DH and I both want to study to become a teachers at 42 and 45? Will be 47/51 by the time we've finished! Are we nuts?

[Lionessy]

I have always remembered my old dragon of an English teacher, who I thought hated me, telling me at my last lesson before I left school 'Lionessy, promise me you will go to university to study English, that is your talent'. The only compliment I can ever remember in an abusive and very lonely childhood .

Of course I did'nt. My self esteem has always been very low so I drifted from crap job to crap job, never enjoying them, always feeling like I was punching below my weight. I have spent 9 of the last 11 years of a SAHM (2 years in a short lived job local government role before DC4) prior to that I was a PA in banking in London where I was bored out of my skull!

After considering many new directions to have a last shot of a 'career', I've got it in my head to do an OU degree in English Language and Literature and then do a PCGE so I can use the degree to teach, preferably in a college or even use it to teach abroad.

I have mentioned this to DH and suggested he also does an OU degree in combined Maths and Physics which he always excelled at at school. English is not his mother tongue but I believe he can do it. He can then train to become a teacher as well which he would love (he is currently a lorry driver!). We could have weekends and school holidays free with the DC, the youngest of which is only 2 now and will be in the education system for the next 16 years and we will have another 15-20 years of working years left as well. Over the 4/5 years of training, DH will continue driving lorries and I will look for part time office work when DC4 starts nursery/school.

DH likes the idea but says I'm dreaming. It's not realistic and we are too old. We will also have student loans in excess of £30k. I am an eternal optimist though despite having much shit thrown at me throughout my life and really think this could a an achievement for both of us. AIBU and unrealistic?

I career changed into teaching as a single parent with young children (youngest not in reception) at 42. I already have a degree so it was one year on a PGCE for me. Got a job at my second placement school which I start in September this year. Finish my placement next week!

It is a demanding job and constantly full on. I am knackered at the end of the day. I am glad I made the change. However, I have a ton of work experience with young people and taught abroad in high schools after I finished my degree. I knew what I was letting myself in for.

If your only reason for doing a degree would be to follow it with a PGCE (or whatever exists in a few years time), I would urge you to spend some time in school as soon as possible to see if it's really what you want. What you really need is to be left with a 'good' class for 20 minutes and see what happens because it's only then you'll appreciate just how much work goes into controlling behaviour before you get a chance to open your mouth to teach anything! Sadly, they wouldn't allow that to happen but it's what you need before signing up to years of hard work and debt.

of course loads of jobs require weekend overtime however the OP stated that she wanted to be a teacher to have weekends and holidays off. I was just pointing out she won't!

However as you don't yet have a degree, I would sort that out first-enjoy it and see how you get on with the study/family balance. Then you can consider teaching. Course requirements etc may have changed -again- in the time it takes to get your degree.

A good friend of mine did this at the same age as you, he loves it. He took a massive pay cut to do it but now gets to see his children and can also help then with their own schooling.

I've recently changed career into teaching and got QTS at age 40. I don't find the energy levels a problem (and I was pregnant while doing QTS). However, the jobs I did before also required a lot of energy, organisation and evening/weekend work (but didn't offer half terms!) and I already had a degree. But most importantly, I actually like teenagers and enjoy spending my week with them.

If you don't like spending time with children, please don't go into teaching. Might you enjoy teaching adults -- would FE e.g. basic skills English, English as a foreign language etc be a possibility?

Also, I think it would be mad to train at the same time as your husband (although if he did do maths & physics he'd be pretty employable). Teacher training causes a lot of stress to the people around the trainee and I wouldn't have got through it without my DH being well settled in his not overly demanding job, being available to do nearly all the cooking and generally being a calm presence (he even let me practice teaching him things).

I'm a teacher and would like to echo what others have said. I teach A level English and the marking is absolutely horrendous at times. I marked around 250 pieces of A level coursework this year. They take 25-30 mins to mark each. And then the normal marking, the prep, reports (4 rounds of) liaison activities with schools, open evenings, parents' evenings, meetings, conferences. I most definitely do not have most evenings and weekends free. I keep on top of it but I have no children. The PGCE year was even harder.

A couple on my course had children but they all had very supportive partners or parents who took up a LOT of slack.if your husband works 60 hours a week I think it would be unlikely he'd be able to offer enough support and childcare to enable you. And that's with things going right. A sick child or childcare let down would be a total nightmare.

I don't want to piss on your parade but the thought of doing what I do with your home situation just sounds impossible (though you may very well be more able than me). I can't comment on age, as I've never been 42, but at 28 it totally knackers me at times.

By all means ignore all the teachers on this thread, including those who did as you intended and started late and faced similar challenges.

Believe Tailtwister, she knows what's what.

Don't do it. I'm still at school report writing (only started an hour ago as had after school club for an hour then meeting after that). Having said, that, am procrastinating on Mumsnet! DSIL is looking after DD as DH is also a teacher.

God no. And don't think teaching will get your DH away from a 60 hour week.

Maybe one of you could go into teaching. I'd advise in favour of your DH as with maths and physics he would have a better chance of getting a job.

And then once you actually know what teaching is like your DH can quit like 50% do within 5 years you can give it a go too.

Sorry, but I am adding my voice to morgan.

If you want to teach at university in English Lit, frankly, you are on a hiding to nothing doing it this way. You'd need to do an MA, PhD and get a postdoc, which would typically be a two-year contract. People can spend ten years doing two-year contracts on maybe 18-25k per year, moving around from university to university. Lots of people never even get that far. The likelihood of you getting a funded place to do the MA and PhD in the same place without moving your family is, honestly, about nil. And at the end of that there is absolutely no guarantee you'd get a job.

Loads of people I know are going for jobs in the US, UK, etc. I've been applying since last autumn and not even had an interview. It is really not easy.

Sorry to go off on one but that's the reality.

How will you cope when you realise that you are failing your own children due to the pressures of the job?
I felt like shit.

that

Teaching is so great that teachers are leaving the profession.
It's not all 9-3 like you are led to believe by the media. Teachers in my school are contracted to still until 6. There's the endless meetings. The constant paper trail. The lesson planning. The having to explain why you did that, and how it benefits the student. You have to differentiate the lessons, and again explain why. You have to know various details about your students for when ofsted rear their ugly heads, and this alone is extra stress. The endless observations. The students that are oppositional.

Working after 6 and taking work home. Working weekends and holidays. Easter, although the holiday was 2 weeks, teachers had a week. The hopeless feeling when you want to do a project, but supplies have diminished and there is no budget left.

Not liking teens is also not ideal. This also excludes college.

Go and vounteer in a school for several months. You will soon see the pressure.

'I can't stand my own young children/teenager let alone anyone elses!!'

Do not go into teaching so.It really is as simple as that.

How about traning as an ESOL teacher or similar?

Also if you looking at working overseas,you might find many countries do not hire teachers over 55. I know several teachers who have had to return home, as they were unable to get visas / health insurance.

Dh and I trained as teachers while in our late 30's. but he completed his program and then I did mine. I don't think we could have done it at the same time.

Both if us love the job, but I do notice around report time, we are both more short tempered with our dc's. A definite drawback.

Where is the OP?

I hope she hasnt been scared off by the frank opinions.

By all means get a degree, then maybe see how you feel once you are nearing the end.

Sorry, another one saying "No, don't go there." I've been teaching for nearly 30 years and all I could think of when I read your post was why????
I love my job, but it's exhausting physically and most definitely emotionally.

Seriously Goblin?

Does Tailtwister have any personal, direct first hand knowledge of being a teacher?

Cos I do. I'm a secondary school teacher of physics - teaching KS3 to 5 in a selective school. There are many pearls of wisdom here from the teachers. Listen to them, read their insights. It is hard work. I personally marked 50 x 3 pieces of CA... It took me 30 hours of work.

I do really enjoy my work ... But by gum it's hard sometimes. And I've also had a 10 year career in industry as an Engineer. I know which I prefer but the money Is.Not.Good.

Do the degree, have fun. Then see what's what. Good luck OP.

Would you get into university with your current qualifications OP? I ask because I have a good degree and am a university lecturer, and decided to do an evening course Higher (similar to A level) at my local college last year, and I found it hard going. Mainly because I was totally out of practice at studying and revising for exams. It did eventually click, but where I used to be a cert for getting "A"s, I'm certain I only got a "B" or a "C" due to my lack of practice.

If you haven't had the discipline of full time work or study for a decade, I think it would be extremely hard to develop that from scratch. Drop outs are not unusual, so you would be wise to factor into your decision the likelihood that you might incur debt from studying only to give up after one or two years.

I take it, if English is your passion, you will pretty much have already covered the typical first year university course by already reading the main literature and critiques?

That said, people do it. I think its probably easier to change from one graduate or near graduate career to another, but highly motivated people also of course go from no recent academic background to successful study.

stellar - goblin is a teacher - she was being ironic.

How does your husband feel about his job? I kow the hours are long, but does he actively dislike it? If you go down the PGCE route, could he scale back his hours as there would be more money coming in.

However, if you don't like working with children I would say that teaching is a complete non-starter. To teach in a University you need a Degree (usually a first) Masters (at distinction) and a PhD (a minimum of 7 or 8 years potentially self funded study) the standards are very high and the competition for jobs is cutthroat.

An English degree (or any non-vocational arts degree) won't boost your earning power significantly. The job market is awash with underemployed and unemployed graduates.

One thing I noticed is that you seem to think you can get straight onto a degree course without either an Access course under your belt or A levels. The other thing is that you think it will take the same length of time via OU as it would studying full time at university. It could actually take you ten years to get your degree.

I'm teaching and I know very few who would recommend it now. I'm in a sixth form. We are all working such long hours that it's ridiculous.

As far as teaching in a university is concerned, I'm sorry but that would be impossible now. It would be just leading you on to suggest you could do that.

I'm midway through a PhD at the moment and there are people who've gone from undergrad to PhD study and are now well past your age.

The difference is that they are doing it for its intrinsic interest and have usually built up large reserves of cash to pay for it. Whereas I want/need a career out of it and am busting a gut to get published, get round the right conferences, build a teaching profile etc, as well as do full time research.

Universities/Funding bodies won't touch them as they are too old to generate significant research outputs. I got funding at the age of 31 and that was considered comparatively late.

I think you need to think what's motivating this desire to return to education, as you seem muddledi n your thinking.

1. To boost income?
2. To boost self esteem?
3. To start a new career?
4. For sheer enjoyment?
5. To fulfill your teacher's prophesy?

If you go into it as an (expensive) hobby all well and good, but if you want to develop a career, I'd think again. What other skills do you have? What skills might you be able to develop? Do you really need a degree to do it?