Doing additional work at home

[swain90]

lot of my mates did not even end up going to uni and resat at sixth form and are now in dead end jobs which is a bit sad.

I would say school has some part to play in how people end up in their current work situation. However from my own personal experience I'd say it comes down to personality and if you have that drive to find something you really want to get into.

I didn't do well at school, I had to do an additional year at college to get something half decent as a qualification. I worked ~360 days straight with 4 different jobs at one point because I needed/wanted the experience.

This isn't a dig at your friends for being in a "dead end job", I feel if people really want to do something that they enjoy, it's not always as difficult as people make out if you're willing to put in the effort.

 

[DELETED_83755]

Isn't extra work outside of contracted hour the norm for many jobs anyway? For professional development and further learning ?

 

[dowie]

Isn't extra work outside of contracted hour the norm for many jobs anyway? For professional development and further learning ?

depends if you count self study/professional development as 'work'

sure it is quite common these days for people to do that, though I think it is a bit different spending an evening/weekend studying for something that is potentially going to make you more valuable/directly benefit you (whether work is paying for the qualification or not) than say catching up on stuff you'd ordinarily have been doing in the office

 

[Haggisman]

Isn't extra work outside of contracted hour the norm for many jobs anyway? For professional development and further learning ?

That's not quite the same as continuing to respond to emails and doing reports because there isn't enough time to do them in your 7.5-8 hours in the office

 

[skaif]

I would say school has some part to play in how people end up in their current work situation. However from my own personal experience I'd say it comes down to personality and if you have that drive to find something you really want to get into.

I didn't do well at school, I had to do an additional year at college to get something half decent as a qualification. I worked ~360 days straight with 4 different jobs at one point because I needed/wanted the experience.

This isn't a dig at your friends for being in a "dead end job", I feel if people really want to do something that they enjoy, it's not always as difficult as people make out if you're willing to put in the effort.

Fair point, of course its dependent on the person! Agree with this 100% as I went to the same school and managed to do alright!

What let them down was the support structure and guidance - there was none of it at school and for me it was more my family that told me about Uni etc.

Don't get me wrong things are much better these days but I still feel like more could be done!

 

[dowie]

It's almost endless! And to those who keep saying "Its like that for the first few years but when everything's planned it gets easier" - you are right....in theory! The problem is the government wants to change direction every few years so we constantly have to change our curriculum!

why should it even be that... I mean why not have department wide plans? The suggestion seems to be that there is lots of planning for a new teacher to do but once they've got them done they can just reuse them... but why can't they just use existing plans drawn up by colleagues in that instance? (govt changes aside) I mean why have each teacher independently replicate the same process?

 

[RDM]

Easter revision classes the teaching staff get paid for, so it's different than doing it off their own back.

We do? I certainly didn't...

 

[Six6siX]

Depends entirely on the person and how they view their job. Is it just a job or is it a career? Do they have an interest in advancing, better prospects? Is there scope for advancing? What is the job security like? What are the management like?

It's difficult to answer this question because everyone's perspective on what they'd do is going to be based on their own experience and ambitions - not to mention the specifics of the company and job itself. I.e. someone who is willing to work the extra hours might think that way for loads of different reasons - good and bad e.g.

1) they love their job
2) get paid a hefty salary
3) it is expected of the role
4) want to make a good impression
5) show that they are capable of doing more and want to progress
6) they feel bad that if they don't the department/company suffers and everyone else has to pick up the slack
7) if they don't, they could be replaced (directly or indirectly) by someone who will
8) there isn't a budget to ease the workload

to name a few.

If it's being done for a 'positive' reason, and the individual is happy to do so, then what's the problem?

If it's being done for a 'negative' reason and the individual is not happy doing it but does it anyway as a necessity, maybe a conversation should be had with a manager around resourcing - using evidence of additional work to highlight concerns? If it's been going on for an extended period of time maybe they should find a new job!

 

[danielanthony]

IMO I think teaching and becoming a nurse/Dr are more of a lifestyle rather than just having a job. It's something you must really want to do.

Of course, when you're a consultant or head teacher on £100k+, its for the love of the profession right?

Nurses are the odd ones out here as they're never going to be in the six figure bracket at any point in their nursing career.

 

[Artery]

I definitely don't earn enough to voluntarily do work out of hours, nor do I want to. We do get offered overtime on a monthly basis, you sort of say you'll be doing however many hours overtime over the next month but you have to make sure you do however much you say otherwise you'll not be considered for the next month (if that makes sense). I just see my time as more valuable than having to spend more hours at work.

 

[swain90]

Of course, when you're a consultant or head teacher on £100k+, its for the love of the profession right?

The vast majority of teachers that really enjoy their job and enjoy helping children rarely become head because the teaching part disappears.

How much teaching does a Head Teacher actually do?

 

[ColdAsIce]

We do? I certainly didn't...

Well a claim form was sent out to staff so I assume so?

 

[skaif]

why should it even be that... I mean why not have department wide plans? The suggestion seems to be that there is lots of planning for a new teacher to do but once they've got them done they can just reuse them... but why can't they just use existing plans drawn up by colleagues in that instance? (govt changes aside) I mean why have each teacher independently replicate the same process?

Sorry - You are right, I am just talking from my personal viewpoint as I am a Head of Department so a lot of it often falls on me to organise.

We do have a good team that plan collaboratively so that the load is lessened, its when new courses, changes in direction and other things that we get swamped!

I am also a fan of not reinventing the wheel so often reuse resources from elsewhere. We are getting better at that!

 

[skaif]

Of course, when you're a consultant or head teacher on £100k+, its for the love of the profession right?

Nurses are the odd ones out here as they're never going to be in the six figure bracket at any point in their nursing career.

Quite often, the heads that are on that sort of money aren't necessarily teachers anymore. More people who have experience in running an efficient team that gets results and understands education.

The vast majority of teachers that really enjoy their job and enjoy helping children rarely become head because the teaching part disappears.

How much teaching does a Head Teacher actually do?

Not a lot! They do try though, its just that there are quite literally a million other things needed to do so they rarely have the time. And when they do, they will often mentor older year groups and teach younger. So that their absence from a lesson won't be as impactful.

Well a claim form was sent out to staff so I assume so?

I think this differs from school to school. My head knows that I will come in regardless of pay to support the kids in my department. He has paid me for some, not for others. They have a strange pay committee here where everything needs to be justified!

 

[chriscpritchard]

Of course, when you're a consultant or head teacher on £100k+, its for the love of the profession right?

Nurses are the odd ones out here as they're never going to be in the six figure bracket at any point in their nursing career.

Director of Nursing or CEO (similar to nursing as headteacher is to teaching ) will be 6 figures (VSM scale)

 

[Deleted member 66701]

say for example; teaching.
Its required that you spend your own time working after school.

Expected != required.

 

[bignev72]

Woman is crazy. She is creating all her own problems. Company must loving it, thinking what a mug..

The company probably don't even realise she is doing it, they probably think it's being taken care of during the normal working day. That's the sad thing.

I do work out of hours but I get paid overtime for it so not all bad.

 

[Arazi]

If you're earning £24k then it's a 9-5 job.

If you're earning £90k then a certain amount of additional hours will be expected.

For me, I'd say £65k is the point where a company can legitimately own your ass.

Why and why?

The salary amount shouldn't and does not come into it in mind, it is what is agreed you will do\work to earn what you earn. Anything extra is either agreed to and paid for or turned down.

Don't let employers walk all over you, simple.

 

[suenstar]

I do extra work at home from time to time, usually once or twice a month.
However my employer offers a TOIL (time off in lieu) system with absolute flexibility in our working days, so it works out quite nicely for me when I know there's something coming up in the year but I don't want to use holiday allowance for, or if I want to extend a holiday by 3-4 days.

They can't afford extra staff so the best solution is everyone being flexible.

Most of the work that I do at home is also stuff that is utterly painful to even attempt while in the office... stuff like modifying databases, creating media or anything that requires the Internet. My home facilities are leagues ahead of what we have in the office (they cannot often afford anything beyond stuff on the border of dysfunctional) so it makes life easier and more enjoyable for me to use my own resources.

 

[wnb]

My sister started a new part time job at the local college. It was supposed to 17 hours a week but it quickly increased to doing an additional 10hrs a week at home which she was not been paid for. She had addressed it on 3 occasions with HR but she has been given more courses to prep for. In the end she gave notice, she worked out that she was getting £3.50 a hour!