To consider quitting my job and training to be a teacher?

[magicmummy1]

I have a good job. Earn just over £50,000. Excellent pension arrangements & other benefits. Generous annual leave allowance. Flexible hours. Reasonable boss. Nice office. Short commute. Opportunities for training & career development. Lots of autonomy in my role. Heavy workload but not excessive.

I know I'm lucky in many ways, but I don't find my job remotely rewarding. I also struggle to cope with the high stress levels in my current job, not because of the amount of work that needs to be done, but rather because of the nature of it iyswim.

I secretly harbour a desire to re-train as a primary school teacher. In fact, I have been thinking about this for years, but the desire has become stronger since dd started school about 18 months ago. Apart from the general attractions of working with young children, I am fascinated by the way in which teachers plan lessons and develop the curriculum. I realise that teaching is bloody hard work and can be very stressful. I know too that teachers work long hours and that the long holidays etc are a bit of a myth. None of this puts me off.

Whenever I have considered this previously, I have usually ended up dismissing the idea, not least because of the drop in pay that I'd have to accept. I'm the main breadwinner in our family, and we can't really rely on DH's (limited) income as he has financial commitments to his extended family overseas. He knows how I feel about my current job, but I have never said that I would seriously consider quitting. I think he would be anxious if I told him this, though I think he'd try to be supportive.

Please be honest. Am I crazy to even consider this? (I'm 38 by the way).

Stoatsrevenge

Def not infact you shouldn't as it's at risk of not being a fair appointment process. You can but it's frowned on.

The gtp contract is a training contract with no expectation of a job at the end. You should go to advert- they are welcome to apply and if they are the best candidate they will get it.

Best to shortlist honestly and only interview them if they in top however many you are interviewing.

Can get difficult when any teacher in the school doesn't get a job but that's life.

A lot of schools doing the GTP want the trainee to do some unpaid time in front of the class first before being signed up (as they have a 70%ish timetable and have to be funded) so that both know they can hack it. We have had some truly excellent GTPs but we did sort of know what we were getting!

Dh is outside London and earns a HRT salary, at my father's inner London school 40 teachers earn £50k and over (staff of about 120) but when starting out the first 4-5 years, unless fast-tracking massively, can be financially tough.

I agree with Pointy though. My dcs are already in childcare from 7.30am and it used to be that one of us could get back by 4.30-5pm...dh's school is now an academy & he is now home from 6ish and sometimes later, if my school also goes that route the extended hours are no good if you have a young family. You will pretty much devote your evenings after they are in bed and a day at the weekend to school.

I gave up a successful career as I found it impossible continue once I had children. Instead I went back into teaching.

One of the things that I find hard, having worked at senior management level in my previous career, is that I am not treated as a professional. Everything is very top down and I feel as though I am a skivvy just following orders. My plans and teaching are under constant scrutiny so I don't feel trusted to do my job. My boss is particularly awful though so things may be different in other schools.

I would like to leave teaching but think that I'm probably too old for another career change.

Yes, understood. But will 'lazy' schools feel that it will be easier to employ their GTP as they have invested so much time and energy into the candidate (who also knows how the school ticks / has been to staff meetings / is almost part of the team)? It was only a thought, as we have a young teacher on the job market at the moment, and, even though he has a pretty good cv, he isn't getting the interviews.

We were just pondering the future!

Op didn't ask are you catholic?

So long as you are the main breadwinner and your dh cannot step up to the plate, it is irresponsible to train and take on a much lower paying job that is not even guaranteed you will get.

Fine to follow your dreams ... after your family commitments are out of the way.

GTP is a good foot in the door of that particular school. Usually if they have room for a GTP on the books it means they have space for a nice cheap NQT the next year as the timetable allocation is not far different! It can be tough for the GTP if they don't get the job and it goes to an external candidate, as it probably has felt like their job all year, unlike with a PGCE.

You could talk to your husband more seriously about your desire to retrain as a teacher, and see what he thinks of the idea (rather than just having this all in your head and guessing how he'd react). Could he move into a higher-paying job? You could discuss the pros and cons with him and see together whether there is a realistic and manageable way for you to pursue your desire. Just talking about it doesn't mean you've committed to quitting your current job.

There is a pretty disturbing quote: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them". I expect few of us would like the idea of falling into that category.

You only get one life - I think it's important to make the most of yours (as long as you also meet your family responsibilities). You spend so much of your life at work - if you can, it's important that you feel fulfilled. You've obviously considered the good and bad sides to teaching, and done a lot of relevant work experience. As this thread shows, there are people who are teachers and who love it - you could very well be one of these people!

Those on here who are floating around salaries of £50k for teaching - are these in secondary?

OP is talking about primary - correct me if I am wrong but the vast majority of primary teachers outside London earn a lot less than that, surely - like, £30-£35k max, after years of exp?

A HT of a small primary is only about £50k I thought?

Not trying to hijack thread but want OP and anyone else to be clear. If I am wrong I am happy to hear it btw

Yes. Outside london ht of small primary on about £50k. Ht average is only mid 50s nationally. Very few primary hts earn over 70k - very very few in the north.

Teacher on 35k but assistant head (and some primary schools have 5) on high 40s. Often earn more as a big school deputy than a small school head.

Yes, mine secondary figs

Clary, I'm one of those teachers who work outside London. I've been a teacher for 23 years, am just a classroom teacher, no TLR or senior management and I earn £34 000.
OP, stay in your job, you need to pay your mortgage and think about what you'l end up with when you retire - the present government is trying to mess about with our pensions. They want us to contribute more, work years longer and end up with 25% less then we would at the moment!!!
I do love my job - reception - but the stress is immense, the hours very long and it takes over your life completely.

have to admit I've skimmed some of the posts so sorry if I'm repeating - how about going in to local primary & secondary schools for the day to observe and see what you think. I'm a secondary teacher (and love it) but in the early days had always thought I'd prefer primary but that i couldn't do it because of my subject. As part of my training I had to spend a week in primary and totally hated it! Couldn't wait to go back to secondary. Go and have a look and if your inspried I say go for it!

I've got almost 10years teaching experience, £34k full time (but I only do part time atm do to having a young family myself)

I would bite the hand that offered me a good job, earning just over £50,000 with excellent pension arrangements & other benefits. Generous annual leave allowance. Flexible hours. Reasonable boss. Nice office. Short commute. Opportunities for training & career development. Lots of autonomy in my role. Heavy workload but not excessive.

I enjoy teaching. It's bloody hard work though, especially with a young family at home. But I think it would be foolish to get into teaching now - the whole education sector is in a mess.

DH spent 20 years as an IT consultant and earned a fair bit more than me. He'd though about teaching whilst at school but was advised by his cousin who was a teacher to do a 'proper' degree first and then a PGCE if he still wanted to. He graduated in the mid 80s when there were shed loads of jobs, got seduced by money and toys and stuff and forgot about teaching. Until I got pregnant. he was working a way a lot and decided it was silly. When our DD was 2 weeks old he started as a primary SEN TA and loved it. he's now just over half way through his PGCE and loving it.

Financially its been tough; but if you can figure out what you'd earn as an NQT and can pare your outgoings down to that level and still meet your key commitments (mortgage, utility bills, minimum food bills etc) and can live frugally for a year before starting to train, then you should be able to save up enough to cover you for your PGCE /GTT year.

DD hasn't seen a lot of her dad this year; he takes her to music on Saturday mornings and we spend saturday afternoons together as a family; he's always home for her supper and bed time but he's so hands on as a dad that that's probably more than some kids see of their parents and certainly more than he'd've seen of her if he'd stayed in IT.

Its not easy put it's certainly possible. If its really what you want, then absolutely go for it.

Wow, thank you for all of the replies and apologies for not coming back sooner! There is loads of stuff to consider here, and you've all given me lots of helpful insights - especially those from people who are currently in the teaching profession. It's really valuable to hear about your experiences, so thanks for taking the time to respond.

In answer to your question, changeisagoodthing, no I'm not catholic. However, I have been known to exhibit workaholic tendencies, so I take your warning on board!

Stoat - yes, would definitely want to do GTP at a school like my daughter's! To be honest, I think it's the sheer brilliance of dd's current teacher which is inspiring me to think about this whole thing again - she has a lot to answer for! What she does is incredible, and really worth getting up for every morning!! :)

Interesting that you think the age could be a positive thing, tryingtobemarypoppins2 - I hadn't thought of it that way, I must admit. I would be looking at FT work, unfortunately, as I couldn't afford to do any less! You're probably right that now isn't the best time to be getting into teaching, given all the changes that are going to be brought in. In any case, I'd have to save up for a couple of years in order to make it viable!

Pigglesworth, you're right that I should talk to DH. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how serious I am about this whole thing before I scare the living daylights out of him!

Thanks for the many reality checks re salary etc. I'm nowhere near London, and I think I have a realistic idea of what sort of salary I'd be looking at after a few years. Definitely a lot less than what I'm used to, but we're not horribly over-committed on our mortgage and we've reduced it considerably while interest rates have been low through making big overpayments. So we could probably adjust...

Good to get the reality checks about the politics, the bureaucracy, the stress etc. I'm not afraid of hard work at all, and particularly not for a job that I think is worth doing. However, the potential difficulty in finding a job is a major factor that would concern me. A bit concerned too about the relative worth of the different routes into teaching - there are clearly some different views as to whether the GTP route is as good as the PGCE route etc.

I'm still quite confused, all in all, but this has given me plenty of ideas to ponder. Quite a few people have suggested staying in my current job and doing something more rewarding in my free time (what free time??!?), and I think I really need to consider this option and figure out if there might be a way of making it happen. Stressheaderic, it's really interesting that you find your youth group work more rewarding than your teaching career.

To those of you who are making similar gambles of this nature, good luck! I'll come back and update when I've figured out what to do!!

Oh for God's sake don't do it.

I've never met a teacher who didn't pretty much constantly complain about how difficult it was. I got a great degree and was considering teaching, but was frankly put off by all the moaning. They all seem so bitter.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like you can really afford it if you are the breadwinner.

I have several friends who are teachers. I have to bite my tongue when they tell me the "long hours" they have to work. None of them have ever worked in the real world that is the private sector.

I would love their working hours - and their holidays (and their pension). I'd rather forgo their Union though!

I do wonder that about teachers sometimes, beautyspot. I don't doubt they work hard, but some have gone straight from school to university back to working in a school. They have never experienced only having 20 days annual leave per year

beautyspot what's so "real" about the world of the private sector, that makes it more "real" than teaching?
Christ, the lazy, slipshod thinking, if that's what it is, that goes on behind this unhelpful polarising.

Do you think your teacher friends are lying about the "long hours" as your quotation marks suggest? Why bite your tongue then; go on, give them the benefit of your real life experience.

If you'd love to do the job, why don't you go and do it?

SueWhite what makes teachers bitter is being treated like witless serfs by every government that comes along.

"Oh for God's sake don't do it.

I've never met a teacher who didn't pretty much constantly complain about how difficult it was. I got a great degree and was considering teaching, but was frankly put off by all the moaning. They all seem so bitter."

I think if you're put off by a bit of perceived moaning, then tbh, you're probably not really that committed to the idea of teaching.

IME, teachers generally don't mind at all about putting in the long hours and workload required to do the job well.

There are a few things that make them feel jaded:

a) constant changes in govt initiative and policy which make it difficult to just consistently get on with doing the job well

b) people who think that, because they went to school once, they know all the details of what the job involves (strange, this one, because we've all been shopping, visited the dentist etc, yet don't claim to know the intricacies of retail management or dentistry!)

c) the (very small) minority of people who, despite evidence to the contrary, try to perpetuate the myth that the job starts at 9 and finishes at 3. I don't think you'll ever eradicate that totally, tbh, because some people just like having something to moan about. There used to bea poster who popped up fairly regularly, claiming to ask about teaching, and suggesting it might be a nice job for fitting around children, because she thought she could leave home at 8.30 am and be home by about 3.30 pm. When teachers polited pointed out that the reality is more like, leave home by 7/7.30 and home by 6/7 pm, she'd disappear off for a while before popping up a few weeks later with the same issue. It confirmed for me, that some people just seem to have a problem with teachers, which says more about them than the teaching profession.

I think my job is great, and I don't moan about it, though I will defend it against the kind of bullshit I've outlined above.
I am in senior management now, and on a very good income, and yes, that's secondary for those who've asked about income.

Having said that, I wouldn't encourage my children to go into teaching unless they were 100% committed to the idea, as the profession is pulled in all directions these days, and also, while I've been in long enough to have the excellent pension, that's all changing now

This is a very interesting thread. I have also been thinking about retraining to be a teacher.

I have had "a lucky break" in the sense I have been given a chance to see whether I would actually enjoy it or not. I am currently teaching evening classes, Norwegian to foreigners. (I am in Norway). The chamber of commerce needed a teacher for their language classes, and I was recommended to them due to my English skills (Lived, studied and worked in London 17 years), as the course is taught in English. Even though this is teaching highly motivated adults, I do really enjoy it. It will come in handy as experience, too.

I agree it might be worth to wait a little and save some money first.

But what about your husband? Would he feel motivaved/inclined to retrain something, or change jobs to increase his salary? This would make it a lot easier for you, and your families. I find it sad, in a way, that as a main breadwinner you should not have the chance to reach your full potential and make a career change so that your life would be more fulfilling.

My dhs salary supported me through the last year of uni so I could do a Masters. Then, when I got a well paid job, I was the main breadwinner, so he could set up his business. I left my highly stressful, well paid career job to join him in the business, when we could afford to be without my salary. We have never looked back really.
Until now, when I am considering Teaching.

Can I just ask you guys, as there seem to be a good few teachers on this thread. Will a BA Ancient World Degree and an MA Classics come in handy in teaching at all these days?

My friend is a head of history in a bog standard comp with a BA in classics.

Everyone has said it better than me, I've been doing it 6 years now, and do think about leaving. It was better before ds. I love the teaching and the kids but I hate the constant assessment, levelling etc.

have they got more men into primary school teaching yet?