15 replies to this topic

[Dom_Giles]

I'm interested in how much none contact time collegues currently get. Assuming a school week runs to 25 hrs ( I know Carole is going to say something about this), I would guess most History teachers with no extra responsibility would teach 21 hrs? HOD about 19?
I only ask because from Sept. in my school for various reasons not worth mentioning here, my timetable will allow me ONE HOUR of none contact time. I bet no one can beat that!

[Richard Drew]

in our school we run a 2 week timetable of 50 hours. regualr teachers get 7 hours non-contact (though strangely even our official timetables from SMT still call it 'FREE') and HODs 10 hours.

your situation sounds extremely outrageous and simply not a practical think to ask you to do.

[Stephen Drew]

As a Head of Faculty I started the year on 19 out of 25 hours teaching time (so 6 non contact periods).

However at present I sit at 21 out of 25 hours teaching time due to mentoring and taking on some Geography due to staff shortages. I volunteered to take this extra stuff on, and the quid pro quo is that I get very little cover.

I think that is fine, as long as the balance is there.

[Carole Faithorn]

Assuming a school week runs to 25 hrs ( I know Carole is going to say something about this), I would guess most History teachers with no extra responsibility would teach 21 hrs? HOD about 19?

Well. I am tempted to tell you about the 90 hour working week some of our guys do, but I won't

If you are talking contact time in the classroom then I guess what you say is about right. One hour non-contact time is absolutely ridiculous,

[Nichola Boughey]

I get 3 hrs and 10 minutes non-contact time which constitutes 3 lessons.

I inevitably lose at least 70 minutes of this time on sits a week.

The youngest teachers in my school get collared for more sits per year than the more senior teachers as we are less likely to complain about the situation.


When we move schools in September the new timetable will give me 4 hours non-contact time a week as we move from a 4 lesson a day timetable for a 6 lesson a day timetable!

[Paul Smith]

Last year 27hrs out of 25 hrs contact time. This year 22.5 out of 25 and as HoD and ILT coordinator and doing some professional development in my own
time (sorry union - I have never worked anywhere so unaware of the need for unions)what it is to work in small rural settings under the new funding environment. Line manager was a bit worried about me being a bit light on timetable this year so I got Citizenship, mentoring and a collaborative project with local institution as well.

They seemed rather surprised when I resigned the other week!


Pressure,don't know the meaning of the word (something to do with Boyle's law)

Paul

[bemused1]

We run a two week timetable of 50 hours. As a HOD I get 8 frees a fortnight, 5 in one week and 3 in the other. However, teachers who are light on their timetable are used for cover more frequently on a rota so the frees are pretty much left free.

In a previous school, again as a HOD, I lost 4 frees out of 6 per week on a regular basis (i.e. 5 out of 6 weeks and was then criticised for not getting all the department development done). One free is nowhere near enough for you and will have a detrimental effect on your work

[A Finemess]

"I have never worked anywhere so unaware of the need for unions"

Educate, Agitate, Organise!

Somewhat ironic to be making this comment about teachers!

However, to go back to the point ... 1 hour! See your union. See your heidie! Say that you think your health will suffer under such a regime. Ask for a response in writing. Repeat ... in writing. Threaten to take out a grievance procedure. But under no circumstances accept this kind of ****.

[Dom_Giles]

Thanks for all the comments. It's pretty much as I thought. The reason our timetable is so full is that we are changing from a January to December timetable to a Sept-July one and will have an extra year group for the first term. So, the good news is that it isn't for a whole year. The bad news is that it is still going to happen. If we had any Unions here they wouldn't be allowed to get away with it.
Anyway, thanks for the info. At least it gives ammunition to my complaints and moanings.

[Dan Moorhouse]

Isn't there a union agreement that the minimum amount of none teaching time at secondary level should be 10% of total teaching time?

Our system is fairly simple. In a 25 lesson week we get: 3 NT's for classroom teacher and in addition to that: 2 for head of foundation subject, 3 for head of core subject, 3 for head of year. NQT's get at least one extra and they will only be hit for cover if all other teachers have been used.

Unfortunately these aren't always accumulative, basic maths suggests that my minimum NT should be 8 as a head of year and subject - I get 6.

[Richard Drew]

my current 7 hours per fortnight are currently being bolstered by losing 6 hours to our student teacher and 12 to our sadly departed GCSE/AS/A2 students. leaving me teaching 25 hours out of 50. now i lose a fair number of these to cover, but it means that it becomes very very rare for anyone to lose their actual frees to cover.

i think we sometimes forget about the times of the year when the timetable works in our favour.

[Richard Jones-Nerzic]

If we had any Unions here they wouldn't be allowed to get away with it.

Is this the same Dom_G who is applying for a job in Mexico? I am the union rep. in an international school where the management have all come from south American schools. If their expectations are common practice in south America look out.

[Kath Ford]

Due to a stupid timetable and stupid timetable managment I ended up with 12 frees in a 27 period week!! Beat that

[Richard Drew]

Due to a stupid timetable and stupid timetable managment  I ended up with 12 frees in a 27 period week!! Beat that

You lucky

[Marta Gunner]

I get 5 1/2 hours free at the moment, and have no idea about next year. I also do mentoring ( three students so far this year) and have to head my department on this! I know it is more than most, so i am not really complaining. 1 hour is very little.