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

In your first post, you wrote, "I don't mean to be cruel..." and by your third and fourth you were putting the boot in. Yes, one would hope teachers have a good grasp of spelling and grammar, but one would also hope they are kind and supportive, which you are clearly not.

Retrained to be a teacher in my early 50s. It's fine. I'm old enough to be the head's mom. A guy recently joined us who's just qualified in his 60s. We both have industry backgrounds.

Oh god, just seen 'distance family friends'... (do you mean distant?)

'theses' too.

The bar must be low. Really low. Please get someone else to check your application for a PGCE or your journey will/should be over before it begins. It's not fair on the children to dumb down their education so much. I'm amazed it passed the standard to be a TA...

Their = belongs to someone
There = over there.... Or stating something.

Thier = not a word (see above. Twice). Could be an issue in any application for teacher training. Although standards are pretty low these days.

Hope this helps.

This.

Absolutely.

The older you get the more expensive you get, the more they want you out.

In a good special school you can be sheltered from some of the madness and I know a few who have kept staff for a long time as they are very lively places. Obviously some special schools are toxic and abusive. But I would say there is a realistic hope of getting a job you enjoy which TBH isn’t the case for mainstream state sector.

@Shinyandnew1
Great advice!
I know someone who rolled her eyes when a few of us were complaining about reinventing the wheel after another ‘new’ initiative was introduced at the start of term INSET. She told someone that we were ‘negative dinosaurs’ and the school needed more fresh blood like her who were full of energy and new ideas. Fast forward 4 years later when she’s off sick after being placed on a support plan! Teaching is unlike other professions which have clear measures of performance/productivity. Teachers are judged based on lesson observations which are very subjective. This leaves it open to abuse and bullying. If a head or line manager doesn’t like you, it doesn’t matter if you are observed teaching the best lesson in the world, they will find fault with it and nobody is going to question them. Even if you get the union involved they will only advise moving on. For this reason, bullying and unfair treatment is more common in teaching than other careers. Anyone making smug comments on here such as ‘ignore the naysayers’ needs to remember that they are only one set of results or change of management away from being treated as badly as many of us who have left the profession. You would be very stupid to even consider teaching without joining the ‘Exit the Classroom’ group on FB. I never cease to be shocked by some of the awful behaviour reported there. Also check the statistics. Teaching used to be a career for life, for anyone starting now only a very small minority will still be teaching at retirement age.

Ignore the naysayers.

I wouldn't ignore people who have done/are doing the job and are telling you what it's like now, no. I would listen carefully to everything people say.

I would do your research. Get on the 'Exit and classroom and thrive' Facebook group and spend a couple of hours reading the posts on there. There are about 187000 teachers on there-really listen to what is being said. Go into it with your eyes open.

I wouldn't plan 'supply' as a career plan though-it's a dying breed. Schools have no money so are using TAs to cover internally wherever they can and if they are forced to use a supply, they want one as cheap as possible.

Well I am an older bird and teach full time. Am moving on Monday (whoop) from a long term teacher at a PRU to a special Ed school.
Ignore the naysayers.
And I have a big family like you… three of the six are teachers and one abroad (Kuwait)
I still enjoy it :)
You know what you are doing. Have your boundaries and don’t be a martyr.

According to MNers, my job (university Research) is a HellHole situation, everyone doing the job must hate it and resent every minute of it and be constantly unhappy yadayadayada.

I think my job is awesome & I enjoy 85% of it hugely. So flexible and interesting. I feel very well paid. I have lots colleagues that like their jobs & some will openly tell you how privileged we are to have our kind of work (wrt pay, terms, opportunities, etc). I can think of dozens of careers i would find awful and yet I read that others enjoy those exact jobs (which is great for them).

I'm not sure any life advice on MN is good, definitely I know there is poor career and job advice here.

Absolutely shocked by the number of positive posts on here to the point where I’m questioning their validity! The vocation bullshit makes my blood boil too!
Teaching is fucking awful at the moment and there’s a reason why you’re hearing the negative comments.
Anyone saying it’s just like any other career is sadly mistaken. I taught for 20 years and of those who started with me, the vast majority are no longer teaching. Of those who still are, most are looking to get out. It might be great for a few years but it is no longer a 30/40 year career it once was. If you get to that stage then you are at increased risk of being bullied out. The pension is now pretty shit too, not sure why someone else seems to believe otherwise. You’d have to have joined 20-30 years ago to get what was once classed as a decent pension. Of the many former teachers I know most have gone to the civil service, local authority, NHS etc and every single one says their new job is 100% better than teaching. Be very careful taking advice on here from people who have not taught in the last 5 years, they’ll be out of touch with how bad things are. Also be careful of taking advice from people who have been teaching 5 years or less, they are still relatively cheap and will not be under the same pressure as those who are on the upper pay scale.

I teach, I don’t think it’s awful at all. I’m not in the best school but I’ve built positive relationships with (most!) of my students - I’m secondary. Every day is different, I couldn’t stand working somewhere where the routine is the same and mind numbing. I laugh every day, I cry sometimes. I work smarter so marking and working at home isn’t too bad anymore (I’m 10 years qualified).

You have to be passionate about what you do - lots of teachers who leave have had it beaten out of them. I’m not dreading Monday - I’m not jumping up and down about it - but I am looking forward to seeing my students and colleagues, to get stuck into a new term. Go for it!!

I was that poster. No it doesn’t happen in primary.

But neither does bending down to very low levels and sitting in too low furniture all which will affect muscskeleton disorders happen on secondary.

The subject of ergonomics exists for a reason.

Why do you think primary will be easier?

They work longer hours than secondary.

Bending, twisting, kneeling, crawling over the sides. My sil is a primary teacher. New curriculum from scratch every year. Endless display demands.

I honestly think it depends on your school. I’ve taught for over 10 years and I still don’t hate my job haha. There are days that are bloody tough (mainly behaviour), but I think there are challenges to every career. What is difficult about teaching is that you’re constantly trying to get young people to do things that they don’t want to do because if you don’t, you’re not doing your job.
The holidays are fantastic and if you have a good SLT and staff, you’ll be fine. Just make sure you are clear if you need support. Give it a go! It’s not all bad.

This won't apply to me. As I am going to be in a primary school. Not a secondary. Thanks for the insight anyway.

Primary teaching is exhausting as well! Everyone I know in EYFS/Year 1 has back or knee problems from years of floor sitting/bending over.

You’re on your feet most of the day, moving around the classroom, bending down to children’s level, carrying resources, setting up and clearing activities, playground duty, and often very little downtime.

Many HT don’t like teachers sitting at all any more, and in my last school, they threw all of the teacher desks/chairs out completely! Marking in a cold school on a tiny chair day after day can be brutal.

I am one who had to leave because if the ever increasing stress and lack of support

BUT I say that as a warning so people like you can be self aware enough to make better decisions than I was able to

Teaching is bloody marvellous. Working in schools is not...

I packed it in at 59 because I was being treated like shit : timetable considerably bigger than others with same responsibility/grade, made to teach a course that no one else would with no proper resources, made to work/attend meetings in breaks, often went days without breaks, all frees/PPAs used up with meetings and covers, teaching in lots of different rooms across school, moaned at constantly. I am fit and care for my two horses as well as go running etc. one day (the day after a 10k fun run) my keys went missing and when I was looking for them my knee”went” and I said “ouch” and then I saw the head look at her friend/deputy head and raise eyebrows knowingly. It mattered not a jot that another teacher had picked my keys up by accident or that I’d never had knee trouble and never did again, my card was marked. They treated me worse than ever until when they’d backed me into a corner I left . Too expensive I guess .

As an ex teacher who escaped that post is 100% spot on.

Teaching is a young persons game. It’s too physically exhausting and demanding for an older person. Everyone l knew got out as soon as they got 55.

At 52 l had painful knees. I had to get down 5 flights of stairs in lesson changeover. There was no time allowed for changeover. Nightmare.

They also don't want people with management, HR or workers/teachers rights knowledge.

100% they have chipped away at all the good stuff and deskilled us. The last thing senior management want is great subject knowledge or intelligence.