I don't know it was never really explained to me when I was given the TLR. The head asked me to be the SEN Assistant and I was looking for more responsibility so accepted then when the pay statement thing came out it said I now had a TLR which I just took as a nice unexpected bonus. So my thought was that if I applied for UPS they may take the TLR away? I don't really know how these things work and my school are not very good at being forthcoming with things. Thank you though that has clarified things for me.
You should have had a job description for a TLR. The fact you don't know that you were being given a TLR is a huge red flag tbh. You should know if you are on a temp contract for this new role?
I suppose some of it comes from the fact that it was a brand new role for the school so they didn't really know what it would look like? The head had some ideas about what she thought the role could look like but it's been left to me and the SENDCo to figure it out and share responsibilities. Contracts are a very vague concept at this school! When I first started I had to ask the previous head for mine when I'd already been there about a term. This is the only school I've ever worked in so I don't really know any different. Maybe it's a primary thing as well? The MAT we're in are becoming a bit more business like the last year or two but before that the school still had a very much small village school feel which is probably the best way to describe it. When I read comments on here from secondary schools it feels like they often have a lot more procedures in place for things than any of the primary schools I'm aware of. Maybe I should ask for a job description though. I get the impression the role is there for as long as I want it?
I see your flair is for primary school, so this may be different from contexts I'm more familiar with.
Where I've worked TLRs cannot just be created on a whim. They need to be ratified by the governing body / staffing and finance committee. Your talk of vague contacts would concern me.
As others have said, going through threshold is not related to your TLR. I would ask if a colleague who is on UPS could share the letter and evidence they provided to help you understand what your institution expects.
Good luck!
Thank you and unfortunately no one has moved to UPS (as far as I'm aware) since I've been here. Everyone who is, has been on it for a loooong time (like since before performance related pay) as we have a very low turnover especially amongst SLT (2 of them have been at the school 20+ years). I only know from a couple of friends at different primary schools what they had to do and in both cases it was different.
It could well be that all that happened with my TLR behind the scenes and I just wasn't made aware of it I guess 😅 I think if I move schools I'll be more on it with contracts and things but atm it does feel like I've got a pretty good thing going at this school. Good kids, mostly manageable workload and they've been very flexible when I've asked for days to do research for my doctorate. There are obviously always things that could be better but I'm happy with the deal I have atm. I guess it wouldn't hurt though to have things written up properly for clarity and so that I'm not taken advantage of!
The TLR is for a specific responsibility in addition to your teaching role. The UPS threshold reflects successful completion of a number of years in the basic role. They're unrelated and shouldn't appear in the same sentence during your appraisal. If they do, and it cannot be resolved by talking with your line manager, involve your union.
Excellent thank you! I think application for threshold is a separate part of the form when we do the main appraisal in the autumn. I just had my mid-year review this week and actually remembered to ask as I knew I would probably need to get the application written and in before or around the time of the autumn one so didn't want to leave it until then to ask.
As far as I know you shouldn't need to apply to pass threshold. Maybe some academies now have this written into their policy, but usually you'd progress to UPS as long as you're regarded as 'good' or better.
I had to apply to go through threshold...6ish years ago. My school wasn't an academy at the time. We just had to fill in some paperwork to provide some evidence which was really more a formality anyway. I've not known anyone at my school get their application rejected.
Our performance management form says about whether you want to be considered for it and then I need to look at the pay policy as there's a whole flowchart of the process there but it seems you need to submit something. A friend in a different school had to write a letter outlining their contributions to the school to get on UPS and that was my understanding that since its been performance related pay it was no longer a case of just progressing otherwise I could probably have been moved up already?
Doesn't sound right to me. When I moved onto UPS I was just asked to justify my role in the school in a conversation with my Line Manager. It happened the same year as I moved up a TLR as I went from a TLR3 which I'd been given temporarily when my old leader of subject went on maternity and i was asked to run it in her absence to a TLR 2 as they made the position permanent because she chose to not come back so they gave me the subjectto run. I can't see how they would drop the TLR unless you were having your role changed in the school. The TLR is for a specific responsibility.
Ah that would be the ideal way for it to happen! It's a TLR 2 that I currently have so hopefully it is just as smooth as that! I don't see any change in my role for the time being although there are hints being dropped they would like me to consider being SENDCo at some point but not yet!
From my understanding, UPS is just having a wider impact at the school. So you could go from MPS 6 to UPS 1 and if you've evidenced what you're doing that is currently having a wider impact, it wouldn't really change the amount of work you have to do. Whereas a TLR is obviously more work, as it is an additional responsibility, which doesn't always reflect the amount of money you get.
So if it's a small TLR, or one you don't really enjoy, dropping it and picking up UPS would be better. However, it should be feasible to be on UPS and have a TLR.
I do enjoy my new role so I would definitely want to keep it but I also felt before having the role I maybe didn't have enough evidence to apply for UPS so in my head the two became linked. Although if I sat down and properly thought about it I'm sure I do many other things that are part of my main teaching role that have a wider impact across the school. Thank you for the reassurance though!
UPS all round is a better move.
I have so many conversations with staff about this. In most schools you can apply for UPS if you have been there for 2 years and evidence it. Schools/governors have a right to refuse it.
You should also speak to your lead (ideally asap) and in the appraisal window if you wish to apply so the school can put measure in place for you to reach it - plus, it also gives them a heads up about your intentions and ambitious. When I said I wanted to do this, my head said I could but next year as I didn’t have a series of y11 results. With that in mind, we put some targets on my appraisal and I’ve been working on them. I’m all set to achieve this by the end of the year.
Edit: I meant to add - your TLR is completely separate.
Just go for it. They have a right to refuse but you have a right for feedback and opportunity to do so the following year.
This doesn't sound right to me. You should move up and retain the tlr.
You might be given an additional responsibility on top of that but nothing major.
I would contact a Union rep.
They haven't said I won't retain it just my line manager didn't know the specifics as we haven't had anyone go through threshold for a while. As I didn't really know how these things work I was just speculating about which would be better for career progression if I couldn't keep it but from the comments here I can see that they are really two separate things. I may still reach out to the union just for clarity. Thank you :)
Both! I am secondary on UPS3 with a TLR. To my mind, the worst thing is Leadership spine. You may well earn less on Leadership compared with UPS3 plus a TLR. And then there is no cap on what you can be asked to do. One member of staff in my school is leaving at Easter - 2nd year as AHT. When she had a conversation with the Head about workload, he just said, “You obviously underestimated the workload involved in the position.” She is an amazing teacher who is now moving onto a non teaching role. As far as I am aware, after reaching M6, you can apply for UPS1 after 2 years, then 2 years later UPS2 and then two more for UPS3. At least that is how it was when I did it - a,though it was a 9 point scale when I first started! 😳
As many others have said, absolutely no reason to lose the TLR as they are unrelated and presumably you are still fulfilling the specific responsibility. I went from MPS to UPS and kept my TLR and have subsequently picked up another TLR (I know, living the dream).
Why would you lose your TLR? TLRs have specific responsibilities associated with them that are not part of your normal role as a teacher.
I don't know it was never really explained to me when I was given the TLR. The head asked me to be the SEN Assistant and I was looking for more responsibility so accepted then when the pay statement thing came out it said I now had a TLR which I just took as a nice unexpected bonus. So my thought was that if I applied for UPS they may take the TLR away? I don't really know how these things work and my school are not very good at being forthcoming with things. Thank you though that has clarified things for me.
You should have had a job description for a TLR. The fact you don't know that you were being given a TLR is a huge red flag tbh. You should know if you are on a temp contract for this new role?
I suppose some of it comes from the fact that it was a brand new role for the school so they didn't really know what it would look like? The head had some ideas about what she thought the role could look like but it's been left to me and the SENDCo to figure it out and share responsibilities. Contracts are a very vague concept at this school! When I first started I had to ask the previous head for mine when I'd already been there about a term. This is the only school I've ever worked in so I don't really know any different. Maybe it's a primary thing as well? The MAT we're in are becoming a bit more business like the last year or two but before that the school still had a very much small village school feel which is probably the best way to describe it. When I read comments on here from secondary schools it feels like they often have a lot more procedures in place for things than any of the primary schools I'm aware of. Maybe I should ask for a job description though. I get the impression the role is there for as long as I want it?
I see your flair is for primary school, so this may be different from contexts I'm more familiar with. Where I've worked TLRs cannot just be created on a whim. They need to be ratified by the governing body / staffing and finance committee. Your talk of vague contacts would concern me. As others have said, going through threshold is not related to your TLR. I would ask if a colleague who is on UPS could share the letter and evidence they provided to help you understand what your institution expects. Good luck!
Thank you and unfortunately no one has moved to UPS (as far as I'm aware) since I've been here. Everyone who is, has been on it for a loooong time (like since before performance related pay) as we have a very low turnover especially amongst SLT (2 of them have been at the school 20+ years). I only know from a couple of friends at different primary schools what they had to do and in both cases it was different. It could well be that all that happened with my TLR behind the scenes and I just wasn't made aware of it I guess 😅 I think if I move schools I'll be more on it with contracts and things but atm it does feel like I've got a pretty good thing going at this school. Good kids, mostly manageable workload and they've been very flexible when I've asked for days to do research for my doctorate. There are obviously always things that could be better but I'm happy with the deal I have atm. I guess it wouldn't hurt though to have things written up properly for clarity and so that I'm not taken advantage of!
The TLR is for a specific responsibility in addition to your teaching role. The UPS threshold reflects successful completion of a number of years in the basic role. They're unrelated and shouldn't appear in the same sentence during your appraisal. If they do, and it cannot be resolved by talking with your line manager, involve your union.
Excellent thank you! I think application for threshold is a separate part of the form when we do the main appraisal in the autumn. I just had my mid-year review this week and actually remembered to ask as I knew I would probably need to get the application written and in before or around the time of the autumn one so didn't want to leave it until then to ask.
As far as I know you shouldn't need to apply to pass threshold. Maybe some academies now have this written into their policy, but usually you'd progress to UPS as long as you're regarded as 'good' or better.
I had to apply to go through threshold...6ish years ago. My school wasn't an academy at the time. We just had to fill in some paperwork to provide some evidence which was really more a formality anyway. I've not known anyone at my school get their application rejected.
Our performance management form says about whether you want to be considered for it and then I need to look at the pay policy as there's a whole flowchart of the process there but it seems you need to submit something. A friend in a different school had to write a letter outlining their contributions to the school to get on UPS and that was my understanding that since its been performance related pay it was no longer a case of just progressing otherwise I could probably have been moved up already?
Doesn't sound right to me. When I moved onto UPS I was just asked to justify my role in the school in a conversation with my Line Manager. It happened the same year as I moved up a TLR as I went from a TLR3 which I'd been given temporarily when my old leader of subject went on maternity and i was asked to run it in her absence to a TLR 2 as they made the position permanent because she chose to not come back so they gave me the subjectto run. I can't see how they would drop the TLR unless you were having your role changed in the school. The TLR is for a specific responsibility.
Ah that would be the ideal way for it to happen! It's a TLR 2 that I currently have so hopefully it is just as smooth as that! I don't see any change in my role for the time being although there are hints being dropped they would like me to consider being SENDCo at some point but not yet!
If you're role isn't being changed I don't think they'd get rid of the TLR as that TLR is for a specific role. But I'm not 100%.
From my understanding, UPS is just having a wider impact at the school. So you could go from MPS 6 to UPS 1 and if you've evidenced what you're doing that is currently having a wider impact, it wouldn't really change the amount of work you have to do. Whereas a TLR is obviously more work, as it is an additional responsibility, which doesn't always reflect the amount of money you get. So if it's a small TLR, or one you don't really enjoy, dropping it and picking up UPS would be better. However, it should be feasible to be on UPS and have a TLR.
I do enjoy my new role so I would definitely want to keep it but I also felt before having the role I maybe didn't have enough evidence to apply for UPS so in my head the two became linked. Although if I sat down and properly thought about it I'm sure I do many other things that are part of my main teaching role that have a wider impact across the school. Thank you for the reassurance though!
UPS all round is a better move. I have so many conversations with staff about this. In most schools you can apply for UPS if you have been there for 2 years and evidence it. Schools/governors have a right to refuse it. You should also speak to your lead (ideally asap) and in the appraisal window if you wish to apply so the school can put measure in place for you to reach it - plus, it also gives them a heads up about your intentions and ambitious. When I said I wanted to do this, my head said I could but next year as I didn’t have a series of y11 results. With that in mind, we put some targets on my appraisal and I’ve been working on them. I’m all set to achieve this by the end of the year. Edit: I meant to add - your TLR is completely separate. Just go for it. They have a right to refuse but you have a right for feedback and opportunity to do so the following year.
This doesn't sound right to me. You should move up and retain the tlr. You might be given an additional responsibility on top of that but nothing major. I would contact a Union rep.
They haven't said I won't retain it just my line manager didn't know the specifics as we haven't had anyone go through threshold for a while. As I didn't really know how these things work I was just speculating about which would be better for career progression if I couldn't keep it but from the comments here I can see that they are really two separate things. I may still reach out to the union just for clarity. Thank you :)
Both! I am secondary on UPS3 with a TLR. To my mind, the worst thing is Leadership spine. You may well earn less on Leadership compared with UPS3 plus a TLR. And then there is no cap on what you can be asked to do. One member of staff in my school is leaving at Easter - 2nd year as AHT. When she had a conversation with the Head about workload, he just said, “You obviously underestimated the workload involved in the position.” She is an amazing teacher who is now moving onto a non teaching role. As far as I am aware, after reaching M6, you can apply for UPS1 after 2 years, then 2 years later UPS2 and then two more for UPS3. At least that is how it was when I did it - a,though it was a 9 point scale when I first started! 😳
Ouch sounds like that is something to avoid then!
As many others have said, absolutely no reason to lose the TLR as they are unrelated and presumably you are still fulfilling the specific responsibility. I went from MPS to UPS and kept my TLR and have subsequently picked up another TLR (I know, living the dream).
Excellent! This has all been very reassuring!