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Original poster

Compressed hours in teaching

38 replies

Saruki · 30/04/2024 12:37

I would like to do compressed hours as a teacher. I can't afford to go down to 4 days and have a pay cut, so I was thinking about requesting compressed hours and fit 5 days of teaching in 4. We always have slack in our timetable so it seems feasible to me.

Has anyone done it? How did you go about requesting it? Were you successful?

Thanks :)

OP posts:
swallowedAfly · 30/04/2024 21:16

Sounds like your timetable is significantly light and you’re expecting that to be a permanent fixture.

WonderingWanda · 30/04/2024 21:24

I doubt this would be agreed even if somehow you could fit your hours in because what if then all the other part timers wanted the same flexible timetable, it would become a timetabling nightmare. Plus it's not just a case of doing enough hours. Directed time involves specific duties like parents evenings, meetings, open evenings, cpd twilight's or inset days, briefings, duties etc whichever your school do. It would be unfair if you got to miss some of those but still took home full pay.

Meem321 · 30/04/2024 21:46

Bonkers. You're a teacher; you know how directed time works.

I understand that you are trying to find a way to have time with your baby.

Contact the union to discuss- they will know if this has ever been done before (100% it hasn't).

Just go down to 4 days. With reduced tax, NI and pension, you'll be on more than 80% of your previous salary.

SuncreamAndIceCream · 01/05/2024 07:02

There schools which are suggesting similar arrangements to help staff retention OP - you may want to have a look at the press, there's definitely been a few stories on it if you want to try and help your case.

Shinyandnew1 · 01/05/2024 07:10

So you want your school to pay you a full time wage for teaching 4 days, then they will have to pay someone else 0.2 for working the day you don’t work?

I don’t think they will agree to that!

I think there was an academy in the news recently who were struggling to recruit, who were trialing a 9 day fortnight for everyone, but this is a massive whole school arrangement I can’t imagine they would do this for one person. I can’t see how it will work for part timers, to be honest.

I would imagine everyone would love to work 4 days and get paid for 5!

chosenone · 01/05/2024 07:16

Me and my job share requested this and it was refused. I decided to stay at 0.6 (you could do 0.8) and make some sacrifices. I topped up with some exam marking and it was fine. I went back to full time when both DC went to school. It's worth tightening your belt to have the extra day with DC, it goes so quick!

IMO, I found when I was PT it was easier to say no to some of the extra stuff required after school, be ruthless about what is needed and what's isn't. Good luck

Supersoakers · 01/05/2024 07:21

I don’t understand how you can do more hours in a day. Teachers cannot get paid for more than 5.5 hours a day. Prep, meetings etc are officially unpaid, unless it’s training for disaggregated time.

Macaroni46 · 01/05/2024 07:31

I also don't see how this could work. I've always understood that you can be used for cover during your free periods. So the day you're not timetabled, you could (and most likely would) be called for cover. Not really fair on your colleagues is it?
I'd just go down to a 4 day contract or as a pp suggested, ask for 0.88 with your PPA from home - though some schools don't allow PPA from home. And one school I worked at, PPA would sometimes be moved to a different day.

Shinyandnew1 · 01/05/2024 07:59

We always have slack in our timetable

What does your timetable look like currently?

Shinyandnew1 · 01/05/2024 20:56

I think one problem might be that our contract is something like 38h per week, which would not be possible in 4 days.

That’s quite a big problem really.

House4DS · 01/05/2024 21:03

You might as well ask for your PPA to be on the 5th day. It makes no difference to you - you can just ensure you get all your work done in 4 days and don't actually work on the 5th day. It'll sound less drastic in terms of your request.

It's actually not so bad when your kids are tiny.
I recommend leaving asap after the school kids go home, picking up your child then doing another hour or two after they go to bed if necessary.

I found juggling hardest once they started doing evening clubs and not going to bed at 7pm.

Equally once you factor in childcare costs, you're not much worse off being part time - something to calculate maybe.

Original poster
Saruki · 02/05/2024 12:49

Thank you all for all your points of view; there were a few things that I had not considered, the comments trying to help and not just criticise have been very useful.

OP posts:
Shinyandnew1 · 02/05/2024 15:26

Saruki · 02/05/2024 12:49

Thank you all for all your points of view; there were a few things that I had not considered, the comments trying to help and not just criticise have been very useful.

What do you think you will do when you return now?

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