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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask teachers/school workers...

135 replies

twosmallones · 20/07/2015 18:18

...whether the benefits of working term time only are worth it?
I work in a sales job 4 days a week as I have 2 pre-school age children. I commute 90 minutes each way 2 days per week and do 2 days per week at home, so the kids are in nursery 4 full days.
I have been considering various routes into teaching but I am feeling that leaving them in nursery 5 days a week, with no flexibility, is a lot. I obviously have to balance this with the fact I will get more time off during the year to spend with them however.
Has anyone else retrained as a teacher/TA etc post children and felt that it was a good option for them and their family?
Thanks in advance.

OP posts:
larant · 20/07/2015 19:21

The stats you can google show that primary school teachers work more hours than secondary school teachers

chocolatemartini · 20/07/2015 19:26

Teachers I know (3 in my family) work at least 4 hours every week day evening, one whole day per weekend and a fair bit in the holidays. It can work well if the other parent is a SAHP, otherwise the kids are unlikely to see much of eitger parent or the teacher parent will completely exhaust themselves trying to spend time with the family and manage the workload. Teaching assistant jobs are more family friendly, but hard to get and not very well paid

WilburIsSomePig · 20/07/2015 19:31

I don't think teaching is family friendly in terms of day to day life. Obv the holidays are though. I'm a TA in a middle school and it is absolutely family friendly for me as I don't have the stress of a teaching post but I get to do what I love. I also get shit money but I knew that before I retrained.

mangoespadrille · 20/07/2015 19:33

Yes, I wasn't suggesting it was just colouring in in primary or Art. But surely 60 KS4 essays and 30 KS5 essays are more time consuming than primary work or paintings/sculptures?

Anyway, not trying to get into a bun fight, just trying to answer OP's query.

intheenddotcom · 20/07/2015 19:33

Most of my colleagues with kids are part time. It's long hours, very inflexible and you loose holidays to work.

Even if you work at home in the evenings so leave at 4, we have two meetings a week to 5/5:30, then parents evenings, open evenings ect. so unless your DP is at home from school pick up time you need to arrange random childcare for ad-hoc evenings.

Original poster
twosmallones · 20/07/2015 19:37

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. It makes for informative, if slightly depressing, reading!
I have classroom experience so it isn't purely about the holidays, more about the complete experience of becoming a teacher. I'm not afraid of hard work either (current job is demanding) but I really do want to be more involved in my children's lives & the thought of missing their school things saddens me Sad
I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences.

OP posts:
KittyandTeal · 20/07/2015 19:43

Teaching is not a job to go into if your first consideration is the holidays.

I'm not going to go on about how much we all work in the holidays etc but it is a hard job. One you have to love. If you don't have a passion for teaching/ learning and supporting children then it's probably not a great career move.

Is there any way you could do a week or 2 volunteering in a school to get a taste of what is involved.

I think what people imagine teaching is (even realistic ideas not the swan in at 9 and finish at 3 lot) is actually very different to the reality.

hollieberrie · 20/07/2015 19:48

I've just left my Primary teaching job after 5 years. I loved it but have had a lot of emotional / mental stress in the past year and its just not a job that you can do unless youre at 100% mental strength.

I'm sure that is the same for a lot of jobs, but teaching is so demanding and all encompassing, it really does take over your life. And its still like that for me after 5 years in the job, although as a PP said, you do get better at planning etc more efficiently after a few years.

I love it and id recommend it to anyone, but its is definitely very full on.

How about a part time PGCE / BEd spread out over 2 / 4 years? I'm sure some of my colleagues trained that way as they too had young children. Part time teaching roles are out there too - we have lots at my school, so you could qualify and then work part time (although your NQT year would take longer to complete).

Iggi999 · 20/07/2015 19:49

I work a lot in evenings, get up extra early in the morning, but I do about two days of work in the holidays only. I could probably reduce my term time work by more holiday work, but holidays are sacrosanct to me.

thinkingmakesitso · 20/07/2015 19:52

I am a f/t secondary English teacher (second in department) and am now a single-parent. I would say it is do-able but you do need a supportive/flexible partner or other support on hand (ex still around before and after school, and before we split was a sahd). I am not at all sure that I could have done the training year and the NQT year with a young family.

It is full-on during term-time and, tbh, I often feel like I am selling my children short. As others have said, there is little or no flexibility (our head is a decent man, but I only ask for favours in emergencies, such as when it was ds2's first nativity and h was ill) and you will miss the vast majority of events at your dc''s school. However, the holidays are a massive perk, especially having read threads on here about people struggling to arrange and pay for holiday childcare. That makes up for the nightmare that is term-time for me, but only because I have the help of my ex.

Original poster
twosmallones · 20/07/2015 19:56

KittyandTeal, not sure if we x-posted, but I already have classroom experience.

OP posts:
ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems · 20/07/2015 19:56

Mango, I teach Y6. I have 34 in my class do on days when we have English, maths and science or E, M & history then I have over 100 books to mark, many of which have 3 or 4 pages of work in them. And I need to do this on the same eve as, unlike my secondary colleagues, I have the same children doing at least maths and English again the following morning. All book marking must show formative assessment which informs both my planning and how they approach the follow on work the next day. So yes, quite a fair bit of evening work during term time. Even more from Feb until May sats when in addition to regular work, I am marking practice papers and work given to the two after school booster classes I usually run.

Original poster
twosmallones · 20/07/2015 19:58

Considering the part-time training route but I believe that salaried/bursaried training is not then applicable? My DH is self-employed on a variable income so I need to be earning whilst training. Thanks for your thoughts on it.

OP posts:
ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems · 20/07/2015 19:59

Yes, if you love it, it's a fantastic job and the holidays are a fantastic perk. But if you're just doing it for the hols or because you think it's family friendly then it will grind you down and you'll find it soul destroying.

littlesupersparks · 20/07/2015 20:01

I think that primary teachers do way more hours generally than secondary - for the reasons above!

SpecialCircumstances · 20/07/2015 20:11

I'm a teacher in a special school so a different workload- I work 7.30-5.00 in school most days with a late finish of 6 at least once a week. But I do very little (maybe and hour or two) at a weekend and a few days each holiday (4ish this hols as I'm setting up new classes) I have a young family but we manage because-
I live 2 minutes from school
DHs job is low stress and flexie so he does drop off and some pick ups
I love what I do and this helps as I genuinely enjoy my time at work
I've been doing it a few years so know the 'short cuts'
I'm not teaching in mainstream!
The days are long and can be stressful and physically exhausting as many of my students have challenging behaviours and need physio etc throughout the day. I rarely get a lunch or coffee break but I wouldn't trade jobs for the world. The holidays are a nice bonus too!

ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems · 20/07/2015 20:13

And just to be clear; I'm not at all suggesting that secondary teaching, esp English is anything other than sheer hard work. I have actually taught secondary English for 2terms many years ago. However, the way Mango talks about 'art and primary teachers' as if they are collectively 2 well known bastions of piss easy work loads is frankly, ludicrous.

floatyflo · 20/07/2015 20:29

Sorry if this sounds daft, but for those saying how you would miss your own children's assemblies/sports days/plays/etc, couldn't thay be worked.out by teaching at the same school as own children attend??

Sorry if that's totally stupid question. I was hoping to go into teaching but I have a young family and this thread has rather scared me!

KohINoorPencil · 20/07/2015 20:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

run2 · 20/07/2015 20:31

Depending on the council and how it works you may not necessarily have a choice over which school you get a job. Plus you are either primary, middle or secondary.

ICantFindAFreeNickName2 · 20/07/2015 20:32

School office jobs have the advantage of mainly term time hours, without the evening / weekend working, however they are very poorly paid.
What is your background ? If its finance, could you go down the School Bursar / Business Manager route - which can be better paid.

Otherwise have you considered jobs in college / uni. The holidays are not quite the same, but there maybe more opportunities.

backwardpossom · 20/07/2015 20:32

I work part time as a secondary teacher and I think I have a good balance. I work bloody hard for a three day a week job during term time, but I try not to work during the holidays. I'm in Scotland and have been on holiday for 2 weeks now and I did some work today, so I've failed on that front already... The Christmas holidays seem to be the only ones when I don't go into school.

It's not a particularly family friendly job, but the holidays are a massive perk and it does make life easier that I don't have to find extra childcare for the DCs when they're off school. But I have missed nativity plays, special assemblies, sports day etc because they fell on the days when I was working. It's not like another job where you can try and take a day of annual leave to go to these things. Luckily my DH is not a teacher, so he was able to go and one of us was there for the DCs. I really enjoy my job though, working with teenagers can be so much fun - but it can be utterly shit and heartbreaking, too. Over the last term I have laughed so much and I have cried with my pupils. It can also be such a frustrating job, but I wouldn't do anything else.

MsColouring · 20/07/2015 20:35

Floatyflo. First you would have to be able to get a job at your children's school - easier said than done. Then you need to think about whether that is what you want because it can lead to some blurred boundaries with other parents and with your own children.

mangoespadrille · 20/07/2015 20:38

At no point have I suggested that any teaching is "piss easy"! OP didn't specify what/who she was planning to teach and I think it's pertinent to her question. I gave my perspective as a secondary English teacher - my point was I have no idea if other subjects/age ranges might do slightly less AND I said that I was probably wrong, which, from the responses, I was. Jeez! It's the summer holidays, people, calm down runs away before someone announces they're camping in their classroom all summer marking PE assessments

hiccupgirl · 20/07/2015 20:41

I'm a part time special needs teacher not class based. My job works with a family because a) I'm part time and b) I'm not class based so have some flexibility in my hours which is great. I started as a primary teacher so it is possible to move sideways but you need to put the slog and hours in there first.

But even with all that, I have no flexibility in terms of childcare or holidays and work at weekends and frequently in the evenings though nowhere near as much as when I was a class teacher.