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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think being a teacher is a good career

106 replies

trailledog · 10/02/2011 22:50

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.

OP posts:
SexyDomesticatedDab · 11/02/2011 10:54

DW is a teacher at an EBD school - gets no marking to do and generally not much (if any prep work) as she can get it done in school. But if you like being sworn at every day and some staff get beaten up quite regularly then there are some teaching jobs that you don't need to be doing 70-80 hours a week. Also doing home visits which can also be stressful and liasing with various external agencies too - so not much actual teaching gets done. The staff to pupil ratio in the school is nearly 1:1 - possibly better than some private schools.

feistychickfightingthebull · 11/02/2011 11:05

another teacher here in a large FE college....I absolutely love my job, but it is a very stressful demanding job with very long hours

IAmTheCookieMonster · 11/02/2011 11:13

my mum always scoffed about me being a teacher "Those who can't blah blah blah). Throughout my life people, including my teachers, have commented that I would be a good teacher (bringing it up themselves). After university I tried various things in my field, and in September i'm going to start my PGCE, I did some work shadowing in schools and just knew that this was what I wanted to do. If I had just done that straight away I would be in my third year of teaching now.

bamboostalks · 11/02/2011 11:22

There are a few heads on "wonderful wonderful" pay. They work in London in very tough, very large schools with massive problems and are expected to deliver targets that are very high for their intake. Not easy and a tiny percentage of the teaching profession. Very difficult to recruit as well so it is market forces.

kissncuddle · 11/02/2011 11:46

Bamboo but if you are receiving between 70K to 100K you surely would not expect an easy role.

I'm not too sure that it is a market forces argument either.

It is a closed profession in terms of the selection pool.

Another poster, earlier has mentioned that many people who apply and get the role are not actually well prepared for the role.

kissncuddle · 11/02/2011 11:51

Parents defend high pay of Head see I have no problem with high performers receiving top pay, but there are 100 Heads receiving pay of over 100K I don't think all of those Heads can be top performers.

GMajor7 · 11/02/2011 12:08

Teaching is an admirable and well paid profession (sorry, but £35K IS a good salary!). YANBU.

bamboostalks · 11/02/2011 12:10

If they do not deliver, they can be sacked. Same as any other profession. Of course it is market forces, if they were paid £25,000 a year, no one would apply.

As for being a "closed profession," that is the same as saying a senior medical consultant's role is also a closed profession. There are many more of them on 100K plus, in fact all of them.

kissncuddle · 11/02/2011 12:14

I thought it was reasonably hard to sack poor performing teachers and heads. The market forces argument is week. What else are they going to do? Where else in the market are they going to get jobs like the ones they have?

I'm not saying poor performing senior medical consultants should receive high pay either.

candleshoe · 11/02/2011 14:30

Forgot to say - PGCE is not for the faint hearted - it was 80-90 hours a week and on my course only 55% completed the course and even less secured teaching jobs for the following year!

PGCE = BRUTAL AND PUNISHING - it was not unlike the marines training which my friend did!

NinkyNonker · 11/02/2011 17:33

It's great if you want to do it. Too many people doing it half heartedly for lack of any other ideas gives it a bit of a bad name. I career changed to it and loved it, the salary isn't great to begib with but there is opportunity for progression.

lovemysleep · 11/02/2011 17:38

I hate that old " those who can't, teach" rubbish - makes my blood boil!

I really wanted to teach - loved the idea of being able to pass some knowledge and passion on, and also learn myself too.

Teaching is a great job, as long as you really want to do - any poor teachers I've come across, are usually the ones who do it as they can't think of anything else to do.

I taught in FE, so the pay wasn't as good as schools, and it's a bit a nightmare, as colleges are constantly getting squeezed financially.

It is also an exhausting job, as you have yo give so much to so many students on a daily basis.

But I think it is a good career - not the best if all you want is money and an easy life though!

freerangeeggs · 11/02/2011 18:18

Teaching was not a vocation for me. After uni I didn't know what to do with myself and fell straight into it.

I'm glad I did, but it's exhausting. I've worked over sixty hours this week and have an especially huge bag of marking to do this weekend. It's a bit intense just now because we're in the run up to exams and a lot of my kids are very borderline, so need lots of extra support.

Other posters haven't really mentioned the emotional toll it takes on you, too. I get very attached to the kids and have had a shitty week because one of the boys in my form got excluded for the second time this year. I've been working hard with him and he's made lots of progress, so this was a real blow. I worry about where he is, who he's with, what he's up to... Was near to tears yesterday and dreaming about it last night. :( I'm behind with my work now too because of it.

Having said that, there's nothing better than seeing that you've helped a child. One of my kids thanked me yesterday for all the work I've done to help them prepare for their exams. I nearly cried then too. Am an emotional wreck!

I recommend it as a job but he'd better prepared for extreme lows as well as all the lovely highs. He should also monitor his work-life balance carefully - I don't with the result that I don't have a life outside of work to speak of.

redoneslast · 11/02/2011 18:21

Im amazed you can teach with only a PGCE. Where I am from, I had to do a PGDE - min requirement. It was 18 months.

trixie123 · 11/02/2011 18:25

agree with all those who say its a great job for those who really want to do it. my parents have just pissed me off with an off the cuff remark that my sister, who is likely to be made redundant from her admin job, should maybe go and do teacher training, as though its something that anyone can do and a fall back career. They don't really think that but its such a common attitude that it does nark me! IF you love it then it is great job and even taking into account the extra prep work that you do, you do still get miles more holiday than many other jobs - though during term time it is pretty much head down, plough on for 6 weeks. Everything like DIY, dentists app etc get done in the holidays and you CANT take time off mid term for whatever comes up like foreign weddings. So swings and roundabouts but whenever I get negative "oh its such a doss" comments I always invite the commenter to come and DO the job and they back off pretty quick!

vj32 · 11/02/2011 18:40

Your prospects depend hugely on where you live and what subject you teach.

For geography, he should be prepared to teach 'humanities' - history and RE as well. This is almost unavoidable now.

Some subjects are really competitive to get onto a PGCE, some honestly you seem to be able to just turn up on the day. Luckily those people didn't make it at my uni.

Schools are their own strange little worlds - all very different, some supportive and helpful, some spectacularly mismanaged to the point where you think if it was a business it would have been bankrupt years ago! In some places it is normal to physically assault a teacher, make racist remarks or have someone threatening suicide from a school staircase.

I agree with others who have said you have to want to do it. Otherwise, unless you are lucky and find yourself in a really supportive, lovely school, you will drop out in the first year or so.

dawntigga · 11/02/2011 19:46

Show your sister this or the YouTube for it.

TheManIsABloodyGeniusTiggaxx

NinkyNonker · 11/02/2011 19:52

You need a degree as well Redones , so 4 yrs in total.

redoneslast · 11/02/2011 19:54

yes thats plus a degree, of course

so 4 and a half years i trained to teach

harpsichordcarrier · 11/02/2011 19:57

Your sister, for example, is a twonk Grin
Being a teacher is like being a Millwall supporter:
no one likes us
we don't care

NinkyNonker · 11/02/2011 20:02

Well then, only 6 months longer?

MaryPortasFan · 11/02/2011 20:03

I teach... currently on maternity leave but prior to baby I worked 50-60 hours a week (including evenings and weekends) and I would guess around 3 days of each week of holidays except the summer ones where I always have 4 full weeks with no work- just like anyone else in any other job.

Yes, it can be stressful, yes, it can be fun. I think it's pretty well paid. The reason I do it is that I love working with kids and I hate being bored. And the kids I teach have behavioural needs so, yes, there are some risks involved.

As for the thanks- even the toughest most arsey kids thought my baby was cute when I went into visit. And one said "She's lucky, I wish you were my mum" That's enough for me!

p.s. I'm glad I'm not his mum- that's the biggest joy of teaching!

redoneslast · 11/02/2011 20:04

The point is , we need a pg diploma rather than a certificate. Its not about the time. Thats just a masters without the dissertation.

NinkyNonker · 11/02/2011 20:04

Ahhhh yes, the wish you were my mum, a heart breaker.

NinkyNonker · 11/02/2011 20:06

Oh really? Maybe that's partly what I did then (gtp not pgce), we did part of masters. Will hopefully do the dissertation part when I go back after maternity leave...one day!

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