Our youngest daughter is nearing the end of her NQT year which she expects to pass and has spent the year teaching Yr 1 in a primary school. She was expecting to stay in Yr 1 for the coming year.

The school has cocked-up the recruitment process for replacement teachers from September and have massive gaps in KS2 staff.Our daughter has been given the ultimatum of volunteering to move to year 5 or being told to take the job.

She has concerns that the other teachers in Yr 5 will be a newly appointed year leader who only works 2 days a week, who she does not get on with, and a new NQT and expects to dumped with supervising the NQT and being the de-facto year leader for 3 days a week. She has self-confidence but not the arrogance to assume that she will be able to cope.

She’s also concerned that if she leaves Yr 1 they will be left with an NQT and an experienced teacher who is pregnant and will leave just before Christmas, which means the children will then have an NQT and supply teacher (without casting aspertions on supply teachers).

She accepts that the school can put her into any position but the way it was handled by the deputy head has really annoyed her and she has been told that she has to give her answer tomorrow.

I believe she’s in a union, NUT(?), would it be worth her contacting them or does anyone have any suggestions on what they might do in a similar situation?

She also has no intention of staying at the school after the end on of the 2009-10 year.

Thanks

PS: Sorry to have rambled on so much.

In many Primaries (like mine) there is only one teacher per year anyway, so having more means you get to share planning etc. Even if they are new it can help.
Teaching contracts usually don’t specify a year and include “any other reasonable duties assigned by the head” so could include leading the year. Union could only do something if she gets grief for not doing stuff she has not been supported with.
That said, she should get in touch with her union now for a chat/check and if it gets to that point later it is much easier if you know your rep and they are aware of the situation (so I have been told, never had to call them myself).

Hi Tracker,

They have two classes in each year currently, hence the year leader and NQT and daughter.

I suppose she’s also concerned that if she has to do the year leading and support of the NQT and something goes wrong then she’ll get the blame.

As I said, she doesn’t lack confidence but at 23 she has limited experience to draw on.

She should start applying for jobs in other schools straight away.

She’s right…the school can put her anywhere they want. She could try contacting her union about it, but don’t reckon they’ll be able to do anything.
If I were her I would just take the yr5 position, keep my mouth shut and get on with it. It’ll be good experience for her CV for next yr when she wants to move on.
School internal politics are a complete nightmare and I would just keep my head down if I were her.
It’s not for her to worry about the yr1’s…that’s the SM team’s job.
There is no way she’ll be asked to mentor the NQT as is this is the role of an experienced member of staff.

The school’s management sounds as bad as where I work, but I have learned(to my great expense) that there is no point in fighting decisions made.

And after less that one yr of teaching I really wouldn’t be “rocking the boat”.

She could and should ask for further time to make the decision. speaking to the union may well be helpful but don’t expect the union to be able to block the move. volunteer or be moved is no choice.

Cheers FC and TJ.

She’s on her way home at the moment but we’ve had a chat on the phone and she sounds really upset by being put in this position. She treats people honestly and gets very worked up when people are devious or don’t tell her the whole truth. (She’ll learn I suppose but her honesty is refreshing).

My thoughts were the same as yours FC, better to do what they want and then find a new job, which she was going to anyway, for next year.

I was just making the point that some of us are lonely and alone in our year, having someone else in the same year should not increase her workload compared to a teacher on there own (maybe increased from sharing with a more experienced teacher though).
Only snag with applying for jobs right now is that she has missed the window to hand in notice to start somewhere in September without the current schools blessing. Joy of teaching is you have such massive notice periods regardless of service etc. (not sure it applies if you are going to a non teaching job but that is not the issue here).
Oh, and it being a centre of education and enlightenment doesn’t stop the management being inefficient, annoying or just plain bad. I am blessed in that my school has a cracking team who get on pretty well together, not the case everywhere by a long chalk (or should I say whiteboard pen?)

Hi, your daughter has my sympathies! With regard to her position, FC is right, she needs to start hunting for a new job ASAP. With regard to the mentoring the NQT/ year leaders role, is there any one more senior in school than her that she feels able to express her concerns to? (the deputy sounds like a right idiot!) She might be able to go down the ‘I want to do the best for the kids and in the lead up to their sats at the end of Y6 (only 1 year away), I don’t want the extra pressure of a job I don’t feel experienced enough to do’ route. Particularly if the school is one that places a lot of emphasis on sats results and league tables. At the same time, being able to say she has experience of both KS 1 and 2 might help her when she comes to looking for a new job…..

Cheers Tracker. Accept your point about not being on her own to deal with the problems. Seems she was ‘ambushed’ after school just as she was going home, although she’d been expecting something to happen somewhen during the day they left it to the last moment.

After she called me she managed to get in touch with her current year 1 leader who she gets on really well with. Seems she has some issues with the management as well and she has told her to refuse the position and let them deal with the outcomes.

Freeandsingle – daughter knows she’s missed out for moving this year. Her plan was to do two years and move on next year and she wants to move to a specific area so needs to have time to find a new school/job.

She expects to get moved to year 5 whatever happens and she’ll do the job to the best of her ability but she still has expectations of people that they fail to live up to.

As a secondary school teacher and an ex-NASUWT school rep, I’d say the school can not give her this ultimatum, especially after the last day for handing in your notice (for a September start elsewhere) has passed. I agree with her Year Leader’s position – she was employed and took the job on the understanding she’d be a Year 1 teacher, what has changed now that they can’t stick to this commitment and can’t that be un-done instead? Is there no-one else in the school more experienced in KS2, or are they picking on your daughter as they think she won’t rock the boat? Once you get shat on once, that doesn’t stop them coming back and shitting on you again.

There’s no reason why the person mentoring the NQT has to be in the same year group – as Tracker says, lots of schools only have one class per year group.

If she has passed her NQT assessments with decent results, and the school is happy to switch her to Y5, it sounds like they actually think pretty well of her. It’s good if her mentor is in the same KS, but not essential. Our place has just had our senior foundation teacher give notice on the last day of the deadline, putting us in a similar position where we reshuffle. In an ideal world we would advertise, and have the new person in post for September, but that would mean choosing from people currently unemployed, or about to be released at the end of a temp job. The other option is to take a temp for a term and advertise the permanent position from January. That’s the way things go in schools, given the transfer window system. We did our planned recruitment in April/early May to try to keep it orderly and get to pick from the best. It doesn’t sound like the communication has been well done, but it does sound like they like her enough to want her to stay, and Y5 is one of the most fun years in the primary. All our contracts here say we can move people around within the school, but when we do it’s to play to peoples strengths, or at least to minimise bad outcomes. They must either have an inkling that she will do well in Y5, or they might have someone else around who can only cope with KS1 and who doesn’t have the flexibility to move to Y5. If she does move to Y5, it’s good to get a spread across the yeargroups early in her career and that will help on the CV if she decides to move on. As far as notice goes, we’re just in the second week of June, and the move happens in September. Plenty of time to get her head around it. She’ll have time to liase with the current Y5 team, and rummage through the resources. the curriculum planning is kicking in in earnest at this time too, so she has time to put her stamp on that too. I’d say roll your sleeves up and get on with it. There’s still plenty of time in most schools for plans to change again as pregnancies are announced and those on maternity leave decide to stay away another term, and that’s not allowing for really unexpected stuff. Does your LA have a NQT mutual support group/(drinking gang) ours does and it helps to share. Good luck to her whatever she chooses. Bit of a ramble there but hope it helps.

midlifecrashes…are you in senior management by any chance? I would say “yes” as you clearly have no understanding of paragraphing. 😉
And your post is vomit-makingly full of jargon. (No hint of a smiley.)

Y5 is one of the most fun years in the primary.
Yep…most kids take a dip in yr5 cos their teachers don’t take things seriously.

Senior management, not quite, unpaid amateur meddler. On recruiting panel and chair of govs. Not always a popular position with the real workers.[your choice of smiley here]

My paragraphing isn’t too bad tonight, I can make sentences go on that long!

The Y5 dip is always a worry, our place used to have a Y3,4&5 dip and hid behind two outstanding teachers in Y6 who worked their bollocks off while the middle of the school either coasted or didn’t have a clue. I like Y5 since rightly or wrongly there isn’t the SATs pressure of Y6 but the children have the maturity to do work in sufficient depth to have real interest, the skills to present it well, and the still have the freedom of imagination which can be lost later with narrower subject teaching. Nice to be taking Y6 to Dalby in a few weeks mind. Anyway, hope Jova’s girl gets a good ear to talk it through.

Thanks for all the additional comments.

I’ve shown the thread to my daughter and it has given her some food for thought and confirmed her that the management problems are not limited to her school.

She hopes that she’ll be left in Y1 but knows that if she goes to Y5 it will be a useful experience and look good on her CV when she moves next year.

Why do teachers always see things so negative? Surely this kind of scenario is a positive challenge, and would look good on her CV once completed?

Like many jobs, if you dont like, then get out.

Make the most of it. All schools have gangs, even the 2 class ones that I have worked in. Join your own gang and see this as a goodthing. Y 5 is fun. mature(ish)!! kids with no SATs hassle.