to plan to be pregnant while pursuing a pgce in primary education

[giggles123]

Hi, does anybody know of anyone out there who has attempted a pgce programme while pregnant. Plan is to deliver in the summer so conveniently after the baby is born. Please kindly respond.

[Kitesurfgirl]

Don't do it. I've been pregnant for the whole of my final placement. I've had to drive 2 hours each way to the school (hence getting up at 5am) and I don't finish work til 10pm at night. This pcge course has been an absolute killer. Literally. I've just lost my baby at 4 months. Devastated doesn't even begin to cover how I feel. I'm blaming the school, the horrendous kids, the lack of sleep, lack of rest time and everything else you can think of. I can't believe I didn't put the health of my baby before the stress of my placement. I've only been given 2 weeks off to grieve, and now I have to go back and do ANOTHER 3-4 week placement to replace the final 2 weeks I've missed of my last placement (because they won't let me go back to my school because of where they now are in the timetable etc....says it won't show fluidity) . So I don't even get time to grieve before I have to jump through a load more hoops. I'm 37 and have worked in stressful jobs before coming into teaching. It's not so much that the work is hard, its the sheer volume of paperwork and constant justifying that wrecks any chance of a life you have. Prepare to put your LIFE and definitely social life on hold for an entire year. I would not recommend that ANYONE does a Pgce pregnant. I lost my baby. Isn't that enough proof? :(

[giggles123]

Thank you all. I think I'll wait to get the course out of the way before getting pg.

[leeloo1]

I had a friend who fell pregnant during the PGCE (Early Years) year - she was around 8 months when we graduated. She found the final placement hard work, but overall coped. The tutors and teachers were supportive, although she didn't get on with her placement partner which didn't help.

Perhaps it depends which Uni you go to and I also think it depends what you're used to but, whilst the PGCE was hugely enjoyable and challenging, I didn't find it that hard after working fulltime in a stressful career - there were many weeks in college where I had so much free time I didn't know what to do with myself and ended up doing things like typing up my lecture notes to feel 'busy'. But... I was used to working with computers (people who weren't found it much harder), used to studying (albeit I'd finished my MA 5 years earlier), used to working hard at a 'profession' (again some people straight from Uni who weren't used to being in a professional workplace really struggled - and 2 of them ended up failing and needing to re-do placements), and determined to do well so I was very organised (use colour coded timetables, lesson plans and organise your placement folders neatly - the teachers/tutors were bizarrely impressed).

Sorry that sounds like I'm full of myself, but I just think I was in the right place to do well in the PGCE and possibly could have coped with being pregnant as well, but only you know what place you're in and how much support you have?! I'd second that the NQT year was much, much harder than the PGCE (I was in an inner London school, whereas my teaching practices were more rural ones) and more stressful and I definitely couldn't have coped with being pregnant too - but you have 4 years to complete your NQT year after graduating (or you did when I qualified).

Also, I went into teaching partly because of the family friendly aspect, but decided not to go back to my job after my maternity leave. I'm now childminding and being a teacher is a real selling point, so my PGCE wasn't wasted and I do see myself going back into teaching in the future.

[emptyshell]

PGCE year is brutal (I found NQT much much easier despite a bullying head). Not only the workload/planning and the like - but the shortages of placement schools often meaning pretty grotty commutes, and the other factor - the sheer barrage of germs hitting your immune system (which takes a while to develop the teacher immunity that means most old hands rarely get ill in term time.... but will spend every arsing half term horizontal coughing/puking/sneezing their guts up in bed).

Plus if you take a break before doing NQT induction (the induction clock starts ticking from the first day you work as a teacher - even if it's just a day's supply, so you're ok as long as you don't start) you're going to be up against the new batch of NQTs fresh off their PGCE with the latest shiny new training ideas and the like - and it might make things rougher for you to find a job (primary's pretty hard to get a decent post in at the moment). I'd wait and go through the full PGCE > NQT system in one go later on.

[overmydeadbody]

I fell pregnant while on my PGCE, and no way would I recommend actually planning on being pregnant while doing a PGCE.

I was exhausted, I managed to finish the PGCE, but you cannot plan these things. You may be due in the summer (like I was) but what if your baby comes early?(my DS was premature, born at 30 weeks) sO i had to take time off, I had to finish my PGCE the next year with a baby (who I BF in the staffroom of my placement sachool at breaktime and lunchtime) and then I ended up not working as an NQT straight away as I wanted to be a sahm while DS was young. And when I started looking for work it was even harder as I'd had some years off.


Don't do it. ither start your family now, and do the PGCE in three or more years time, or do the PGCE, do the NQT year (if you're luky enough to find a job that is, they are few and far between these days) and then have a baby.

[abenstille]

I did a pgce and no way would i have got through it pregnant. Maybe do it poart time over 2 years?

[candleshoe]

I was on anti-depressants during part of my PGCE as I was being bullied by my 'mentoring' class teacher!

[FellatioNelson]

Wow - some of you have had a really crap time doing this! My friend had really helpful supportive teachers at her placement. I can't imagine why they'd want to make it harder for you than it already is - mean cows!

[oldbatteryhen]

I also found the pgce the toughest year of my life. It's a constant juggle of course work, planning for placements, delivering scrutinised lessons, evaluations, lectures, dissertations......

Saying that, my ds was 3 when I did mine, and had been in the same nursery for 2 years, so his life didn't really change much. His bedtime was fairly early, so I could work in the evenings.

The nqt year was gruelling and gruesome. I was with a bunch of very unhelpful and 'established' teachers who wouldn't even deign to show me where the paper was kept on my first day! The biggest problem was my lack of class management skills. Class management, I quickly found, was needed before the teaching could even begin.... these vital skills weren't given the necessary precedence on the course. (GTP students, I feel, are getting a far more realistic training and experience, as they do so much more class teaching.) So that first year was a massive learning curve and a bit of a confidence knock....... but I'm sure it made me a stronger person!!

I love the job now, 16 years down the line. It is still hard work, but the children keep me smiling though!

[babylann]

I always thought I could handle university and pregnancy at the same time, but my mum talked me out of it. I'm really glad she did, as I got SPD and pre-eclampsia, and really couldn't cope with normal every day tasks all that well from about 5 months... They let me defer for a year instead, which was much better in the long run, as if I had gone as I intended to, I would have had a really disrupted first year and would have had to take a gap year from one February to the next one, which just wouldn't have been ideal.

Lots of people manage with pregnancy and studies or full time jobs though, there's just a chance you might get unlucky. And unless you've been pregnant before, there's no way of even guessing how your body might react to it.

[Catnao]

PGCE is really hard, and if you are lucky enough to get a job in this climate, NQT with a baby very hard too!

My partner and I both did PGCE when our son was three. It was REALLY hard, and we had lots of family support.

Think carefully (although, we are both happy and successful teachers 7 1/2 years on - maybe wait a couple of years?)

[candleshoe]

cannot

[candleshoe]

I cannoy reiterate enough how much I think you should NOT DO THIS AT ALL - YOU ARE MAD TO EVEN THINK OF IT!

My PGCE was 80-90 hours a week!

[Ariesgirl]

These stories makes me bloody angry (sorry OP for drifting off the point, but I think you may have gauged general opinion by now!)

There are bad students and there are good students but all teachers were students once, and those which indulge in that sort of behaviour, knitone, are just out of order. My DP had a teacher who refused to speak to him at all. And he was in there five weeks! Luckily DP is a very resilient and confident person, but that sort of thing would have destroyed many a good student and promising teacher.

Oh and the NQT year is even harder than the PGCE

[knitonepernilleone]

Ariesgirl. I had a teacher hide the medium term plans from me because she didn't want a student teacher. She'd also suddenly announce 'there's been a change of plan' at the last minute and I had to teach something utterly different without any preparation at all.

Add a challenging class and I was a gibbering wreck. Contrast with my NQT year when I was in a school where I felt completely at home. You just never know what you'll get.

[Ariesgirl]

Penguin yes, that's a massive issue. If you get a horrible teacher or tutor they can destroy your confidence. I remember lying on the bed weeping with despair at what Bitch Tutor had said to me - for some reason she took against me, and told me that no one in the school liked me and none of the students liked me and it boded very ill for my professional life etc. Seems funny now, and clearly and issue of hers, but at the time I was devastated (as she wanted me to be). The point is, you lay yourself bare on a PGCE and are completely vulnerable and you have to be in the best of health to cope with it.

[penguin73]

I think the massive workload issue has been covered but the other thing that is hard is the massive emotional pressure - until you start you have no idea what your placement schools will be like or the support you will receive in school. Regardless of how lovely your school or how supportive your mentors it can be really hard coping with the frequent observations and feedback which will always include something that needs to be worked on/improved. Whilst this is meant to be constructive when you are already tired and stressed it can soon feel like very personal criticism - and that is without pregnancy hormones to contend with!

[Ariesgirl]

Do you still want to do teacher training?

[tiptoptally]

DO NOT PLAN THIS!!! PGCE on its own is an absolute killer - and that comes from someone with an undergraduate degree, professional qualifications and used to an hour long commute through central London every day!!! My flatmate when doing the PGCE accidentally fell pregnant at the beginning of the course and even she (fit, healthy, extremely motivated) had to postpone her final placement and finish the course the next year. She found it very difficult to be on placement with morning sickness - the schools made her stay off for 48 hours after every bout of sickness, when she got more heavily pregnant she couldn't bend properly to see to the younger kids, she was constantly worried about picking up bugs from the kids....the list goes on.

Nice idea but utter madness!!

[BikeRunSki]

Have you ever been pregnant?

I am 9 weeks into my 2nd pg, and have had such severe all day sickness (hyperemisis) in both pgs that I have been in hospital and off work.

Having said that my mum took her Bar Finals 8 months pg with DC4.

[theluckiest]

I'm another supporter of the 'NO! don't do it!! Sheer madness...' I know it can be done, but why set yourself up for such a burden of stress and exhaustion?

Am currently doing my full-time primary PGCE with a nearly 4 year old and a 20 month yr old. It's very hard but I aim to be super organised. I really have to push myself to get work done though, particularly in the evenings. This is the only time I have to do assignments once kids are in bed. It's very tough to keep up the motivation sometimes.

I cannot imagine being PG at the same time. PG completely wiped me out in the first few months and I could barely keep my eyes open let alone do any work in the evenings.

I just about manage now thanks to a fabulous support network of DH and family. But I feel like I barely see the kids. And I can only work because my boys are in a great routine and will be in bed by 7.30pm. Having a very little baby when you start your NQT year would be tough - you might have a very demanding little one (aren't they all?!) and you mustn't underestimate just how shit you feel on no sleep.

I would echo previous posters - decide which one is your priority for now and focus on that. PGCE can wait until your baby is a bit older....you could even look at doing it part-time? I would definitely advise enjoying your baby as much as you can....a PGCE would impact massively on that.

Also, I don't know but would you be eligible for any maternity leave at all if you've just finished studying? I doubt you would be eligible for statutory maternity leave (as you wouldn't have technically been 'employed') and I have a feeling you may not get Maternity Allowance (but don't quote me on that). Worth looking into though.

Good luck

[Ariesgirl]

I know nothing of pregnancy yet, but I do know that a PGCE was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It's unrelenting. Having morning sickness and being knackered through it, I just couldn't have coped with at all.

[golemmings]

At 14 weeks pregnant I'm finding watching my husband do his PGCE exhausting... He is working his socks off - to the point that he has moved into the spare room to save disturbing me when he crawls into bed in the early hours and gets up again at 5 to finish off...

He does however take Saturdays off and spends sat am with dd and we spend saturday pm as a family. It's a HUGE commitment. With a baby due 3 weeks into his NQT year I'm not expecting to feel human again for another year and a bit...

Personally I'm very much in the camp of you'd be mad to try it. However women can and do achieve utterly amazing things. My question could be whether you could do it without compromising your child, your health or you potential to be a good teacher. If you think you can, then go for it!

[Newbabynewmum]

Someone's probably said this - but you have to do a certain amount of teaching quite soon after your PGCE year to get qualified teacher status. Id look into this as it might mean your maternity leave will have to be cut short.

Also, I might be wrong but I don't know how seriously you'll be taken on your PGCE and finding a job afterwards may prove difficult. I presume you wouldn't apply when pregnant so the year after there will be a fresh batch of NQT's to be faced with.

And not to go on but I was a cover teacher when pregnant and that was sheer hell, the thought of all the extra work and being pregnant, no way!

Saying all this I'm starting my secondary mathematics PGCE in september and my daughter will be 1 and I'm a lone parent. Luckily I have a massive support network around me and the university is great and understanding.

Good luck whatever you do x