After reading a thread warning against teaching as a career!!

Urgh, it's been dumbed down to GCSE grades of C (level 4) or better in English and Maths to be enrolled on a PGCE course.

It's pitiful.

Might be good news for the OP though...

Look, I don't care what you do or where you go. Experienced teachers on here have offered you excellent advice, but you always seem to know better. You are wasting your time applying to be a teacher... But please by all means have a go!

Any international school in a tax haven is welcome to you... Although I doubt they will be too keen to embrace 4 children and your husband, who presumably would relocate with you...? (maybe he will breathe a sigh of relief and stay in the UK)

Toodle pip. :) (of course your errors were purposeful, of course)

Ps: I hear the International Schools of Beirut, Tehran and Tora Bora are nice.

You're = you are
Your = belongs to you

Please don't apply to do a PGCE. You will just waste everyone's time and patience. Be thankful you have a TA job already (I wouldn't employ you).

Ps: Are you aware that entrants need a GCSE grade B in English and Maths these days (or equivalent) - at least that used to be the situation before desperation set in.

Hi OP I'm returning part time from mat leave soon, qualified in 2021. The trainee year (I did School Direct in a really tough academy) is absolutely brutal. I think if you can stick with it through the ECT years, it does get better. Returning for another year in the same school is easier than starting afresh - you know more of the kids and routines, you can adapt previous resources - but don't be afraid to move schools to find one that's a better fit. Move schools before you give up teaching entirely.

I did 3 years in said tough school, moved to one that is reasonable about wellbeing (as in not working teachers into the ground until they leave or get signed off - or attacked in school!). My first year in the new school I also found really tough, back to 14h days between work at school and work continued at home, and I was very close to quitting. Returning for another year there was much easier.

Find more experienced teacher friends and get their perspective on whatever is going on in the school. There's a great book by Bruno Gomes (Teacher Workload: How to Master It and Get Your Life Back), goes into different ways to make your life more bearable.

It does get easier and a big part of it is getting quicker at everything as you get more experienced, unconscious competence, figuring out what you can get away with not doing in that particular school and learning to care and do less. I have definitely not mastered that last one and there are a lot of perfectionists in teaching. I still worked through my lunch breaks all through my pregnancy and was on my knees giving kids feedback and encouragement right up to 38 weeks. And trying to tick all the boxes for the scrutiny we're still subject to. Tbd how I cope now I'll be prioritising my child and juggling nursery!

There’s a difference between sloppy writing on social media and writing in the professional world. I agree though, that some teachers have woeful spelling, punctuation and grammar. What is more worrying is when they sell their efforts on TES resources or share on social media. I had a child tell me diegetic was diagetic and mise en scene was mis en scene and she showed me the teacher produced resource to prove it.

@Diamond7272
I think you’re being a bit mean to the OP but you do make a valid point. Basic grammar and spelling should be essential criteria for those educating future generations. I remember a head of department who used to write emails telling us to ‘pick a pacific topic’ and ‘to focus on where students loose marks’ etc. It just made me think he was a bit thick to be honest.
I also remember being astounded during a training session where an English teacher was delivering a workshop comparing standards in grammar schools to those in non grammar schools. I asked if it was a fair comparison seeing as grammar schools were selective based on academic ability. It became clear that she didn’t actually know what grammar schools were and appeared to think they simply had a greater focus on grammar. 😳

This is a mature response which is appreciated. I don't agree. But you express yourself well.

I think it's important to be pedantic. I am often appalled at the level of literacy and numeracy displayed by graduates with 2:1 degrees today. It must drive employers up the wall, especially in other professions such as law and accountancy where incorrectly using 'you're' and 'your' to a client just makes the £100+/hour professional look incompetent.

"I enclose you're bill for the hours rendered..." (errrr)

It reflects poorly on the firm and in my opinion is unfair on the employer.

I don't think I'm expecting too much that a qualified teacher can deploy their and there in the correct context.

Yes, the Department for Education is desperate for new teachers, but it's a pitiful day when a Year 6 child has a greater command of the English language than the teacher before him or her. Pupils need to have a reason to respect teachers and teachers need to lead by example to gain respect, especially in a classroom role with disaffected children.

I don't buy into this touchy-feely stuff of "follow your dreams OP"... It costs time, effort and money (indirectly, public tax) to train teachers, just as it does doctors, and some people should not be given the opportunity unless they have reached a threshold of competence beforehand. A degree from the University of Bognor Regis should not be enough... You need English, Maths, a presence... It's how it used to be - Before we became desperate and Simon Cowell encouraged everyone to 'follow their dreams' on a Saturday night...like children in a class, people laughed at the deluded people who thought they were great. They should never have been given the opportunity to be humiliated in the first place.

It made good TV, but it was wrong. Taking people who can't utilise 'their' or 'there' correctly on a PGCE course is exactly the same.

Set to fail. A waste of everyone's time.

Some TA's should be welcomed with open arms. Others should not.

@Diamond7272 I don’t understand why you are being so mean?

There is a multitude of reasons why their spelling may be off.

Being a pedant does not make you a good teacher. We see threads on here daily about alternative provision, sen schools, teaching all sorts of children. It’s not as black and white as it was years ago. We need to be diversifying. An outstanding teacher at a grammar does not equal an outstanding teacher at a PRU.

Half the issues I see with teachers who come in from uni is that they have no experience (OP does), don’t understand that behaviour has deteriorated and you might need to move away from ‘set lessons’ Think outside the box.

I applaud OP and they seem realistic. I love my job after twenty years plus doing it. It’s not all doom and gloom and no furniture.

No sit policies are being adopted across some MATs.

My school hasn't gone quite that far - we still have a teacher chair but it's very much frowned upon if SLT walk in and you're sitting on it. We're constantly being reminded not to sit down during the teaching day.

The only time were actually permitted to sit down is when taking the register.

Well we need good teachers. It’s one of the most important jobs you can do! I know people who love teaching.
Good for you op 🙌👏

In my old school, the Head of Science wouldn’t let the staff sit down.

@SunsetOnTheHorizon I worked in a Victorian era primary school in London. It had four floors and no lift and we had a hall on each of the first, second and third floors. As Deputy Head going from my office to the year 5 and 6 classes on the top floor, it felt like climbing a mountain!

Poor Hong Kong children as well... :(

Maybe the OP will get a job there after all. As a TA she seems to know everything so best wishes :)

I can assure that plenty of teachers in Hong Kong have terrible English including the native English speakers

You’re going in with your eyes open!

Second that

Teachers are kind and supportive. Especially towards the children.

But babying people (grown adults) who cannot master basic English, forgiving basic mistakes, all of this is just dumbing down education. If the standard of teaching is at this base level, how on earth is that fair to children and other teachers?

Some people are just not cut out for the job. They are not academically at a standard high enough to enhance the lives of children through knowledge. They shouldn't be there.

And yes, I'm not delighted that the OP is considering a PGCE in a UK school, will be 'teaching' at this level (potentially) my children on a SCITT course or such like, and then intends to relocate abroad to a tax free international school. I am relieved that the one thing any top school in Singapore or Hong Kong etc will require above all else... is mastery of the English language (if through some miracle/political pressure the QTS standards ignore such fundamental failings).

I know, I did a PGCE in the 90s and have taught ever since, I don't need a lecture on the rigours of the profession. My point was that you being spiteful - to someone who is not currently training, has not applied and is not your mentee - is not necessary.

I think what people fail to appreciate is that a PGCE is all about learning how to deliver a lesson. Learning styles and theorists. Classroom management. It's not a further year of post-grad education designed to educate the educator about subject knowledge, English language or basic maths.

If you think I'm being harsh, what do you think the PGCE provider/those who mark the OP's assignments/observe early lessons will flag up from day one?? Yes. This.

In my day (PGCE 2001, mentor 2008 onwards), deploying their/there/thier (?) in the wrong context or your/you're was reason for a major issue/doubt regarding suitability to be awarded QTS. It's a problem and loss of marks at 11+ for year 6 children....

I'm surprised the OP got a job as a TA to be fair. I'd be livid if my child was 'taught' this in a school setting... Again, teaching isn't just talking, it's writing and being on show/display where every word is scrutinised.

That's teaching today. SCRUTINY

This thread is getting quite comical. Especially the poster mentioning how the Head threw out all the teachers desks and chairs, and they all had to use a small chair.

Comical? We didn't think it was comical, no,

Or are you calling me a liar?

Lots of Victorian/Edwardian primaries have plenty of stairs but luckily you know that will never apply to you.

I hate to break it you, but it is indeed true that some schools got rid of staff chairs and desks. As the PP said, trying to work on primary sized furniture is no joke.

But luckily you know that this will never affect you so all good.