teaching

Trying to get a job in teaching? Top tips for your application.

theprimaryhead3 Comments

I once spent a happy three hours shortlisting over 160 applications for a single fixed term teaching position. During which we read many appalling examples from experienced and nqts alike, a few ‘zany’ letters from people hoping to stand out and the inevitable letters addressed to the wrong headteacher…a victim of mass job application writing and forgetting to check which one you were putting in the envelope.

Here are a few tips that I would like to pass on.

1. Small things matter.

If you get my name wrong, the name of my school wrong I will not read it. If your printer was on the blink and some of the words are wonky, or your side margins were so wide  that the printer has sliced off the last letter of each line I will not read it. If it is hand written or the paper has been hand cut to A4 size or if each page is a slightly different colour then again, I will not read it. I may laugh and it may cheer me up for five seconds but I will not seriously consider
you for the job.  Someone once said to me ‘That’s pathetic! They could be the perfect candidate!’ Sorry, you are not the perfect candidate…if you can’t be bothered to present your letter or cv properly in order to get a foot through the door, will you bother to plan lessons properly, put up quality displays, safeguard effectively? Maybe, but I won’t take that risk thanks, especially as the 159 applicants took time to make their first impression a good one.

2. Personalise but don’t go too far.

I know you want to stand out and that you want to wow me but I just want to read a letter. I don’t care that much about pictures of you in action! Oh but if you do insist on including pics of you and some children you have taught don’t put black bars over their eyes or blur their faces out to protect their anonymity. It just makes the photos look, well, a bit creepy. Don’t mess about too much with the format either. One applicant wrote their letter in the style of a newspaper’s front page. To be fair it looked fantastic but they had written it in the third person and in the past tense as if they had been appointed: ‘All the children she had met during the interview were thrilled to find out she had got the job.’ Honestly…that’s what they wrote. To be fair I put their application in my ‘wild card’ pile  for sheer brass but after a while it annoyed me too much.

3. Impact

Not pizzazz….impact. You’re a teacher, I’m a head. All I really care about when it comes down to it is can you teach really well. If I put you in charge of a class will they make great progress. Feel free to tell me about your brilliant behaviour strategies, how you engage children with reading by dressing up as a character, how you work well with other staff members and parents, how you run a great art club and how you think it’s really important to plan topics around their interests and you have great interactive displays in your class. BUT DON’T BOTHER TALKING ABOUT ANY OF THAT UNLESS AFTERWARDS YOU EXPLAIN WHAT DIFFERENCE IT MADE. I want to know about progress, talk to me about % of children on track and above before and after their time with you, and relate it to all the stuff you put in place. I can’t tell you how many letters I read that are full of great ideas but they move onto their next paragraph before saying what difference it made to the children’s attainment, achievement or progress. Impact, impact, impact! Even NQTs…I know you may be inexperienced but I bet you had some impact on that final placement so tell me about it.

4. Write to ME!

lt is good to visit the school but not essential. But research the school a bit because it has strengths and needs that are different to any other school and if you know about them you just might be able to work them to your advantage. Don’t be silly… don’t pretend to Know the school better than me or my school improvement officer but talk about the bits and pieces that are of real interest to you: do this well and you might just sound like a real human and grab my interest as it will stand out from the automated drones who are competing with you.

That’s it. Follow those simple rules and you can’t fail.

Happy applying.

Term 2 data…why do I put myself through it?

theprimaryhead1 Comment

What better way to start Term 3 than settling down to examine your school’s data. Now, every year I ask myself the same question…why is end of term 2 data always so bad?

APS scores showing advancement of approximately 0.1 points, children who ended the year as a 3A writer now sitting in the 2B column, being unable to see a cohort on one page as there are now too many names crowding around the ‘in danger of not meeting age expected outcomes’ section.

To address my own issues I have these musings..

1. Having age expected outcomes is a massive pain in the tracker as every teacher now knows where their class should be at the end of the year. When children arrive in September already there this causes concern…they’re not meant to be there so as logic dictates they will sit there until enough time has passed under the watchful eye of the teacher to justify moving up regardless of the actual progress seen when  flicking through the books.

Now that is isn’t very current teacher friendly so….

2. Last year’s teacher might call that a 2A but in my class you’ve got to do a little bit more, after all you are in year 3 now. A year 3 2A is different to a y2 SATS  2A. No, you will sit at a 2A until you are a proper 2A. Which as luck will probably have it will be after a year with me.

Wow, that’s not very current teacher or last year’s teacher friendly….hmmmm what about…

3. Teachers worry! If these children are already where they should be and I let them continue to make progress and up attaining highly next year’s teacher will kill me!

Now I’m having a go at next year’s teacher. How about…

4. We don’t really want to show great progress straight away that won’t be sustainable, how about we show things down a bit and they can make up the progress later on.

This is getting me nowhere. Instead I think I should just clarify a few points

1. Kids don’t go backwards over the summer.
2. If last year your class made poor progress in autumn but made it up during spring and summer how about agreeing that whatever yout do in terms 5 and 6 that allows for outstanding progress you do that in terms 1 and 2 as well.
3. Don’t wait until Christmas to tell someone that progress isn’t happening…if you’re worried do something differently or ask for help.

So far so teacher beating. It’s not all their fault it’s the system… so ideologies and the system needds to change.

In terms of next year I think I will change when we collect data…
Term 1 (to get the lack of progress out of the system)
Term 2 / 3 (As and when progress put into the tracker over term 2 and 3.)
Term 4 (That way we can judge the effectiveness of  what you put in place to support poor progress and attainment in the previous terms)
Term 6.

Transition periods between year groups should be longer (maybe half of term 6 should be spent in new classes with new teachers) and most importantly of all collaboration with teachers at the end of the year to agree levels going through to the next academic year.

Will this have any impact? Check out my January 2014 blog to find out!

New Year, New Blog

theprimaryheadLeave a comment

Well, after two terms as a head teacher in a two form entry primary school (my first headship) I thought what the world needs is my blog.
I have no idea what it will be about but rest assured when the school improvement plan needs writing or the sef needs updating I will come here instead.
Happy new year.
The Primary Head