To think midwife’s get a rubbish deal compared to teachers?

Please, go and train to be a teacher or a midwife then! Both really easy jobs that are very well paid, right? And luckily for you we’ve a massive shortage of both in the uk! 😊

I know. I left in 2021 but got about 4k for SENCO/deputy head in a 2 form primary work h a full class teaching responsibility!!

My daughter is expected to be in school for 8. Students will one and see her, especially the year 11s. She is also runs a GCSE top up club, an Art club and a Textiles club. So that’s 9 hours of student face time. I have worked in the NHS as a nurse, then in a school. It was far easier in the NHS, so my advice would be midwifery.

Midwives get paid for the hours they work though and can be more flexible. I'd happily do 3*12 hour shifts as a midwife and then pick up overtime as and when. As a teacher you would be working 8-5.30 each day at least and over the weekend at busier periods. But you don't get paid for overtime as you just do what you have to do.

Teachers work WAY more than you’ve quoted

Midwives could do 3 x 12 hour shifts and be done for the week

I am neither and could do neither but just pointing our there is way more to your comparison

IMO both are a vocation. So if she has neither absolute passion then I wouldn’t be considering. Both are hard

@Undertherainbow00 How long have you been teaching?

To answer your question…
I am an experienced teacher and my reasons for joining the profession were born out of my own personal experiences of school. I was a bright child and did well in Primary, however I ended up leaving school without a single qualification. I didn’t take my exams in Year 12 for reasons I won’t go into but needless to say, I felt worthless. I gained my qualifications after already having a career in the city. I worked in admin for an American corporation and progressed through the ranks. I was astounded how far I got without any formal qualifications! Once I had children, I volunteered at their schools and realised how much I loved being in the classroom. I worked my arse off to quality - evening college classes, mature uni student etc. I LOVE being a teacher - I cannot explain how it feels to watch your class progress from September to July and to know you are a small part of their life journey. I HATE the chronic underfunding of our state schools - it is simply life limiting for many. Teacher retention is at crisis point - in the near future class sizes will rise because there will simply not be enough of us. I am all about social mobility - I want every child to achieve their dreams and be better than they ever imagined. That is why I still get up at silly o’clock in the morning and work more hours than I should. Teaching is a vocation - 30 years ago I was earning 40k without my bonus. I don’t earn much more than that now!

17 people agreed with me or thanked me so… If you’re going to post about an issue then at least spell the main words correctly!!

I am a teacher. I enjoy it on the whole. I earn more proportionally than the figures you quoted thanks to London weightings.

I love my subject and like having the opportunity to build my knowledge. Students ask really insightful questions sometimes.

A teacher blogger calculated recently that the real salary is about £5.50 an hour if you take actual hours worked into consideration.

I could never be a midwife! I'm far too squeamish!!

You're comparing apples and oranges I think.

Haven't read the full thread but NHS annual leave starts at 27 days plus BH and rises to 29 days at 5 years and 33 days at 10 years. When you take BH into account that works out at about 8 weeks AL a year once you get to 10 years service, and that's proper AL, teachers AL usually involves an awful lot of school . I don't know any teachers who get to switch of for all of any 'holiday' period.

Wow. Thought they both complained about shit pay
You both get a massively better deal than most other graduates
Just be grateful about the high salary and massive pension and stop comparing to others, cause you only compare to better and not worse leaving yourself feeling hard done to.

I don’t think teachers have an easy ride at all but neither do midwives, have a look at the you tube film
’ a midwife’s most challenging night’ this doesn’t even cover the aftermath, investigations and potential court cases that go on afterwards

Tlrs for £17,000???? I need to get a job at that school!

Now I tutor I don't get paid for the holidays or get any pay if off ill. Would I return to classroom teaching again as the holidays are such a bonus? Never.

Teachers regularly work 12 hours a day - I did when I was a class teacher. The difference is, they are not paid for those hours. Moreover, a fair proportion of school holidays are taken up with planning, report writing, changing displays etc.. Plus the stress of managing a class and all their needs 5 days a week. Midwife is IMO a much easier ride.

Both professions seem to have a high attrition rate due to the working conditions. I’ve heard from teacher friends about the reluctance to employ the more expensive teachers at the top of their band. Thankfully this has never really been an issue in midwifery, if anything the newly qualified midwives often have problems securing their first position, even though they are much cheaper to employ. I think because there is required to be a specific skill mix and it would be foolhardy of any trust to employ just all newly qualified midwives as it would be counterproductive financially if more things went wrong. That said the newly qualified midwives are worked just as hard ( for much lower pay) and do come with a wealth of up to date knowledge and recent experience in all areas so very much an asset to our team and much appreciated by the women we care for.

Guess at least they get paid for those last two years. Midwives do a preceptorship as a NQ midwife which takes 1-2 years which technically you could not achieve. Saying that you are qualified before your preceptorship. I suppose if you didn’t achieve your suturing, cannulation, etc though you could potentially lose your job and if they thought you were bad enough your trust could report you to the nmc to be struck off. In reality they’d probably just give you more time.

Thanks.

It was more the time scale that surprised me. Of course there are issues spotted at birth or the first few years but 18 years plus
seemed unlikely, to me any way. The heart thing was just an example, I can see that brain injuries are much more likely.

Returning to your actual question of

'do you think midwives get a rubbish deal compared to teachers'

What do you conclude? Do you still think this?

@rainbowstardrops thank you very much ☺️ yes it really is a wonderful job when there’s a good outcome and the family have been happy with the care you’ve given. It’s awful and very traumatic for all of those involved when there is an unexpected bad outcome. When my niece decided to go into midwifery I tried to dissuade her as I just thought, your such a lovely person and would hate for her to ever be that midwife in the wrong place at the wrong time 🙏
Obviously it is also really sad with the expected bad outcomes and sure all of us have got in our car to go home and just broken down in tears at the heartbreak for the poor family, if not before 😔 I have been blown over by these families that still always seem to say thank you to you at what is the most dreadful time of their lives

Thank you also @SuziQuinto although I really love doing our monthly antenatal class with (so far!!) an always lovely group of eager first time parents, I think I would be one of those teachers eaten alive by a class of year 9s 😂 never mind the flack you get if a certain % don’t pass their exams etc, much respect to you!

Why doesn't your sister come on this thread herself?! Surely that would make more sense 😂

Why do I do it?

1. The holidays
2. I really enjoy working with young people. Teens are genuinely hilarious.
3. That moment when a student "gets it" is brilliant.
4. The holidays
5. The holidays
6. The holidays fit round my kids.

Can we ask the teachers on here who are saying not to do it etc, why you stay? Or have you all quit? What do ex teachers tend to do if you can’t hack it?

Why for anyone stay in their job? They depend on the salary usually.

I would recommend she looks on the 'Exit the classroom and thrive' facebook post and take an hour to read some of the posts-then come back here. I'd be interested to know what she thinks. This group had about 30,000 members when I joined during Covid, it's now got 187000+. There are lots of posts about what teachers now do.

I would also maybe alter your language when talking to anyone about why they don't do the career they once loved. Asking them why they couldn't 'hack it' anymore, is unnecessarily provocative.

@Midwifeacher I quit primary after 21 years in. Now an EOTAS Tutor. My biggest regret is I didn't do it sooner!