Help! Primary School Teacher or Nurse?

[Happygolucky1994]

Sorry wasn't sure where to post.

But which career should I choose?

I am 23 yr old with a 2 year old daughter. I'm on benefits in a council home (nothing wrong with that) but I desperately want to give my little one a better life i.e. more holidays, opportunities, owning our own home etc..

In September I have the option of either begininng a Primary Education PGCE course which will take one year... or an Adult Nursing course which will take 3 years..

I have listed the pros and cons of each career but it's still not really helped.
I know if you want to be either of those career choices you must be passionate for that one thing but I really am passionate about both! I want a job that's rewarding. I love the idea of caring for others in there time of need but I also adore helping children learn new concepts etc.

I understand that teachers have to work evenings and weekends at home and nurses have to work all kinds of shifts. My biggest worry is not being able to spend much time with my daughter. Childcare is not an issue but i'm with her everyday at the moment so the thought of barely being with her is tough.

I just want to hear what others think of each career. Or if you work in these fields please can you offer some insight to the reality of the jobs. I can't sleep wondering which path to take :/.

Thanks in advance

So they said I will receive three years of funding
That's good then because until recently there was a lot of confusion surrounding the issue of funding.

Good luck.

If you don't want to do full time teaching, you can do supply.

I think that getting agency nursing work is easier than getting supply work.

Elspeth you make it sound so interesting that I'd almost think of retraining if it's possible to get funding despite another degree.... Ah shite I'm really squeamish, I'd be utterly hopeless

I'm a teacher (have been one for a good while now) and I would say teacher under these circumstances:

• expect for the training year and first couple of years to be really really hard. Everything takes you ages and you get observed a lot to begin with
• get a local job and if possible get your child into the same school. This will maximise how much you see her, make it easier to see plays etc she's in
• pick your school carefully - you don't want to be moving year group every year or have to submit mountains of planning to the head. Some schools are better than others when it comes to workload
• don't expect a full time job on part time hours - you can't finish at 4 and then go home and do nothing but then you can't do that in any job. I work 7.30-5.30/6 but I do barely anything at home, no weekends, no evenings (I did in the first two years though). If I needed to leave earlier to pick up a child, I would accept that I would have to work in the evening to make up for this.
• not all of the holidays are your own - you will need to work some of them. Normally I do 1 day per week off.
• try and get a job in a larger school, less planning and more people to share responsibilities

Pros-

• no day goes slow, every day is different
• kids are great fun
• pay goes up pretty quickly
• great holidays
• very rewarding

It's very hard work and it's exhausting but it's a good job if you're in the right school. I don't know how nurses do it - you'll very rarely do a full 12 hours back to back as a teacher.

It's really really really interesting!

But some areas are emotionally hard. I couldn't work in oncology, for example. You end up finding some area that suits your temperament. There's a lot of variety.

I job share, so only work half hours. It's great for me and the kids.

I wouldn't do nursing again and now you have to PAY to train and work 2300 hours for free on placements, mainly being an unpaid healthcare assistant. Do you want to be in 30K plus of debt for a job paying not very much?

It's a hard, physical job. Yes you can move into specialist/managerial roles but most nurses remain as a band 5 staff nurse for their careers. Specialist nursing posts have been cut or downgraded.

The UK is short of 40,000 nurses for a reason. Nurses have a lot of responsibility, there is chronic understaffing, patients and relatives are increasingly rude, entitled and abusive.

That sounds great ElspethFlashman - I'm okay with the squeamish stuff, well at least I pretend to be haha. I know with teaching you have to be extremely organised so that there isn't mountains of work in the evenings and weekends. Lots of things to consider from what you have all said. From google searching it seems that nurses earn more than teaching but it's not clear. So I guess that's another thing to consider

I was feeling sceptical about the whole debt thing with having two degrees to pay for- but the gov website says that as a nurse you would pay back £5.65 a month for the loan and tuition fees. Which if i'm honest I don't mind as it's not very much.

Nurses have a lot of responsibility, there is chronic understaffing, patients and relatives are increasingly rude, entitled and abusive

It's really depressing to hear that. I am very familiar with children who are rude and very entitled but to hear that about patients...

And you can't give a patient a sad face on the board.

Some very useful advice on this thread about hours worked and the lifestyle of teachers V's nurses. But nobody has talked about the difference in the actual job.

You have some experience of both professions, so you know they really are quite different. Is there definitely not one which you like the idea of slightly more than the other?
Are you good at explaining new concepts to people clearly and with a lot of patience (teaching) or would you prefer to work with a wide range of ages/different health complaints and drug administration etc?
I only sat this because I have a number of friends who are either nurses or primary school teachers and I couldn't imagine any of them swapping for the other job.

*say

*say

You're right Enidblyton 1 - both roles are very different. I know whichever I choose I will throw myself into the training so I'll be able to do either job to the best of my ability. I realise I won't be in for an easy ride no matter what I choose but mentally i'm prepared for that. Just hope I go with the right career.

Do you want to be in 30K plus of debt for a job paying not very much?
She would be £60,000 in debt just for the nursing degree when you take into account both tuition fee and maintenance loans of £20,000 a year for 3 years.

We have had five NQTs at the school in the last two years. None of them still work with us. Three have left the profession. One has gone to teach abroad. One has long term stress. They're both very hard jobs when you have younng children, you'll be working all hours ans your fingers to the bone, but with teaching there's no shift work. You don't take work home though.
Go with whichever you feel the best connection to.

In terms of nursing training OP, it sounds like you have similar childcare to me. My DD is 3 and I promise you, she loves spending the time with her grandparents. The fact that she's so young means she doesn't see our set up (where she essentially lives with my parents for half the time if I'm on a hospital placement) weird at all. And though she does miss me sometimes, she's secure enough that she's taken to seeking out other family members specifically to tell them with absolute certainty "my mummy loves me". When your childcare is a rock solid family member, you feel much better about going on shift.

My DD did nursing as a second degree. The NHS paid for the course but not accommodation. But she did an accelerated 2 year course as she already had a degree. It was intense as it's 3 years squeezed into 2. (Doctors can do the same thing i think). I think it's called Pg diploma with qualified nursing status. She loves it and has a good and secure job though not well paid! Thought it would help you as a single parent if you could switch to 2 years if not too late and available where you've applied?

Persian cat. Really has the NHS ceased paying nursing tuition fees? That's outrageous. And by the way my DD works in London where the shifts are 13 hours not 12 but there is a degree of flexibility on when you work (upon request with line manager). Yes a lot choose to stay band 5 as that's proper nursing not admin. She's the worst paid of my 5 children and the most fulfilled.

I'll look into that lazycrazyhazy - thankyou.

And thanks for the replies.

Amanduh- do you think that nursing would be less stressful than teaching then?

What do band 5 nurses typically take home a month after tax, does anyone know?

And teachers what is there monthly salary?

Persian cat. Really has the NHS ceased paying nursing tuition fees?
Student nurses have pretty much the same student finance scheme as all other students now.

What do band 5 nurses typically take home a month after tax, does anyone know?
www.rcn.org.uk/employment-and-pay/nhs-pay-scales-2016-17

It varies a lot from school to school. The head's personality and attitude makes a big difference. You can usually an idea of the atmosphere of a school during a very brief visit. On supply I found some schools made me very welcome, told me where things were, others treated me like a misdelivered parcel!

I think it's dreadful that they scrapped the bursary but I have been informed that if i'm earning £21,000 a year i'd pay back £5.65 a month. So it's not as bad as I imagined

Nursing, definitely.