need to change environment, challenges etc. I do feel at the bottom of my life now...my confidence is sooooo low. how di your friend handle the situation with his/her HT? Thank you so much

Speak to your union about your entitlement to taking time off for interviews. That may put your mind at rest.

I wouldn't worry too much about upsetting the HT- you've already decided to leave anyway.

my union says that time off for interviews is at discretion of a HT...I am worried that if the HT too annoyed with me - he might manage me out ( saying that there are complaints about my teaching or find something to find a reason to manage me out etc...) I am sooooo scared, even to the point that I feel not myself - ill with this situation. I need the job as I have a family so if there is no other job - I would stay where I am as it gives me income stability, that is why I am scared to annoy him.