Private or state schools?

[NuttySupplier]

Haven't personally worked in a private school, though I nearly did, and have celebrated each day since that I didn't... Just through local rumours though, nothing concrete really.

Has anyone had experience of both?

[NuttySupplier]

Nutcracker... saw on the PPA/NUT thread you were wondering about state schools again? And they don't get PPA??? Or just don't have to?

[nutcracker]

I've just written and deleted the most dreadful rant which I re-read and decided that if any of my colleagues read it they would identify the school, if not the person who wrote it.

I always thought teachers in independent schools had a cushy life and probably couldn't
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e in the 'real world'. That
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is about as realistic as most non-teachers thinking teachers have a cushy life with their long holidays and
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ing-in all day.

The pros - longer holidays, better pay, slightly better resourcing, not quite such a sharp eye kept on the
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ier.

The cons - long teaching day, bolshy kids, bolshy, pushy parents, possibly inadequate management, extra pressures such as 11+, entrance exams, unreasonable demands
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e by management because we are supposed to be grateful to be there.

I'm rather off the whole thing just at the moment, but I have had a really bad week, so maybe I'll feel better after a weekend. Just at the moment though, I'm going to try to move back to the state sector after 2 years of this. At least everyone knows where they stand and the unions are recognised.

[nutcracker]

And to answer the original question Nutty, yes we do get PPA (have had it for years, apparently), but don't get admin support, therefore have to do all the 21 tasks ourselves.

[jfelth]

I've worked in both and everything that nutcracker said is pretty much how i felt - mainly pushy bolshy kids and parents. It
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e me feel too rough to be working in a private school.

The only reason i left was because the actual school messed me about saying there would be a permanent post when there was not so i jumped before it was too late!

[skiteacher]

i've not done private schools (wouldn't on principle) but a friend I used to work with has just gone to private and from her experience i'd say it very much depends on the school. So does get loads of non contact time as even her yr 1's are taught things like PE / art / music by specialist (who are non qualified though and she is appalled by what they do!) the resourcing in the school is excellent on consumables like paper, paint etc, but crap on learning resources. Standards are lower ( and we came from a low standard estate school before!) parents are crap. But she loves it becuase of the freedom she has to do what she wants (which becuase of her training and state background is good but she's seen other that are not providing a great learning experience because of the lack of standards / set curriculum)
So it varies!!
Anyway rant over (i'm diverting myself from the fact I really should be writing an appication form!)

[ruby_tuesday]

I’m really glad that this debate has been started because I am doing some work in an independent school for the first time so it’s all very new to me. The school have offered me two and a half days a week and have a permanent position in September, but I’m not sure if this is the direction I want to go in anyway.

I’ve always worked in LEA schools and have often wondered whether the grass is greener on the other side. I know it very much depends on the individual school, a friend who has worked in independent schools raves about it and I can see lots of advantages – smaller classes, lessons taught by specialist teachers (no more music disasters), longer holidays and at the school where I have been working, neither the children or their parents seem pushy.

Things I am not so sure about…. I would really miss having a class that I teach all the time, the school day is 8:30 to 3:45 in key stage 2 and I think there is a commitment to do a prep club (that must make me sound really lazy), the ethos just feels really different and I’m not sure how pay is determined and whether I could contribute to my pension?

Obviously, I don’t have to decide anything yet, but if anyone has any words of wisdom they would be gratefully received!

Ruby

[Footiegirl]

I got offered a part time job in a private school a few years ago. I didn't accept it (despite being desperate for the money!) as it seemed very lax in the discipline department and in what was taught. I was told that I would be doing the fun things like board games with the class, and things that I could not make the educational link with.

It seemed a lot more like an after school/holiday club than a school and so I turned it down. Along with the fact that the pay was less, hours longer, couldn't count towards my NQT year or pension.

But it was nice to know they wanted me
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!

[nutcracker]

It's not a direction I particularly wanted to go in either, but, as we all know, the government has trained too many teachers at the moment and I have a house to pay for and children to feed so I can't afford principles.

To answer various comments - I agree about the resourcing - good on concumables, not particularly good on text books, learning aids, etc. Where I am, standards of discipline are probably higher than I have come across before, which I like, although our Y6 are about the worst I have ever come across!

We don't have all that much freedom of what to teach, because we do the Y6 SATs. My Y5s are currently doing Y6 work (I take the less able groups) but on the other hand, my Y6s are hopeless, and I regularly have to dip into the Y4 curriculum to find something they can do. Although I object to the amount of homework they do (3 maths per week), it certainly brings them on.

A friend of mine who is a HT said she wouldn't employ anyone from an independent school, so unless I want to be stuck there for ever, I really feel I must make an effort to get back into the state system after two years - just long enough to prove I can stick with something, but not long enough to have totally forgotten how to teach anything except maths! Hopefully will make a good maths co-ordinator by then - the head of maths knows my intentions and wants to give me experience of maths planning etc throughout the school next year, so that I have something to sell myself on.

[minnie]

When I moved south a year ago I half heartedly looked at applying for 'proper' jobs including private schools, rather than doing supply.

Unfortunately most of the private schools in Oxford are also boarding schools and even the day pupils have saturday morning lessons. At the school that was advertising, teachers were expected to work every Saturday, even in the pre-prep department and take after school prep/sports at least twice a week. I decided I was just too lazy and wanted to spend time with the partner I was moving a few hundred miles to be with.

Don't regret my choice for supply one bit, but wouldn't rule out private schools as a place to teach in the future.