I asked her a question about her job recently. SHe replied thusly:
Good morning, Nick
This is more than interesting. We have been "reorganised" in the past two years - this has involved a pass the parcel type approach with subjects moving from faculty to faculty, staff moving from floor to floor and room to room and management being obliged to apply for their own job in competition with both their immediate line managers and those for whom their have managerial responsibilities as some managerial positions have been "merged". The inevitable result is that staff at all levels are demotivated and confused. Generally we all stumble from one situation to the other in a reactive sort of way with plans and systems changing from week to week and from department to department. We succeeded in being awarded a level 3 by Ofsted in the autumn so I dare say that some jobs will be reorganised and "new" strategies implemented. There is much holding of heads in hands and blaming of Ofsted of course. Individually and collectively, we suffer from a collection of psychopathologies generally along the anxiety disorder and/or depressive disorder spectrum and many say that they are actively seeking employment elsewhere. I am fascinated to note however, that not enough people have left the college for my name to come to the top of the waiting list for a carpark permit - currently this list is 5 years long. So why do they leave and why do they not leave? Well, this week's leaver from our "team" room was one of the lucky ones who managed to secure someone else's job last academic year. The pressure on her to do her own job plus the other is considerable and the member of staff who did not get the job still sits opposite her in her new capacity as lecturer (full time and can you stay late to do some revision sessions please? And can you help your colleague who has had no training for your old job yet). You might be forgiven for thinking that the unlucky loser would now be promoted back into her former position of curriculum leader, but no - these duties will be absorbed into the Head of Department's remit. Guess who is also scanning TES jobs in her lunch break?
So why are we still there? Apart from the fact that I've only just come and so am not even confirmed in the job yet - and I'm told probably won't be because they generally don't get round to it - I'm not actually looking to move. For one thing, there is the age old principle beloved of a previous employer - give them extra shifts and they will be too tired to look elsewhere. I have 32.5 contact hours and have inherited a course with no resources so spend weekends working too, albeit from the comfort of home and the inspiration of a grinning photo on the desk. Then there are the coping strategies. Firstly, the fortnightly meeting referred to by management as Student progress meetings. These are used to let off steam: let's get together at the end of the week and bitch about the students who we ought to be supporting through their issues but don't. Secondly, we moan about the lack of working technology. Particularly the photocopiers and the intranet, Moodle etc. Then there are other trivia, such as room changes, fire drills and lack of temperature control in the building making it too hot in some areas but arctic in others. To suggest that leaving your job simply because of lack of photocopier or too hot a classroom looks juvenile and petty so we use that sentiment to cover the greater problems. Then, of course, there are the anxious little upturned faces, some with terrible home lives and some with huge ambitions for the future. How could I walk away from them? I have 170 children as well as my own 3 to think about here. Put it all together and you have inertia - reluctance to move - because it won't be any different anywhere else and unless some kids get a decent education who will be able to look after us when we get old... or as one of my brighter A2 students said recently, "We'll be in charge when you're in need of age related care. Christ, your generation is screwed!"
Have a nice day
Alison x
