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.

I fell pregnant 2 months into my Gtp, given my family medical history we thought it would tale a year. I was lucky I had an easy pregnancy, no morning sickness etc. It was hard work, especially at the end. I ended up being signed off at 35 wks with low amniotic fluid, luckily I had my final assessment (passed as Outstanding!) 3 days earlier.

To be honest, it was fine. I had changed from a stressful career anyway I guess so I didn't find teaching that bad.

The one thing is its difficult to predict how you will feel. I worried before I got pregnant but I was working in a bar after uni/ school placements up until 8 months until 2/3am on the weekends. The only part of pregnancy that I noticed was the first few weeks when I was a bit tired and felt a bit sick the rest I didnt even notice I was pregnant and carried on as normal.

Its a difficult thing to predict though how tired you are going to be, if you will get sick etc. Thats the one thing will you lose your place and not be allowed back if something went wrong.

You. Are. Mad.

Do not even consider it. It's gruelling for the unpregnant. And if you thinkk getting a job and actually teaching after will be any easier you are wrong. Not a case of 'a tough year'

Teaching is an endurance lifestyle. You get 6 weeks off in the summer for very very good reason.

No, YABVU. I quit my PGCE because I was having a nervous breakdown, at the lack of sleep, and totally neglecting my kids. NQT might also be tough, but it is possible to do that part-time, you have to do full-time placements for PGCE.

Pregnancy also can involve complications from the mild ones of tiredness and speed uncontrollable vomiting to the more serious ones discussed elswhere.

Either get pregnant or do a PGCE don't do both!

I kind of like the 'neatness' of your idea and can see why it's so tempting. 'Hmmmm.... if I get the baby and the PGCE all wrapped up in one year, then I can take maternity leave and come back to a nice family friendly career...'

Except... the PGCE will be the second hardest year you ever have (the NQT year will be the hardest!) adding a pregnancy to that would be madness; primary teaching jobs are very hard to find so you will have that added stress in your first year with your new baby; teaching isn't all that family friendly for the first few years (until you've worked out which corners you can cut!!); presumably you wouldn't be entitled to anything more than statutory maternity allowance so finances might be tight too.

Erm, can you tell I think you are mad?

Only you can decide what will work for you, but if I was you, I would decide which is more important to you at the moment - teaching or children? If it is more important to get your career on track, then do the PGCE and NQT, then have children (you will have more support, more money and more idea what you're letting yourself in for!). If it is important to start your family, then have the baby first, then do the PGCE in a few years time, once you have child care etc sorted.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

noodle, when I was doing my B.Ed, I housed with people doing PGCE. They were doing 5 days a week in school, with all the preparation that involved, then they also had essays and even sometimes lectures after school. I did the 4 year teaching + degree and so it was much easier, we either had teaching practice, or lectures and essays.

The PGCE students had no social life, they were either at school, college, library or asleep. And that was when they were young, free and single!

The early years foundation degree is built for people who are already practitioners and already working. So as hard as it is to do while you are still working (and I know how hard it is 'cos a good friend just did it), it just isn't the same as a PGCE.

I did my PGCE when ds was 5 and dh was working away. That was bad enough, I could not have done it whilst pregnant.

Do the PGCE and the NQT year (the hardest one!), then get pregnant. You are off your trolley to even contemplate doing it the other way around.

You'd be mad to try! Also, what would your plans be about starting work? Primary jobs are like gold dust at the moment. Presumably you'd be going for interviews while pregnant- would you be able to start a job in sept if you're offered one? You wont have maternity rights if you haven't actually started work! If you are planning to get your PGCE and then take time out before looking for jobs, then I'd still so no, because you'll be disadvantaging yourself compared to other candidates who are fresh out of a PGCE.

Sob! Sob! Sob! . I'm not sure I was prepared for the responses above. Sincerely, I was hoping for some encouragement to go ahead but I guess I was being unreasonable or shall I say completely ignorant about how much work the pgce will require. I am so glad that you 've all been honest because I really needed to hear it as it truly is. It just means that baby will have to wait. I feel so sad as I was hoping to have it all by next year. I.e have my pgce and a lovely baby too. Gosh, just how difficult is a PGCE? I have an undergraduate degree and a professional accounting qualification and I thought they were quite hard but I can see from the comments above that all that is nothing compared to a pgce. Thank you all for the comments and advice. I really appreciate it. Yours Sadly...

I have several friends who have done this course, some were quite young, no kids, and others already had families and busy home lives. The one thing they all had in common was that they all found it incredibly intensive and stressful. I don't know how industrious and resilient you are, but even assuming you had a very straightforward PG with no health issues, DO NOT under-estimate how tired and over-emotional you will become. I really really would not recommend this if you can avoid it.

I think the main issue is not about how difficult but how intensive and what a massive work load!

You also need to think about how you want to work afterwards.

If you are in a part of the country with plenty/a surplus of Primary teachers, then you will find it extremely difficult to get anything more than a temporary contract with a young baby, as the school will presume that you
a) cannot give the time/commitment to your NQT year.
b) you might soon want to take maternity leave to have another baby in the next year ot 2.

There are also very few part-time jobs (here at least). It's possible to reduce full-time hours, although many parents don't like job shares, so it depends on your headteacher. You also need to think ahead about how you'll arrange evening childcare for staff meetings, concerts, parents' evenings, fundraising events, etc., especially if your dp doesn't work regular hours (like mine, who works abroad a lot).

There is probably never an ideal time to have a baby but maternity leave and it's implications are a little more complicated than in many jobs, before you add the complications of PGCE and your NQT year.

I did a PGCE and it's hard work. Fun but hard work...don't think I could have done it whilst pregnant, sorry

Agree with everyone else. I ideally wanted children when I was 30 but ended up doing a PGCE the year I was 30 then 3 1/2 years teaching and had dd at 33.
No way could I have done both, especially as I was very ill when pregnant and signed off work.

Go for it.

I did my PGCE last year with a two year old daughter and i was pregnant when I started. I miscarried in october but was pregnant again in december and DD2 was born in september. I have my PGCe under my belt am sorting out a job for this september and couldn't be happier. All my friends on kmy course said they couldn't work out how i managed it with all I had to do but to be honest it wasn't that hard to fit it all in because I wanted to.

If you want to do it go for it lifes to short to wait till the time is 'right'

xx

No freddy no. You have gone against the grain completely. It is a very bad idea. Very bad indeed.

I think you are being ambitious. My PGCE year was the hardest year of my working life. I had over an hour's travel each way to all 3 placements and often worked into the small hours. Stress is high which isn't good for pregnancy and potentially you could have to work in a really tough school with horrid kids - also not good for pregnancy.

A friend was doing 5th year medicine when she got pregnant, had the baby 4 weeks before her exams then bf during exams. Did her 6th year and then intern year. She got pretty much straight distinctions. I think her OH was working / studying too and she had hospitable stints and clinics throughout.

You can do these things, it depends on your support network. But having a baby is exhausting, and you've no idea how much until you have one.

I think it would be extremely ambitious, and quite possibly a bit mental!! Noodle, sorry, it is nothing like the childhood studies course. The hours and workload others have mentioned is spot on, esp during placement, home from school 7ish (if you're lucky to be close to placement school) working till early hours, up again to be in school 8ish at latest...it is relentless. I am teaching atm, 32 weeks Pg, could not have done my pgce year like this!!

Oh and yy to shoppingbags, you could easily be placed in a school where behaviour issues might put you physically in harm's way

I wasnt comparing it with me doing a degree and working when pregnant as that was easy imo. I was comparing it to doing a degree with a 10 day old baby as I only took 10 days off maternity leave and was back at uni.

I dont think being pregnant is any different to not being pregnant in my experience. I felt exactly the same all the way through to the end as I would if I wasnt carrying a baby. Again though it depends on how you deal with pregnancy.

I think doing something when you are pregnant is a good idea, but doing a degree with a 10 day old baby was hard! Thats why I think if you are going to do it, do it now.

I had to go in to my due date which was fine. Then gave birth, was off for half term doing essays. Then back straight in on the Monday like nothing had happened and straight back in to it. I was doing night feeds every couple of hours, up for uni, still had to go in to finish off my placements, doing essays when I got in and revising. I did it and got a decent grade but it was pretty hard. Thats why I would definitely do something when you are pregnant and you feel the same than when you have a little baby.

Having seen several people do PGCE / PGDE/ GTP I think you are totally mad.

The workload is massive and so is the workload during an NQT year.

Depending on where you are there also aren't very many jobs when you finish that.

Noodle I take it back, it is you that is mental not the OP

I feel much healthier when I have given birth, but everyone is different.

Noodle that is great for you, but the majority of women do not have that kind of pregnancy. My close friend is three weeks ahead of me in pregnancy right now and has not had anywhere near as many changes to her physical, emotional and mental state as I have had. But the odd's on the OP having your kind of pregnancy are pretty slim. I am at uni at the moment and it is hard, almost ahd to interrupt this term but figured it would be better to extend my portfolio hand in date than return with a 3 month old baby.