Job search query

janes1234

I am currently going into my 2nd year in a school and it's to cover career break. I covered the same person's extended maternity leave last year. I am very happy to be kept on but am aware that these are not my own hours (it's a privately paid contract so no CID entitlement). I have 2 interviews this week(both closer to home and easier to get to)- both for fixed term/purpose jobs. I know these are not permanent but I asked if they were covers and I was told they weren't.

My question is- if I were lucky enough to be offered either job should I take them and risk starting out again in a new school? I love my current school and I have signed a contract to secure myself and am being paid for the summer. Anyone been in a similiar position? Very hard to know. I have a mortgage to pay etc. so have to look to the future.

gaeilgebeo

You need to think about your future, true.
Your current job will not lead to a secure future.
It's not your job.
Take a job that offers your own hours if you are offered.
I know it's hard to leave a school where you are settled and that you like, but it's your only option for job security in the future.

gaiscioch

janes1234 wrote: »

My question is- if I were lucky enough to be offered either job should I take them and risk starting out again in a new school? I love my current school and I have signed a contract to secure myself and am being paid for the summer. Anyone been in a similiar position? Very hard to know. I have a mortgage to pay etc. so have to look to the future.

I'd very much agree with gaeilgebeo on this one: you need your own hours. Having been in a similar situation, and taking into account the mortgage, I'd take 12 of my own hours (with potential) versus 22 (time limited) of somebody's else's.

I'd also genuinely welcome the chance of starting in another school because you will bring a range of experiences of how things are done elsewhere which will be valued in your new school (if the management is in any way ciallmhar). All schools have problems and weaknesses; it is teachers with experiences from other schools who play a critical role in offering insight in how similar problems were addressed in their old school.

I am very grateful that I didn't stay in the same school for all of my career to date and I know that my experiences elsewhere were very important in improving my existing school (which had the same staff for very many years). You, too, will of course grow as a teacher from the way things are done in a new school. You could get an abysmally awful school, but the reflection you do in a woeful school will make you a fantastic candidate in any subsequent interviews. The best interview of my life came after the worst teaching experiences of my life. You tend to value yourself more, talk straighter and be a much more real, serious and sharper candidate than you would be without such harsh experience.

mtoutlemonde

gaiscioch wrote: »

I am very grateful that I didn't stay in the same school for all of my career to date and I know that my experiences elsewhere were very important in improving my existing school (which had the same staff for very many years). You, too, will of course grow as a teacher from the way things are done in a new school. You could get an abysmally awful school, but the reflection you do in a woeful school will make you a fantastic candidate in any subsequent interviews. The best interview of my life came after the worst teaching experiences of my life. You tend to value yourself more, talk straighter and be a much more real, serious and sharper candidate than you would be without such harsh experience.

Sorry to go off topic - just the above point Gaiscioch - I have been in a similar situation this year - left wondering if I was cut out to be a teacher - the most demoralising period of my career. Luckily, I went back to the schools I had worked in previously and my confidence was restored. How did you manage this in interviews? Did you tell of your experiences? I have heard that it is unprofessional to talk down a school? (I'm not saying you did this but would like to know how you did this in interview without talking down the school and policies/management etc.) PM me if you wish. Thanks.

mtoutlemonde

gaiscioch wrote: »

I hope I can do justice to all angles of this in writing. I didn't mention difficulties in the old school until I felt I had focused on positive, practical and original aspects to teaching and generally got a feel for the character of the interviewers.

However, towards the end when they asked had I any questions I actually did mention that, despite the many great kids, I found particular aspects of my previous school tough - but I was careful to frame it in a way which did not put the old school management down (if the truth be known, while going through it I blamed myself much more and it was only when I finished in it that I could cast a cold eye on the management).

Rather, I focused on structural problems in the old school which made my ability to teach difficult - the school was building extensions so, as the new teacher, I was moved to different classrooms for each class with short notice of where I was going, and often ending up in a science lab with 30 students, many of whom would not have seats, an issue which would create more disruption in each class, etc. Add to this the broad range within classes (no streaming) and that I was just out of the Dip on full hours trying to establish myself in a new school and you can see the sort of experience I was getting.

Most importantly, this discussion of that school in the interview had a point: I was making it clear that I put enormous value on having my own classroom, and was asking the new school can they provide one. In the same vein of classroom management, I asked what ICT they had and I discussed how the old school's lack of it made it harder to diversify my teaching, visuals tended to keep the interest of weaker kids with dyslexia, my subjects could be taught much better with PowerPoint etc. Basically, the students and thus the school would benefit hugely from this. I could have managed without the ICT (it just so happened the new school had money available to it but none of the existing teachers had interest in it so because I brought it up the management saw me as the person to help bring in this change).

However, I would not have taken the job if I was not guaranteed my own classroom. I just wouldn't. My experience was raw. You know your limits. It wasn't about having a classroom being a luxury or something; it was about putting a value on your teaching and, most of all, the treatment you will not accept in any workplace. It was the most honest and confident interview I've ever done because I knew what I needed to be allowed to teach, and I knew what I could not accept. I asked questions, always in a friendly nonthreatening way, which I would never have asked without that experience. I made it clear that I was very interested in the job, but subject to the above condition. I felt very true to myself leaving the interview, and indifferent to whether I had overplayed my hand given how bad the employment situation was. I got a call shortly after offering me it and I'm permanent there now.

I think you really have to get a sense of your interviewers and how you've performed in the interview before you bring up difficulties in previous jobs. But if you can discuss in a reflective, thoughtful and honest way how you learned from that experience and show empathy for the situation faced by a previous school's management, you can come across in a dignified and courageous way to the management of a new school.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply with all that. I really appreciate it. I will keep it in mind for interviews this year. I have taught for a few years now and have never had behaviour problems or students who had so little interest in my subject. The one thing I did realise is that the problem wasn't me but the school I worked for - it took me a while to get that into my head but a few people who I've worked with also helped with that. Its true what they say 'you never know what goes on behind closed doors'.