Superstar, sorry I logged off yesterday and haven't come back til now.
Reasons I hated teaching - it wasn't the politics, it was the relentless work out of school, every evening, every weekend. Plus the stress of managing 30 kids in a class. I did enjoy teaching A level, but found teaching younger years a real strain. I used to dream about it, grind my teeth, lived on my nerves all the time. And I was a successful teacher, my classes got good grades, so it wasn't that I wasn't in control of the classes, but that there was just no downtime, it is constant stress and pressure.
I think doing a CPE and LPC with kids would be tough though. I worked really hard throughout the CPE in particular, but I thrived on it. Loved learning, loved the challenge.
I am lucky though in that I did get a training contract in advance with a city firm, who paid my fees. I think this is much tougher to get now. I still work for the same firm, and they have been fantastic to me. I work with a wonderful bunch of people and am very happy there.
However, in the market place there have been a lot of redundancies, training contracts are very hard to come by now, and a lot of people, like others have said, spend several years working as a paralegal before even getting a training contract.
Could you teach part time and do a part time CPE with the OU or something? I don't know if this would be an option, although it would take longer.