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

I think you misunderstand the job of teaching.

All teachers like those things and possess those qualities. That’s why they are teaching.

But that’s 5 % of the job. It’s the SMT, targets, OFSTED, PM, behaviour, lack of cash, lack of support staff, academisation, micromanagement that make it hateful.

Youre talking about the best and smallest bit.

There is a thread on here at the moment about people who love their jobs and there are a lot of teachers posting.

Some people thrive on being extremely busy and rushing around all day.
They are very energetic, they like to talk, they find children and young people great company, they get job satisfaction from helping people. They are good at explaining things and have a certain sort of charisma which makes building relationships with the pupils and classroom management easier. They weirdly think camping on the bronze dofe expedition / running a board game society / organising a charity bake off event is fun. They are mildly obsessed with history or physics or whatever subject they teach.

These sort of people (at a well run and organised school with a decent senior leadership team) have a great time working as teachers.

To other people, all of the above sounds like at utter nightmare, and teaching is best avoided.

I have 2 really good friends who are teachers and they certainly don’t think the job is as bad as
its made out to be on here. It must depend on the school and the people! I think you definitely need to find out for yourself

@Diamond7272 she went back to her previous job as they hadn’t managed to find someone permanent to replace her , maybe you don’t know everything .

Never heard of this once. Not ever.

Ever seen or read the Burgundy Book?

I've been teaching for nearly 30 years and every school I've worked in follows this.

I'm not sure what you're saying is utter rubbish but in state schools, notice has to be given on or by 3 points in the year.

On or before 31st October to leave 31st December.

On or before 28/29th February to leave 30th April.

On or before 31st May to leave 31st August.

If you miss any of these resignation points, even by a day, it is entirely at the HT's discretion whether or not they will allow an early release.

Never heard of this once. Not ever. Certainly not in private schools that lead to jobs in other private schools overseas.

Utter rubbish

Haven’t RTFT, but just wanted to say, I retrained as a teacher in my 40s, with kids, and I adore it. Love working with teenagers, love the job. It’s intense and stressful, but when you’ve had a ‘normal’ job for years, the holidays seem like an incredible gift. The key is finding the right school with good behaviour and supportive leadership. So do your research when job hunting. The money isn’t amazing, but it’s not bad and the pension is good. I do think you need to feel an absolute passion for it though. It would be a LOT without the love for the job.

Teaching jobs begin on inset day one day before the official school term begins. To quit you need to give a full term's written notice, the 1st school day of the autumn term is too late (term has officially begun) - you are trapped til the end of the lent term in April.

That's not true though. You give half a term's notice, which needs to be given at the 'half' term. So, you resign by October half term and leave at Christmas.

I'd love to know how a teacher can 'leave teaching and be back in 2 months'... Unless he/she is supply.

Teaching jobs begin on inset day one day before the official school term begins. To quit you need to give a full term's written notice, the 1st school day of the autumn term is too late (term has officially begun) - you are trapped til the end of the lent term in April. Ah, another 'joy' of teaching no one tells you about - most other jobs it's a 1 month notice period. In teaching it can be Sept to April, so 8 mths notice... You can leave immediately, but get ready for talk of unprofessionalism, union action, threats of being struck off/penalised without a good excuse such as being proven to be seriously unwell...

If you don't know an experienced teacher who can tell you all this stuff, don't even consider teaching in your 40s with 4 children...

Yes, you can begin at other times midway through a term if a staff member has died or something like that, but you can't quit, then come back 2 months later... That's just fiction unless you are a non class teacher, so maybe a sports specialist on the unqualified teacher scale...

I've heard that teaching abroad is ok. I don't teach in s special school but my sister did gor her entire career and used to love it but retired early saying that ehat used to be genuine need is often simply bad behaviour these days.

I teach English and I wouldn't advise anyone to go into teaching. Behaviour is often appalling, the students often don't want to learn and you end up working a lot harder than they do. As a secondary English teacher my workload was excessive and the pay generally poor. I think you get paid more if you teach in a special school, though.

Sorry, forgot to mention that you’ll need a spare room with desk and broadband for all the hours of marking , admin and lesson prep. Reliable transport to get you there for 7.30am and home again for 7pm (9pm on a parents evening) and. Next account for boring clothes which fit with staff dress code- just to ensure you really lose any sense of your own identity…

Our eldest is an assistant head teacher , he moans about work occasionally but I can’t see him doing anything else . He has a friend who left teaching and she was back within two months . They are both in secondary . So I say go for it @SunsetOnTheHorizon

They want top degrees/ qualifications too . As I said to OP , if you’ve got a burning ambition to be a teacher, do it . From what I understand post graduate qualification is on the job now, you’ll be in a school being a cheap labour source in no time. Get your QTS after two years and you’re there. Progression is hard, work is impossible, salary shit, life/work balance dreadful but it’s not boring… well actually transferred numbers onto spreadsheets and staff meetings are mind numbingly boring as is reading AI generated emails from your boss and listening to them deliver dreary (also AI) PowerPoints about the latest senior leadership fad (line up, front and centre, non negotiable, live marking , oracy - don’t worry it rotates very year) but you know, the kids are great: funny, resilient and resourceful but don’t be caught having a laugh with them or enjoying teaching them because that’ll get be wrong. But yeah do it. Make are your pension is going to pay off, save some “fuck off” money, work part time if can, for God’s sake make sure your union subs are paid …

I was a TA then an HLTA for 10 years before I decided to go back to uni and get my teaching qualifications.

You’d think after all that time I would know what I was signing up for… nope!

Both jobs are hard in different ways. But the jump from HLTA to teacher hit me really hard.

The extra workload is significant. The extra responsibility also weighs heavily as the buck stops with me. Being completely responsible for the planning, delivery, safeguarding, pupil outcomes, data, etc etc is hard.

I work 8-5 every day (I get paid 8.45am - 3.45pm). I also work roughly an hour each night when I get home. A typical weekend is probably 4-5 hours. Half terms 1-2 days.
And that is just to get the absolute essentials done.

As much as I love the actual teaching side of my job and working with children, I’m not sure I would make the same choice again if I could go back in time.

Remember too, these schools abroad often pay 'local wages'... My aunt worked as a teacher at peponi house, Kenya. Salary UK equivalent to £17,500. Hardly worth it financially, more a lifestyle choice.

The money, yes, is in the middle East and far East... Just remember, maybe 30k to 50k tax free but their rules... If you have a partner, you must be married to live together or have sex. Failing that equals prison. No alcohol in some places, although a blind eye is sometimes turned. No homosexuality allowed, so not an easy place for gay teachers, their friends and family - Singapore, which pays well, being a prime example..

I feel that in your 40s with 4 children, you are past the economically viable years. Yes, you can do it. Take out a student loan for a PGCE... But what's the point? By the time you qualify you will be the least experienced teacher on the staff of any school and likely one of the oldest, older than the head or deputy if an ordinary primary school. At best you've got a 5 or 6 year career on a salary in the 26k to 32k range over that time..

I've taught in 5 schools from 2001 to 2017 with a gap in the middle... None have any staff now aged 50+. Even the army of dinner ladies and TA's have morphed from very capable ladies in their 50s and 60s to young mums in their early to mid 20s.. if indeed there are any employed in those roles.

I don't want to be cruel, though sound it, but for a 'career' in teaching you've missed the boat... It's a sub aged 35 career now, someone without parental responsibilities, elderly parents responsibilities, likely without a mortgage and still renting... Yes, you can try it for a few years, but the money isn't worth the effort and bother... The PGCE is a breaker.

And regarding jobs overseas, they are mostly private schools wanting experience of working in UK private schools for a good 2 or 3 years... Competition for those tax free jobs is fierce, often against 30 somethings with 8 or 9 years in the classroom who need to save serious money for a deposit. Before you can get an overseas job you'll need experience of a UK private school or good academy or grammar... To get that job you'll need to know about common entrance, scholarship exams, Duke of Edinburgh awards, etc etc...

My advice, don't get ahead of yourself. There's a long journey to get that job at the end in Qatar or UAE, and your odds are much lower when you are up against 20 or early 30 somethings who can offer after school activities a-plenty, are unmarried, have no visa issues with a spouse or educational requirements for their children.

Harsh, but how it is.

🙄 Teachers aren't paid for holidays, even though most of us spend a large chunk of them working. And in England we teach 39 weeks of the year - I don't think your maths is quite up to scratch.

My DIL is a teacher, and loves her job - admittedly more so since she moved to a different school a couple of years ago.

the very long generous holidays for half the year that are paid!

Where do you live then, that teachers get 26 weeks paid holiday?

And why don't you go and retrain so you can join them, if it's so amazing?!

Half the year?

Yeah. If you’re attracted to teaching for the holidays, ask yourself are you willing to wait for the holidays to see your friends and family, to help your elderly parents, to go to the gym, to have a night out, go to a festival, to have a weekend away, to make a GP appointment, to get your hair cut, to decorate and clean your house, to do a hobby, go to a gig, go to the cinema, go to the theatre, read a book, watch a tv series, go to your faith services or meetings, attend political meetings, have a medical procedure, attend antenatal, see your kids…. Yep if you don’t mind putting this off until the wonderful holidays go right ahead! I’m here to tell you (after 25 years full time teaching) that it’s not a life I’d recommend. It used to be just about do-able but with the “non negotiable “ “accountability “ “zero tolerance “ attitude of senior management it has become unbearable. Trust me!

Yet, despite those absolutely amazing holidays, there is still a massive recruitment and retention issue within teaching.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5356411-teaching-omg

Teacherss aren’t paid for holidays. And when l was teaching l spent most of them working.