Mumsnet is putting me off becoming an English teacher...

[WorriedEnglishStudent]

I'm 20 and have just finished my first year of studying English at a good University. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do career wise in the future, but I've always thought teaching might be a suitable option.

I have always been told that I would make a good teacher. I like giving presentations and leading others. I like children and would enjoy sharing my passion for literature (although I appreciate that appreciate that there will be many students who stubbornly hate the subject...)

After reading through the comments of another AIBU thread I feel a bit worried. I've suffered from depression and anxiety in the past and a lot of people have said that teaching is probably not a suitable career if you are already prone to stress/low mood/lack of esteem.

AIBU to consider teaching as a profession? I have no idea what I could do instead. I know I'm young, etc, but I'm getting closer to an age where I need to start looking for a "proper job" and it worries me.

I suffered from depression and anxiety when I was younger. part of the reason for my condition was the fact i was working in a job i was not suited too among other factors. then I became a teacher and I have never looked back, it is amazing how rewarding doing a job you are suited to and enjoy can be. I love it. it is mental during term but having the summer off is not bad too 😃.

Don't let threads on here put you off - you are unlikely to get a thread saying "I'm a teacher and I really enjoy it" just because people post negative things more than positive, in my experience.

I don't think you can really know how you will get on until you try it.

look,mn is like an animated talk.it is refreshing in that it tells it warts and all
you'll get a range of opinion,all online blah. I hope you don't act on mn advice in real life
great to read,but fuck sake don't leave big decisions to the. mn massive

I'm a teacher and I enjoy it - I'm never bored and find children very refreshing company. Of course there are negatives but you'll get those in every job. I still think it is a noble thing to do for a living. I second those who say you should do some experience in schools and see what the day to day life of a teacher is like - but do bear in mind it can really vary from school to school.

Even if you have suffered depression in the past, there is no knowing how any particular job would affect your depression.

Some depressive people thrive in high pressure job because it keeps their mind off things. Others need a quiet life.

Plenty of people with high anxiety levels work in show business, because for some reason that is an environment they can cope with.

One person's peaceful existence can be another person's idea of hell.

Do as suggested by earlier posters: get as much experience of teaching as you can and see how it affects you.

You will hear a lot of opinions (like the one about not being a teacher if you have low self esteem) touted about as if they are facts. Many of them have little truth in them, not because they originate from a liar but because they are only pertinent to that particular school.

It is hard work but I think everybody needs to ask themselves - is anything that is worth something, really worth something, not hard work in some way? I've never understood 'it is hard work' to put people off.

You may hate it, in which case, you aren't signed up for life :) just do the pgce then do something else!

'great to read,but fuck sake don't leave big decisions to the mn massive'

Exactly what sm said. It's a selection of opinions. Try the TES forums as well, and the Student room, and RL people...then make up your own mind.

I'm an English teacher and have suffered fr anxiety in the past... In fact it was teaching which really helped me to control it! I think I know the other thread you are talking about, where the lady said she 'couldn't stand' teenagers, at which point other posters quite rightly pointed out how stupid it would then be for her to go into teaching! You HAVE to love spending time with the kids.

I agree with the others who have said it's the best job in the world. Every day is different, you spend the day with funny, honest and real young people from many walks of life; you get the chance to be involved in so many different things. Yes it's a huge amount of work, no we don't get 'private sector perks', and yes some days can be tough-but if it's the career for you, you'll find it stimulating and life-affirming whilst knowing that, even if only in a small way, you are making a difference in people's lives. It certainly beats sitting behind a desk 9-5 doing the same thing every day!
If you do go into teaching one thing you'll learn is how to block out the voices of negativity-they are everywhere.
Go, do it, and you'll know very quickly if it's right for you.
Good luck!

I am just 2 weeks away from finishing my first year as a teacher - I have loved it. It has been hard work, challenging and sometimes stressful but intensely rewarding, exhilarating and, genuinely, the best decision I have ever made.
I would say unreservedly, do it! One way of trying it without a PGCE is to apply for independent schools - they do not require a PGCE and often advertise for new graduates who they will then support through a training on the job scheme.

I'm pondering becoming a teacher, as very much a second career. I'm in my mid cough forties, and my DS is about to start school in September.

There does seem to be a dichotomy of opinion of the workload, and how bearable it is. I sometimes wonder if that split is between people who went straight into teaching, and those who spent however long in other jobs. For example, I've spent 20 years as an editor in publishing, working long hours, often until 7 or 8 most nights, hideous pressure, bolshy clients, immovable deadlines, all that. And not really getting paid any more than a teacher. Probably less.

Is the pressure in teaching a different sort of pressure? Because of the fact that you're dealing with actual children, who matter, rather than magazines, or whatever, which don't really?

YANBU to think about it a lot.

I am a teacher now and I bloody love it. I'm 48 and had a place on a PGCE when I was 22 which I never took up because I realised then that I, personally, wasn't old enough, or mature enough, or brave enough, to consider working with a group of teenagers.

I bloody love 'em now though.

Liking children and liking your subject isn't quite enough though to become a teacher IMO. There needs to be something more.

Do you do summer camps, that sort of thing? That would also be a way of testing the waters.

I'm an English teacher & after 13 years I still enjoy the teaching... the teacher-bashing I could do without but the actual teaching I still love!

I'd always wanted to be a teacher - wanted to instil the enjoyment of literature my English teacher instilled in me (plus I'm bossy & like telling people what to do!). Teaching is stressful but we all find means & ways to cope. I happen to work in a department where I consider them my friends, not colleagues.

Follow your ambition. I did & don't regret it :-)

I love it (14 years in).

It's a grim, miserable time to be a teacher in some ways - Slithy Gove playing silly buggers, dimwits who believe the crap in the media about us being a bunch of whiney teach-to-the-middle-&-not-that-very-well workshy parasites - but the actual teaching is still hugely rewarding.

I do think you have to love it, these days; I have a colleague who is a perfectly competent classroom practitioner, but dislikes children, is 'meh' about her subject & is quite openly only doing the job until her dh is promoted & she can afford to quit. She is one of the most miserable people I know.

Go & spend some time in a school! It's the only way to test the waters properly.

Yabu if you think that teaching is about giving presentations. lecture style teaching is considered out dated nowadays.

You dont have to teach in a school. A lot of education goes on in prisons. The armed forces. Adult education colleges. As a second language. Schoo is not the be all and end all of learning.