Tell me honestly about your career as a teacher

[ChooseTheLifeYouLove]

I am looking for a career change and have considered teaching but I don't know what it's properly like day to day. I have a degree so could do a training course. I currently work in a technical field and earn approx £60k per annum so know I would have to take a pay cut but was hoping for a better work life balance and a long term career (what I do now is contracts).

If you can I would love to know the hours you do each week, your salary, best bits, worst bits and would you recommend overall?

Thank you.

What missdread said. With bells on. Great post and very realistic.

Posters who have left teaching, what do you do now? I cope now cos I've gone part time but I'd sooner be full time in something less stressful to be honest.

Better work-life balance. Forget it. Don't be a teacher.
I've been part time (0.6) for last 4 years.
When I was full time I worked 8-6 at school, about 2 evenings per week (2 hours per night) and at least 1 day at the weekend.
Now I'm part time I work 7.30-4.30 at school 3 days per week, at home 3x nights per week and at least 1 day at the weekend.
I love teaching but it is intense.

It's a job where you are never good enough.

Thank you for all your replies I really appreciate it. I haven't read them all yet but I'm about to.

From what I'm reading teaching doesn't sound like the job for me or the career I thought it could be. I love the idea of teaching children, but the 70 hour weeks and temporary contracts are the main factors putting me off. I'm looking for more stability in my life and more time with my family. I currently work on shortish term contracts and don't like that set up but it sounds as though teaching can be the same. I (very naively) assumed the majority of teachers had permanent positions in schools.

You must be fucking mad to be considering this. Totally, utterly, completely fucking mad.

The TV adverts are incredibly misleading.

Tv adverts are wrong, they dont tell you the negs, i once had a teacher cry on me saying it wasnt fair she was spending more time with her school children than she was her own children, she also was very very tired, up till 2am/3am trying to get everything done and this was around 4 years ago xx

I'm not convinced that short term contracts are an issue - there is a shortage in teachers and schools are clinging onto their worst teachers... The hours however...!

I am going into teaching and knowing many others who do it I do not underestimate the workload and stresses at all, however...

my previous job was much less than the salary I will start on, longer hours than other posters have mentioned on here, working every night nearly until late, incredibly stressful, never switched off, little satisfaction, no one appreciated what I did, my degree and experience counted for nothing in their eyes, no work-life balance, working weekends, not half the amount of holiday time.

So there are worse things. At least teaching will be a worthwhile career. Personally, I'm really looking forward to it! Although other posters are right, don't go into it FOR a good work-life balance.

For those asking about work life balance I will say that mine is currently non existent the odd weekend here and there if I'm lucky and working away Monday to Friday in a remote place sent all over the place.

I'm similar to you Guilt. I'm about to career change. I come from a huge family of teachers so I know the negatives. But I still want to do it! I've worked the big graduate jobs, the career jobs, I was part of senior management for a large blue chip at age 29. I took work home, I worked evenings, I worked long hours. Isn't that just the modern workplace? Roll on a few years and for us as a family, this is a good move. I get back into the workplace, have a vocation and do something with purpose, rather than make money for a large corporation. I'll see more of my DC than I would have done in my previous role, there won't be any travel involved and I'll get to be part of the local community. Everywhere I've worked, I've heard people talk about staff morale being the lowest it has ever been. I don't think it is just teachers who have the monopoly on negativity about their roles!

OP I have done a mixture of temporary and supply since qualifying in 2008. Never found a permanent position, so could never get a mortgage or even learn to drive.

Thank you all for being so honest this is incredibly enlightening and seems the majority have similar experiences. It was interesting what a couple of posters said about feeling judges and not feeling good enough. In my freelance world that is something that bothers me hugely, it's so competitive and I often feel very judged, I thought if I had a permanent job I didn't always have to "compete" for that would bring me a sense of security but perhaps not.

Whatever your job is, how ever unsatisfactory you believe it to be, DO NOT give it up in order to become a teacher. Please.

It depends massively on the school you're in and your role imo. Eg someone who does ppa cover in a good school will probably have a very different day to a y6 teacher in a failing school. The school's policy on how detailed your marking should be, their planning format, whether or not planning is already in place, how well resourced a school is, their display policy and many other quite boring things have a huge impact on the amount of time you spend working outside of work.

Personally I was very disillusioned with teaching, exhausted with no work life balance. I asked to go part time after my mat leave ended with a view to start looking for a way out. However since going back part time, I love my job again. For the first time ever I can arrange my time so my weekends are free and work isn't hanging over any time I spend with my family. I highly recommend part time teaching.

In terms of my day, I get in for galf 7/8to set everything up, attend staff meeting etc. Teach English and maths in the morning mark over break and lunchtime, teach in the afternoon, finish marking after school then set everything up for the next day before I leave. I work mon-wed and on a Wednesday, I'm really strict with myself and won't leave until everything is done so I'm taking as little work as possible home with me.

I love teaching. It's hard work but really rewarding.

Your workload will vary greatly depending on your stage/year group/subject as well as by school and the demands the SMT put on you in terms of paperwork.

I've been at the same school for 20 years nearly and the workload has varied over time.

Currently, I'm the least stressed I've been I think. Mostly because I've been in my year group for a few years and know my planning/resources/material well and can be very efficient when planning for activities inc differentiation. We also have a very low demand placed on us for official planning or paperwork and very few observations. That may always change q soon with a new headteacher.

We also (Wales) have had only a small change in the curriculum recently and are due a massive overhaul of it following the Donaldson report, so that's due to change too.

Being on form all the time and not being able to be off your game for whatever reason is very stressful. Staff at our school have had family bereavements, supported family through distressing conditions and have had their own medical problems, yet still we are expected to be on the ball. It's a necessary part of the job, but one that makes it difficult on some days.

I love how the job is always changing. I've not moved schools, but have moved year groups. And even when you stay in the same year group, every class is different and you change your topics etc from time to time so things are always kept fresh.

One difficult thing is the fact that you are judged on your performance in a field where you can't ever do something perfectly. Any lesson, however well it went, could always be 'better' in some observers eyes. And the behaviour of your pupils, which you can also be judged on, is something you can influence, but that ultimately you are not in full control of.

One memorable feedback I had from someone was that there was nothing wrong with my lesson. That the material, the expectations and the behaviour management were all spot on. "But you just didn't sparkle. I know you can do better than that." Told to me by a visiting observer who didn't know me at all.

Well I love the job. Of course it is stressful, and the hours are long, but all my friends earning comparable amounts in other industries work long hours and get stressed too, and they don't have every weekend off and 13 weeks holiday a year.

Since I've had a child I've definitely got better at just accepting that I won't get everything done to my previous high standard. I also tell my boss when I'll be able to get extra stuff done by based on what I already have to do in the time I have. If he wants it done sooner he will have to give me time. I'm in from 830 till around 530 so it's not because i skip out at 345 everyday, and he knows that.

It's been a really tough year for teaching this year, and the posts on here really reflect that. The pressures due to this new curriculum and testing have been ludicrous. I'm really hoping next year will be a consolidation for us all really. Fingers crossed.

Been teaching 20 plus years in primary. Been SLT, headteacher and lots of other roles too. Now working part time. Works life balance for me is Ok cos I'm ruthless and over-qualified for my current role, so I can do it fairly easily. Also current teacher shortage means I will walk away from a school that treats me badly and go elsewhere with no problem. Currently work in a lovely school with a great HT. So I'm happy.

However I think a life as an NQT is very tough. And work life balance for them is very poor.

See, that 'just didn't sparkle' is completely and utterly unreasonable. That's the kind of rubbish teachers have to put up with all the time. It's totally demoralising.

You must be fucking mad to be considering this. Totally, utterly, completely fucking mad.

This. Don't do it. I'm leaving after 16 years. Love the kids. Love the colleagues. Love actual teaching. Hate everything else. Many others have put the negatives perfectly so I won't repeat them. Save your sanity and don't do it.

Just finished my first year of teaching. 9-10 hour days in school every day, working at home in the evenings and weekends. Missing all of my own children's school stuff, being exhausted when i get home and miserable. Holidays are good but actually when you average out all the work you do i think it probably equates to the same annual hours as a full time job. And i still need to go into school in the holidays.

I have spent the while year feeling like a crap parent and massively guilty that i can't be the parent i want to be, because of the workload.

I always thought teaching was my dream job. I love being in the classroom with the kids, but that is about half of what i actually do.

So I won't be staying in the job. I have never been more stressed as i have been this year, or more miserable.

Also i spend a ton of money on stuff for the classroom.

Just don't do it unless you are prepared for it to take over your life completely.

Taking a thirty k pay cut for a job with a v poor work life balance is madness tbh. I like my job but that does not make sense. Even doing your current role on a part time basis would be better.

I left teaching after 4 years to have my son and there is no way I am going back to it.

Bullying head teachers, fussy parents who are never happy, paperwork, politics and the ever increasing workload meant that I found it so stressful; and that was before I was trying to balance life with a child.