To be torn over whether to encourage discourage DD1 in to a teaching career.

[jonesthegirl]

DD1 is in her 2nd year of a Chemistry Degree at Cambridge and as wanted to teach since about being 13. I have always encouraged her to think about a teaching career as that is what she wants. DD1 has also been encouraged by by her auntie my younger sister. She is head of English at a challenging school in Greater Manchester. (though she told me yesterday she is leaving and joining her old grammar school in Kent as just an English teacher ) . Younger sister is giving up her 4 year Head of Department role. This was a challenge and something she really wanted do , she left a girls boarding school for the 'challenge' and to put something back

Dear sister cites many reasons for this decision not least the educational opportunities of her 9 year old DD. (if she stayed in the area her DD would have to continue in private education). However, the clincher for her is the fact she is teaching a bottom set year 9 'Maths' group. This is because they are three Maths teachers short. The second reason is she is the only teacher who can manage the behaviour of a particularly difficult group.

She is an English teacher, not a Maths teacher !

In-light of all this i am torn whether to still encourage DD1 to look for a career in teaching ! The reasons being she will be an excellent teacher in a subject , Chemistry where there is a huge shortage of qualified specialists .

The other reasons what will happen to education if 'nobody' choses to become a teacher has seems to be happening at present.

It's generally better to do a first degree followed by PGCE/Teach First for secondary.

I'm not entirely sure I understand the boarding school/grammar school stuff but teachers have been complaining about teaching since time began. Just encourage her to make up her own mind.

Of course it is ultimately up to her, but if she were my DD I wouldn't be encouraging her (guess what my job is!) She will find plenty of job offers in London and the SE for chemistry teaching so that wouldn't be a worry, but the job is horrendous at the moment. Advise her to do lots of observations in schools where she can and that might put her off anyway.

I'm a teacher but if my children wanted to teach I would encourage them to train if they really meant it.

If it's not for her she can leave the profession and with a science degree from Cambridge she could switch careers with relative ease. If she's wanted to teach for such a long time then whichever school she ends up at will be very lucky!

Has she actually asked for your opinion OP? Personally I'd advise people to make their own choices (and mistakes) rather than other people's. The reality is that the person most likely to make the best decision is her.

DDs school encouraged her to take a Chemistry Degree having shown a flair for it at IB !.

My children are just at the point of thinking about careers as they make their final choices before university. We've talked lots about what they might want to do with their lives, what they might find interesting and fulfilling, pluses and minuses of different choices etc. When they have been particularly interested in specific things we've also done our best at pointing them towards friends and family in those fields.

In the OP's case I'd say to my dd, talk to your aunt. I'd also encourage her to see if she can volunteer at one or more schools and to find out more about what being a teacher in her subject might entail. Then I'd step back.

OP it's your dd's decision, not yours. She is almost grown up and needs to make her own choices. It should be very easy for her to get lots of information about teaching and to get hands on experience too. In fact if it's been her vocation for so long I'd expect her to already have found out plenty, especially with teachers in the family. Many people try more than one career choice, if she tries teaching and it's not for her it's not a big deal, she can always do something else after that.

I was always quite set on teaching too but still did a degree in my subject then a pgce. I was encouraged to do so by my 6th form tutor because if teaching isn't what you had hoped you still have your first degree to use to re- train in another field. Very sensible imo; she may decide that teaching isn't for her after a couple of years but she could still convert to law/chemical engineering/pharmaceuticals if she wanted to.

If it were my DD I would advise her to find something better paid and less stressful.

If she still wants to teach in a few years, there will be nothing stopping her doing her PGCE, and her experience in the real world industry will only be an advantage.

As a teacher I understand your concerns and I would suggest she tries to get some experience in a couple of contrasting schools. Also talk about what she wants to earn and what other job opportunities there are in chemistry.

The more you post the more you make her sound like some sort of clueless child who makes her decisions based on what you and her school have told her to do.

As you're not a teacher and you don't have a career of your own, are you sure that you're;
a) not trying to push your DD to follow a path that you wish you actually had.
b) offering her advice when you don't actually have any relevant experience to back your own opinions...

If your daughter wants to teach then she should teach! It's def not the 'easiest' (although tbh not sure any career is easy) however it's so rewarding and, if it's what you want to do, it is worth it. Support her to choose a career she wants and by being there on the invariable very difficult days teachers do have!

If it were my DD I would advise her to find something better paid and less stressful.
If she still wants to teach in a few years, there will be nothing stopping her doing her PGCE, and her experience in the real world industry will only be an advantage.

This is excellent advice and exactly what i would say too - I am a teacher. Teachings in a terrible state right now, I'd think long and hard before going into it.

I think teaching is a great career choice.

Are you a teacher manic?

I agree with hollie. Get some experience of working in a different career first, try to get experience working with older children too - help out at youth club/scouts etc. Getting other experience first will make her better equipped for teaching, she can do her PGCE later, plus if she decides teaching isn't for her, she'll have more chance of being able to restart her career if she hasn't just done teaching.

Teaching can be a great career, but far better to go into it knowing how to deal with children and hold your own in a workplace/deal with workload issues.

I am a professional chemist. There are lots of opportunities in chemistry out there, but if she does want to do teacher training then the Royal society of chemistry offer a £25K scholarship for teacher training.

The thing I would say, is that the shortage of chemistry teachers is unlikely to disappear. It's not something she necessarily needs to get into straight after her degree. I know quite a few people who worked in industry for years and then went into teaching when redundancy hit or when they decided they needed a life style change. I know of no one who had difficulty getting onto the training course with industry experience.

Obviously, there are a lot of non-chemistry related jobs you can go into from a Natural Sciences degree, but if she does want to carry on in chemistry, then doing a PhD is a good idea. Just my two penneth.

OP, there's a lot of quite specific information about your sisters in that opening post.

It's relatively easy to move into teaching - for an oxbridge science graduate it will be a piece of cake - after doing something else first. It's very, very hard to move out of teaching when you have nothing else on your cv. I would be advising her to look into other graduate careers first, give a non-teaching job at least three years, see how it goes. If she still wants to teach at this point, it's easy to move into it. If not, she's got a solid career on the go. It will keep her options open.

Also, as you've not mentioned the type of school your DD attended, I am going to hazard a guess that she went to a private or a selective school? (Just based on the statistics for Oxbridge students!) If so, she must get into some normal comprehensives and see what life is like for teachers in those schools. I taught for a bit in a private boarding school, and had an ex-student come in to a few of my lessons to observe as she was thinking of teaching after finishing her degree. I had to sit her down and explain that a class of 15 well behaved, -over- privileged children was not a normal British classroom!

Hmm strike through fail there, apologies.

Pros of teaching include job security, hours that fit with a family in the future and excellent pension.

But, I would encourage a daughter with a chemistry degree to go into industry and earn more and probably get more respect and kudos. But that's me!

Bosswitch has it spot on. Encourage work experience in a tough comprehensive.

I did maths at Cambridge and went to a relatively tough comprehensive and rather fancied teaching. A few lessons with "Year 11, set 11" (of 11) was enough to send me running straight into a happy, interesting well paid job in finance.

My (partially privately educated) cousin, on the other hand, teaches in a school that has a very bad reputation. And loves it. So much better than having to deal with a load of middle class mummies who want to know exactly why Jocintha hasn't been labelled as G&T. (Ie mummies like her and me!)

Boss . You are correct , the type of school my DD attended was a highly selective grammar school!.

She does have a 'misguided' believe that anyone is capable of passing GCSE Chemistry. This being guided no doubt by her own academic experience at school.

I just wish she could get her Little Brother year 8 (high functioning ASD) to not be frightened to turn on a bunsen burner!

The sort of school where if a pupil raised their 'voice' to another pupil and the teacher saw it they would say sorry to the teacher for disturbing the class.

However (last posting on sister) she would let DD know the reality managing the behaviour of bottom set yr10 English on a Friday afternoon.

If it were my DD I would advise her to find something better paid and less stressful

If she still wants to teach in a few years, there will be nothing stopping her doing her PGCE, and her experience in the real world industry will only be an advantage

This ^

Surely there will be plenty of careers advice and companies offering all sorts over the next year or so, for a Cambridge Chemistry student. The best advice would be to keep an open mind, go to careers fairs, talks, and other opportunities that open up and see what she thinks.
I'd also suggest asking a local secondary school if she can shadow in their Science Dept for a couple of weeks (Cambridge have much shorter terms than schools so dates shouldn't be an issue), so she gets a clearer picture of that. Most PGCE courses want you to have done that before you apply anyway.

x posted, but that makes my last paragraph even more of a great suggestion