Teaching in UK? agency or not?

butlerciaran

Hi,
Just wondering has anyone made the move to teaching in UK? If so did u go through an agency or apply direct to schools?
I am a secondary english teacher with no work and i have registered with several agencies and applied direct also! I am anxious about goin through an agency as I have heard they charge you etc..and also anxious that they only deal with schools that nobody else wants to teach in and are isolated from a good social life!! Is this true? Any advice or positive/negative experiences of teaching in UK and how u went about doin such would be greatly appreciated.
I assumed that agencies charge the school and not the teacher however does this mean you get paid less by the school as a result?

Agencies i have registered with are MPS education, redteachers, impact teachers, uteach...anyone worked through any of these?

Cheers!

kboc

butlerciaran wrote: »

Hi,
Just wondering has anyone made the move to teaching in UK? If so did u go through an agency or apply direct to schools?
I am a secondary english teacher with no work and i have registered with several agencies and applied direct also! I am anxious about goin through an agency as I have heard they charge you etc..and also anxious that they only deal with schools that nobody else wants to teach in and are isolated from a good social life!! Is this true? Any advice or positive/negative experiences of teaching in UK and how u went about doin such would be greatly appreciated.
I assumed that agencies charge the school and not the teacher however does this mean you get paid less by the school as a result?

Agencies i have registered with are MPS education, redteachers, impact teachers, uteach...anyone worked through any of these?

Cheers!

I trained and worked in England. Agencies is fine for the short term, you could organise this before you leave Ireland and travel with the confidence knowing you have work to go to. I would definetly look to move to permananent position. Any amount of jobs. In London you should expect to get at least £100 per day with he agencies. If they send you to a **** school, tell them you want more money to stay there (maybe £140 a day) or tell them to find you another school. This will not make you sound cheeky, because they charge the school plenty for sending you there. The best place is http://www.tes.co.uk/jobsHub.aspx. TES has all the payscales, London has added allowances to your pay. 3 different levels, the further you move from the centre the lesser the amount. See the TES, http://www.tes.co.uk/salarySearch.aspx?navcode=101

You are better off getting permanent job, being employed by the school directly. You will have better entitelments, i.e holiday pay and sick pay entitlements. England is a great place to get experience for teaching. There is so many ideas, initiatives and money, most of things the teaching profession in Ireland has not got. They make you work hard, but you will definetly be a better person and better teacher for it.

clartharlear

I'd really like to hear if anyone else has experience with UTeach.

I got the impression that the agencies often recruit for the 'rougher' schools, while the 'good' schools recruit directly. Is this a fair generalisation?

niall3r

I assumed that I was going to have to move to England this year but was fortunate to find a job in Ireland.

I selectively applied for a couple of permanent jobs that were advertised on the www.tes.co.uk website. I made sure to only apply to Catholic schools in nice areas that I knew something about and every single one came back to me offering an interview.

England seems to be the place to be for teachers at the moment and I reckon tes website is the best bet. The only problem with that as far as I know is that if you commit to teaching in a school you have to stay there for an entire term and give decent notice of wishing to leave if thats what you want. With the agencies you can just decide not to go back as far as I know.

Best of luck with the English job hunt.

awny

niall3r what areas do you know of which are nice areas? I am also thinking that I'll have to go to England or wales but im clueless about the areas!!!

clartharlear

Well, I signed up with Uteach, and had an interview lined up and a (full-time, long term) job offer for June before I could draw breath.

I'm not sure what I'm letting myself in for!

cadburys

hey guys, i'm in the same boat as some of you-hoping to head over to london.

If applying to schools directly, should it be via email or post?

I've been looking on the tes website and it's mostly head teacher jobs.. does that involve a lot of responsibility?

Can anyone recommend some good forums or websites with school listings?
ie - catholic schools in london..

Thanks for any help:)

kraggy

Sorry to bump this.

Just wondering, if you get a teaching job in England through an agency, do you:

A. Get the same salary as everyone else
B. Get paid for Christmas, summer etc.
C. Any other benefits such as set-up costs, flight, accommodation or anything?

Also, typically, when does the school year start?

Thanks. Any info would be great.

clartharlear

Much less salary, but they can usually help you pay the minimum possible tax, and claim tax back on things like flights home.

No pay for holidays, sick days, personal days etc.

Will probably pay for flights for interviews, but otherwise, only will help you claim tax back on other costs.

If you teach a common subject, e.g. English, maths, any science, any language, then you would be far far better off finding a job yourself. Agencies are only useful if you teach something rare with little demand.

As for school year, google is your friend.

kraggy

clartharlear wrote: »

Much less salary, but they can usually help you pay the minimum possible tax, and claim tax back on things like flights home.

No pay for holidays, sick days, personal days etc.

Will probably pay for flights for interviews, but otherwise, only will help you claim tax back on other costs.

If you teach a common subject, e.g. English, maths, any science, any language, then you would be far far better off finding a job yourself. Agencies are only useful if you teach something rare with little demand.

As for school year, google is your friend.

I'm primary.

Jaysus, can't believe they don't pay for holidays. The school is getting a class teacher for the year.

Is the daily rate higher to compensate a little for not getting paid for holidays? Hard to live on agency pay?

Thanks for the reply by the way.

kboc

kraggy wrote: »

I'm primary.

Jaysus, can't believe they don't pay for holidays. The school is getting a class teacher for the year.

This is why most people get a job being employed directly by the school. See www.tes.co.uk for jobs.

Is the daily rate higher to compensate a little for not getting paid for holidays? Hard to live on agency pay?

Thanks for the reply by the way.

Approx £180-£200 per day before tax, teaching unions state your pay should be 1/195th of your pay scale point. The schools with poor reputations command a bigger daily rate. So be aware of the big money!

kraggy

kboc wrote: »

This is why most people get a job being employed directly by the school. See www.tes.co.uk for jobs.


Approx £180-£200 per day before tax, teaching unions state your pay should be 1/195th of your pay scale point. The schools with poor reputations command a bigger daily rate. So be aware of the big money!

Are those rates applicable for full time teachers who work in the school for the whole school year?

I just checked the salaries and the bottom of the scale is 21588 p.a for a primary teacher.

Divide that by 195 and it comes to only 108.

Am I doing it wrong?

kboc

kraggy wrote: »

Are those rates applicable for full time teachers who work in the school for the whole school year?

I just checked the salaries and the bottom of the scale is 21588 p.a for a primary teacher.

Divide that by 195 and it comes to only 108.

Am I doing it wrong?

The rates are a daily rate for a qualified teacher. You put yourself on the scale relative to your number of years as a teacher.

kraggy

kboc wrote: »

The rates are a daily rate for a qualified teacher. You put yourself on the scale relative to your number of years as a teacher.

Yeah I figured that. It's just the big difference between a daily rate of 108 (me) vs a daily rate of 180-200 (what you said, which must be for top of the scale, with 15+ years experience?) that confused me.

You were quoting the rate for a teacher with many years experience?

clartharlear

My daily rate was £120, with two years experience in Ireland after my dip, if that helps.

kraggy

clartharlear wrote: »

My daily rate was £120, with two years experience in Ireland after my dip, if that helps.

Thanks Clar. Was it hard to survive on that or could you save a little?

clartharlear

I lived comfortably, but not extravagantly. The savings soon got spent up in the unpaid holidays! By the time I got my salary in September, my bank account was in the red.

kraggy

Thanks Clar.

ahahah

Yes I went with uteach. I can only speak from my experience. I was placed in a v rough school that I struggles through for the year. I didn't enjoy it and that's just being honest. Do your research with the school. Tes.co.uk may be a better option. You have your pick of schools over there just remember that you can apply directly. I wish I had done that!

kraggy

ahahah wrote: »

Yes I went with uteach. I can only speak from my experience. I was placed in a v rough school that I struggles through for the year. I didn't enjoy it and that's just being honest. Do your research with the school. Tes.co.uk may be a better option. You have your pick of schools over there just remember that you can apply directly. I wish I had done that!

Thank you.

brónaim cád??

Hey,

I registered with Engage, had an interview last week and have been offered a job in a catholic school Greenwich. Engage have been great so far. It took all the hassle of doing applications; the school has a great ofsted so I know it's not a rough school.

There's a group of FB to talk on too, search irish teachers uk 2013. Get in touch if anyone wants to know people heading over before and for a house share.

Cheers

kraggy

Thanks Bronaim Cad.

kraggy

Bronaim cad, did you have to go England to do the interview?

brónaim cád??

No, just had a phone interview; it lasted about half an hour. Then offered the job a few hours later.
If I was in Ireland I'm sure I would have had to go over for interview but I'm in the Middle East. I'm waiting to hear about the contract but I just feel that there is a catch somewhere..

kraggy

Do you get the London Weighting extra pay if you go through an agency, assuming the job is in outer or inner London of course?

And I don't mean subbing. I mean a 6 to 8 month contract.

Rioghain

Hi all. Just wondering if anybody has any experience with apple teachers recruitment agency? I have an interview with a school that I got through them and just wanted to hear from anyone with experience of dealing with them

GDD84

Hi Clartharlear, where were you teaching? I'm heading over to Kent this September

clartharlear

kraggy wrote: »

Do you get the London Weighting extra pay if you go through an agency, assuming the job is in outer or inner London of course?

And I don't mean subbing. I mean a 6 to 8 month contract.

Your pay is entirely up to the agency, which generally means that you don't get any extras that you don't explicitly negotiate.

GDD84 wrote: »

Hi Clartharlear, where were you teaching? I'm heading over to Kent this September

I was in Surrey, but I believe a lot more Irish teachers go to Kent. Good luck!