So hey! I thought it'd be a good idea to write a post here, which i'm going to try to do every month from now on, just so that I feel a bit more motivated to do stuff lol

So first, I started a new job in September which I actually forgot to blog about lol I'm an elementary school cover teacher, 3 days a week I cover all the years from Year 1-6, and I spend a morning or afternoon with them when their class teachers are doing their lesson plans and marking etc. Giving teachers 3 hours to plan/mark everything is a bit ridiculous in my books, but that's beside the point... Thats the british education system for you

I'm employed by an agency sadly, not directly through the school. And that's where my problem lies.

The company I work for can be a bit chaotic with the paperwork. I mean they've been great when i've had to have days off recently either due to other contracts I agreed before starting or illness.

If i worked directly for the school, I could negotiate extra hours to do additional work for the school but because I work for an agency, I can't do that. This works good for them, but not for me. It's bad for me because I don't get paid for any work I do outside of the time i'm employed for. I really want to contribute more to the school, but I can't do it if i'm not being paid for it. If i was a full time member of staff, i'd be more willing but i'm on a 0.6 contract, so there's only so much I can do.

For example, the company I work for expected me to write 688 reports in February and July (One per child), plus 42 class evaluation papers (twice in the year) without claiming any extra hours. Thinking in terms of employed hours, I'd need 80 hours (about 2 weeks full time). It's just very demotivating and unaffordable in terms of my time. Especially when in comparison to my normal rate, I'm getting not very much.

I just have to think its good to have a year's teaching experience under my belt... That's my motivation....

So i'm applying for all sorts of other part time positions to see if I can get a better deal directly through a school... Here's hoping...

I have to go part time because of Masters exam issues and then on top of that starting my PhD in October, i'd like something I can continue doing alongside my continued study.

Oh yeah! I got a place! At University of Reading, which i'm very excited about. It's like almost Ivy League lol Add in that I might be doing a collab project with University of Bristol, it's all very exciting.

That's my november update