to think being a teacher is a good career

[trailledog]

My brother is in his last year at uni and has applied to go on a PGCE next year as well as for some jobs. At the moment his current preferance is to go into teaching, I told my sister about it tonight and she scoffed. Then she started to talk how those who can't do teach and how she'll have to talk some sense into him when she goes and sees him this weekend to stop him wasting himself.

Its very high paying so I think thats a plus side of it. It all depends on whether you want to work with children though and you have an age group that you really have a good rapport with.

Most of my dept have 1st or 2:1s from oxbridge or RG universities and many of us have higher degrees too.

Teaching is a great career if you possess the range of skills to do it well. If you don't, its probably one of the worst as its demanding in all sorts of ways.

Your sister sounds like maybe shes just threatened by the fact that your brother is going for it as a career.

And to rephrase your quote slightly, IME, 'those who can, teach, those who can't, just have a lot of opinions about it!'

Are there any teachers that don't work 80 hours a week?

Do you get a great pension?

Is it 13 weeks a year where you do not teach at all?? But are still paid???

"Is it 13 weeks a year where you do not teach at all?? But are still paid???"

Not that I'm pedantic, or anything, but we get a salary for our job, which is divided by 12 and paid monthly. That does not equate to 13 weeks paid holidays. As a professional (which some people still think teachers are) a teacher is expected to manage his or her workload beyond directed hours after school, at weekends and holidays. I'd guess that most teachers have probably four or five weeks each year without any work at all. Most of the other school holidays have some form of work in them, it's just not in front of classes.

Thanks VictorianIce so it is like my job where I work full time and have 5 weeks leave plus bank holidays. Sometimes I have to work during my leave and I don't get this back, but I am expected as a manager to work this.

It is just that I have heard teachers say they went into teaching for the holidays so I thought you got paid more than other professions.

How do you handle child care if you are a teacher when so many people go off on half-term?

Agree with victorianice. I'll be off to work in a few minutes, in my office or classroom by 7.45, though being Friday I may finish earlier than usual and get away by 5 ish. I'll be bringing home a good few hours work which will be done on sat/ sun

The pension is bloody fabulous- though it looks like I'll be paying an extra £100 a month or so into mine, simply to keep the same terms- but hey ho, still better than the poor sods relying on state or private pensions!

My parents were teachers and my sister is a teacher. It's a vocation rather than a 'job'. And they were/are so passionate about what they do.
A good teacher can change a child's life.

being a teacher within the state system is so tough due to the levels of bureaucracy, expectations, inspections client-servicing demands and children and parents with huge entitlement issues that I'm surprised anyone does it at secondary level to be honest

A headteacher doesn't teach per se but runs a small business nowadays including facilities, HR, finance, marketing, community cohesion etc etc

Most teachers are not cut out to be a business director - it's a different skill set

and yet that is the pinnacle of the career

• it's pathetic how screwed our education system is

What do you mean by parents with huge entitlement issues?

Hang on but don't some Headteachers get wonderful wonderful pay for what would be considered a very very very small business, not too many staff, HR that is not too different to many business owners.

children and parents with huge entitlement issues

I am entitled to everything I want because I am the child / parent

I am entitled to have your attention now, now, now because I want it and I am standing in front of you.

I am entitled to complain about what you said to/about little Jonnie or Jennie without listening to your side or backing you up on it

I am entitled to have you treat my child as though they are the only kid in the class and forget the other 29 - 30 odd kids in the class

I am entitled to expect you to teach my child self-discipline without my ever having shown them discipline, personal hygiene, about sex and relationships/ not about sex and relationships because I never got round to it

I am entitled to (you know I can't be bothered but I hope you get the gist)

Not all - but even one parent in the class, and there is inevitably one parent in each class who acts like this, can take up the majority of the time.

re Heads - yes some do get wonderful pay to do a job they haven't been trained for or experienced in

Heads are trained as teachers - why is the pinnacle of their career not about teaching and learning and observations and support of newer teachers in the main -

teaching and learning is a smaller proportion of a heads job than it should be based on the career structure

Geography teachers are going to be more sought-after with the new government emphasis on the English Bac. Dd tells me all her friends are being urged by their parents to choose either History or Geography as a GCSE option. And geography at secondary is definitely not colouring in maps, it's researching countries and environmental disasters and plenty of field trips. I imagine it must take a lot of hard work and commitment to teach, but sounds definitely rewarding. Dd is choosing History instead, but Geography is definitely up there as a serious consideration.

My DH leaves for school at 7am and gets home at around 7pm, just in time to do the bed routine for our kids. He then has some dinner and will sit down for another couple of hours work before going to bed. On Friday he is home for 6pm so that he can take our eldest to cubs. He usually has Friday evening off from work but always brings a 4 to 5 hours work home for a weekend, usually done in the evenings.

During holidays he usually brings work home or goes into work, which equates to about 50% of the holiday.

I think he works bloody hard for the pay.

Ranty I don't think anyone is saying teachers don't work hard for their pay. Many people though work very hard for their pay and do have to work unfortunately on that 4-5 weeks holiday that they get. It is not ideal but it is what can happen. I'd hazard a guess that 7 to 7 is pretty typical in London anyhow.

Activate - I think many roles have difficult customers but I can hear what you are saying.

I think Heads pay is very high, especially as you say for people getting a role where you they may not have the skill set to perform the role.

I have read on previous threads teaching is a great job to have as a parent. But from what I am reading this doesn't seem to be true. Very long hours, working through the majority of the holidays, not being able to have days off when you choose. Does not sound like it fits into family life at all?

People have mentioned no reward. At the end of the school year/teachers birthdays/christmas/easter parents are carrying arms full of presents in for the teachers. With wonderful home made cards to the best teacher in the world etc. There are not many other jobs where you ever have times like that?

I have never read that teaching is a great job to have as a parent

My DH is a secondary teacher and head of department and it is a great job to have as a parent, as long as you've got someone to do all the childcare during term time. He's out the door at 7.15am and back around 5.30pm to help with kids then working in the study every evening until around 10pm. Friday evenings off, but works most of Sunday.

So, I do all the toing and froing after school and deal with all the house stuff etc. He's never seen the kids' sports days or plays as he's not allowed leave during term time, even unpaid.

He's paid around 40K and the holidays are terrific, but he's doing catch-up classes again this half term so we won't see him much. He loves his job, loves the kids and I'm not complaining, but I've given up my career for now so he can do this, so my point is (eventually!) that it's not just something you'd do to fit in with a family.

I love the Taylor clip

Why do men in catholic primarys climb the ladder so quickly? Can women in catholic primarys not climb the ladder so fast?

Sometimes I think I'd love to be a teacher but I'm not sure I'm capable. I have nothing but respect for teachers who are good at their job.

My mum thinks exactly the same as your sister. Just ignore and laugh with your brother about it.

Yeah Mungbeans - how sexist if men climb the ladder so quickly. Why bother if you are a women with that??

But OP it is really insulting for someone to quip the teachers can't line. Just plain ignorant and rude.

I have heard of someone saying how great teaching was for work life balance, she worked as a PA at a company I worked in and loved it. As she was used to being at work for 7am and leaving at 6pm. She found teaching much more rewarding and mush less hours compared to her previous roles.

And actually on Maternity leave I met another teacher who loved it as she was able to go back part time and she went back at the start of a long holiday period so got paid for all the holidays and only had to go in once or twice during that period.

I am not a teacher (I do some in a different context), but many in my family are teachers. I think it's a great profession in many ways, but personally could never do it in a million years, I don't have the patience to deal with all those childrens and find the noise levels terrible! You need a lot of energy and a lot of people management skills (for those difficult parents). Being in the classroom is like putting on a performance at times, and similarly exhilarating and exhausting.

Personally, I don't know many teachers who work 12 hour days every day, unless they are commuting too, in which case it's pretty much the same as other careers. Perhaps now the admin loads are much worse, and of course there is preparation, but the curriculum is pretty standard, so I don't believe every single teacher needs to be up late doing preparation unless they are in management, and again, it's pretty similar in other jobs. My family have always enjoyed their holidays and they certainly don't work more than half of them like some do on this thread...

Pay fine, I work in a similarly paid profession, which is worse than being in the City or being a doctor, but there is better employee protection, you won't be likely to be made redundant.

actually whilst researching whether i wanted to be a teacher or not..

those friends who had been teachers a few years - said the work-life balance was good, on the whole. the holidays were the big easy thing - and the fact that marking could be taken home.

those who were NQT or had additional responsibility, said work/life balance was crap during term

i think the average drop out for PGCE is 30%..but that is comparable to drop-out rates to first years in other professions.

science/ Maths teachers seem to get an easier ride too as there are lots of off-the-shelf products for their courses. Different schools and management can make a huge difference to the teachers workload and enjoyment.

personally i am hoping to get part time work after i qualify, but anything would be nice!