teacher

business teacher

tutor

teaching assistant

administrative assistant

Bexhill-College

A typical day always starts by feeling that you are behind on your tasks. When tasks go unfinished or deadlines are not met, it’s always blamed on the individual’s time-management and prioritisation skills. Senior leadership will classify anything as a priority until there are so many clashing priorities that it’s unmanageable. This along with understaffing, particularly in support staff sections, makes work sometimes near impossible to complete due to the overloading of work.

Support from the principal is unheard of, and with a visual company hierarchy given in all training packs when starting, there’s a clear and enforced ranking system in place that divides staff, making many feel worthless. Most staff underneath the senior leadership team (SLT) quietly share similar opinions of SLT’s methods and agree that they are the only ones who truly understand the position of other similarly ‘ranked’ staff. This all stems from the questionable choices that the principal makes who likes to know every intricate operation that’s going on, and is quick to point the blame at others when something goes wrong. Their dated approach to leadership amongst many things is why many staff feel the need to quit.

Innovation is not something the college takes onboard often and actively approaches everything with a ‘if it worked once, it will always work’ attitude. This causes issues with a rapidly changing demographic with their views not always taken into consideration. Many roles that could have hybrid work implemented are actively forced to work on-site due to a major lack of trust from upper senior leadership. This lack of trust spirals down throughout the company to cause staff to not feel valued. Despite the reason for no hybrid work being ‘it’s easier to reach staff that are on-site and you can’t do your job from home’, it ultimately has the underlying tone and frequent practice of ‘if something is wrong I want to be able to find you and stop you carrying out your other responsibilities’. 

Many staff who work here use Bexhill College as a ‘stepping stone’, which has been quoted by the principal internally to cover the fact many people are dissatisfied with the way they are treated or lack of trust that is instilled throughout the company. Whilst many staff do enjoy their work and are passionate about their specialisms, it’s clear that for the majority of those employed here, it is easy enough for their passions to quickly subside and will inevitably find work elsewhere to provide a better workplace culture, better pay, and for a more rewarding job.

There are no real areas of the college that are rewarding for any members of staff, and the wellbeing programme is near non-existent, with just a single day of ‘wellbeing activities’ per year that is enforced. It’s very clear that this is a tick box event that has no real intention of supporting the mental health of staff.

It is very difficult for a lot of new staff to learn anything if they haven’t come from a similar role previously as there isn’t a sufficient network of staff in all departments to sit down and train newcomers. This either actively takes time away from important business operations and practices, or ultimately leaves a new member of staff to feel isolated or being annoying for asking lots of questions.

Micro management which leaves you feeling like you can't trust your own initiative or judgement as you are constantly being asked to explain yourself, which feels like gaslighting. 

Zero training provided, zero support given.

No consistency in processes - you can never know the answers as they change on a dime depending on person you are speaking too.

Workload is increased more and more with no thanks. One person is expected to do the work of a whole department. Instead of hiring more staff they just drown you in tasks and then chastise you for mistakes made.

Expectations never clarified. Management have no respect for staff and staff are not held to the same standards, it's one rule for some and one rule for others.

The worst thing - a blame and fear culture. You feel anxious just being in the building due to staff members just disappearring and never returning with no mention of them again. 

Working here negatively effected my mental health and self esteem. 

Everyone I worked with within my department was fantastic, all friendly and willing to do their best to help you with your work and do collaborations. The issue came from Management, who had unrealistic expectations and deadlines. Many times during my period working there I had received emails which I would describe as bullying in its tone from management often blaming for me for things that I was not involved in or had any knowledge of (receiving these emails was common amongst all staff and not unique to me). This bullying technique was also used to try and get staff to take on extra responsibilities. If you asked questions or refused to take on extra work, you would be punished and made an example of. Staff would commonly be fired without warning which became known as "going down the chute". 

Don't work here! 

I did everything and more that was told of me, but yet it wasn't good enough.  I thought my previous jobs were bad but this was like nothing I haven't seen before. 

Got told I let down the whole team! For going sick for one day.  Over the summer holidays. They messed up my hours, so I had to do two weeks of extra to.make up for their mistake.  But once again I was left.to feel like it was my fault. 

Supervisor gave loads of sob stories saying how stressed they were due to it, talking about other members of staff behind their back. Other members of the team are not confident in the supervisor abilities to lead a team.

Only one nice member of management., the actual cleaning manger and the rest of staff were amazing to work with. 

No communication, I would only go here if you really had too and had no other option.  It's not worth it at all 

Positives
Good working hours and rates of pay. All Teaching staff and support staff were very helpful in all aspects of college life. Students were a pleasure to interact with.

Negatives
Poor senior leadership management style. Rife with Nepotism and managers playing 'favourites' with people they liked and 'bullying' people they didn't like. Emails of an offensive and intimidating style frequently sent by managers .Very stressful environment to work in amplified by the COVID situation. Lack of information given to Teaching and support staff for which the SLT have no respect.

Advancement is difficult unless you want to become a teacher. 
The role is good but did have its difficulties. Not always necessarily a culture where you felt you could express difficulties.
The people that work here make the job worth it, and line management and  support staff and teachers are all really friendly, approachable. encouraging, and supportive.

The college is the best place I have ever worked.  My favourite thing about the college is the students as they are lovely and inspiring. Such a privilege to work with them all! All the staff are great from the teachers to the cleaners to the property staff to the support staff. They are dedicated and professional and have the best interest of the students at the heart of what they do. The management team are supportive and make you feel very valued. I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Summer holidays
Don’t work here 


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Little support from
Management 
Workload
Toxic culture 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Awful
Toxic culture
You are just a number not a person
Management only interested in results to make themselves and college look good
Don’t care about staff or students
But If your face fits you can rise to the highest level of incompetence

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful
Made to feel like you are rubbish

While the support staff are hardworking, the overall culture is drained by poor management. There is a heavy expectation to arrive early and stay late, but this extra effort goes completely unrecognised. Most departments are chronically understaffed and underpaid, leading to very low morale. Furthermore, the management style actively discourages innovation; suggestions for modernising processes are often shut down, yet frequently "reappeared" later as management’s own ideas. Leaving was the best decision for my career and mental health.

it was a fun workplace because everyone was so friendly, i learned a number of things that help me in daily life like how to be professional in a job, the management of the place was very well done the manager knew what they were doing and how to manage a kitchen, the hardest part of the job was trying to learn something because i was learning something new very day, the part that i enjoyed mosted was cooking in the kitchen because i love cooking so much i don't see my future self doing anything but cooking.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Teacher 9 salaries reported	£34,588 per year
Business teacher 4 salaries reported	£39,506 per year
Tutor 3 salaries reported	£26,401 per year
Teaching assistant 5 salaries reported	£24,569 per year
Administrative assistant 2 salaries reported	£23,798 per year

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