Advice about re-training as a teacher

[dayakie]

Hi all

First time posting!

I've recently found out I'm going to be made redundant from my current job. I've always wanted to be a primary teacher so am thinking of retraining.

I've got a couple of questions - I have a degree and am looking to join primary with a focus on English.

Fees - look to be around £9k - I presume that you take out a student loan to cover that?

Maintenance grants - I'm married with a child and have a house not with parents - would I be eligible for a grant?

Pay during training - how much does this tend to be?

Any advice or help would be really appreciated!

[CuckooCuckooClock]

getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/

[Piggywaspushed]

You don't get paid during training! Unless you go down a salaried SCITT route (or Teach First but I am not sure that would work for you).

[BigButtons]

Don’t do it- seriously don’t.

[dayakie]

@piggywaspushed that's the route I was thinking of - do you have experience of it?

[dayakie]

@bigbuttons - why's that? Serious question

[veryboredtoday]

My advice would be to ask to spend a few days in a primary school and get some work experience. They would expect this anyway on your application.
Teaching can be a great career but there are good reasons why many people are leaving the profession.
If you go into teaching, go into it with your eyes open so you know what to expect. The training year is hard and so is the NQT year. I'd love to say it gets easier but after 25 years teaching I still work bloody hard.

[BigButtons]

@dayakie seriously? The work load is getting worse and worse, teachers having to achieve impossible targets, huge pressure from SLT, work/ home balance is dire. I am watching my colleagues go under. It’s been getting worse and worse. I see fresh faced nqts go off with long term stress and illness.

[Chosennone]

I would start with a voluntary placement in a school. Shadow the class teacher to see to get a realistic idea of how much planning and marking you have to do evwry day. Two different schools wouod be better.
If you feel the workload is worth it then research the differing routes into teaching via the getintoteaching website.
I'm in a fab secondary school, over 20 years experience and still find it hard work, but rewarding and the holidays are a perk. I could not imagine enjoying the workload in Primary though.

[spanieleyes]

For a salaried training post you would be expected to have had significant previous school experience, as a TA, HLTA or unqualified teacher.

[MrsJakeLovell]

approximately 25% of the teaching staff at my school are on long term sick...make of that what you will...but if I had my time over I absolutely would not enter teaching and I tell my children the same.

[PotteringAlong]

www.findamasters.com/advice/finding/school-centred-initial-teacher-training-scitt-guide.aspx#SCITT-funding

Between £4K and £15k for an English SCITT apparently

[Piggywaspushed]

Not got time to reply at the mo. Off out but will reply later OP

[Thirtyrock39]

I don't think you necessarily need lots of experience in schools to get on the school based training as long as you can make your experience and skills transferable to teaching. A friend of mine has a place on a scitt with just a few days in a school but has lots of transferable skills and often works with children and young people .

[Frankincense88]

I did a SCITT (Secondary English) in 2016 but salaried places are few and far between. Of all the teachers I've ever met, only one was offered a salaried position and that was because he was already a HLTA in the school.

The fees are approximately £9k for your tuition then you have to factor in how you'll live. I had to take out an additional £9k maintenance loan (non-repayable grants don't really exist anymore) and I was also eligible for a £4000 tax free bursary. I was living with my parents at the time but my outgoings were still high with books, supplies and fuel driving the 70 minute each way commute to my SCITT provider for tutorials and seminars. Although, I think for Primary teachers, you are only eligible for a bursary if you are a Maths specialist.

It is a very rewarding but a very demanding job. The right school makes all the difference. Like other posters have said, get some experience a couple of days a week in a school and get a feel for what it is like.

[tiredanddangerous]

Have you spent time in a primary school lately op? Spoken to any teachers about their job? You really need to if you haven’t. Please don’t go into the job without really knowing what the job is.

[TheBitchOfTheVicar]

PM me if you want to know more about Teach First, OP

[hairyxmasturkey]

Just came here to echo.... please don't do it!

[fedup21]

why's that? Serious question

The fact you are asking seriously why current teachers might suggest you don’t enter teaching I don’t think you have done much research into this!

[Junobug]

I did a GTP (maybe now teachfirst?) So I did my training on the job. I had a couple of years as a TA first which was invaluable. I left to go on Mat leave 2 years ago and haven't gone back. I've just deregistered my daughter from school as I'm so disheartened with the system.
The 9-3 of the job is the best in the world and I had great SLT but i was so fed up of working in a system of blame. Everyone from leadership to governors to the government to the media is looking for ways that teachers fail. You are never good enough. And more importantly, the kids are never good enough. They should be better behaved, achieving more. They are not allowed to be children or have lives outside of school. Johnny's dad running off with the next door neighbour is no reason for a bad attitude, Kylies mum dying is no reason for her marks to drop. They are nothing but statistics. It's soul destroying. And to feel like I had any chance of succeeding, I felt like I had to work that hard that my own children came 2nd. And I would never do that to them again.
So it can be an amazing job. But please get some experience first and go in to it with your eyes open.

[needmorecoffeeandcake]

What makes you want to be a primary teacher?

[Bluewavescrashing]

It's incredibly time consuming teaching full time. The actual teaching is great, if you're in a school with good behaviour and supportive SLT. However what most people don't see is teachers arriving at the crack of dawn, staying late in the evening, working at home once they've put their own children to bed, and/or at the weekend. There is a culture of reinventing the wheel to reflect current fads. Much of the workload is a box ticking exercise with little actual impact on learning. Lack of trust is a huge thing. Some schools are constantly checking books for quality of work, depth of marking, expecting pages and pages of planning daily and weekly, huge data drops. Pushy parents, friendship issues, a squeezed timetable with ever changing expectations, the push push push on Sats results which filters down to all other year groups, reports.

It can be all consuming and you have to really, really want to commit to it.

[Verbena87]

I’d definitely say secondary is less insane in terms of hours. Even so, I can’t imagine coping as a parent on more than my current 3 days per week.

It’s also really hard because you have to accept that you’re never going to finish your to do list, and you have to be comfy with doing lots of reasonably-passable work rather than being able to focus enough on one thing to achieve perfection. If you need to tick all the boxes or feel like you’re doing your best all the time, avoid!

That said, I love my job and can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing work wise.

[dayakie]

Thanks everyone - I've always wanted to teach primary, just never had the chance financially to do it. I've got a lot of experience working with children of this age.

I know there are a lot of problems, I have many teacher friends and I'm not going into it blind, I just feel called to it.

I'm setting up some voluntary sessions so I can see what it is in the field before I decide though.

Really appreciate you all taking the time to reply.

[PenOrPencil]

Workload in primary is insane compared to secondary school, I would never recommend primary!

Secondary English is very marking heavy, too, but most of my colleagues seem to enjoy it.