AIBU to consider retraining as a maths teacher in my forties?

Lucy Kellaway did not last long as a full time maths teacher. She quite quickly became a part time economics teacher.

First I went and taught overseas which was fabulous. But the pull of family back home was too much, so I came back and now work as an online tutor and examiner. The tutoring pays as much as teaching, is less than half the work (although no holidays or sick pay), 1/10 as stressful but boring. Examining is also boring but also challenging.

I miss teaching though. But I'm all or nothing. And I'm older now and think it would probably kill me to go back to 80 hour weeks.

How condescending and what complete bollocks! You clearly don’t hate a clue! 🙄
I’d much rather 30 odd days holiday a year than spending the vast majority of my holidays working or recovering from the stress of teaching. Teachers are complaining as you so kindly put it for very valid reasons! If it was as cushy as you’re insinuating then why are so many leaving? Including many who have worked in other professions prior to teaching! I was a mentor to trainee teachers and around 50% of them were mature students changing career.

My god it would be my idea of a nightmare. Some people love it but most people I know left within 5 years. High stress for not much reward. Some kids are obviously great but many are little shites.

As a teacher, I’d prepare to have a good 6 hours’ work at weekends- variable depending on age and stage you teach. In mainstream I taught languages initially and for the first year or two I regularly worked 14 hour days trying to be well prepared. I stopped planning my own things like visiting friends during term time because I was so tired, and needed Sunday afternoons at home getting myself ready for Monday. The Sunday evening dread was real. That was pre kids for me, I wasn’t even 30 when I started.
Then I switched to post-16 social sciences and found the teaching more enjoyable and the planning more engaging although still time-heavy, as there was a lot of reading and watching to find current resources to make the lessons engaging. I was part time by then as I had my dc.
Maths may be lighter on the prep and marking.

The record keeping and bureaucratic micromanagement is next level. Marking schemes, feedback schemes, questioning policies (ie how to question the students)… I had to make explicit how I was teaching literacy and numeracy in MFL, and as a maths teacher so might you (🤔). Extra training, duties, meetings, inspections, learning walks. Your work is constantly scrutinised and judged.

Holidays are great when you have kids, yes, but term time hours are not family friendly, at all. You will struggle to get to your own kids’ parents evenings, plays, sports events. On your school’s open evenings and parents’ evenings you won’t see your kids- you’ll be out before they get up and back home after they’re in bed. As I mentioned, weekends are also working days and rest days. You live from holiday to holiday.

i would recommend spending a fortnight getting some work experience in a school before you decide to go for it. And possibly exploring other options for retraining. For example, adult education- with maths you could go for functional skills and work in community college, prison, etc. lots of options really.

I’ve only read the OP’s posts so apologies if this was mentioned but Lucy Kellaway’s book about retraining as a maths teacher age 57 is a super read.

My DM was a maths teacher in the 80s (and I'm fairly sure the behaviour in her inner city comp was at least comparable to today - though I suppose not as many drugs around but there were at least some). She left to become a home tutor which is what you got if you were either excluded or ill in those days.
My DD has just started secondary in a very small rural secondary school with excellent results and a good reputation for pastoral care (which is why we chose it - she struggles academically unfortunately though she's trying hard).
They have only 20-25 per class in her year and only four classes in Y7 but they have an LSA per class for English and Maths. We are really pleased with it and I think the extra staff and smaller class size means the teachers can actually teach.
So if you are mobile and can find a really good school like that (or a grammar or another highly sought after school) I think it can be less stressful.

Before making the leap, have a look at volunteering for things like tutoring. While it sounds lovely to be a teacher, the reality really isn’t that good.

If you end up working in an independent school that your children can attend, it makes a huge difference both logistically and economically.

Independent schools vary a lot in how much discount they give to their staff. In my experience some schools are cutting down on this, as new staff are recruited - partly a consequence of the VAT issue. Historically I've heard of schools giving a 75% discount, but in the days when the school wasn’t full, so staff children weren’t taking up places which would otherwise have attracted full fees.

It’s like the teachers model the behaviour that they see in the children. I was in business for 16 years before my PGCE and the behaviour would never have been tolerated in the workplace.
Many teachers have never left school, they go from 6th form to university then straight back to the classroom. I believe many never learn how to behave properly towards colleagues.

OP, what age are your children? If you end up working in an independent school that your children can attend, it makes a huge difference both logistically and economically. The obvious downside is that being in the same school as your children could be very annoying for them! Though in a large enough school with lots of maths teachers, you might be able to avoid actually teaching your own children.

If you work in a private school and send your children to a state school, you will have a few weeks extra holiday each year compared to them. I have a few colleagues who find this very useful to get work/life admin done so that they can focus fully on their own children during the holidays.

If you work in a state school and your children go to a private school, that would be a logistical challenge - don’t do this!!

The NQT year and first year of ECT is the toughest, then it gets easier. So have a think about timing - you will be possibly less available for your own children for a couple of years (how would this compare to your current finance role?)

Lots of things to consider, and maybe a bit of luck needed to find the right role in the right school, but I definitely recommend it. A bit of work experience will give you a better idea if teaching is for you.

@jeanne16 Complaining as a teacher is in the dna! As you say, they have rarely done anything else so have no idea of other pressures. For excellent people the rewards are decent and who doesn’t like holidays spent with dc instead of organising, and paying for, childcare like everyone else has to! Thats a big bonus that’s often overlooked.

You don't even need to do that any more. You could use the Tutor2u AI Economics marking service (no I don't work for them).

A freelancer examiner can be hired for a few hundred pounds to mark mock exams for example. If your HOD has budget left over, but hasn't done that, then it's his/her own sorry fault if you quit.

It can be done, and some departments do it. Just push your HOD and see what happens. It can be in the pupils' best interests too to have a fresh pair of professional eyes on their work.

It is indeed unfair but (I know this won't go down well) you aren't powerless. You can say no, this is unreasonable, and push your HOD to find solutions.

In my school the Economics dept hires a contractor to come and do some of their marking. There are people who are professional examiners who can mark work for the dept really meaningfully.

In the English dept at my school, they don't hire someone. The English teachers do hours and hours of marking in the evenings. They privately complain to people like me, but when I ask "have you flagged this to your HOD so he can address it" they mumble about how that's just the way it is.

Be firm. Push back. There are solutions and they are affordable

I did precisely this, aged 50. I trained in the state sector but ended up at a small private school.

It is not an easy job but nor was it as hard as teachers make out. Most teachers have never done anything else and believe it is the hardest job in the world.

Nothing came close to the stress of my corporate job. Meetings every Monday with management when you had to a acount for everything you did that week. Annual assessments where you were ranked with a pay rise dependant on your ranking. 10% of the staff managed out every year.

If you can manage on the lower pay then do it. We were also never more than 6 weeks from the next holiday.

I'll mention that I teach at the school where my dc studied. That was ideal for us as holidays completely aligned. In Maths too, I never had to teach my own children, which helped. It can be awkward if you are teaching their friends but I've never found it too uncomfortable.

Teaching in a different county or sector can mean a clash of holiday times though.

I remember when I was training, I frequently fell asleep when reading bedtime stories to my children. So during term time, they didn't often get the whole of me. Having the holidays with them has been worth it, though.

Everyone forgets about holidays and reset periods other workers don’t get. In independent schools that’s at least 2 months in the summer. Many break up in late June. Other workers work long hours too but don’t have 2 months off. Yes, an independent school might have left the pension scheme but plenty of dc are sparky and engaged. It’s a trade off - better working conditions vs better pension. There are lots of well run state schools too but many teachers are not suited to teaching and are not organised, so struggle. Someone coming from a high pressure role where deadlines are the norm won’t find it awful.

I know it's not your fault but tbh as a Humanities teacher in an indy school this is the kind of post that makes me think it's grossly unfair that teachers of essay based subjects have the same timetable load but much heavier marking expectations. Their work life balance is often terrible, especially in indy schools where detailed written feedback is often an expectation.

I would add that teachers are the worst gossips I have ever encountered in any work environment and I have worked in a lot of different sectors. In every school I taught in, there was so much gossip, bitching behind backs, etc. The playground mentality seems to permeate the whole place.

The bullying came more from SMT, and again I would say it’s quite universal. Would never recommend anyone to go into teaching, it’s the toughest job I ever did. When I think back now, I marvel at how I ever coped with it!

Do it! (English teacher here)