Moving into FE teaching at 50 - what's it like?

[Nodney]

Hi
I'm 50 and have been running a business for the past 20 years. I have an MBA but no teaching qualifications (yet). I am thinking of closing my business and moving into FE teaching. I have three children, all in lower secondary.

Has anyone moved into teaching FE in later life? Are there any FE lecturers out there who can advise on what the work/life balance is like? I'm struggling to know what to do. My business is doing ok but I have always wondered about teaching.
Thanks

Hmm. I’ve just escaped. I had no work life balance. It was all work.

I work in FE - have you looked at vacancies? I suspect most will be BTEC or A level business. This means teaching 16-19 year olds. You use the word 'lecturers' - you will not be lecturing - we teach, plan and deliver lessons and have many of the classroom management issues you might have with older students in schools. Also the same level of marking and prep - for less pay. I have worked in both secondary and FE. Please do not be seduced by the recent TV advertisements which are about as realistic as the ones for schools.

Thanks @Gardenerboo and @PattiDuke for your input. The vacancies are for "lecturers" but I am aware that it is teaching. Yes, it for BTECs. Thanks for your replies...it is reality I am after as it will be quite a move to close my business.

I would ring up your local fe college and ask to have a chat - depends on the department but some are always looking for people to teach - again depends on subject but don't rule out secondary school teaching for some you get v good Bursaries- now teach are great for career changer advice

Thank @Selfesteem22 I have sent my cv in to the local fe college but there is nothing going yet. A little bit further afield there is a vacancy which would mean a longer commute. I'm not sure tbh. I never hear anything good about teaching from my friends (some are teachers in schools)

FE has its pros and cons. For example, you are teaching 16+ but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have advanced in behaviour, or attitude, since school. You may be teaching Level 3 (or A level) but equally you may have Level 1 or Entry groups who may not have gained many qualifications previously or be particularly dedicated to their studies.
As a PP has said, pay is not reflective of a teacher’s salary and there is often little scope for progression, nor are there the extra responsibility payments that many teachers get. Holidays are not as much as a teacher gets, and have to be booked, although the summer term tends to end at round the end of June which is a bit of a bonus!

I started off in FE and then moved to HE as the pay was better. What salary range you are interested in? If you’re looking at £30,000-40,000 have you considered employability advisor roles in HE. You would get to teach group workshops, as well as deliver 1:1 support, but you wouldn’t have to work outside of your contractual hours and a lot of this work is remote

I think the reality is that FE colleges are always looking for people because they expect a lot from staff for little pay (compared to schools) and often zero hours contracts. I sound all 'doom and gloom' when at 60 I have had a good career in teaching both in secondary and now FE. I work part time and teach adults - it works for me. However I am not sure I would make the change at 50. Other things that FE offers are Foundation Degrees, Access courses, Accounting qualifications ..might be worth a look.

All of the FE lecturers I work with aren't in it for the money!

It's hard work but comes with a lot of satisfaction and with the right SMT you can feel hugely supported.

Regarding the teaching qual, we employ a lot of lecturers who have vocational experience and then put them through the L5 DET whilst they're working with us so fund it for them.

Happy to talk privately about it if you have more questions!

Thanks everyone for your input @h3ll0o I haven't heard of an employability advisor - I will have a google but it certainly sounds interesting. The pay advertised in these "lecturer" roles has been £28-35k. It would be a bit of a drop for me and I work long hrs at the moment in my business with v little holiday.

Thanks @gingersnappz I may well PM you if that's ok

@gingersnappz 'all the teachers I work with aren't in it for the money'
Sorry, but most of the teachers I work with want to pay their mortgages and have a work life balance and that is rarely possible. I have lost one member of sessional staff (with a degree and PGCE) to work in Aldi because the pay and work life balance is considerably better).

Ah crossed wires I think - I meant that they could get equal or better pay in other roles and better balance, but they stay because they're passionate about the students and their subject.

Goes across the whole of FE too - my admin staff deserve much more than we can afford to pay them.

I worked in FE and I escaped. At my college they graded us as Lecturer A and Lecturer B. The idea was that Lecturer A prepared teaching materials for themselves plus five Lecturer Bs. This allowed them to overwork the Lecturer As while paying the Lecturer Bs a lower salary which was just over minimum wage. In practice it didn’t work because the Lecturer As had a stupidly heavy workload, and if they didn’t hand over the materials in time the Lecturer Bs were left standing in front of the class like a tin of milk with nothing to teach.

That’s on top of teaching classes of 40 students (huge amount of marking), being told to prepare lessons that didn’t need consumable materials (no money for paper etc), being asked to work overtime for free (the students need it but we can’t afford to pay anyone), and being asked to do training courses for free in your spare time (we can’t afford to pay you but if you don’t do it we’ll have to reconsider your employment). Then they switched our contracts to term time only so they didn’t have to pay us during the holidays. Then they started to reclassify us as self employed contractors so they didn’t have to pay sick pay or maternity etc either.

In short: it’s a bad idea, I don’t recommend it.

Thanks @Tarantellah Tbh the people with FE experience on this thread have more or less confirmed what my teacher friends have been saying. I just wondered if FE was better as they are all high school teachers. I am going to check out the employability advisor role previously recommended.

I had a go at this 10 years ago. It was terrible. Low pay, no permanent positions, everyone seemed depressed.
I lasted 18 months before deciding there were easier ways to make a modest living.
If I were looking at that field now, I'd think about being an apprenticeship assessor. At least there is reliable funding for that..

@Nodney have PMd you

I left FE/HE a couple of years ago. Can’t see me going back in the near future. I have an unskilled job now and earn more than I did in college. It’s no place to be anymore, sadly. I didn’t have a pay rise for ten years and had to take on a second job. Like schools, college staff are leaving in droves.

Apprenticeships are just as demoralising, and tutors not paid well. The pressure is just as much as classroom teaching - and there’s less demand for the assessor role nowadays.

BC, before children, I taught primary. I'd been teaching English language to adult evening classes through the baby years; when I started looking for day work FE just fell into my lap.

Plus sides; 

Every student either actively wanted to learn ( training for a wide and interesting range of careers) or was there to cop the training payment so didnt want to get thrown out. So attendance and class behaviour was high. Adults are great fun to teach; they bring more experience , more ambition, more nerve, grit, gall, wit.

Downside; The sheer number of students you're dealing with, (and staff colleagues) makes it far less personal than school teaching.
Teaching components of a formal national course like HND or HNC to a series of day release classes can get pretty formulaic .

Thanks @DragonflyLady and @2bazookas I really appreciate your input

It's the same as teaching secondary, with less money, more 'adult' problems as the students are 16+ plus and less structured pastoral support.

I work in FE and love it but have also worked in another FE college that I hated as the environment was awful.

I would perhaps do some volunteer work or shadowing initially to see if it's for you first. I initially wanted to be a primary school teacher and a 6 week placement in a primary school was enough to show me it wasn't for me.

It's a big step but worth it if you're suited.

What I would suggest might be more rewarding is teaching an evening class in your specialist area on an hourly rate. Having said that, last time I lectured of an evening on a professional course the chap who came in to do one particular module and who hadn’t lectured previously found the amount of prep he was having to do brought his hourly rate down to way below minimum wage so left after a few weeks as it wasn’t worth his while. However, it is a good introduction and a way in.

I've delivered adult education courses before @DragonflyLady and I did enjoy it.l which is why I have thought of FE teaching. I'm finding it hard to find vacancies in this field though, at the moment.