had a horrendous day as my first experience with OFSTED as an ECT1. An extra TA put in my room for the day so it looks like we’re in ratio. 2 teachers crying by lunch time. No one given anything but negative feedback. ofsted didn’t speak with anyone apart from SLT. SLT going to every observation with them & making comments to staff.

I was observed for 2 minutes & given negative feedback based on that, how is that fair? now being observed again tomorrow as OFSTED are unhappy with phonics across every class. Are all inspections like this?

Hi all,

ECT 2 Here. I was recently told that i would not be returning to a long-term booking as the school said that I was too shouty. This was a really good place in Manchester, which I felt like I was struggling to fit in. I got told that i was too shouty and that I made a student cry. I wasn't told by the school directly but instead by my agency. On that same day I really struggled as I had a student who physically hit me. Obviously reported to appropriate people.

I don't know where to go from here as this is a low point for me especially since I really hate making children cry as it makes me cry.

Help and advice appreciated

We’ve just found out that our SLT are potentially looking at increasing our teaching load. Some of the departments (including ours) are unable to do any sports lessons (like supervising the gym while students use it) due to timetable constraints so we will be stuck with teaching an extra 11% of our timetable a week (and all the extra work like planning, marking, parents evenings, reports etc.). Just wanted to know what the expectation is for other independent school teachers. How many academic taught lessons are you expected to teach as a full time teacher?

Right, this is an incredibly random post but essentially I’ve won a cruise 😭 however, the departure date is July 17th 2027 and my school doesn’t break up for the six weeks until 22nd July. Do we think it’s reasonable to ask for unpaid leave for the last four days of term? I’ve read my school’s policy and it says it’s up to the head’s discretion and in exceptional circumstances, they can allow certain absences etc. I had a colleague (who has since left) who went to Australia for 2 weeks of the beginning of a term after her wedding, and this was granted as unpaid leave. It’s such a once in a lifetime kind of chance but I don’t want to get my hopes up.

My partner and I are both teachers (alt provision and secondary, respectively) and we’re considering adoption. We’re doing a lot of reading and research at this stage before we formally start the process. Does anyone have experience with how adoption interacts with your career as a teacher, including leave, parenting a child with trauma, and honouring other commitments?

There might be a relevant post to this already. I work in a village primary school and we are already feeling the brunt of the declining birth rate with one class already being combined. Having gone from 190 kids to 150.

Is anyone else experiencing the same?
What are the long term job opportunities going to be?

I’m always curious about what other teachers have on their to do lists….currently I have so many things on mine! I’d love to feel better knowing what’s on yours 😉

I'm new to teaching FE and was gobsmacked by the behaviour in today's class (T Level Business). Some students found it acceptable to play music out loud on their phones, set off siren sounds on their phones, pull display photos down, and throw opened sugar sachets across the room. Fortunately I only have this class once a week, but I wondered what behaviour strategies you would even implement with a class like this.

Today a year 9 student repeatedly called me a homophobic slur during my lesson. It was framed as: 'Sir, did you hear that? Johnny just called you a f.....'.

After the first time it was said to me, I asked him to stop repeating it, but unfortunately he went on to repeat this to me about 10 times. Only when I raised my voice and asked him to leave my room did he stop and leave. At the end of the lesson I asked if anyone who heard it could stay behind; I asked them not to repeat what they heard and that they may be contacted for statements.

I reported it in the usual way and contacted the HOY and my HOD. HOY offered to call home as I said I was too upset about it to do so.

I have had instances of discriminatory language before, but none this blatant and repetitive. I am quite surprised by it and upset about it.

How should my school support me from this point to teach this child again? At the moment I don't particularly want to welcome him back in my classroom.

I'm a trainee teacher (Teach First) so of course I'm still developing my teaching and knowledge, but despite teaching less periods than a qualified teacher, having no tutor group and no break duties, I feel absolutely exhausted at work every day. Does this get better with time and practice or is it just part of the job?

Second week of term (in my new school, nevertheless) and only now am I ready to talk about it 😆 we had been back for approximately 0.02 seconds and there they were…

An unfortunate coincidence of circumstances (I’m not in on Mondays and school forgot to call me) meant I found out with 30 mins to spare that Ofsted would be in my lesson. Cannot describe that feeling. Inspector was absolutely lovely and actually got involved with the lesson?! (Doing all the activities with the kids, offering the all-important visitor praise “Wow, I love how X is following your instructions”) Not what I was expecting at all. Was very proud of the kids though - mine find visitors challenging at the best of times but they were TROOPERS. 🥰

Baby’s first Ofsted over and out!

ECT2 here (secondary). Trained as a teacher because I enjoy teaching and supporting young people. Over the months, I find myself more and more focused on GCSE grades, grade boundaries, and exam results to the point where I start to see kids joining my class in terms of whether they will boost or hamper the results of the class. Shameful, I know. I realise that a big part of this is due to the school's excessive focus on results - it's the key thing they talk about on INSET days, and we are constantly bombarded by graphs, box plots, and progress 8 calculations, comparing results within and across schools in the academy. Reflecting on this yesterday, I realised that it has sucked the joy out of teaching for me. I still prepare good lessons and follow best practices in pedagogy, but the end goal feels very different now. The school sees students as data on a spreadsheet.

I was thinking it would be great to work in a school that doesn't focus excessively on scores. Yes, assessments are good feedback, and they are important. But a healthy balance could exist. But do such schools still exist?

Hi all,

Recently been appointed HOY for year 8, it’s a very challenging year group let down by poor and inconsistent management the last year or so. They’ve never had a consistent leader since they’ve started so the behaviour is pretty bad.

A few questions about the role:

1. What is the workload like and how do you manage teaching along side? This is my first pastoral role

2. How do you manage improving behaviour across the year group

3. What rewards / initiatives do you find impactful

4. Is it worth the stress lol?

Thanks

Does your school have a directed time calendar available for staff? Mine doesn't and I have been told on the down low by a member of SLT that I am close to that they don't even have one. I want to ask for it (knowing they will either have to admit there isn't one or scramble to make 1) because I am fairly certain we go over the 1265 hours.

I am nervous because I know they are going to be funny about me asking but I am also sick of all the extra expectations outside of teaching. We do a lot of twilights, running an after school club each term is not optional and we are now being told we have to be in attendance for every home sporting event. This wasnt presented as directed time but "you're expected to be there" so I am planning to question it because I honestly have enough to do.

There is no union rep in my school to ask.

Hi all, with it being the last week of half term I’m thinking of doing something fun with my class on Friday afternoon. They have generally made a great start to the year and have been able to power through content over the last few weeks, meaning we should have a free afternoon on Friday so would love to do something fun with them as a reward, plus it should motivate them to get through our other lessons so have that free time.
I’m thinking of watching a film with them and maybe getting some Halloween snacks for them. I’m logged into DisneyPlus at school so could do with some kids Halloween films suggestions as I’ve hardly watched any.
I’m also open to any other ideas for our afternoon as watching films often becomes the default for the end of term but can be boring for some 7 year olds.

The School Teachers' Review Body speak to teachers every year as part of finding out the views of the workforce which helps inform their recommendations to the Education Secretary for pay and conditions. They came to my school recently.

What I found interesting is that they brought up the idea of 20% PPA before we did. It wasn't out of the blue, granted, we were talking about workload and how the demands of each lesson have increased. Someone on their side suggested if not having enough PPA is what staff are more concerned about over pay.

They seemed slightly surprised none of us felt that positive about the the two-year pay deal guaranteeing 3.5% this year and 3% next year.

Obviously all the teachers present said that pay is always a concern and isn't high enough but the consensus seemed to be that right at this moment, workload is the bigger issue.

Interested to hear others' thoughts. Should there be more of a movement towards guaranteeing 20% PPA?

I teach a drama class on weekends for a big company. I'm really struggling with behaviour of the 5-8 year old class and don't know what to do.

I've tried waiting, counting, clapping - all the things they have in schools basically, and probably more that I can't remember right now. It's constant standing up, walking across the stage, screaming whilst we are setting a scene. I even have movement breaks but they can't even play a game without screeching, running around, or actually playing said game (some that they even ASKED to play.)

In school, I can sanctions and consequences as a crutch if it gets really bad, or call SLT but here we don't have that. The most I can say is "we won't perform at the end of the term" which they don't care about (which then also leaves me with no lesson plans lol).

I'm kinda stuck... Any suggestions?

Edit: I am neurodivergent and find conflict incredibly difficult which does not help this situation. I am not asking for anyone to tell me to just suck it up because that’s not an option due to my mental health. This is a toxic school environment with minimal if any support from SLT and HoD and mentor. I mean you call on call and no one will turn up kind of thing, kids break rules that should result in suspension and have a “talking to” instead etc. I am hoping for some advice on how people have found switching schools at this time of year and whether it is worth me trying to stay in education or whether I shouldn’t change fields. Thanks in advance!

Context: I am an ECT 2 this year, secondary English teacher

I have been at my school since last September (2025) and have had a really tough time of it. I ended up being signed off sick for nearly three months last year between December and February as a result of a lack of support and very difficult timetable.

They promised me that this year would be better and the support would still be there. They have given me a much nicer timetable but included a class that I had to have taken off of me last year and a year 9 group who I have not taught before with a whole bunch of the trickiest kids in that year group. I teach this year 9 class 4 times a week and I spend the hours leading up to it dreading it and end 3/4 of those lessons a week in tears.

I had a meeting with my professional mentor and head of department on Friday about this group where they were going to make some suggestions about things I could do after I requested for 2-3 of the students to be moved bands or sets to manage the behaviour in this group as there are a lot of them to manage. In the meeting they point blank said they would not move kids out of my class. They suggested that I am aiming the work too high and that I need to split my lesson into 3 20-minute micro lessons with a reset between each to help manage them and that basically all of my starter slides need to be multiple choice and a bunch of other stuff.

I think they entirely missed the point. It’s not the teaching I am worried about. It’s the fact I literally cannot beg a word in between 11 kids shouting and talking constantly and fiddling and getting out of their seats and just arguing with me and ignoring me. Now I know my use of the behaviour system isn’t great so I will work on using that this week but a lot of them are the kind of kids that just won’t do detentions etc anyways.

Moreover in the meeting I had a panic attack, couldn’t catch my breath, felt really faint and there wasn’t even a I’m sorry they are making you feel this way or yeah that is a really tricky group of kids. They asked what I was thinking and I said I wasn’t going to keep teaching next year at this rate as both last year and this year have gone so terribly and they said well no I think you’re just lacking confidence and I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear. But, I am really really struggling. I needed to seek urgent mental health support following that meeting and am dreading going back.

I don’t know what to do. I really want to move schools but there are just no jobs so I am scared to hand my notice in in case I can’t find another position. I feel like my mentor and HoD are just fed up with me after last year but also don’t want me to leave because they get money and also the department will be screwed without me as I am one of three permanent full time staff in a core subject where half of our part time staff are always off sick.

Sorry, huge rant. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I am having a particularly problem with students across KS3 asking me to move seats every lesson. The answer is, and always will be, no.

I have tried explaining to them that if I let one person move seat, I have to do it for everyone. I also try explaining to them that I am the teacher and I control the seating plan and unfortunately they do not.

They will not take no for answer. They say "please" thinking I will change my mind and they're shocked when they receive the same answer. Then they say "but me and ___ work really well together!" Still no. "Well why don't you just let us move for today?" No. "Oh miss this is so unfair!!!" Okay, sit down now. "But miss please????" No. AND IT GOES ON AND ON AND ON. My department is open at lunchtime for students to use the computers & they come to find me to ask! There's no escape!

It's overwhelming me to much that I don't know what to do. It ruins the start of every lesson.

What can I do? It's getting to the point where I want to tell students that if they ask to move there will be a sanction, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this?

Was in a shopping centre today (around 6 miles away from the school, in a different town) and all of a sudden heard a few voices shouting ‘Mr (+ my surname)’ from afar. Turned around and could not quite understand who it was and where it was coming from.

About 20 seconds later I saw a bunch of the students I teach run over to me like crazy (and seemingly not minding their surroundings), screaming in excitement.

They surrounded me and started bombarding me with questions (basic ones such as how my day has been and what I was shopping for). Felt super awkward, and we caught a few stares.

I appreciate the excitement and I’m happy to say hi, but I feel like that was a bit too much… plus they literally saw me yesterday (and see me every day), so I just don’t understand why they go crazy…

I've got a boy in my class (KS3) who's behaviour is apalling, I work in quite a strict school with a strict and clear behaviour policy, I follow it to the letter. But every time I remove this student from my class (which is most lessons) because he will not shut up trying to start an argument with me or the TA. I get angry emails from the parents - the mum is a TA at the school - about how he "just learns differently" and "has needs that aren't being met". I'm adapting every resource and there are 24 other children in the class (nurture group) who all have significant needs yet this ray of sunshine is the only one that makes it his life's mission to take over my classes with his shouting. Once he is removed the rest of the class can get some work done. I can handle the boy, I just use the behaviour system, but the parents constantly being on my back is really starting to affect my mental health.

This boy is in year 8 and every time I so much as warn him (even without an official sanction) he threatens to report me and the TA to the governers, where has he got that from I wonder.

I'm an ECT1 and the rest of my students are great. But honestly this one set of parents is making me want to quit.

I work as a 2nd in Dept for Maths for an 11-16 in the south of England.

TLDR at bottom

In our most recent Ofsted we scored as requires attention for T&L and attainment, although our maths results have always been good, if not outstanding (just above NAT AVG consistently).

In light of this, we have a brand new T&L handbook this year that must be followed. This handbook was created by the lone T&L Deputy with some consultation from the rest of SLT.

He, and only he, did a booklook this week into our dept.

My HOD attended a "10 minute talk" to discuss the results of the booklook. We were rated badly on "Presentation" and "Assessment". Through the discussion he realised that he had no idea how we assess.

In terms of presentation, we were rated badly because for ratio tables - effectively a quick cross or 2x2 grid in their book - pupils haven't used a pencil and that "it's in the handbook that we use pencil for diagrams". My HOD argued this and he said that we will have to change our practice, because he "designed that handbook over summer using chatgpt for the ideas and that that is what Ofsted will be comparing books to."

He then went on to say that "I used chat gpt to come up with some teaching ideas that you should implement for maths so you should be including spot the mistake questions or multiple choice questions."

I honestly have never felt more insulted as a working professional.

We have a school of lead practioners, HODs, ECTs and experienced professionals who have been dismissed entirely from this process and instead are using chat gpt to set policy.

I am absolutely fuming about this to the point that I am looking for other jobs in my area.

I obviously love my school however and want to meet with someone to discuss my concerns over this, however we aren't ever afforded the opportunity to meet with SLT. My HOD is brilliant but honestly I feel bad putting it all on her and part of my concerns is that staff concerns aren't being heard.

TLDR

On Monday I want to email the head and ask to speak with him where I will lay out my three main concerns - use of AI to set policy, lack of consultation with teachers and the disrespect of using AI to tell them how to do their jobs as well as the pointless additions to workload that we are being burdened with at the moment. I have ideas for what I would do alternately however know that it is probably not my place to discuss it - but then I'm second guessing that due possibly to how I haven't felt listened to for a while now.

I know that this may not be the best course of action, that I could rely on my HOD, try to talk with the T&L SLT or discuss with other teachers in other depts, but I can see good and bad sides of all these ideas.

Last academic year was a tough one, I was off work sick on numerous occasions and had a Stage 2 Informal meeting with my line manager in January '26. My sickness didn't massively improve and I was eventually signed off due to clinical depression in July. I did not however, have a stage 3 meeting.

I made it through September fine, but have now been off for 2 weeks and potentially next week as I have a nasty viral infection and tested positive for COVID. I am really stressed about returning because I know I will be going into a stage 3 meeting (my first formal meeting with SLT).

Has anyone had experience with this? To be honest, I am worried I could lose my job because of this. Any advice would help. My union rep told me not to worry, but I still am.

I have attached my sickness policy.

I am an ECT1 and found out I have to redo a PGCE module, meaning I will get my certificate and graduate next academic year. I am currently employed at a school, holding QTS from the summer.

Would this raise questions at future job interviews? And if so, how should I approach these questions.

I initially had to apply for extenuating circumstances for my first attempt, and failed my second so I'm really worried what impact this might have.