...To want to quit my job on a whim and do a PGCE instead?

[MeantToStopAtTwo]

A brief bit of background:

I work for the longest-established and leading player in my industry. It is a job which many people think they want. Until, that is, they actually get it. Then they slowly come to see what a horrible environment it really is. Because they know they are at the top, the company feel that they can treat their staff like utter *$%@ and everyone will still bow down to them. Some particularly nasty things have happened recently with various people being made promises which were not delivered. Morale is just dreadful and people are resigning left, right and centre. A woman who was promoted to management earlier this year mysteriously disappeared practically overnight and there are all kinds of rumours flying around about what happened to her.

I applied for another job with a relatively small newcomer to the industry who seemed great and were thrilled to have found somebody with my experience. It would have involved a pay-cut but I would have gladly taken it for this company. Trouble is, four others from my present company also applied and I have just found out that I've lost out to my best friend there (which of course is great news for her as she really wanted it also).

I spent yesterday evening scouring job ads and there are no other comparable opportunities around at the moment. It's all either very part-time stuff or would involve a huge demotion. I'm suddenly feeling terribly down and physically sick at the thought of having to continue to go to work everyday at my current organisation for what is likely to be months yet. People tell me I have lost my spark and I am worried about the effect this could have on my poor children.

A good friend suggested yesterday evening that I should do a maths PGCE. She works at our nearest university and is pretty certain I could still get a place for September. Despite the significantly lower pay, it is true that I would be very well-qualified for this and it does have many advantages, like that I could spend summers with my children. I am suddenly very, very tempted. Yet, it's not something I ever imagined myself doing and would very much a spur of the moment decision. I've not even been thinking about it for 24 hours yet. However, if I'm going to do this, I need to get on with it.... like right now! My friend says I should get an application in this week to be in with a serious chance.

What to do? What to do? What to do? Oh help, I feel so stuck! Big decisions like this should never be made on the spur of the moment, right? I am just so worried that whatever I choose to do will end up being the wrong decision and that I'll suddenly wake up too late and think, 'What the hell have I done?!!!'

If you have a maths degree then you should have no problem getting on to a PGCE in september.

You will need to have spent time in schools observing (as someone said 2 weeks)

However, in quite a few schools over the past few years they have adopted many practices from business/industry eg 'smart' objectives and the whole performance management system.

The way these are implemented in some settings can cause a lot of stress. For example - you might have poorly behaved kids and SMT can claim that it's your lesson planning that's at fault and observe the ass off you!!

I'm not a teacher, am a TA, but DP has been a secondary school science teacher for 15 years. There are many rewards to working in schools - when you have a good day it's really, really good. However, as with any profession it is hard work and the same structural issues as in any business (eg poor management, office politics and that) apply.

If I were you I'd go for it. As a maths specialist the world is your oyster!!!

Personally I would not do a PGCE at the moment. We have 4 kids and I think 2 teachers in the household right now (spending time each night planning etc) would not be good for our family. But it's something I'd love to do in the future.

twinklypearls I fully accept that your experience may be different, but

I question ilovesooty's assertion that nearly every teacher in the secondary sector would leave if they could, that is not my experience at all

that isn't quite what I said. I said that almost every secondary teacher I know would leave tomorrow - that's slightly different.

I agree you said different, I was concerned that the OP might think that most teachers hate their job , IME they don't.

Yes we work hard - but so do most people - the kids can be difficult but at the end of the day we are paid to spend our days with young people most of whom are fab talking about a subject that we love.

cockadoodle, I teach English, but everyone I trained with (various subjects) is finding it easier going now we've got some experience under our belts & resources filed away. There'll always be stuff we could/should do, but we're getting better at knowing what we have to do! Hopefully your DH will find that too

While lots of my colleagues moan about aspects of their jobs (mainly report writing & internal politics!) I am luckier than sootie in not knowing many people at all who want to leave the profession. The ones who do though are the ones who just don't seem to like kids (why teach?!) so OP, make sure you genuinely like other people's children if you're considering it!

I'd check your local market too. My husband is coming to the end of his primary PGCE and there are almost no jobs round here. Classroom teacher posts are getting over 100 applications and very few schools are taking anyone on with less than 5 years experience which is tough for an NQT.

I'd second what everybody else has said about it being tough. DH is managing to spend Saturday's with our daughter but working past midnight most nights and starting again at 5am - but clearly 4 hours sleep is for wimps because that's just prep, marking and reflection. Jobs get applied for when he's finished work... The last one was a 3am effort!

This may sound like an obvious question, but do you want to teach or do you want to change your job? Being able to spend (some of) the summer with your children will not make up for the other stresses of the job.

Teaching comes with many of the challenges you mention about your current job; crap bosses, political infighting, low moral as well as the fab times.

If you love your subject you're half way there, but you've also got to love teaching it to children who might not feel the same way as you do .

haven't read all the posts as about to go out... I intended to teach after uni (many years ago).. ended up doing something completely different but am still a closet teacher at heart and occasionally consider re-training. However, lots of my friends are teachers, and I don't hear ANYTHING from them (or on MN) at all which would encourage me to enter their profession: they don't get any more holidays than the rest of us, as they spend most of their holidays preparing for the next term. They routinely work 14-16 hour days. The salaries aren't bad these days, but apparently don't come anywhere near compensating for the stress of the job. Shame, as I'd really like to teach. Honestly OP, it really isn't something to go into on a whim.

You must spend time in a school before you make the decision.

I'd go and shadow a teacher (all of their working day, not just school day) and have some long discussions with them before going into teaching.

I was a teacher for a few years and decided to move on. I did enjoy it, but didn't want to get stuck as I felt that many of the older teachers were exhausted and couldn't escape. I also didn't find it very interesting to teach the same thing over and over. I also found a small miniority of the pupils to be deeply unpleasant and didn't want to spend any more time with them. When you look at the energy required to teach, it is hard to see how people are going to sustain it until their mid to late 60s.

You talk about working in a horrible environment - schools can be quite toxic environments to work in too. They often have a lot of politics and generally are underfunded (I love that I don't have to pay for my own tea in my current job, it makes me feel warm, fuzzy and valued). I also think that teaching maths might be like banging your head against a brick wall with some pupils. Though at least they mostly stay in their seats in maths.

By all means leave your job, but don't do a PGCE unless you really want to be a teacher. Could you get a temp contract or become freelance in what you currently do?

The PGCE and NQT year were the hardest years of my life and put loads of pressure on my marriage and forget about a social life during this time. Especially with kids. I've been teaching now for 3 years, with two young boys (3 and 1). It is TOUGH

With your background you should be able to handle it. When I began my teaching journey a good teacher said to me it takes 5 years to get to grips with the job. I didn't believe him....he was right. I'm not nearly there yet. Also, be warned school environments are often quite negative, and not particularly friendly or supportive, do observations in 3 or 4 schools of varying OFSTED ratings and see what you think, chose a less affluent area and observe behaviour in those schools.

Having written this, for me it was a good decision and I have no regrets.

I routinely work 14-16 hours a day but I do very little in my holidays. Or I don't have to do that much, most of the things I do because I love my job and therefore do not see it has a hardship. Some schools are very stressful but mine certainly isn't. You need to be aware of your limits and choose your school accordingly - admittedly that is harder in this climate when there are fewer jobs. My partner gets much more stressed at work than me, he earns 10K a year less, works fewer hours but not by much and does not get the holidays.

Please do not let the odd whinging/ teacher put you off a fantastic career. I am not saying that is anyone on here.

I teach roughly the same thing every year but I adapt my lessons very year to suit the class and to reflect a changing world so it is never boring.

I pay for my own tea, hardly a great hardship.

My greatest advice is try to get experience of a number of types of schools and see which suit you, work on getting a reputation as an outstanding student and then you can pick your job, especially in maths.

I'm a teacher and I have to warn you it can be the same as any other job - not what you think it is! Fine, if you have a passion for it, don't mind working your ass off for quite a small amount of pay per hour, don't mind having little recognition from management, students or parents and can handle the stress of trying to get a bunch of teenagers who don't want to bother through exams. If they get the grades, the success is theirs and the school's, if you don't, the fault is yours. Don't get me wrong, I often love my job, but I also often hate it and NOONE does it for the money. THe money may seem half decent but for the number of hours you have to put in to do a decent job, it's a pittance. All that, and I only teach A level and GCSE. It's even worse if you teach a core subject to key stage 3. Sorry for the negativity and the ranty post as it can be really rewarding. I could easily be wrong (us teachers often are!) but it sounds to me like you hate your job - you don't actually want to teach.

Cheers for that Jenga He's in the final half term of his NQT year just now, and although the 5/6 years you talk about sound like a long time, these last two seem to have flown by (well for me anyway - dh might think differently!) so hopefully it won't seem that long. He's also taken on TLR for his 2 subjects (physics and chemistry), and is implementing a new A level programme (they've never taught his subjects at that level before, and only opened the 6th form in 2009).

Honestlycockadoodle, it'll be easier from next year (less observations etc) and then get progressively better from then. Enjoy having DH back!

My parents are both teachers. My dad has worked his way up to be a headmaster of a secondary school and my mum has worked her way up to be a head of a primary school. Neither have had an easy ride of it. Teaching is NOT the easy option that everyone thinks it is. I cannot stress that enough.

I have 2 friends who have tried and failed to become teachers recently after being very successful in their respective fields.

Teachers are not expected to be what we remember them being. They are expected to be social workers, pillars of the community, teachers and first and foremost - parents to the pupils they are supposed to teach a very diverse curriculum to. Teachers in this day and age, are expected to be untouchable in terms of morals and guidance. If something goes wrong with a child, it's their fault.

Up until 10 years ago, my parents insisted I would make a fantastic teacher. Now they tell me to avoid it like the plague. You cannot be everything at one to a child and that it honestly what the government, the newspapers, the news and the parents expect of teachers.

I truely don't mean to be a killjoy, but don't do it. You may get good holidays where you spend more time with your kids, but even that isn't going to last long. i'm not sure if you've noticed, but the news recently has been bitching about teachers holidays and the government are already making plans to cut teachers holidays (which they don't get paid for).

Teachers are getting squeazed left, right and centre and it's only going to get worse in the coming years.

I would be very happy for my dd to become a teacher. It has given me a fantastic quality of life and much joy.

Also, I meant to say, my parents are only paid from around 9 - 3.30 but they work mon - fri 7.45 till 8 regularly and they take marking and other work home with them.

My mum in particular moans because she gets all the negative sides of teaching being the head of primary. She loves interacting with children but only gets to see the kids when they're being bad now. she's actually had to set up some 'awards' so she can get to meet and know the good kids in her school or else she'd just lose heart.

Teachers like any other professional are paid a salary not an amount an hour.

A head teacher should not just see naughty students, I am glad she has recitified that.

Absolutely twinklypearls so am I, but that's not the norm for teachers or head teachers

Thanks everybody. There are lots of insightful, thoughtful responses here. I don't think this is something I can go ahead with at the moment really. It's too much of a spur of the moment decision and I need to take the time to think about it properly. Plus I don't even have enough annual leave left to be able to spend some time in a school this term.

Also, as my DH reminded me, I do actually rather like what I do (yes, it's something finance-y). I just don't like my organisation. Yet there are other organisations and other opportunities out there.

So, I'm afraid it's back to scouring job ads, making applications, and competing with colleagues until I hit lucky.

I did this!!! I had two small children and it was amazingly difficult managing workload and family life. Especially when on teaching practice. I had to quit as it was having a bad effect on my kids. Still wistfully sad but chose family over job and still stick by my choice.
Good luck if you decide to do it, but think carefully.

I quit my job and about to go to uni to do social work degree. I will come back to thread later and read some of the advice. but just wanted to say op In your situation I would go for it. I just spent the past 3 years slogging my guts to get the required qualifications to get on the degree whilst working Full time and would have loved to have not had to do it, but looking forward to starting uni in september. Iv never been so skint in my life, but it is going to be worth it and only for 3 years. I just keep thinking about the opportunities at the end of it.

Supersewer - I've just quit my teaching post for what seems like the same reasons. I have 2 small boys and have found the training, NQT and the past year especially hard. I've chosen my family over teaching for the time being. But I hope I can return to teaching in a year or two. Hope you will be able to do the same.

There was a very recent thread on Primary asking what it was like to be a primary teacher. Worth a read in terms of the goods and bads.

The one thing I'll say is teaching can give you the best days at work you'll ever ever have, and the shittiest days at work you'll ever have - I've left schools punching the air with glee, and left schools and sobbed all the way home. It's also a massively wide range of what you'll get - from leafy schools with nice kids (even the naughties are nice underneath and pushing it) to some real hell-holes with very damaged kids and bog-all support from above - where you can be assaulted, insulted and threatened - and blamed for it all.

And look into what the ACTUAL employment situation post-course is like. For all that family and friends always comment "but they're crying out for teachers aren't they?" - in a lot of subjects, areas and sectors - they're not. Primary can be particularly hard to get a job in, and if you don't get a job, and end up on supply - well, that's dying as a way of living - with cover supervisors and TAs taking classes - in secondary most work you'll get is on cover supervisor rates (but being expected to teach classes - so basically a pay-halving) and no doubt it's going to get bleaker and bleaker - I do supply now (I refused to put my health on the line any longer) and the only reason I've stayed afloat this year is that I've got a bloody good long-established reputation and a stonkingly fab consultant at the agency... lots have thrown in the towel. You also HAVE to get induction done - so you can't even qualify and go live on supply forever - the clock starts ticking from day 1 on supply.

I have to say, my younger brother recently considered it - and I strongly dissuaded him from it - the job can take every bit of your heart and soul, and someone will still come on AIBU bitching about what you have/haven't done.