wwyd.... getting into teaching Vs getting pregnant

[Needadoughnut]

DP and I really want a baby we're not getting any younger so the sooner the better... We leave in a fairly rural area and I come from a corporate background so finding jobs hasn't been the easiest. It looks like I could do a PGCE with a bursary... But what would happen if I'm pregnant in the middle of the course? Or even before I start? Of course I could do it once baby is born (what I think I would do) but I don't know the bursaries will be available by then. Any experiences with this type of programme would be very helpful.

There's a reason the world is full of ex teachers. I used to teach, not in school but for an organisation that catered for 14-19 year olds on day release from school. I stopped and changed direction as it would not be compatible with having a family and I wanted children. I worked every evening and all day Sunday. The constant observations etc were extremely stressful, especially when i knew my groups would riot with a stranger in the room.
My mother was a teacher, she took a few years career break with each one of us (there are big gaps between us)

I sympathise with your situation living where there aren’t many jobs, but as many others have said, you’re just sticking your fingers in your ears and thinking about the bursary.

I trained as a child-free 22yo with all the time in the world. I was knackered. I was working 18hr days. I was on my knees by the end. Some weekends I would get on the Pro Plus and work right through, all day Friday then come home and work all night Friday night into Saturday and go to bed at lunch time and then get up Sunday early doors to work all day again. That wasn’t because I loved working myself into the ground but because I had to to get it all done. In my NQT year I developed pneumonia. I was getting 4hrs sleep a night. It didn’t even start to get vaguely easier until a good 4 or 5yrs in.

Then I had kids and it’s a different kind of hard. I work part time but since having my second I’m not sure that I will be able to carry on in teaching. I work 2.5 days a week at the moment but they want more of my free time than I can reasonably give them. My DH is also a teacher and I think in the end I will give up so that he doesn’t have to simply because the job is so inflexible. You get the holidays with your kids but that’s it- you can’t take them to school or pick them up or go to the nativity play (unless you lie about having a doctors appointment and feel guilty) and then once they’re in bed you eat dinner and sit there marking til 11 o clock, or midnight very often. It’s not family friendly when you’ve done it for years, let alone thinking of having a newborn in the middle of training.

You’d be mad to take this option. It will send you mad and won’t work anyway. Find something lower stress if you are planning more children.

Everyone always says that doing a PGCE, then NQT then teaching is the most stressful and emotionally draining few years. They're absolutely telling the truth. And in a lot of ways, it gets harder & more demanding as you progress.

I was very laid back about doing my (Primary) PGCE. Thought 'How hard can it be?' You have no idea and neither did I.

I had a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I must have been out of my mind. I got through but only because I have the most amazingly supportive DH and close family. Without a strong support network, forget it. Honestly.

If you really want to work with children who are keen to learn languages, have you thought about running an after school club to get experience first? We have Spanish and French specialists who come in several times a week to teach children who have paid (or are subsidised) to be there. Much easier to fit around a family and without any of the mind-boggling bullshit that goes with modern teaching

Teaching probably won’t stretch you academically. I’m looking for a way out after 20 years. I can’t be a good parent and teacher and I only work 4 days. It’s not your passion from what I can see which will make an already challenging job even harder. Have a baby and move to a city and work in Waitrose-that’s my plan.

Everyone always says that doing a PGCE, then NQT then teaching is the most stressful and emotionally draining few years. They're absolutely telling the truth. And in a lot of ways, it gets harder & more demanding as you progress.

People told me it would be horrible, that I'd hate it, they were unrelentingly negative about it and really, really pissed me off with their negativity. They were right.

don’t get that from your posts. What I get, rightly or wrongly, is that you think a PGCE can’t be harder than a Masters, that you think it will be a secure long term career, that you think you relate to teenagers and are on their wavelength. It isn’t, it won’t be and you aren’t.

This.

You seem more bothered about the bursary and whether it will still exist in a couple of years if you get pregnant than anything else.

I can’t see anything on the thread about Shared Parental Leave?

You won’t be on your own with the baby.

None of the primary and secondary teachers that I know work every weekend (qualified, not training). They all work less hours than I do in my corporate job. Don’t get me wrong - they have hard jobs! But they’re really not working all hours. Except one, who is extremely disorganised and even his wife (another teacher) says his hours are his fault.

My best friend did a PGCE & NQT year with a 7 and 5yo, whilst the 7yo was having significant difficult (pre ASD diagnosis). She very bright, very motivated, and very tough. It was hard on her. But she did it.

OP, I’d say keep getting the feedback, but you sound like you could do it, especially if you can add in a supportive partner pulling their weight and also taking shares leave. Good luck to you!

Although - you have so much experience and skills. Why are you talking about working NMW, instead of moving?

I think as part of the recruitment process they'll make me shadow some other mfl teacher

Only if the recruitment process has changed completely since I trained. Everyone on my course (circa 200 of us, if you included all the subjects they were training in) had already worked full time in a school for at least 1 full year.

They expect you to be applying for PGCE with a wad of relevant experience and all the bouncy enthusiasm of Tigger.

You could contact the mfl teachers at your local schools and beg them to have you come along. A lot of people go into teaching because they want to help people, so you may get some amenable replies. Be prepared to fork out for a DBS check.

Ellisandra op can't move because both she and her dp have children from previous relationships.

So far the only person who says it will be fine is the person who is NOT a teacher.

@elissandra that's my starting point. I worked possibly 60 hours the first two years of my DDs life with no support. I was on call and even had to be working in the wee hours because there was some sort of corporate emergency. It can't be worse than that IMO.

@4point2fleet not sure which part of “hard” you’re translating as “fine” there

Fact is, whilst there are drop outs and the drop out rating is higher amongst those also raising children (according to actual teachers, not me, I don’t know, I’m not a teacher ) they’re not all dropping out.

I said the OP should keep getting feedback. But look, some people manage this. Why not the OP?

Not the OP because she doesn't really want to be a teacher. It's just the least worst option she can think of and she likes the idea of some of the perks she imagines. I'm doubtful that will get her through.

I've actually never said I really don't want to to be a teacher. It's something I imagine myself doing. If I were to get something equivalent with what I used to do that'd be great.. but otherwise it's the best way I can usey skills and I do have a lot to.give back

Teacher with teacher husband.

Me: pgce approx. 100 hours a week
State nqt approx 90 hours a week
State secondary post nqt approx 70 hours a week
Private school approx 90 hours a week
International school approx 40 hours a week

Dh: pgce primary approx 100 hours per week
State primary nqt approx 90 hours per week
State primary post nqt approx 70 hours per week
International primary approx 50 hours per week

If you want to teach at uni then enquire about a Graduate Teaching Associate place (GTA) . In our uni they pay your £8-12k a year for 8-10 hours of teaching undergrad year 1 and 2 and then they also give you free tuition for your PhD. With being a tutor before you have a good chance of getting a place providing your results at Masters is merit/distinction.

My best friend got pregnant 6 weeks into her teacher training. She was doing a SCITT programme, not a PGCE for primary years. She left at the 6 month mark as she was exhausted, felt under valued, hated the patronising way the teaching providers talked down to the trainees and knew she couldn't spend every term time in work 7.30-5 and then prepping lesson plans etc from 6-10pm. At times she was crying her eyes out and she is far from a lightweight......two years later she went to uni and got a very prestigious MSc at Distinction level and is now doing a PhD. But even she will happily say that teaching, even training, is a fucking brutal process and offers more of the same once qualified.

It’s a crap job with long hours, doing pointless repetitive paperwork that deadens your soul. The management don’t value you, there’s no money for any pay increases and you’re only as good as your last observation. If you’re older, SMT may also try to get rid of you as you’re experienced (expensive) and they feel threatened by you!!

Having said all that-there’s a recruitment and retention crisis and we are desperate for warm bodies, who am I to put you off!-come and join!

@elissandra that's my starting point. I worked possibly 60 hours the first two years of my DDs life with no support. I was on call and even had to be working in the wee hours because there was some sort of corporate emergency. It can't be worse than that IMO.

Hahahahahahaha. That's just too funny. Thank you for cheering up my Saturday.

If you do do the PGCE I predict many clashes with your tutors and school mentor. You're not listening to anyone's feedback. You're being one of those annoying kids who you know will get a shit grade because they're so bloody stubborn.

Sorry, my post above was quoting needsadoughnut

I can only hear that it's shit... And that unless I have the vocation there no place for me there. The other side is that having worked my ass off in London I know how basically not seeing your children can be. A couple of years I spent 2+ months a year away because I had to travel so much. I had to work Christmas and boxing day. School holidays? My DD would spend does in some super camp....I can only read that if I thought that was shit then teaching is even worse. Graduating (and getting) into LSE was not easy at all. I am up for the challenge.

I am up for the challenge

Excellent-we need more teachers!

@elissandra that's my starting point. I worked possibly 60 hours the first two years of my DDs life with no support. I was on call and even had to be working in the wee hours because there was some sort of corporate emergency. It can't be worse than that IMO.

My pgce year I was out of the house 630am to 6pm every week day, at least two l/three hours every evening and I worked all day (at least) one day every weekend, most weekends both. I am highly organised, very clever (not to blow my own trumpet too much) and I’d worked as a TA before starting training. You are totally naive about the hours required. Being observed and given lots of negative feedback with things to improve on is mentally exhausting. Do you think you’re better than everyone else telling you it’s really hard?

Teaching first year university students who have both chosen and paid to be there is totally different to dealing with bottom set year nines who don’t give a damn about your subject.

Actually OP I’d say go for it. Of getting pregnant will be difficult, I’d say start doing both. Not a teacher but have teacher fiends who have done it with children and babies and whilst brutal they did it with supportive partners and very half they did it then.

Graduating (and getting) into LSE was not easy at all. I am up for the challenge.

You’re not getting it. It isn’t academically difficult. I also got into and graduated with a first from a Russell group uni. I teach primary school children. It isn’t the content that makes it hard.