Another year of poor decisions

It's happened again. The future does not look bright. The future does not look orange. It looks the same as last year, and that's no good thing.

This isn't me, but I wish it was. It's hilarious!

It is looking very unlikely that I will be teaching Psychology next year (despite it being on my timetable) as people are kicking up a fuss that it's not part of my contract. All I wanted was the opportunity to try new things, and use my Master's qualification, but apparently I'm asking too much.

The thing that annoys me is that as a member of staff I have been distinctly flexible and hardworking. Because I LOVE lists, here is a list of the things that I do that I feel are above and beyond my job.

• Spend hours working mark to make sure it's in early (you could argue this is part of my job, but it's during time I don't get paid - evenings and weekends)
• Plan lessons during evening and weekends to make sure they are good lessons, rather than the bare minimum (again, you could say this is part of my job. However, other people do teach the bare minimum, and print off worksheets from websites)
• Share my resources with others. I give give give my resources, but I rarely receive any back from other people.
• Teach from 5-6:30 twice a week. No one else has been forced to teach after their normal working hours. That was this year. Next year I will be....
• Teach from 7-9:30 (at night) twice a week. I can't imagine how many others if they were asked would say yes to this, but they'd be a minority that's for sure! That makes a twelve and a half hour working day for me two days a week, plus 45 minutes travel either side, which means getting home at 10 ready to get up for work the next day.
• Create and teach a short course that has nothing to do with my department, from 5-7 over three days. The person who teaches English within the department has refused to teach it, so I have to write, teach and mark the course. I'm not contracted to do this, it isn't my job, but I'm doing it because I'm a conscientious  employee and I want to make myself known. Does it get me anywhere? No.
• Create Schemes of Work. There are a number of English teachers - both Functional Skills and GCSE English at the college. Yet I am creating the Scheme of Work for both courses. I'm not even meant to be teaching Functional Skills next year. I could refuse to do it, but then no-one would, and we would all get blamed. I wouldn't mind doing it, if I got some damn recognition!

So basically I feel I work hard, go above and beyond to be a good employee, work self sufficiently, am flexible and I am really encouraging and helpful to my students despite them not being bothered if they pass or fail in my classes. I don't honestly know what else I could possibly do to be regarded as a good employee, and yet I am continuously ignored, under-valued, and anyone I am working hard to impress is only my line manager for a short time and then leaves or goes to manage another deparment. I would love to name and shame this college as the poorly run, terrible place to work that it is, but I dread the day I get called into the Principal's office because of something I've written in my blog. Suffice to say, the day I leave, I will be naming and shaming the instititution in big, red letters!