Wakefield College Employee Reviews

Great staff members in my department - management good. Enjoyed working here - felt quite corporate at times. Made to do a lot of pointless time consuming jobs.

Pros

Good pay

Cons

Long working hours and workload

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Poorly managed sausage factory, they do not care about the learners and treat staff like unwanted pennies.

Lecturer (Former Employee) - Castleford, West Yorkshire - 20 January 2022

Line managers are unsupportive and sweep everything under the rug. Senior leaders only care about spread sheets and are not interested in what is actually happing. Managers have a blatant disregard for the safety of students and staff. When you try to raise concerns you are either ignored, slapped down or they try to find reasons to get rid of you, including setting traps for you to fall into. They also offer course which they cannot provide as they are do not have the minimum required learning resourses and are unwilling to buy new or replace wornout resourses. This place is only intetested in money and making the spread sheets look good for the governors. Providing a good quality place of leaning and education is unfortunately the least important priority.

Pros

Flexible working hours can fit well around family life.

Cons

Poor resources, unsupportive and condescending management, no one other than the tutors and support staff care about the learners, management have none existent communication skills.

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Insights into Wakefield College

Based on 9 survey responses

What people like

Trust in colleagues
Feeling of personal appreciation
Support from manager

Supportive line managers

Learning Support Assistant (Current Employee) - Wakefield - 16 December 2021

Good, supportive place to work. Management increasingly showing their appreciation of staff, however, wage needs to improve for support staff to make them really feel valued.

Pros

Supportive

Cons

Wage poor

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Poor decision making & inadequate communication

Senior Support Worker (Current Employee) - Wakefield, West Yorkshire - 2 September 2021

My role involves being an excellent communicator at all levels, showing a very calm and caring nature and maintaining keen observation skills and being responsive to meet individual learner needs.

Pros

No perks - just job satisfaction

Cons

Poor pay in relation to wide ranging remit

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Productive

Cleaner (Current Employee) - Wakefield - 13 April 2021

Very good management, they are very approachable, the supervisor is always friendly , helpful and knowledgeable , all the staff enjoy working with Wakefield college.

Pros

No lunch

Cons

Less hours

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Hated it!

Tutor/Assessor (Former Employee) - Wakefield - 14 August 2020

Worked with a sourkraut who’s main aim in their working life was to belittle anyone who worked with them. Used to see tire marks on the backs of a few who this person had thrown under the metaphorical bus. Horrid!

Pros

None

Cons

None

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Start at 6 am put my PPE on,and start on my department and finish at 8.30.

Cleaner (Current Employee) - Wakefield - 30 July 2020

I enjoy working at Wakefield College cause it's friendly and like a family we all get on Hard work but we're left alone to get on with the job.the job involves cleaning toilet, showers, mopping, hovering using buffer machine's,dusting .we have great holidays, Christmas parties, BBQ party.a great place to work.

Pros

Christmas parties, BBQ party, and great holidays.

Cons

Hard work and early start.

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Fun workplace

Trainee Music Technology teacher (Former Employee) - City centre campus - 17 June 2020

I enjoy the placement I am on very much and would recommend teacher training there. I plan and deliver lessons with my mentors guidance to Level 3 diploma Music Technology students.

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Good working environment

Tutor/Assessor (Former Employee) - Wakefield - 28 December 2019

Good facilities and resources Good support network Regular staff meetings Standardisation meeting on a regular basis. Uniform provided Good student support

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Great place to work - like a family

PA to the Deputy Principal (Former Employee) - Principalship - 16 November 2019

I've worked in nearly every dept of college and apart from a few negative people as you would expect it's like a big team. Good pay, great advancement opportunities.

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skills exchange

Trainee Mechanic (Former Employee) - Wakefield, West Yorkshire - 30 October 2019

wakefield collage is a good place to learn new skills and to meet new people, every one is very helpful and friendly when you need any help with and thing

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No job satisfied

Dogsbody (Current Employee) - Castleford - 9 October 2019

Staff very much undervalued. Lack of support from management , too many chief's & not enough Indians , with flexible goalposts and no protocols in place . If you value your sanity then stay well clear.

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Friendly workplace

Student Teacher (Former Employee) - Wakefield, West Yorkshire - 2 October 2019

There is a good mentoring system in place, where you can learn from more experienced staff.There are clear objectives and expectations are also clear for all staff

Pros

central location

Cons

long hours

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Lovely Staff

Student Experience and Support Leader (Current Employee) - Wakefield - 19 September 2019

Everyone is really supportive and welcoming. The nature of FE makes the environment sometimes intense. For example the pressures of Ofsted and results.

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Shocking intimidating management

FE Lecturer (Former Employee) - Wakefield - 10 September 2019

Basically, a new course lead was employed who changed the whole team dynamics. 6/12 staff left within 6 months?! That speaks for itself. She was only a course lead who did not have a clue about her role and the management ignored all communication from us as a teaching team to nurture this amazing new starter. Unfortunately, this ‘curriculum manager’ was given ‘gardeners leave’ within 12 months! Too late - lost 6 committed teachers through ignorance

Pros

Salary

Cons

Poor Leadership of Middle Management

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Apprenticeship

Vehicle Technician (Current Employee) - Dewsbury, West Yorkshire - 25 July 2019

Great and welcoming place to work, friendly staff and a great atmosphere. Recently been employed as a apprentice vehicle technician and loving every piece of it.

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Rewarding experience

Learning Support Assistant (Current Employee) - Wakefield, West Yorkshire - 15 February 2019

I support a disabled learner in class, help him with assignments and projects and moving around the campus. It's a challenging and productive workplace and I enjoy helping my learner.

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A flexible employer

Support staff (Current Employee) - Castleford, West Yorkshire - 21 December 2018

The culture at the Castleford campus is quite different to the main campus in Wakefield. The learners here are mostly on 'trade' vocational courses, and a tiny number are here but don't want to be. The college environment is light, modern and pleasant and the other staff are friendly and hard working. It lacks a central place for all the staff to relax in when on lunch breaks etc or to meet up in, which is a pity. The managers I have met are flexible and approachable, and do not try to micromanage their staff. Pay is not high, but the college is very easy to get to and there is plentiful free parking plus a lot of flexibility over hours. The campus is opposite Asda, which makes up a bit for the serious lack of variety in the onsite cafe. There is generally a lot of interest in jobs there; expect a fair bit of competition, but once you are in there are regular possibilities for moving sideways or on.

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Friendly peers

Business Lecturer (Former Employee) - Wakefield, West Yorkshire - 13 November 2018

The time spent at this college was beneficial in my journey as a lecturer. The management were really good helping me settle into the role. The learners were well looked after to make sure they were on the correct course

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Joke.

Mechanical Engineering Technician (Current Employee) - Castleford - 15 August 2018

The management is an absolute joke. So many people are involved in simple decision making causing absolute chaos when it comes to the simplest of tasks, a perfect example is placing an order, it not only takes multiple amounts of time and effort to find suppliers that can be ordered from, you also need to have government training to be able to locate your manager to sign the order form, which then is passed on to the finance department, who then decide they’re going to put it on hold until they see fit it can be ordered. The option to progress in your career is next to none. You will be promised the world and never receive it

Pros

My campus is across from the asda

Cons

I drive 200 miles a week to earn a thousand pounds a month

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A perfect job for myself in terms of hours and responsibilities.Friendly staff and pupils.

Learning Support Assistant (LSA) (Former Employee) - Wakefield, West Yorkshire - 17 July 2018

I enjoyed working at Wakefield College as an LSA but I was on a zero contract. Friendly staff and felt appreciated by the students. Enjoyed helping without the responsibility of planning, teaching and marking etc.