thats just the way our brains work!!!We've all gone off on a tangent again
Mind-numbingly bored!!! Need a new challenge!
- Thread starter labtechytechy
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I think i must have been having a bit of a breakdown, as i even got in touch with someone about doing teacher training!
after a decent nights kip and reading your replies i feel much better about my job and realise how lucky we are actually. ok im a lone technician, but at least my days go quick and i can sit down with a cuppa when i want. my current HoD doesn't take any interest in what i do or how the prep rooms are run, so i feel like i am my own boss sometimes.
Think ive decided against the idea of teacher training......i spent most of my day yesterday picking the brains of the staff about why they got into it and id they would do things differently.
i thought......why on earth would i want to join a profession where they are about to strike and the staffing levels/ issues are unbearable!
im just going to lock my prep room door and plod on for now!
after a decent nights kip and reading your replies i feel much better about my job and realise how lucky we are actually. ok im a lone technician, but at least my days go quick and i can sit down with a cuppa when i want. my current HoD doesn't take any interest in what i do or how the prep rooms are run, so i feel like i am my own boss sometimes.
Think ive decided against the idea of teacher training......i spent most of my day yesterday picking the brains of the staff about why they got into it and id they would do things differently.
i thought......why on earth would i want to join a profession where they are about to strike and the staffing levels/ issues are unbearable!
im just going to lock my prep room door and plod on for now!
I feel the same way. Is your role named as a senior in this case? You should be pushing for it if you're not. You definitely need to have a sit down every now and then for H&S reasons. (Posture, blood circulation, etc
)Mental Health!!I feel the same way. Is your role named as a senior in this case? You should be pushing for it if you're not. You definitely need to have a sit down every now and then for H&S reasons. (Posture, blood circulation, etc
yes i have negotiated for a senior position, with much better pay!
I started as agency after i finished my degree while i waited for the NHS scientist training programme to open in January. But i was unsuccessful in getting into the embryology course that i wanted to do.
so i stayed here as it was handy. but they offered me a contract, pay was rubbish so i said no ill stay as i am. i was getting £110 a day!
long story short i had a meeting with HOA and said i wanted to stay but will they pay me a decent rate.
he said yes, then he left.....new powers at be changed agreement and now want to justify the pay increase with me taking on DT Tech role too!!!
I did agency straight from my uni degree too and now I'm a senior so it's a similar story. I've worked across 2 different schools before becoming a senior though which helps. No need to rush into a "proper" job I think so take it easy.Mental Health!!
yes i have negotiated for a senior position, with much better pay!
I started as agency after i finished my degree while i waited for the NHS scientist training programme to open in January. But i was unsuccessful in getting into the embryology course that i wanted to do.
so i stayed here as it was handy. but they offered me a contract, pay was rubbish so i said no ill stay as i am. i was getting £110 a day!
long story short i had a meeting with HOA and said i wanted to stay but will they pay me a decent rate.
he said yes, then he left.....new powers at be changed agreement and now want to justify the pay increase with me taking on DT Tech role too!!!
Jumping in here. I'm a lone tech at a deprived area school in Nottingham. 7 labs, 7 full-time teachers + 2 SLT that do a bit of Science teaching. Only KS3 + 4 so nothing super challenging. Kids' behaviour isn't great a lot of the time, so they don't do a huge amount of practicals. So yeah, I get bored quite a bit! But, it's close to home with decent hours. I get school holidays and the pay is livable, so I ain't complaining! Teachers are also mostly lovely and the HOD lets me do my own thing mostly. So overall, I don't think it's too bad.
I have a MSci in Biochemistry and Genetics, so yeah, vastly overqualified! I worked as a tech at a bigger, more affluent school for three years after graduating, but I started to have problems with colleagues there, so I left to go back to college to learn something new. Then COVID hit, and my college course went virtual. After I graduated, there were no jobs! So I landed at a uni doing tech work for a while, but burned out quickly. So, then I found this job. Much prefer it as it's so low stress compared to the uni. Sure, it's boring sometimes, but I'd rather that than be rushed off my feet all the time!
I have a MSci in Biochemistry and Genetics, so yeah, vastly overqualified! I worked as a tech at a bigger, more affluent school for three years after graduating, but I started to have problems with colleagues there, so I left to go back to college to learn something new. Then COVID hit, and my college course went virtual. After I graduated, there were no jobs! So I landed at a uni doing tech work for a while, but burned out quickly. So, then I found this job. Much prefer it as it's so low stress compared to the uni. Sure, it's boring sometimes, but I'd rather that than be rushed off my feet all the time!
Very similar to myself then! Its sometimes frustrating that the HoD is useless and i end up doing things for new staff that he should be doing. But its also really nice to just be able to get on without someone over my shoulder......until next week!!! they are interviewing for another technician so ill no longer be a lone tech. AS they made me senior tech ill have to be in charge...... im not sure how i feel about that, im not a bossy person... more of a team player.
not sure how long they will last if theres no practials on! there's only so much reorganising and stocktaking i can get them to do!
I Worked at a college doing uni level practicals for a year whilst studying, so im just finding the level of work a bit dull.
Ive tried implementing more microbiology, but its not happening. The only microbiology these kids do is to swab objects like their phones and grow them on agar plates.
How was working in a uni lab? I have been curious going into a uni position lately but if you're saying you got burned out then maybe I'll stick with this
. I assume a biology lab as well?I actually worked at a veterinary school in their dissection lab, so I was working with dead animal cadavers all day, basically. It was very interesting and cool initially, but once the novelty wore off, I got sick of lugging around cadavers and coming home smelling like death. It was back breaking work, honestly, and I'm not the fittest person. I also didn't fit into the team well, and felt like a dogs body who wasn't appreciated. But that was just my experience, every lab is different.How was working in a uni lab? I have been curious going into a uni position lately but if you're saying you got burned out then maybe I'll stick with this
to add to this.....my HoD has just come up to me whilst im struggling to carry a class set of textbooks......and said that in future its up to me to ensure the trainee teachers are upto date with a risk assessment and to ensure they practice the practical first!
is it my responsibility????
You'd think so, right? But I really don't think I improved much over the year and a bit I was there. Nobody really "taught" me to dissect, I just kind of had to figure it out for myself, which was hard! I ended up at the urgent care centre once because I stabbed myself trying to remove a stomach from a dogwow that sounds like an interesting job tho!!
bet your dissection skills are on point!!
still have the scar!Yikes that seems wroof. I doubt that's the majority behaviour of those labs though.You'd think so, right? But I really don't think I improved much over the year and a bit I was there. Nobody really "taught" me to dissect, I just kind of had to figure it out for myself, which was hard! I ended up at the urgent care centre once because I stabbed myself trying to remove a stomach from a dog
No
It is their mentor and/or the teacher who's lesson they are taking's responsibility and to suggest otherwise is massively inappropriate
they can watch this video if they need training in their responsibilities (it is not behind a password)
thank you.
i did reiterate this morning that its not my responsibility, which fell on deaf ears and he said that she can only do practical's when i have gone through it with her and i say she is competent to do it!!
so if she messes up, does that mean it falls on my head?! bugger off!!!
thank you.
i did reiterate this morning that its not my responsibility, which fell on deaf ears and he said that she can only do practical's when i have gone through it with her and i say she is competent to do it!!
so if she messes up, does that mean it falls on my head?! bugger off!!!
No, it's his responsibility and the mentor.
You can go through a practical from your point of view a million times, that is not going to help an inexperienced teacher to carry it out with potentially 30+ kids. The vast majority of practicals (KS3 & 4) are pretty simple to do, especially if there is a written guide. The challenge comes when you introduce a classroom situation and as techs we generally have no experience of this.thank you.
i did reiterate this morning that its not my responsibility, which fell on deaf ears and he said that she can only do practical's when i have gone through it with her and i say she is competent to do it!!
so if she messes up, does that mean it falls on my head?! bugger off!!!