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?

Aris, it is entirely possible that you would feel differently about teaching if you worked in a different school.

It is possible, although I have worked in more than one school and know quite a few teachers socially from a range of schools. I don't know any who are as overworked as MN teachers and as desperate to get out, unless they are primary school teachers.

If I worked in a school that required me to work some of the hours quoted on MN, I would hand my notice in straight away.

I always like reading your posts Arisbottle, it's lovely to think that there is someone somewhere teaching Latin and being happy about it.
No sarcasm, I truly wish that everyone was doing something they enjoyed and retaining a reasonable work/life balance.

I only teach a tiny bit of Latin, my subject is actually history .

I just think life is too short to do a job that is making you unhappy, if you have the power to make a change. Teachers are well qualified so they can make the change.

Do your degree, get some experience in a school and then see where you want to go. I think it is brilliant that you want to do a degree - go for it.

As an English teacher I would say think carefully, make sure you have done some work experience in a high school and understand the workload, before you do a PGCE. My weekend is a Saturday. I work all Sunday. I work a couple of hours every night. In school holiday I am usually in - Easter School, booster school, summer school ....

But ... Don't let anyone put you off doing your degree

I think you should do a part-time degree - that will be an achievement in itself and a degree can help you get a slightly better paid job in many fields.

But don't go into Teaching unless you like children and teenagers (both school and uni age) and have a real Vocation. You don't sound as if you do?

For what it's worth, I was 36 when I qualified.

the fact op doesn't like youngsters is in itself reason op shouldn't teach
op is earnestly trying to break into teaching,her long held vocation
she has some loose notion of getting degree,salary increase,and thinks teaching will allow her free weekends,and school holiday (her words). it reads as op think teaching bit if a skoosh and she'll have time with her kids

the fact op doesn't like youngsters is in itself reason op shouldn't teach
op isnt earnestly trying to break into teaching,her long held vocation
she has some loose notion of getting degree,salary increase,and thinks teaching will allow her free weekends,and school holiday (her words). it reads as op think teaching bit if a skoosh and she'll have time with her kids

I have just googled skoosh and wish I hadn't.

I don't think that teaching was a great lifelong vocation for me, certainly not at the start anyway. I wanted to be on the road less, have weekends at home and holidays with the children. Perfectly valid reasons to become a teacher and possibly more realistic than wanting to save the world.

Arisbottle, don't confuse the Scots language with the Urban dictionary please, skoosh is a dialect word.

www.scotslanguage.com/articles/words/580

'A skoosh can also be something easy, or performed with little effort, as the following Scotsman extract from 1997 illustrates well: 'Our estimable Secretary of State, Donald Dewar, used a splendid Scots word ... Writing the bill to give legal flesh to the bones of the Scottish parliament white paper, was not, he said, a downhill "skoosh" '

That makes more sense .

I say do the OU course and see where it takes you. It might open doors you haven't yet thought of and won't think of until you are actually getting your degree. Start with an access course from the OU and then do a general course covering several subjects from the humanities or whatever, so you can be sure your really want to do English. Sadly you can't ask your old English teacher what she meant by her comment but if she thought you were good at writing generally, rather than the critical side of English, you could study anything you want. Lots of subjects are heavy on writing and the ability to string together a good argument or piece of analysis are vital - history, law and psychology to my personal experience but there are many others.

Personally I think the OU is great (I did a post grad conversion and an MSc) but I know how hard it can be to fit it in around life. It isn't unlike teaching actually - you don't get holidays, evenings or weekends doing the OU but on the other hand you don't get paid either.

Seriously, if you get to the end of the OU degree, still in love with whatever subject you chose, something good will have come out of it and even if you don't end up teaching (which doesn't sound like the best idea for you anyway) you will have opened up a world of job possibilities where a degree is required, even if it isn't in a specific subject.

It isn't too late to do a degree. Take the plunge. Good luck.

Good advice Bertha.

skoosh=easy,no effort
I'm no googling anything else,seeing it made you het up
thanks eyesunderarock for sorting

Best not. I love Lowland dialect words, my dad's a Scot, we have a number of dialect words that get used on a daily basis.