Relocating for PGCE - how to manage the uncertainty?

[DrUptonsNebulousDogwhistle]

Back story - DH and I both mid 40s, DS in Year 2, living in Yorkshire but no roots here. Family all over the place so not really a factor. I wfh and go to HQ in London every month for a few days. DH was made redundant last year and is looking at a major career change to go into secondary teaching.

The main issue is that the topic he wants to teach only has PGCE courses in 2 locations, which means a move south for us for the year of study. It may also mean a second move to a new area once DH is qualified.

I am fully supportive of DH’s plans to study, and am up for relocating - I like where we live but I don’t love it, plus a move south would help me be more visible in my job. We moved around a lot pre-DC, so the actual moving doesn’t phase us, but how to make it work for DS?

Finding a new home and settling in, finding a school for Yr3, balancing DH’s study with my work, and then potentially having to uproot and do it all again after DH qualifies. Hopefully we can stay in the same area for Y3-6 and move for secondary, but no guarantees as it will depend on job availability for DH.

We have a pretty cushy set-up here now, and I’m concerned that we are setting ourselves up for a difficult and stressful year. How can we prepare for this?

Any advice much appreciated 🙏🏻

This has been the reality check I needed!

Thanks all - plenty to think about here

Absolutely, all of this is excellent advice.

I’d be very wary about choosing this subject, they have just dropped it at my DD’s school, last in the county to offer it with the private schools also dropping it. Seems a huge risk

I agree that History or English would be a safer bet.

@EnidSpyton gives the best advice on this thread. Get trained as a teacher, secure a job and then he can look at his 'passion subject'.

I suspect he has a rather romanticised view of how this would work out. The reality is very different.

Yes, I'm wondering the same.

Was his first degree in Latin, classics or class civ? If class civ he might be eligible to do a history PGCE (this is what I explored) back in the day you needed at least half your degree to be history based.

TBH I’d look at him renting a room in Cambridge for the PGCE and then making the move when he knows where he’ll be. Cambridge is a VERY expensive city.

I would stay where you are for the PGCE and plan on meeting up weekends/holidays. It's only 1 academic year. Then move when he secures his first job. Otherwise you could end up moving twice in a short time span.

It would have to be relevant to his undergrad degree.

My aunt did an electronic engineering degree and is now a secondary English teacher

Can he do history PGCE instead perhaps?

Echo this.
in a past life I was an English teacher who had to teach maths because of shortages. I barely scraped a C in maths myself- it was awful.

I’m obviously not speaking about your aunt in particular, but I’d be curious as to how subject knowledge/skill could be confirmed without a relevant degree. FWIW I’m a secondary English teacher working in Scotland with an English Literature degree.

No idea, she worked as a maths teacher initially then maths HOD , didn't like the management stuff and now works as a secondary school English teacher, the highest level of English qualification she had is GCSE

So her PGCE (if she did one there were/are other route into teaching) would have been in maths which was related to her degree. If the OPs DH has a classics/Latin degree he can't just decide to do a Math/Science PGCE. But he may be able to look at history or similar.

But on that basis he could do his pgce in Latin and teach maths? As the reverse of what my aunt has done so it doesn't matter what the PGCE is in? You can then teach anything as she has?

ETA she did do a pgce

i live near Cambridge and used to teach.

the pgce is good. There are very few jobs in teaching Latin and as others have said the state school scheme to teach it has been pulled. It’s very tricky to teach a niche subject - friends of mine wound up teaching 2 days a week in one school and three in another and honestly it was so difficult.

if his degree is in classics or Latin with classics he may be able to broaden it to do a history pgce if there’s enough history component to get accepted.

then he could teach history but be able to offer Latin and classics as well which would be attractive to schools.

i wouldn’t bet on being able to stay in the area after the pgce - Cambridge uni graduates a lot of teachers every year and the house prices there are pretty insane. Many of my colleagues initially intended to stay but moved up north for the chance to own their own house.

Once you are qualified the school can ask you to teach anything, yeah.

i was a maths teacher and every year we were short of teachers and usually persuaded some of the science teachers to do year 7 maths. Of course these days there’s a shortage of science teachers as well, especially physics and chemistry so honestly some years it was a case of asking for volunteers.

some secondaries now employ primary trained teachers with experience teaching year 6 to teach maths and English to year 7s only.

She's not at the same school though, she actually left teaching for a bit and then went back to a different school as an English teacher. I get there are shortages but it seems mad to me that someone who only has GCSE English (that she did as an adult to get onto a foundation year) can teach GCSE English

My advice as a secondary HT would be to train to teach History and see if the school he secures a job in offers classics.

It’s very unlikely he would get a full time job teaching classics at any school!

Most secondary schools wouldn’t put someone who only has a gcse in the subject teaching a gcse group.

exceptions are where the teacher is for example a special needs teacher and it’s a class of kids with autism etc.

there’s generally more English teachers around than jobs teaching English so I’m surprised they needed extra people in English.

Same.
All in all apart from my own subject before retiring I’ve delivered - Maths, English, IT, History, Media Studies, Psychology and Classics.
The mathematics was mind-numbing for me luckily it was KS3 but I had some really bright pupils.
I began doing History and English at KS3 as extras and ending up teaching History to A Level. My own education in it went to… A Level!
I think once you are in a school and you adapt well and they have a shortfall they look at who might fit and then in you go.
I was in the private sector for a while as well, the fees were pretty steep, and it felt a bit odd delivering Media Studies from zero.
Have a younger teacher in my family he specialises in PE, he does 2 days a week and the rest of the time is a PT. They’ve just ‘requested’ he teaches some science lessons in Year 7 next year and he hates the thought of it but wants the secure income.

I know someone who teaches this subject in a well know private school. It seems to me that the solution is for your DH to rent a room and do the PGCE while you stay put and then you can all move when he has completed his studies and has a teaching post. As has been said, a PGCE is hard work and very pressured especially when you are on teaching practice.

But her PGCE will not have been in English, unless she did it as a secondary subject at degree level.

As a teacher you can be asked to teach all sorts of subjects, and can gain knowledge and end up teaching a particular subject. But you can't choose a PGCE in a subject unrelated to your degree.

Her pgce was maths but she teaches English full time in a school she's never taught maths in 🤷🏼‍♀️