School Sound & Lighting Tech

[DanSteely]

Times are hard and I could do with some regular dosh… therefore:

 

I’m looking at applying for a part time (12 hours/week x 42 weeks/year) ‘Creative Technician’ post in a secondary school. The princely sum on offer for this work is £4,460 which equates to £106 per 12 hour week, therefore £8.85 per hour. The job description is pretty bland and non-specific and I have no problems with the skills required. But a couple of points jump out: ‘Flexibile hours’ and the line “To deliver technical units to diploma pupils” which sounds to me like teaching.

 

So I’m asking for peoples opinions on:

 

1. The rate of pay. I know I’m worth more (but am very short on funds)..what is the going rate for school stage tech’s?

2. The flexibility required might possibly mean 3 hours per day x 4 days. This might mean that no other work could be undertaken on said days… What reasonable practices could I insist on?

3. Aren’t people who ‘deliver technical units..’ normally referred to as teachers and normally paid more than £8.86/hour??

 

 

I guess I feel that If I should be offered the role I should accept it. As it may lead to more hours.. On the other hand I feel that I am being a mug for considering this piffling amount of pay.

 

My background is 30+ years in the industry (mostly touring sound) and I have a BSc in Electronics.

 

Anyway thanks for taking the time to read this.. and its back to the potato soup…

 

P.S. I realise this is a sensitive issue. Therefore If anyone wants to send me a private message that would be very cool.

 

Many thanks. Dan

[bjkered]

Sorry quick answer and crude answer.

 

In Present Time "try and get the job, take it and see what its like " you can always leave.

 

Lots of reasons not to take this attitude but work, money and probably intresting, as there are some nice kids out there

[ryandell]

Hi Dan,

 

PM Sent,

 

Ryan

[PDD]

I’m looking at applying for a part time (12 hours/week x 42 weeks/year) ‘Creative Technician’ post in a secondary school. The princely sum on offer for this work is £4,460 which equates to £106 per 12 hour week, therefore £8.85 per hour.

 

1. The rate of pay...what is the going rate for school stage techs?

Anything from minimum wage to £40,000+ (there is at least one school paying this, that I know of). The general range is roughly £14,000 - £25,000 (for more managerial duties, upwards) per year - say 40-hours 42-weeks, so £4,200 (£8.33/hr) - £7,500 (£14.88/hr) equivalent. So, I would say it's towards the low end, but fairly typical for a state school. To be honest, knowing most schools of a similar range, they are probably not expecting someone of your experience. And I'm afraid it's highly unlikely that any more money is available, given that budgets are set pretty firmly in schools, so I would think this would be a "take it or leave it" deal.

 

2. The flexibility required might possibly mean 3 hours per day x 4 days. What reasonable practices could I insist on?

Only the school can answer this really, but you're right. They may not have thought about it particularly. On the other hand, they may have a work plan arranged, with fixed dates of shows, exams, etc. You can probably insist upon a "reasonable notice" period, but then they may not think that means "flexible". Depends if you want the job and how willing you are to be flexible as they ask!

 

3. Aren’t people who 'deliver technical units' normally referred to as teachers and normally paid more than £8.86/hour??

Yes - but again, a fairly typical duty. The 'real' teachers don't usually have much clue when it comes to technical stuff, so if a student elects to do a technical unit then it quite usually falls to the technician to 'deliver' it - although that may just be showing a student how to use some lights, etc. I quite enjoy it (depending on the student!), as it's an interesting challenge to pass on your knowledge and enthusiasm to somebody else - although they don't always share that enthusiasm!

 

I'm not sure I've been particularly helpful - but hopefully I've answered your questions.

 

Good luck!

[Russ83]

1+3) Pay wise that is about your basic rate for a technician with some specific curriculum support duties.

 

2) Flexible hours could just mean that when there is a show/concert on in the evening you are expected to support this. You will need to ask at the interview if the evening will be classed as extra hours or part of your 12 hours.

 

If you need the money and have very good time management skills then you might as well apply.

[paulears]

There's huge flexibility when it comes to what 'teaching' actually is. Somebody teaching in a college technical units would normally get paid between £15 and £25ish an hour - but the real problem is assessment. Things like BTEC get complicated as awarding grades is normally done by the teacher. If they get you to do the delivering skills bit as a technician, you would not normally be responsible for doing the assessment too. Agency teachers brought in to provide cover often exclude assessment duties as they are more tricky than teaching the subject! Writing the assignments is also pretty difficult unless you know the system, so when people just do the odd hour or two, they often dump the assessment stuff onto somebody else who does get paid for doing the unpleasant side of it!

 

Doing the teaching, as PDD says, can be fun - and if you don't get the admin problems thrown in, then I reckon a good time can be had!

 

The thing to watch is that almost certainly what they have not mentioned is that they will sneak in after a week or two the offer of a teaching qualification. Many places now have rules about teaching qualifications. To teach above X hours a week, you need a PGCE/CertEd, if it's less hours, then a C&G might be needed, and even for just a couple of hours they may require you to sign up for the basic teaching qualification. In most cases they will pay for these, and you use your teaching hours as source material for the qualification, doing classes locally part time. The PGCE/CertEd is the full qualification and this will be tied into a local university and take longer. If they pay for this, do it - although it is BORING! Very little useful material and loads of padding - often meaning you spend time doing other peoples skill areas. back when I did mine, I got dunked in a North Sea helicopter crash tank, upside down, in the dark, underwater! (I also had to cut somebodies hair - but that was a disaster)

 

me - I'd go for it!

[MATTJSTMARYS]

Hi I Work in a School as a General/ICT Technician the general part meaning AV and DRAMA my salary is 11K a year and after speaking to others this is reasonable pay for Term time + 15 Days Full Time. I Recommend just applying and if you don't like the job then leave. With the Credit crunch it is really hard to find a decent job. Flexible Hours Usually means out of the standard 8 - 4 working hours so such as evening and weekends. Hope this Helps

 

Matt

[Stutwo]

Hi I Work in a School as a General/ICT Technician the general part meaning AV and DRAMA my salary is 11K a year and after speaking to others this is reasonable pay for Term time + 15 Days Full Time. I Recommend just applying and if you don't like the job then leave. With the Credit crunch it is really hard to find a decent job. Flexible Hours Usually means out of the standard 8 - 4 working hours so such as evening and weekends. Hope this Helps

 

Matt

 

The key thing here is the term "technician" in the job title. That ties the role to a pay scale.

[Grum]

I'm currently employed on a 0.5 technicians contract at an FE College. I earn around £9000 p.a. however I started at the top of my scale.

 

Officially I do not deliver any units but I often sit in on the production arts lessons and help out, I also "demonstrate" how to use various bits of equipment and have run a couple of workshops (introduction to moving lights and another on the difference between analogue and digital sound desks). When the students run shows I supervise the control room, firstly so that if there is a problem I can step in and keep the show running smoothly and secondly to assist the tutor with his assesments (he can't be on stage and in the box at the same time).

 

The college are more than happy for me to deliver units and in fact are always asking me to do so, but I'm not interested in the paperwork that goes along with it however if I did then I would get paid the full sesional teaching rate. If you do get quoted a different rate for teaching remember that most places pay you for 1hour of contact time and 20mins of prep as their "hour".

 

One thing I will say is that I was dreading the idea of working in education, I had lots of preconceptions about H&S, extra admin and general red tape getting in the way but, in my experience, it's quite the opposite. There are departments that handle almost everything, if we're doing a show off-site I just make a pile of equipment in the middle of the stage and it mysteriously transports itself to the venue. I've found this job and the creative freedom its given me to be very rewarding and enjoyable.

 

Oh, the hours are pretty good too, two and a half days a week when we don't have shows on, get-outs done the following morning and any over-time is paid. The thing to remember is that your employer will be used to dealing with teachers and teaching hours and will be grateful to you for working so late (in my case rarely past 21:30).

 

In short, go for it the worst that can happen is you won't like it and then you can leave or sit out the recession with a bit of security and then look for something new when things pick up.

 

Edited 'cos I forgot to mention the hours.

[RoyS]

Go for it... You'll love it.. If not Leave.

[DanSteely]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you folks but I've been busy working.. HOORAY!!!!!

 

Hi All, and thanks for all your constructive comments.

 

From what you've been saying there is clearly a large variance of pay on offer here. I will play my experience and enthusiasm cards hard to try to improve the basic wage.

 

I have worked in the school in the past (for gratis) and have enjoyed working with and teaching the kids. From what most of you have said, this will probably be the best bit of the job.. I think I agree. If they want me to do lesson prep - and then evaluate outcomes fine, but it'll all come from the basic 12 hours. I do not have any teaching qualifications but would not mind taking one at the schools expense.

 

I think the flexibility requested will have to be handled on a case by case basis, but if a big production comes up and the job requires weekend and evening work then so be it. (we're not talking 2am outs and overnights to wherever here..)

 

I think one thing I will have to be careful with will be my time management. E.g. I can see myself taking home a rack to re-wire it in my time. Or taking home a pile of profiles to clean and service. In other words I'll be potentially working more than my contracted 12 hours for free.. I guess in effect I'll have to work to rule and no more..

 

All of your comments are positive for the job and I agree that if offered, I’ll go for it and give it 110%.

As you say, I could always leave..

 

One possibility with regard to improving wages would be to work as a freelance tech. I realize that this might be school specific, but does anyone have experience of working in this way?

 

More comments are welcome and I’ll report back with how it goes.

 

Dan (Desperate)

[Light Console]

Hi Dan,

Just like you, I did work for free in the school I now work in, that helped me to know what it was like to work there first. I work in a secondary school, with a £3million concert hall. We are very busy, and weekend working is frequent - I just take a day off in the week, which I find more helpful as the shops are a bit quieter! I also go into work 8:30 hours before an event is due to finish, often this sees me arriving at 1:30pm. Again, I'm happy with the flexible working pattern.

I do quite a bit of work at home, I find that it is easier that way, but with recent events, which I won't post about here, that is being cut down. I also have to do the PAT for the whole school, and simply don't find the time in working hours to do the data entry.

I took an option of contractual overtime, taking my working week to 47 hours. This helped to solve the fact that there were so many events on, but there is also the problem of the small amount of teaching I do on the BTEC course. This has just been refelcted in me moving to another pay scale, which is welcomed. This takes me to about £18,000 with the contractural overtime on top, for a 47 hour week, full time (ie in all of the holidays too, unless taken off!). Working in a school has its ups and downs, as with any job, but I enjoy it more than previous jobs. I'm not too sure what they are expecting with 12 hours...that is a normal day sometimes!

 

E2A "week", without which, the sentence was worthless!

[Grum]

One possibility with regard to improving wages would be to work as a freelance tech. I realize that this might be school specific, but does anyone have experience of working in this way?

 

Hi Dan,

 

This is exactly what I do, I made it clear at my interview that I would continue to do this since the job wouldn't provide enogh income on it's own and the college understood this.

 

Obviously the college has to take priority over anything else but schools and colleges tend to plan a year ahead so you know when you're going to be free and when you're not. One thing that might help win the argument (at least it did for me) is that if you're still working freelance then the school is benefitting from current industry practice. I'm just about to go off on a 3 week tour but as long as everything at the college is covered then they're happy for me to have the time off.

 

I rarely take work home, in fact the only thing I do at home is design and program lights but that is because I have Wyg and the college doesn't (yet) and also I prefer to do this when I'm in the mood.In my experience nobody expects someone on my payscale to give the sort of commitment that requires working beyond my hours at home, for free.

 

I also own a bit of equipment (6 macs, a desk and a media server) all of which I get to store at the college for free in return for favourable rental rates but again this just makes my job easier because I can rig the lights when it's convenient to me rather than doing things in a hurry because we can only afford the lights for the days of the show.

 

I'm sure you'll find that it works really well all round.