A “national teacher application form”? Yes, please! What kept last week’s anonymous teacher awake at night also drives me mad (“Forms make me foam and fume”).
I was made redundant six years ago. Before I found a new job, I completed 48 application forms, several by hand, with exactly the same information, just in a different order in different-shaped boxes. Having just been made redundant for a second time, the nightmare has returned to haunt me.
This time around, online forms are the norm but cutting and pasting rarely works. Obviously an application form rather than a CV is necessary, but the needless repetition makes the already morale-sapping process of applying for a job even more depressing.
The final twist of the knife is completed by potential employers, who rarely bother to inform you that you haven’t been shortlisted.
Come on, Department for Education. You say you’re making school admissions easier and simpler for parents - what about for potential staff?
Val Thomas, Gravesend, Kent.