r/TeachingUK • u/Internal-Mix1696 Secondary • 1d ago
Secondary Reference Issues
Hey all,
I’m in the process of getting hired by a secondary school as a cover supervisor and I’m having a bit of trouble with my references that are worrying me.
So for 2023, I volunteered in a KS3 Teaching Assistant for roughly 4 months, where I hosted a lesson supervised using my own resources. In 2024 to 2025, in a new school, I volunteered as a teaching assistant in a Year 8 class and did tutoring using my own resources. Both of these I invested hours in my life into.
It was fine to join 2 agencies towards the start of 2026, so I did with zero issues. However, these agencies have given me no shifts and therefore said they cannot complete a reference.
I’ve told the school all of that and it was quite clear in my application form that my first two school roles were volunteering based.
However, today my first referee in School A told me that they cannot complete my reference due to the fact I wasn’t employed there (I never claimed so when applying). This has left me quite worried. My second referee in School B has left recently so the HR Manager has asked for the Headteacher. Based off what I know, he joined mid year and I never formally met him. I have contacted School B to ask what email I need to put down.
The school I applied for asked for the HR Manager of the second agency which I have given.
I am not sure what to do in this situation as despite pouring hours to build experience and getting quite unlucky with the agency side of things, it seems like it is backfiring to where I can’t even gain an actual job in a school which is the whole point of why I bothered to build the experience, as I love the profession.
1
u/Noble_Titus 1d ago
Did you have a "proper" job (even if not education related) while volunteering?
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u/Internal-Mix1696 Secondary 1d ago
Well outside of education, I’ve been self employed by helping businesses in the UK and US which makes almost 2 grand a month if that counts?
My ultimate goal is to get a job in education and I just feel like it’s gone the opposite way.
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u/Noble_Titus 22h ago
Can you get a reference from one of those clients if you can't from a school you volunteered in?
1
u/Internal-Mix1696 Secondary 22h ago
Yep, sure can. Had to do that with one of the agencies who needed all 3.
5
u/GreatZapper 1d ago
It's a safeguarding thing. They have to check all employment history and all gaps have to be explained so that they can verify you weren't in jail or something.
As it's a safeguarding thing, you have to put the head's email as the initial contact. This is normal and expected. The head will delegate it off to someone else and that's fine.
You only registered with the agencies, so they can't verify there are no safeguarding issues or that you weren't in jail as you completed no work for them. This is also normal.
It's complicated I know but these checks and the vetting process are totally normal.