Social worker or teacher

I have no idea what social worker job involves that's why im asking here and the idea of agency was my friend`s who said u can join agencies rather than working permanently it would be more flexible.

If you have no idea what a job in social work involves, why on earth do you think it would be a good move for you. People really need to go into social work with their eyes wide open. It’s a great job for the right person but it’s definitely not 9-5, or a job you leave at the office door in the evening.

I'm a social worker (children's) and the pressure is immense. I can't switch off. I have also been a teacher and whilst that is also a highly difficult job (core subject in secondary) it was nowhere near the level or responsibility and pressure that frontline social work is. I do, however, love working with my children and young people, but have many a sleepless night worrying about them. Just my experience!

both jobs sound rewarding, neither are, so I would say none of the above.

This is from a person who considered social work as a career and who has a husband who taught, before he burned out

Children's social work always affects evenings; 4pm-5pm is our busiest time of day because one of the most important parts of the job is visiting children, who need to be seen at home and therefore most visits are after school. That means even if you aren't dealing with a crisis, you are usually finishing a bit late and at a different location to your office, which impacts the evenings - it may be a long visit and the other side of town to where you live. You may need to see a child who isn't home until after 6, if they're in wrap around care or their parent works office hours.
It's very common for SWs in children's to work in the evenings and sometimes weekends to complete reports. And if there's a safeguarding emergency, you're working until whatever time that is dealt with - it's not all the time, but there are days that you're out with someone until 9pm, 10pm. The latest I ever finished was 2am, after waiting for a child to be seen at hospital, and I regularly pulled all nighters when working in a team where I had to write a lot of court statements.

It can be a very rewarding and interesting job, but it is not a 9-5 role and likely never will be, because it's never funded/prioritised as it should be. And if you try and 'work to rule' you either risk your registration (eg if something bad happens and you hadn't written up your notes) or you let children down by not sorting out the things they need, so in reality you always work a bit over even when trying not to.

Agency workers in my experience work very long hours, because they are recruited by the authorities that are struggling the most, so they often take jobs knowing they'll be doing 50+ hours (bear in mind they can't charge that, only for the 37 usually) and then take a few weeks break in between contracts. You need to have a few years experience before you can do agency work and it is very very tough.

I don't know much about SW, but more about teaching. If you want to be a teacher, please prioritise improving your SPAG.

I work for a Local Authority as a social work assistant but I'm in a specialist team so do my own stuff not working under social workers per se. You'll see similar advertised where you are. Might be a way to dip your toe. The L A I work for do offer social work degree too.

I’m not a social worker but I’m fairly certain they can’t switch off when home. They must see things that break their heart and stay with them.

It's definitely still true that it's rare for teachers to earn more than 40k without going into management. Very few schools have posts paid on lead teacher payscale, TLRs are hard to come by and the majority of teaching posts are advertised as Main Pay Scale only. Removal of pay portability has been a significant change and means looking at pay ranges is fairly irrelevant to most teachers.

Anyway, back to the OP. I think people have covered a lot about both roles. I would ask if the unhappiness about doing extra work is because of how low your pay is and not feeling like you're valued. It may be that you might more inclined to take work home when you are paid more. It does sound like you already have a significant teaching responsibility and have a good idea of what the role is like. You know it will involve taking work home (more than you do already). You know it will be long hours. But if you think all of that it going to be worth it, then go for it.

I am a social worker, and I wish I trained in a different profession.

We are paid shocking for the responsibility and what we are expected to do.

Agree with some posters above.

Your literacy is poor, you are ignorant about safeguarding roles and you seem to want to do as little as possible.

Please go into a career where people’s lives and futures are not in your hands.

You’ve completed an education degree and work in a school and don’t know what a social worker is?

You can do a degree in Education without Qualified Teacher Status. If you want to teach you need a PGCE as well. In the early 80s I did a 4 year BEd which combined both things but I don't think you can do that any more.

Maybe do teacher training and then do a cover teacher role? If you’ve got a teaching qualification and a pulse you’ll find work to be honest! I’m not sure either teaching or social work would be a good fit with the work-life balance you’re aspiring to (which incidentally there is nothing wrong with!). Teaching part time is another option, I do this for the work life balance but do still work Sunday afternoons and occasionally evenings. The holidays with my kids and two days off per week are worth it for me at the moment. But I’m 16 years or so in at this point, so my planning time is far less than it used to be!

@Madamfrog

Your manner of writing would indicate that perhaps teaching might not be the best fit for you

You're being really mean!

@Soophia

Maybe you could earn as much teaching say 0.6 as HLTA role full time. So although those 3 days would be more full on you could have more time to plan & maybe do some on one of your days at home & leave the weekends free for yourself/family?

I'm a social worker and lots of my friends are teachers. Both jobs are very stressful.

Social work is more flexible - in my LA most social workers work a 9 day fortnight, you can wfh sometimes. I'm no longer Frontline as I've moved into strategy/management and wfh almost exclusively. I can easily switch my start/finish times around, for example I've got a GP appointment on Monday morning so will start at 10 and work through til 6.30.

Teachers work phenomenally long hours in term time and have very little flexibility. But they don't have to make decisions which impact on people's lives or that, if wrong, might place a child or adult at risk of harm/death. So the stress is different.

Your writing isn’t very literate tbh; your punctuation and grammar aren’t great. I presume English isn’t your first language but If you do a PGCE, you must prove competency in English and Maths, amongst many other standards. And in both teaching and SW, you need a high level of literacy.

I was a secondary school teacher on and off for 20 years, with a 7 year break in the middle to work in children’s services for a local authority, where I worked closely with lots of SWs. Both teaching and SW are god-awful jobs, with huge workloads, being abused by students/clients/parents, being constantly scrutinised and appraised, and continually vilified by the press and public.

If you are concerned about the impact on your family life, I can assure you that neither career is compatible. Both very stressful and requiring lots of additional work out of hours. I would advise you to totally re-think your options.

Neither...

As long as social care and state schools are not properly funded and people's behaviour in society continue to worsen, being a social worker or a teacher is not going to be a good option.

You would be working in stressful, short-staffed environment for a pay that is not great.

So unless you have a real passion for these type of roles, I would keep looking for other options.

I don't think either social work or teaching are good professions for getting regular hours and leaving work at home.
Children's SW is extremely stressful ( I have been a SW) but watching family members work as teachers they have long hours and have to be quite flexible.
Most of my friends have much lower stress jobs than either of these ones.

A teaching qualification and experience in secondary education or FE. And nerves of steel.