To be a bit confused and a bit annoyed that I earn less

[MrsKravitz]

As a senior lecturer at a University than an A level teacher.
Seriously considering changing.

Florence Ive taught 13-18 year olds before

Ah thanks basingstoke

Is there anything else you could do with a career, rather than going into teaching.

Thinking about it of course, if you work in a school then you will be confined to the sixth form because Psychology isn't usually offered at GCSE level in schools, though it is in Sixth Form colleges where people are resitting their GCSEs and need to pick up an extra one.

ROFL at one year 9 class!! Sorry. Not the widest experience.

Florence, if she's teaching Psychology, she won't be teaching 11 year olds!

I taught maths and chemistry from year 9-a level
BUT was a supply teacher teaching 13-18 year olds for 3 years so have a pretty good experience

hard bloody work supply

Basingstoke, that sounded awfully bitchy.

She is considering a career change so it's inevitable she hasn't had much experience at it!

That's my point- it's very difficult to get a job JUST teaching psychology in a bog standard school. I expect you'd be expected to teach key stage three science as well.

MrsK - what are you contact hours p/week?
And how many weeks do you work p/year?
What happens when you are ill - can you just cancel your seminars and apologise to students or do you have to devise and phone through v detailed and well-constructed lesson plans for another (non-specialist) to deliver?
How often do you have to talk to parents or take other pastoral issues on?

Secondary teachers have on average 22hours contact time p/week, over 39 weeks p/year. We do not goet sabbaticals to write a book or research or work overseas to broaden our knowledge base.
Teachers who teach only A level tend to work in tertiary colleges - paid less than High school teachers who teach A level in addition to Ks3 and KS4.

While you may have enormous specialist knowledge, the demands made on secondary staff are massive - and that excludes behavioural issues (when was the last time you were physically threatened by a student who then remained in your class? Happens in my job...)

I'll be honest, I see Uni lecturing as a cushy number compared to what I do. Wouldn't change, cos I (mostly) like what I do, but I honestly feel that the salaries reflect the workload, rather than the expertise.

Don't you have to supervise MA and PhD students, OP?

If you don't know what an AST is I'd suggest your knowledge of teaching isn't very up to date. I doubt if your teaching experience would have you much in demand either. Where were you on the pay scale when you left mainstream teaching and how long have you been out of it? That would dictate your financial worth if you were able to get back in.

I am amazed as normally uni lecturers do get paid more than teachers. I know FE don't as a rule. For some uni subjects where lecturers are teaching only, not research, pay is comparable. I think in this case you've stumbled over someone who is paid brilliantly in the private sector, and even then I would imagine for that money she does more than just teach. I wanted to lecture but need a Phd for my subject and only have an MA. But I did look into the money side of things.

It's swings and roundabouts, though, isn't it, sassy. You can wing it a lot in a school as you will always know so much more than the students! I can imagine it would be very stressful and time consuming preparing lessons for first class third year students.

Unless you got a job in a private school or an academy of course.

sassy
MrsK - what are you contact hours p/week? enormous- 28ish plus emails to students on weekend
And how many weeks do you work p/year? the usual 48
What happens when you are ill - can you just cancel your seminars and apologise to students or do you have to devise and phone through v detailed and well-constructed lesson plans for another (non-specialist) to deliver? we have NO cover
How often do you have to talk to parents or take other pastoral issues on?
All the time - I am year level tutor and have PATs

Atswim. I did! I'm not daft :-) well I am daft as I decided to have a baby and am still to complete it. I honestly believe that the value of bachelor courses is being lowered and that Masters courses will become a minimum requirement for many professions. Including teaching.

And another bitchy remark from ilovesooty. What is it on this thread? Aren't we supposed to be supporting the OPs here?

I think it's a bit of a fallacy that the higher you go up, the harder it is and the more you should be paid. I've taught in secondary, junior and infant school. One of the most common questions I got when I moved from Year 6 to reception was "oh dear, have you taken a pay cut?" Of course not, you numpty, because it's difficult in different ways - any teaching is not just about imparting your great and wonderful knowledge to those around you. There's so much more to it than that, particularly at the lower age ranges.

In very many ways, teaching 5 year olds is harder than teaching GCSE and A level students (and I've done both). When I've done maths tutoring at home I tend to agree to Year 2 - A level. Below that age, it's such hard work!

It might well be lower in some universities. My daughter's at a Russell Group university as I was years ago and I think the standard is higher, actually. Most of her lecturers have been outstanding, whereas most of mine weren't. The amount of work that's being put into a good degree is certainly more.

I know, of course, that a lot of people like to look back at their own work and think they work harder than students nowadays, but I think at a good university that isn't the case.

I teach psychology and biology at a level, biology and physics GCSE, BTEC applied science and key stage 3 science. That is the reality of teaching full time in a comprehensive school. I am HoD and I don't earn 48K. It might have sounded a bit rude, sorry, but just A level and one year 9 is not much experience.

But as I said way back when, if it's for you, then do it!

Atswim. I did! I'm not daft :-) well I am daft as I decided to have a baby and am still to complete it. I honestly believe that the value of bachelor courses is being lowered and that Masters courses will become a minimum requirement for many professions. Including teaching.

Did you miss my 3 years supply basingstoke?
supply was like going to the lions every day lol

Oops sorry posted twice! Am being clambered on by many children!

48K would be incredibly difficult to obtain teaching just A level. As others have said, in a state school (where you'd be incredibly lucky to only teach A level anyway) you'd have to be probably at least an assistant head to earn so much.

I teach in a sixth form college. Our wages are roughly on par with secondary school teachers (not so at FE colleges, where they are lower) and I would be pretty confident in saying that only the principal earns as much as or more than that.

I don't know much about teaching but am glad that my views concur with musicposy who does. I would imagine it would be harder to teach in secondary school as not all pupils want to learn, are adolescents and therefore potentially difficult to control and it's a full teaching workload. I would hope that university students actually want to be there and are more interested in learning therefore the job is more about teaching than crowd control.

TBH OP you come across as a bit precious. I'm stunned on a daily basis when I consider that I earn more in my mid level banking job than say an ambulance worker or nurse both of which require qualifications, or even a worker in an old folks home which is a truly hard job but pays generally minimum wage. There are some bankers who earn ludicrous bonuses ( sadly not me) and even if they were absolutely bloody brilliant they could not possibly be worth that much.

There is hardly any link between what a job should pay and what it does.If you think you could earn more teaching, then go do it.