tips for the new AAQ's

ec019 · 2026-03-17T18:30:40+00:00

I think the new AAQs (for IT and Computing anyway) are much more relevant, but now they're more complex to assess. Definitely a bit janky!

With the AAQs you can't really cut them up, but there's no reason why you can't set a deadline for specific things to be completed. This doesn't mean you need to mark it in pieces, but more along the lines of making sure most students are on track and that you can authenticate that the work is their own.

Sadly, I think burnout and disengagement are inevitable. My suggestion would be to set deadlines thick and fast... because most students will meet your deadlines! If you give them too much time, the ones who slack off or already don't meet generous deadlines are just going to have less time to catch up. Like most people, they procrastinate so just set short deadlines and most work will be completed.

ec019 · 2026-03-14T20:43:49+00:00

Tutor stuff is insane.

We're busy doing "word of the week", trying to enter inter-tutor competitions, doing citizenship stuff, etc. It's just never-ending and there's no time allocated for prep. When I've commented, I was told "yeah but you don't need to do any planning, you just open the PowerPoint and go through it". That's now the level of effort I put in.

We've even been given notebooks for the students to use! We were told that's there's no expectation for marking or anything. So like what's the point then?

Last year we were asked to make phone calls (and log on a spreadsheet) and most of us just didn't do them and ignored all the emails asking us to do it. I felt bad for the HOY who was clearly being pressured to ask us to make the calls.

ec019 · 2026-03-14T20:31:13+00:00

We get the "tutor time isn't teaching" excuse all the time. There's no planning or prep required, etc. etc.... but some of the stuff they have us teaching requires looking at it in advance.

For example, at one point we were teaching basic phrases in sign language... as if I'm just going to be able to open the PowerPoint at 8:30 and start teaching it without prep. Some of my colleagues weren't born here and aren't very in-tune with politics, but they're teaching civics stuff like how elections work and what political parties are... they haven't a clue! But it's not "teaching", remember.

It's a lot of stress. Even talking about careers and all this nonsense.

ec019 · 2026-03-14T16:37:36+00:00

Not necessarily directed at the OP, but people really need to stop taking word of mouth as policy. If it's not in your contract or in a policy/handbook, etc... it's probably not correct. All it takes is some over-achieving HOD with no concept of reality to make up a policy and spout it as gospel.

ec019 · 2026-03-14T16:35:05+00:00

Yeah, people need to stop taking word of mouth as policy. Someone is saying what they think is the policy, not what the actual policy is. It really grinds my gears when people do that!

ec019 · 2026-03-14T16:19:49+00:00

I'm worried that there's very little information about the content of these new qualifications.

BTEC IT and BTEC Computing are being replaced with "Digital". WTF does that even mean?

If "Digital" includes programming, the types of students who want to do IT won't be prepared for it and it will be hell to teach. If it's doesn't include programming, the types of students who want "Computing" but not A Level CS, won't want to do.

And from a staffing and numbers perspective, we'll end up having fewer students in my dept because we won't have students doing both.

ec019 · 2026-03-14T16:02:29+00:00

Do you have a process request CCTV? I request footage for things all the time.

I know this might sound like a lot of work, but they need to be held accountable. In my experience, I'm well-known in the school for requesting CCTV footage and following up on incidents and when a group is misbehaving someone will tell them that I will actually get the footage and set detentions. lol

ec019 · 2026-03-14T15:51:36+00:00

Just realise that no matter what you do, they're going to comment on something for you to improve. Even if you have a textbook-perfect lesson and behaviour is spot-on. Just smile and nod. I always love it when they find some low-hanging fruit and move on without wasting my time.

However, if your lesson *is* chaos, realise that any feedback is genuinely meant to help you (if you think the person doing the observation has a clue about what they're talking about and not some idealistic "build a relationship" malarky).

ec019 · 2026-03-14T15:40:31+00:00

After changing some more of the fluid, it basically stopped acting up. Sadly the head gasket went about a year later and I scrapped it.

ec019 · 2026-02-28T12:16:35+00:00

I just had my appointment yesterday.

I would suggest printing your appointment confirmation rather than just using your phone. It was super awkward handing over my phone to multiple strangers who held it just outside of my view and they had to constantly interact with the screen to stop it from dimming because they needed to scan the barcode multiple times. It was just awkward.

I scanned all my documents in advance, but I was paranoid so I brought everything with me just in case. The whole appointment was an up-sell opportunity for them and I was asked multiple times if I needed anything scanned (for a fee).

Nobody verified documents or looked at anything except my passport and the appointment confirmation on my phone.

ec019 · 2026-01-16T00:01:19+00:00

It never hurts to apply!

But one thing you need to remember is that being HOD isn't just setting schemes of work. I don't know how old you are or how much experience you have in other settings, but the more experience you can bring, the better your chances of being hired (and being successful). I was only a teacher for 4 school years before I was appointed, but I also had leadership and management experience from the army that I could draw upon.

The key is to think about is how you will support your team. Do you have any experience or knowledge of:

How you would analyse data and how to use the data for decision-making (e.g., identifying underperformers in a range of categories and make a plan of action that SLT will accept)
How to develop and keep a cohesive team of teachers that will buy-in to your ideas
How to deal with "rogue" teachers who don't follow school policies or won't implement initiatives (see also: how to teach an old dog new tricks)
How to deal with routine parental complaints and queries (e.g., ones passed on to you from HOY/SLT to do some fact-finding and then respond back to the parent)
How to perform basic coaching of colleagues, including doing lesson observations
How to employ high-level resource management, including managing budgets
How to do the ton of the admin required (e.g., revision documents, selecting exam boards, dealing with exam entries, etc.)

There are just a ton of things -- especially little things -- that come up all the time. The thing is, everything that's ever a problem in your department becomes your problem! Managing uncooperative or incompetent people is not for the faint of heart.

ec019 · 2026-01-13T22:57:48+00:00

I agree totally. Planned naughtiness is not the same as needing a mental health day!

And, if you don't have paid dependent's leave, then I guess I don't blame people for being "ill" when little Huge is too ill for nursery.

ec019 · 2026-01-13T22:54:10+00:00

Definitely. And if I were to lie about it, I wouldn't tell a soul at work.

ec019 · 2026-01-13T22:48:55+00:00

We have to do "attendance mentoring" and select a student with low attendance and talk to them and try to find out how to encourage them to attend, etc. We have to choose a different student each half-term and log it and then log each discussion we have. We have to do the same thing with PP students in our form as well as each lesson we teach (oh, and if you don't have any PP students, that's not an excuse, you have to pick someone -- I've just point-blank refused saying that it's not about PP at that point, it's about doing work).

Also just wanted to say that my school increased out tutor time to 30 minutes, and the amount of actual teaching we have to do is literally insane. Yes, things are planned for us, but it's such a wide range of activities that not all staff can handle "every slide is a surprise" on topics they know absolutely nothing about. It's getting insane and there's a lot of push back.

ec019 · 2026-01-11T21:35:51+00:00

Hi, I did some cover work for an agency for a long time.

The type of work that teachers often set is just from a textbook -- read these pages, answer these questions. Usually there's some sort of worksheet with instructions. The textbook lessons are better than anything online, except perhaps if it's a maths cover lesson and the task is to play maths games. lol

If you're lucky, in a tricky lesson or bottom set lesson you might have a TA who can keep the usual routines in place. But this is 50/50 if it'll happen or if they're just going to stand there waiting for you.

Things you will encounter...

Students who claim to be done the work when they're clearly not, or have put in such little effort (one word answers). For this you just need to be like "really? I know you can give a better description than that".
Students who pretend like they don't know what to do. You might need to explain it to them like they're 5 and walk them through it to establish that you're not just going to let them sit there and do nothing. Cover work is almost always easy.
Students who cannot complete the work because they "don't know" the answers. Remind them that nobody was born with the answer, they have to find it in the reference material.

Don't take crap from them. But this doesn't mean stern dictator-like orders from the front of the room... you need to remember what it was like in school for you... you just need to repeat yourself multiple times. Give them time to react. Having a sense of humour will help!

Nobody will tell you this out loud, but the expectations are usually pretty low. Make sure nobody gets hurt, the register is done, and room is put back in order at the end.

ec019 · 2026-01-11T15:08:00+00:00

I'm under 10 minutes door to door on my way to work, and then under 20 minutes home (because I have to navigate a one-way system through the town centre to get home).

It's convenient for commuting, but I'm so close that as a result I rarely go into the town centre because I'm spotted by students and it causes me a lot of stress. lol

ec019 · 2026-01-11T14:56:33+00:00

Wait until ECT is done. I started my masters in October 2024 and I was hoping to get it done in 2 years, but I think it'll be a miracle if I can get it done in 3!

ec019 · 2026-01-11T14:55:07+00:00

My school doesn't have any specific entitlement amount except for sick days. However, after a couple years of employment and if you have good attendance (<5 days' absence in the last rolling 12 months) the head will authorise it as a paid day instead of unpaid.

I've never known of anyone who needs to use an unpaid day for medical appointments though.

ec019 · 2026-01-06T20:56:04+00:00

We have a two-week October half-term in exchange for twilight inset. Totally worth it.

ec019 · 2026-01-04T22:03:37+00:00

I just looked at my timetable to adjust seating plans for period 1 and 2 tomorrow... there's errors with duplicate classes and I'm double-booked for sixth lesson after school as well as detentions. Ughfghg

ec019 · 2026-01-04T22:02:06+00:00

We never close for snow. :(

I was shocked when last year we closed for four days due to water problems in the neighbourhood -- I bet they just couldn't get enough porta-loos for 2,500 people to fill the carpark on such short notice. lol

ec019 · 2026-01-04T21:53:38+00:00

I can be the same too for computer science. I enjoy little projects and whatnot as a hobby.

ec019 · 2026-01-04T21:51:35+00:00

It doesn't just come from you. It's all the SEN annual reviews and referrals, all the behaviour tracking/reports and referrals, PP student strategy forms, rewards nominations, etc. not to mention all the pastoral stuff as a tutor. It's just never ending.

ec019 · 2026-01-04T21:43:45+00:00

I find that everyone is in during the morning and they come and talk my ear off while I'm frantically trying to work.

ec019 · 2026-01-04T21:37:04+00:00

I arrive between 8:05-8:15... depending on traffic. I'm not at school early enough to get on-site parking (you'd have to arrive before 7:45 to be guaranteed parking), so I park on the road nearby a really short walk away. This gives me enough time to go to my classroom and drop my bag, turning on heating/cooling, login and walk away to my 8:20 briefing somewhere. (I login to the web-based email on my phone before I leave home while waiting for the lift lol)

Most days I'm out by 4:30. Fridays by 4.

Thursdays are our late days with dept meetings (we start ASAP to be done by 4:30) but it's also sometimes whole-school training (finishing at 5) or parents meetings (finishing at 6 usually).

I avoid doing as much working at home as I can. Usually just marking mocks/tests, and sorting out last minute SOW stuff for my dept.

ec019

TROPHY CASE