how long have people been waiting for any kind of contract?

happywithlife

hi all,
am a newly joined up member (to boards) so, just to say hi first!

just wondering how long people have been/are waiting to get any kind of contract in a school?

i'm now out 8 years and still looking for work -
i married shortly after leaving college, built our home, and we now have two kids.

i have had mainly mat leave cover contracts, but occassionally a few p/t jobs - usually where a teacher has retired, but in each case the hours were not renewed/sanctioned the following year.

i have asked on occassion for feedback following unsuccessful interviews, with the most recent being at the beginning of the month - i was told i performed well in the interview, and only lost out to an older, more experienced teacher. with the exception of one school, i have always gotten on well and have had positive feedback from my principals.

i'm beginning to get worried - is this the job situation generally, or am i missing something? i love teaching, have had good subject inspection reports and can't imagine doing anything else in life.

dunno if i'm looking for advice, support or reassurance - probably a bit of all three.
thanks in advance for any of the above and for taking the time to read what has unintentionally become a very long post.

donegal11

What subjects are you qualified to teach? could you look to get qualified in another?

happywithlife

sorry should have said.
i'm qualified to teach home ec & re and have experience (like so many others) in SPHE, CSPE, resource, my related LCA modules, IT, LCVP, FETAC....i've done anything and everything asked of me.

i did consider this year going back to college, but to be honest, can't afford it - not only would i have the college fees, but then there's also the childminding fees to consider.
have looked into doing some short term courses (bout 8-10 weeks) at ucc which are not certified, but i feel are relevant to anyone working with teenagers. anything for the cv...

just wondering really, if anyone else is in a similar position of being qualified for so long, and yet still without a job. its so frustrating!

RealJohn

happywithlife wrote: »

sorry should have said.
i'm qualified to teach home ec & re and have experience (like so many others) in SPHE, CSPE, resource, my related LCA modules, IT, LCVP, FETAC....i've done anything and everything asked of me.

i did consider this year going back to college, but to be honest, can't afford it - not only would i have the college fees, but then there's also the childminding fees to consider.
have looked into doing some short term courses (bout 8-10 weeks) at ucc which are not certified, but i feel are relevant to anyone working with teenagers. anything for the cv...

just wondering really, if anyone else is in a similar position of being qualified for so long, and yet still without a job. its so frustrating!

I could be misreading the situation but are you limiting yourself to a certain area? In my experience, home ec teachers tend to be in fairly short supply so if you've been looking countrywide I'm surprised you've had that much trouble.

If however, you're not willing to relocate then that's the way life is. Job opportunities will be in shorter supply and you'll probably have to wait.

gaeilgebeo

RealJohn wrote: »

I could be misreading the situation but are you limiting yourself to a certain area? In my experience, home ec teachers tend to be in fairly short supply so if you've been looking countrywide I'm surprised you've had that much trouble.

If however, you're not willing to relocate then that's the way life is. Job opportunities will be in shorter supply and you'll probably have to wait.

Since when have Home Ec teachers been in fairly short supply?
Most schools only have 1 or 2 Home Ec teachers as opposed to 10 english/maths etc teachers.
We had a Home Ec maternity leave last year and our principal commented on the huge number of applicants.

RealJohn

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

Since when have Home Ec teachers been in fairly short supply?
Most schools only have 1 or 2 Home Ec teachers as opposed to 10 english/maths etc teachers.
We had a Home Ec maternity leave last year and our principal commented on the huge number of applicants.

I said "in my experience" and that is my experience of the situation. In my school, the home ec teacher lacks a basic requirement for her job (I'd rather not go into details) and was still given a permanent post almost immediately just so that she wouldn't leave. Now she's good at her job in general but if there was such an over-supply of home ec teachers, why would any school have to do that? I'm working in Dublin by the way so it's not as though the school has to convince teachers to come to the middle of nowhere to work.

implausible

We had a Home Ec vacancy in our school and awful bother trying to fill it. Eventually, someone had to be compulsorily redeployed (VEC) to fill it. There is only one college, St Angela's, training teachers, so the small output = good demand for them.

OP, are you moving from sector to sector? If you were within a VEC and got some back-to-back contracts in different schools in that VEC, you would have a hope of getting a CID.

happywithlife

thanks for the replies,
to answer a few questions,
yes i am limiting myself geographically and that, i accept, will limit my opportunites - i just didn't realise by how much i suppose.
and yes, i have moved from sector to sector - i have been in both vec and vocational sectors. have been close to a cid once, but it didn't happen.

i know subs when needed are hard to come by, but i find it so frustrating when i go to an interview to have a fairly good idea when i come out that its already 'gone'
two examples - did an interview this past summer and in spite of ''a large number of applications'' that led to shortlisting i was told by another teacher after thatwards (she didn't know i went for interview) that they interviewed ''a handful of people'' - now why interview a handfull of people when such a large number applied -there was a mat leave and part-time postition up for grabs. i do acknowledge though i did a crap interview on that particular occassion
on another occassion, i had thought i had done a pretty good interview and was disappointed i didnt' get the job - it was a mat leave cover. happened to meet that teacher later in the year at a marking conference and she was at my table - we were discussing the sub situation in general and someone asked her was it hard to get a sub for her mat leave cover -- no says she cos she a ''friend'' lined up for it in advance - grrr!!!!

Delphi91

deemark wrote: »

We had a Home Ec vacancy in our school and awful bother trying to fill it. Eventually, someone had to be compulsorily redeployed (VEC) to fill it. There is only one college, St Angela's, training teachers, so the small output = good demand for them.

OP, are you moving from sector to sector? If you were within a VEC and got some back-to-back contracts in different schools in that VEC, you would have a hope of getting a CID.

Similar story in my school - had a H.Ec teacher out on cert last year and was not sure for how long (looked like it could be long time) so advertised for a sub. Not one reply to the ad in a national newspaper.