Anyone moved in to lecturing from another career

[DragonTrainor]

I'm considering a move from my current profession to teaching post grad students. I've never done any kind of teaching before so interested in others's experiences or advice if you have anything to share

did you find it difficult at first?
is it tiring?
what are your hours like?

That's interesting Xela - thank you. Did you work only for BPP or did you continue practicing as well? I agree about the salary. It's not great compared to what I would get in private practice. I didn't realise freelancing was an option.

For us (Russell group, research/teaching balance contract) teaching about 100 hours is a full load. Including convening that is

I also never work weekends or evenings except just before a grant deadline. I have never done so in my career. Key for me is I am an exceptionally fast reader. This is a very important skill imo. If you are a slower reader OP you will struggle at marking time when you have loads of dissertations and essays to mark etc. no job description says this but it’s true.

Academia is a strange world. It might be different on a teaching contract at a private university though. Two things I’ve found:

There’s often more competition / back stabbing amongst peers than with academics at other institutions. In fact it seems you get more kudos working with others than supporting those within. There’s a lot of competition and jealousy.

I’m a productive researcher who is regarded highly by external organisations but in 20 years no one at my institution has ever told me I’m doing a good job / doing enough. The more I publish / bring in money / attract students / get impact the more the goalposts move. You have to somehow have the confidence in yourself and ability to say no… but the type of person who is attracted to academia is often terrible at that. I worry every day I’m not doing enough despite long hours.

Sorry, I missed that you’d replied to me. I teach around 200 hours and I’m 0.5. I’m referring to actual hours in a classroom with students there as I realise institutions may calculate differently. I’m on a post-92 uni. We are expected to be research active but I must admit that I’m not strong in this area as I never have time!!

Yes I’m talking hours in a classroom as well. 200 on 0.5 sounds horrendous, it would push a 1.0 lecturer to or even over their workload planner capacity for the year where I work. Maybe we’re lucky currently, but possibly things are going to get worse with cut backs. I’m not surprised you don’t have time for research.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.