Standard of teaching job ads

linguist

This is taking up a theme currently being discussed in the thread 'permanent jobs' but I think it's worthy of a discussion of its own.

I'm currently looking around for an improvement on my hours for next year and I've just realised that one of the jobs I've applied for - which is stipulated as being 22 hours RPT on educationposts.ie - is actually advertised in a longer form elsewhere as being 17 hours.

Another job is similarly advertised as 22 hours rpt on educationposts.ie but is advertised as a career break in a longer form ad elsewhere.

Does anyone else have as big a problem with this as I do? I mean, what's wrong with these people? They are supposed to be professional people running schools and it seems they can't even write a job ad correctly.

If anyone has a lawyer in the family, I'd love to know what the contractual/legal situation would be if you applied for a job as advertised, went through the interview process and were offered an inferior job at the end of it. Presumably there isn't a problem until you sign the contract - they win again! I just find this sloppy, unprofessional and cynical.

Moreover, the recent DES circular stipulated that jobs should be advertised on educationposts.ie but there are still ads appearing elsewhere - the wording of some of which is, as I have stated, at odds with that stated on educationposts.ie. Surely a DES circular is law and the educationposts.ie ad could be legally argued to be the definitive one!

whiteandlight

linguist wrote: »

This is taking up a theme currently being discussed in the thread 'permanent jobs' but I think it's worthy of a discussion of its own.

I'm currently looking around for an improvement on my hours for next year and I've just realised that one of the jobs I've applied for - which is stipulated as being 22 hours RPT on educationposts.ie - is actually advertised in a longer form elsewhere as being 17 hours.

Another job is similarly advertised as 22 hours rpt on educationposts.ie but is advertised as a career break in a longer form ad elsewhere.

Does anyone else have as big a problem with this as I do? I mean, what's wrong with these people? They are supposed to be professional people running schools and it seems they can't even write a job ad correctly.

If anyone has a lawyer in the family, I'd love to know what the contractual/legal situation would be if you applied for a job as advertised, went through the interview process and were offered an inferior job at the end of it. Presumably there isn't a problem until you sign the contract - they win again! I just find this sloppy, unprofessional and cynical.

Moreover, the recent DES circular stipulated that jobs should be advertised on educationposts.ie but there are still ads appearing elsewhere - the wording of some of which is, as I have stated, at odds with that stated on educationposts.ie. Surely a DES circular is law and the educationposts.ie ad could be legally argued to be the definitive one!

I agree linguist, it's immensely frustrating. I emailed support on educationposts.ie and asked for a report ad button like most forums have for posts. At least we could ask for incorrect ads to be removed or taken down

linguist

That is a really good move musicmental. Better than my little rant I suppose! In fairness to the IPPN who run the site, they're an excellent organisation (as most organisations in the primary sector are), and they'd probably be receptive to reasonable efforts to make sure the site is regarded as reliable.

It may not be easy to get a job but it would be nice to see some power given back to jobseekers who only want to be treated with fairness and dignity in the whole process.

whiteandlight

linguist wrote: »

That is a really good move musicmental. Better than my little rant I suppose! In fairness to the IPPN who run the site, they're an excellent organisation (as most organisations in the primary sector are), and they'd probably be receptive to reasonable efforts to make sure the site is regarded as reliable.

It may not be easy to get a job but it would be nice to see some power given back to jobseekers who only want to be treated with fairness and dignity in the whole process.

Lol. A few more requests would prob help so if anyone else agrees you should email support too!

mrboswell

Just note that if you get called for interview the first thing that is usually said is...."this post if for x hours..."

What are you going to do? A job is better than no job....

Miss Lockhart

mrboswell wrote: »

Just note that if you get called for interview the first thing that is usually said is...."this post if for x hours..."

That has not been my experience.

I have found that schools often don't know how many hours even by interview stage - and this is especially true for VECs who are interviewing for many schools.

mrboswell wrote: »

What are you going to do? A job is better than no job....

But "a" job is not necessarily better than the one you already have.

These schools are wasting the time of teachers who have already been offered more hours or better conditions (ie your own hours) in another school.

bdoo

TThere is a job on ed posts which states permanent but when i click through it shows 19 hours.
http://www.educationposts.ie/adverts/second_level/employee/2333/

now it may be an error that someone accidentally clicked permanent.

it is also on education careers same story but says 0.9 permanent
http://www.educationcareers.ie/info_jobid_5752/construction_studies/dcg.html
Thats no accident, so what is this new category of teaching post?

Or do some people not know what permanent means? this is ridiculous.

lestat21

mrboswell wrote: »

Just note that if you get called for interview the first thing that is usually said is...."this post if for x hours..."

What are you going to do? A job is better than no job....

Miss lockhart is right. Ive actually been at interviews where the post hasnt been explained at all and i have to ask for a breakdown of hours and the type of contract. Its also been the case where schools have suggested that hours might increase depending on the number of special needs students or travellers who join in September.

But the number of hours doesnt determine if its permanent or not. If Im honest, I often wondered if they called these positions permanent because there was already a RPT teacher in line for the job and they just wanted to give people a hint. Im still fairly new to jobhunting, only been at it for the last 2 years, but schools and VECs dont make things easy to understand. Ive been called to interview for a job that was 2 hours maths and 16 hours resource, where the advert just stated it was 18 hours maths and resource. Felt like a complete fool at the interview because I had very little experience in resource. I left wondering why they had dragged me halfway across the country. Ive even been called to interview when I didnt apply for the position, hadnt a clue what I was walking into...

jeez im really not looking forward to the next few months jobhunting now

rainbowtrout

Standards around job advertisements should definitely be improved. I saw an ad a couple of days ago, for a VEC I think, advertising a few jobs. One was listed as TWT!!!

Temporary Whole Time is no longer a term that's used, it's either RPT or CID/Permanent, so god knows what the job was.

bdoo

TWT means temporary with 22 hours which is 'Wholetime'. Anything less than 22 is Part Time - RPT.

You won't see a CID advertised as it can only be earned after four years. Although I understand that an employer can grant a CID at any point before this once they have an allocation for the post. It makes little sense from an employers perspective to grant a CID early with the way things are changing at the moment.

A CID for 18 hours is good thing for as teacher as the holder will be contracted for the extra four hours to make 22.

This can be bad from a school management perspective though, I think this part of the reason jobs are split so much

linguist

Sorry to contradict you bdoo, but TWT is only used nowadays where the job is a career break or a secondment and thus is full hours but temporary as the hours do not belong to you.

If you are full time on your own hours you are 22 hours RPT. One possible exception to this might be in a VEC where teachers are employed by the scheme and somebody might be found full hours in a totally different school or subject to the person out on career break with the overall allocation of hours being balanced out across the VEC. However, I imagine that this is pretty rare.

I suppose if you're starting out and have few commitments 'a job is better than no job' but we really need to get our act together and fight this appalling casualisation and hours culture in our profession. Other countries such as England and Australia seem to be able to create jobs as opposed to hours without too much difficulty. There must be a way.

bdoo

linguist wrote: »

Sorry to contradict you bdoo, but TWT is only used nowadays where the job is a career break or a secondment and thus is full hours but temporary as the hours do not belong to you.

If you are full time on your own hours you are 22 hours RPT. One possible exception to this might be in a VEC where teachers are employed by the scheme and somebody might be found full hours in a totally different school or subject to the person out on career break with the overall allocation of hours being balanced out across the VEC. However, I imagine that this is pretty rare.

I suppose if you're starting out and have few commitments 'a job is better than no job' but we really need to get our act together and fight this appalling casualisation and hours culture in our profession. Other countries such as England and Australia seem to be able to create jobs as opposed to hours without too much difficulty. There must be a way.

No need to be sorry:D . I'm a teacher so I'm used to being contradicted!

Personally I have never seen 22 hrs RPT.

Main thing is in any case that both are temporary contracts.

The casualisation is a disaster. People need to fight this on an individual basis with union support.

eg if you have 15 hours of maths and a new guy starts with 18 hours you should look fir those hours to be yours - no question about it in my mind. This makes sure that the longest serving gets to the full hours first in time to get a full cid or as full as possible.

If this is not done it could be three twelve hour contracts the following year with everyone getting screwed.

I also think that the onus is on the senior / secure staff to ensure that this happens but the individual needs to bring it to their attention.

gaeilgebeo

linguist wrote: »

Sorry to contradict you bdoo, but TWT is only used nowadays where the job is a career break or a secondment and thus is full hours but temporary as the hours do not belong to you.

If you are full time on your own hours you are 22 hours RPT. One possible exception to this might be in a VEC where teachers are employed by the scheme and somebody might be found full hours in a totally different school or subject to the person out on career break with the overall allocation of hours being balanced out across the VEC. However, I imagine that this is pretty rare.

I suppose if you're starting out and have few commitments 'a job is better than no job' but we really need to get our act together and fight this appalling casualisation and hours culture in our profession. Other countries such as England and Australia seem to be able to create jobs as opposed to hours without too much difficulty. There must be a way.

Unfortunately when it comes to timetabling and teacher allocation, it does come down to "hours".
Often, there isn't a "full job" in a particular subject.
We have 4 history teachers. Two are permanent. Due to cutbacks the hours of the two RPT teachers are to be cut next year.
The principal had the option of terminating one of the contracts or spreading the hours between both teachers. Not ideal, I know.
We have 6 English teachers but when all of their timetables have been filled, there are 10 hours of English "leftover". This is were "hours" will be advertised as opposed to a full job. It is very difficult for a school to "create a job" and remain within its allocation.

linguist

Oh sure, I fully realise that's how it goes gaeilgebeo, but my point was that if you look at ads for work in England, Australia etc..., they appear to be offering full-time, permanent jobs. I know that I could find a permanent job in England now if I wanted. Unfortunately, I have commitments here and it's just not that simple.

My question is: if they can offer 'jobs' and the best we seem to be able to do is offer 'hours', I'd love to know what they're doing differently.

gaeilgebeo

linguist wrote: »

Oh sure, I fully realise that's how it goes gaeilgebeo, but my point was that if you look at ads for work in England, Australia etc..., they appear to be offering full-time, permanent jobs. I know that I could find a permanent job in England now if I wanted. Unfortunately, I have commitments here and it's just not that simple.

My question is: if they can offer 'jobs' and the best we seem to be able to do is offer 'hours', I'd love to know what they're doing differently.

Well I'd say what they are doing differently is not making huge cuts in education.

bdoo

A principal has to be very careful with their allocation. If you have 18 hours of French for example and you give it to a teacher for four years they are now entitled to a 22 hour CID.

This means that for the first four years this teacher accounted for .81 of a post. in year five they count for 1.0 meaning that there is a loss of .19 of a teacher which has to come from somewhere.

If the teacher has a second subject that's great you might be able to fit them in and use them there but somebody else will lose some hours if numbers are static
or maybe lose it if they are in decline.

Most principals are acting in good faith I thing and are trying to maintain the best service with what they have and are afraid that they will get caught.

Now if you have a core subject where there will be hours regardless and there are a few part time staff there should be a push within the school to have the most hours to the most senior. This seems unfair to a new entrant until in two years their hours are eroded when they approach their CID determining year.

rainbowtrout

What they're doing in Australia/UK is probably offering 22 hours in English and History instead of 10 hours English and 12 hours History or similar to the scenario above.

There's no reason jobs couldn't be advertised saying hours are available in the following subjects, ...... and then depending on the candidates and their combinations making up 22 hours or as close as possible from that.

rainbowtrout

bdoo wrote: »

A principal has to be very careful with their allocation. If you have 18 hours of French for example and you give it to a teacher for four years they are now entitled to a 22 hour CID.

This means that for the first four years this teacher accounted for .81 of a post. in year five they count for 1.0 meaning that there is a loss of .19 of a teacher which has to come from somewhere.

If the teacher has a second subject that's great you might be able to fit them in and use them there but somebody else will lose some hours if numbers are static
or maybe lose it if they are in decline.

Most principals are acting in good faith I thing and are trying to maintain the best service with what they have and are afraid that they will get caught.

Now if you have a core subject where there will be hours regardless and there are a few part time staff there should be a push within the school to have the most hours to the most senior. This seems unfair to a new entrant until in two years their hours are eroded when they approach their CID determining year.

To be honest I don't think they are. I started teaching 11 years ago, and the vast majority of jobs advertised were 18+, so much so that I didn't have to apply for jobs with lesser hours.

Full time jobs are a rarity now and that can be seen both from advertisements and the amount of posts on here and in other forums from teachers who count themselves lucky to have contracts for 11 hours - since when was 11 hours a good contract???!!

That and there are quite a number of threads which have been posted over the last few years from teachers who have been on full hours for the first three years in the school, so clearly they have the hours to give them subject wise, and suddenly in year 4 they find themselves on 14 hours. I'd say something if there was a small cut but cutting to 14 hours is a 33% paycut. There maybe a few principals out there looking out for their staff but by and large I believe that many principals are actively keeping teachers below 18 hours on purpose.

Even to use your example, there are usually plenty of CSPE, SPHE, Computers and resource classes knocking about in a school which are used to fill timetables. I'm sure those extra 4 hours could be made up without major hassle in most cases.

It's terrible for new entrants into teaching to think that they may never have the potential to earn a full wage from their job. Of course aside from cuts to pay in the last few years, pension levy etc, this has a knock on effect on their pension at the other end too. Getting screwed in all manner of ways.

bdoo

rainbowtrout wrote: »

That and there are quite a number of threads which have been posted over the last few years from teachers who have been on full hours for the first three years in the school, so clearly they have the hours to give them subject wise, and suddenly in year 4 they find themselves on 14 hours. I'd say something if there was a small cut but cutting to 14 hours is a 33% paycut. There maybe a few principals out there looking out for their staff but by and large I believe that many principals are actively keeping teachers below 18 hours on purpose.

Even to use your example, there are usually plenty of CSPE, SPHE, Computers and resource classes knocking about in a school which are used to fill timetables. I'm sure those extra 4 hours could be made up without major hassle in most cases.

It's terrible for new entrants into teaching to think that they may never have the potential to earn a full wage from their job. Of course aside from cuts to pay in the last few years, pension levy etc, this has a knock on effect on their pension at the other end too. Getting screwed in all manner of ways.

I did note that to be fair and I think that full time staff like myself nees to make the case for the newer staff.

I know a girl who was on 15 hours maths up from about 13 the previous year last sept. In walks a new guy on 18 hours. She felt hard done by and was. I gave her some advice and she got sorted.

Now I am not from her school nor do I know much about it - but that she had to ask me for advice and not someone in her school is wrong.

Further, that nobody in her school noticed this and supported her is wrong.

Everybody says 'we' need to do more. WE means WE. All of us looking out for each other.

It has to start with permanent staff. And we need to look out for new people.

The problem is that many of what are now 'Senior' staff in schools (Myself included after 8 years) started in the last 10-15 years when money was good and pay kept rising.

Most don't care once they are okay. I have rarely seen such selfishness. At a recent staff meeting in a staff I spoke about the unfairness certain practices in the school for mew staff and part time staff. There are 40 on my staff. I was a voice in the wilderness once the meeting was over it was all 'well said there', 'it need to be said' but no public support.

Needless to say I don't expect the vulnerable teachers to speak out like this but I do expect that others who are 'safe' do.

I know I'm gone off topic but a lot of the problem with the casualisation of teaching is that it is tolerated

linguist

Something has to be done! And before I sound like a caller on Liveline, there really must be some way of dealing with this.

The most obvious approach is to give teachers proper credit for the work they've done - in other words panel rights. It works perfectly in primary. You do three or five years teaching and your name goes on a panel from which permanent vacancies must be filled. Ruairi Quinn is well able to crack the whip when he wants to and drone on about the country being in receivership. Well this is public money and teachers are taxpayers as well as public servants and there should be a mechanism put in place to look after people after a certain period of time. Let's cut through all this nonsense about defending ethos etc... If you worked in McDonald's you'd respect its corporate values for as long as it paid your wages! That's just another smokescreen to keep us where they want us - vulnerable and dispensable.

Is there any way of drumming up legitimate public sympathy over this issue? Yes we all know about the bashers, but actually most of the bashing is over our perceived cushy working conditions, not about our right to secure employment. Even Pat Kenny has expressed sympathy with the plight of non-permanent teachers and amazement with the inability of the unions to do anything about it.

Our education system is heading for the buffers because the best and brightest will simply see through this mess and go where they're appreciated. And frankly, if I was starting out again, I almost certainly would too.

bdoo

I know its controversial but if there was a real squeeze on things like extra curricular parents and the public at large would notice.

Unfortunately (for teachers) we are not willing to do this and that's because the kids will lose out. There very few cold hearted teachers to our credit, our biggest asset is our spirit of giving and caring. This ultimately is our biggest problem, care too much to strike, care too much to cut back, care too much to care about ourselves.

Yes we will bitch and moan. No we wont take action.

I think people have become immune to talk of cutbacks and unless they have a child in school they aren't aware the effects. Unless the effects are allowed to be shown for what they are they will never know.

Of course the children of the well heeled will still have the sport facilities in their schools, I recently saw an ad for a director of rugby in a Dublin secondary school. These schools are paying for the post I know, but who pays the teachers to allow the school to be able to afford such a post?

And so it goes that teachers in less well off schools continue to do the necessary so as not to further disadvantage their students.

whiteandlight

bdoo wrote: »

I know its controversial but if there was a real squeeze on things like extra curricular parents and the public at large would notice.

Unfortunately (for teachers) we are not willing to do this and that's because the kids will lose out. There very few cold hearted teachers to our credit, our biggest asset is our spirit of giving and caring. This ultimately is our biggest problem, care too much to strike, care too much to cut back, care too much to care about ourselves.

Yes we will bitch and moan. No we wont take action.

I think people have become immune to talk of cutbacks and unless they have a child in school they aren't aware the effects. Unless the effects are allowed to be shown for what they are they will never know.

Of course the children of the well heeled will still have the sport facilities in their schools, I recently saw an ad for a director of rugby in a Dublin secondary school. These schools are paying for the post I know, but who pays the teachers to allow the school to be able to afford such a post?

And so it goes that teachers in less well off schools continue to do the necessary so as not to further disadvantage their students.

The major problem with this for part timers is that to get the job in the first place we HAD to agree to extra curricular. Personally I couldn't stop doing extra cirricular for fear that I would lose hours etc. and if I need to move schools it has become vital that I can show my previous extra curricular work or as it was put to me in interview 'what can I bring to the extracurricular activities provided in this school?'

The biggest problem as I see it in this is the back scratching/who you know culture already present in teaching is being heavily contributed to by this. Unless you dance a jig/stand on your head/toe the line you will find yourself on even more pathetic hours the next year

Heydeldel

This is so depressing to read! I'm a newly qualified teacher, just finished up in May and I'm in the UK already teaching. I really, really want to work at home tho and will be heartbroken If I have to return here in Sept for work as I'm in a long -term relationship. Why are colleges churning out so many graduates?? A large number of the staff at the school I'm in now are Irish, all left after qualifying because they knew there was nothing at home.

The Irish ed system looks like a joke in some respects compared to how organised it is here. Here there is lots of opps for career advancement etc and teachers regularly move schools after a few years for promotional purposes or to try another school. Imagine being able to choose where to work!

I'm thinking long and hard about where to be in Sept. My heart wants home but my head tells me to stick it out over here.

Advice? Am I mad applying for jobs advertised at home, thinking I actually have a chance of work?

linguist

Well no you're not mad to apply and there can be any number of reasons why a school might opt for an NQT - up to date skills such as incorporation of ICT etc...

Realistically, you're most likely to start with a maternity leave, career break etc..., but it would get you in there and start building up your PQE for the Teaching Council.

Speaking of which, have you your Teaching Council registration and Garda vetting underway? You won't be working anywhere without those this autumn.

I do understand that you have personal reasons for wanting to work at home, but there are lots of teachers here who work a long way from home. I know plenty of people from Cork who teach in Dublin for example. The return train fare at the weekend isn't an awful lot cheaper than a Ryanair flight from the UK!

If you get an offer in the UK, accept it. Then keep looking over here. Sadly a cool head is required here. I'm sure your partner will understand that you want a career as well as him/her.

bdoo

My first job was in the UK. walked into it straight from college, decent school too.

I had a girlfriend the time - married to her now so that worked out ok! came home every other week ryanair.com! school was in Essex so quite close to stansted for the Monday morning flight back.

it is good to see another system and I learned a lot there but didnt enjoy it one bit i have to say. we had meetings about meetings and the kids learned very little imo. no creativity allowed. follow the scheme.

and the paperwork. its not half as bad here s it was there.

as for promotion there are more opportunities. there was a fast track program at the time which i was offered but declined as i had gotten a job back home. still there! but they make you work for it too so its no cake walk.

if you get experience it will count for something in the future it would be better to be with it than without.

mrboswell

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

That has not been my experience.

I have found that schools often don't know how many hours even by interview stage - and this is especially true for VECs who are interviewing for many schools.



But "a" job is not necessarily better than the one you already have.

These schools are wasting the time of teachers who have already been offered more hours or better conditions (ie your own hours) in another school.

lestat21 wrote: »

Miss lockhart is right. Ive actually been at interviews where the post hasnt been explained at all and i have to ask for a breakdown of hours and the type of contract. Its also been the case where schools have suggested that hours might increase depending on the number of special needs students or travellers who join in September.

But the number of hours doesnt determine if its permanent or not. If Im honest, I often wondered if they called these positions permanent because there was already a RPT teacher in line for the job and they just wanted to give people a hint. Im still fairly new to jobhunting, only been at it for the last 2 years, but schools and VECs dont make things easy to understand. Ive been called to interview for a job that was 2 hours maths and 16 hours resource, where the advert just stated it was 18 hours maths and resource. Felt like a complete fool at the interview because I had very little experience in resource. I left wondering why they had dragged me halfway across the country. Ive even been called to interview when I didnt apply for the position, hadnt a clue what I was walking into...

jeez im really not looking forward to the next few months jobhunting now

Any job I've been called to interview for over the last 4 years always explained the exact breakdown of the hours at the start of the interview.

When I say what are you going to do I am more so referring to those who are not in a job and are looking for one.
Anyway I'd never up and leave, I'd always stay for the practice.

delta_bravo

Heydeldel wrote: »

Why are colleges churning out so many graduates?? .

The Irish ed system looks like a joke in some respects compared to how organised it is here. Here there is lots of opps for career advancement etc and teachers regularly move schools after a few years for promotional purposes or to try another school. Imagine being able to choose where to work!

Simple reason for so many graduates - money. A college has only staff expense for these courses, schools get nothing. Its easy money. UCD would get revenue not far off 1.5 million per annum (not including wages etc.) so thats why they do it.

I wouldn't agree that our system is a joke compared to the UK. I went over and taught a small bit and had a fair few interviews with schools. They are completely ruled by Ofsted, it is like a ruling force that drives everything you do and every way you teach. That means teachers must document and plan for the sake of planning. Little autonomy exists from what I saw.

We get far less investment that many uk schools get in terms of buildings and staff but I feel the profession in Ireland is more respected broadly. Some may disagree but thats what I picked up from tasting both sectors.

happywithlife

may not be the right thread but as you are on the topic of interviews...
i applied for a job last week and got called for the interview .... next tuesday! bahh humbug cos i'm away at a marking conference for the honours leaving cert paper (which i had stated at the bottom of the application form) ...why schedule interviews when some high calibre candidates (such as myself ) are away at a marking conference for that subject. am sure others could be caught up with superintending at that stage too.... methinks the job was gone already anyway ?

Heydeldel

Sorry delta_bravo, I meant that the job situation here is a joke, in terms of being offered hours and not knowing if they'll be there next year etc. I can see now how Ofsted rule the system here and the kids basically spend 5 years preparing for the GCSE's. Madness. The unrelenting assessments suck any creativity or learning for the sake of it here too. Reading/writing for pleasure is replaced by a drive for 'progress'.

It was just in terms of job contracts that I meant Ireland was a joke.

I do agree that it is a more respected profession in Ireland and generally students in Ireland still have a respect for a teacher's authority.

Both systems have strengths and weaknesses I suppose.

dory

I have a question slightly related to interviews - what is a 'copy of certificates, diplomas' etc? Do they want me to get my actual degree down from the wall and put it on a photocopier? I doubt it''ll fit! Or is it transcripts they're after?

Also what is an unbound slide binder CV? Will a staple not suffice??

Postgrad10

Hi Dory,

They are looking for both unfortunately . I'm currently trying to get mine sized in to an A4 page because it's such a waste . Then some VEC's require 4 copies of everything

happywithlife

hi dory,
i presume an unbound slide binder is one of the plastic slider things we used to use in college for essays -- you know the ones where you just slot the pages into it and it loosely keeps them together ... few cent in a stationery shop ... wouldn't bother stapling it cause the unbound bit means they want to be able to run it through the photocopier and you don't want to be tee'ing somebody off from the outset...

Seanchai

dory wrote: »

I have a question slightly related to interviews - what is a 'copy of certificates, diplomas' etc? Do they want me to get my actual degree down from the wall and put it on a photocopier? I doubt it''ll fit! Or is it transcripts they're after?

I took a single digital photo of each qualification, uploaded them to my laptop and I attach them to each application which requires them. If they wanted physical copies I simply printed those digital photos out and put them in the application. They are, after all, only looking for a copy.

lestat21

Hi Dory I always send in the photocopies of my transcripts cos it shows exactly what results I got and they clearly state my degree results. I also got a box of slide binders on a stationary website, 100 siders for under 15 euro I did the exact same thing with A4 envelopes got 200 for under 20 euro.. two years on and I still have a load of both and it saves a lot of money in the long run!!!

Miss Lockhart

I always sent photocopies too. You can get parchments reduced to A4 on a photocopier.

Personally, I think the side-binder thing is a bit much. Obviously trying to save hassle for the photocopying by ensuring no staples, but surely a paper-clip should suffice!

Postgrad10

No slide binders required, employers don't want them and I know for certain we warned against during our undergrad degree.

Miss Lockhart

They often say "bound/slide binder". Would a paperclip do for "bound"?

If it doesn't it should!

Postgrad10

I see now that some primary jobs require a slide/binder . Sorry.