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

Occupational therapy! Reapply and go for a therapist degree.

if i'm earning £21,000 a year i'd pay back £5.65 a month
The amount you repay goes up with income.

At £25K you pay back £30 a month but at £30K you pay back £67 a month.

www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan/what-you-pay

Are you a single parent? I was when I did my nurse training and for a few years afterwards. Working 12 hour shifts means you work 14 shifts a month full time. Days/nights. Often no regular pattern to it. However my dd stayed with my parents when I was working and it became 3/4 nights a week she was there. I didn't even see her those days. Leave for work 6.15, back 21.30. I missed her like mad! Also she had to sleep there the night before a day shift because of the early start. It was a lot all round but my parents did it for me so I could complete my training and work to support is. Dd was only 4 initially so it made things really tough.
Having said that, in the longer term there is a lot of options. I have worked on a ward, in the community, clinical nurse specialist (9-5 ish). Loads more choices.
Tough decision..

A friend of mine recently trained as a teacher although as a mature student as she is in her late 30's. she felt the extra years of life/work experience really helped her. Having said that she has 2 young children - 3 and 5 when she did her training year and it was really hard. Very tough NQT year too and now she is working part time and much happier. I was a bit in awe at how she coped with all the work. Very organised. There was masses of work though, many late nights and I think (she has said too) that her children did suffer a bit, and she is married with good family support too which really helped.

I don't know about nursing but teaching as a single parent is very difficult because the working hours during term time are very long (50-60 hours a week). Some work can be done at home but how successful that is will depend on how independent your child is. The long hours also mean little time for housework etc so weekends are often taken up with that. If you work full time as a teacher you will have very little time with your children during term time. Holidays are better but there are still days during the holidays that you will have to work.

It's a bit like asking which disease you would like to die from.
Teaching is easier gif holidays. Both jobs are ridiculously stressful and not well paid without promotion (and therefore more hours, in teaching at least). If the stories get back in on a Thursday, both jobs will get worse.
Have you any other options?

Would you consider teaching in sixth form? I tried secondary teaching briefly and found the workload very high compared with working in FE, don't remember ever working more than 37 hrs a week as a college teacher and had no work to do during the hols. The pay might be slightly less, but I was on £38000 after 7 yrs of teaching which was fine whrn you take the excellent pension into account.

I also find that as nurses we may. leave our paper work at work, but you can see somethings that can linger with you for weeks after the event. there isn't many jobs where death is a normal occurrence. even now after years of nursing I get a death or an event that lingers with me afterwards and I can't shut it out, and there are a lot of fears around nursing, I've known nurses who have lost their pin with one silly accident.

3 12 hour shifts per week is common on wards, but as other posters have said there are also a lot of other shifts in nursing, so after working on a ward for a little while there are other options.

I gave birth to my daughter in the middle of university, and have a vivid memory of the child care struggles. drop her at nursery at 7am, straight to work, my mum picked her up and then pick her up from my mums on the way home after finishing an hour late at 10 pm, only to do it all again the next day!

however if you can put the struggles aside nursing is very rewarding, and I might moan but I wouldn't change it!

The only reason I left was to move countries, where I now work in a college two days a week on better pay but no pension. You can also do exam marking from home for national exam boards for extra pocket money.

I am a mental health nurse who has worked in the NHS since qualifying at 21. I have sailed from job to Job. Got a good pension. Good pay. No shifts for years. So many options. I have worked with child and adolescent, eating disorders, forensic, substance misuse and am currently being seconded to the cqc from next week. Challenging and motivating. Couldn't recommend it more!

I was a teacher and now retired due to ill health. Have spent many many months in hospital. I think nurses have it easier but...
Teaching is the much better option for having a young family. You choose WHEN to do your work.

I'm a relatively new teacher (no children) and I have a best friend who is a nurse (also no children). She says that while her job has bigger consequences (life or death) I work much more as a teacher. She was horrified at the amount of hours I do per week in term time. If you can afford to work part time it seems to be just about sustainable. Yes, I get the holidays off, but they are essentially the overtime I work in term time. I cannot imagine full time teaching with a young child to look after on my own. Apparently it gets easier to manage after the first five years but I'm not sure I'll last that long.

I'm a Nurse married to a teacher, I am very lucky to no longer work shifts ( my hob however is rarer than hens teeth) I've done years of shifts to get here. The NHS is a good employer in terms of maternity pay, flexibility for carers and sickness benefits, however my wage is poor representation of the work I actually do and the responsibility I have. I don't however bring any work home ( physically that is, mentally and emotionally it's there).

My husband has better pay (tlr helps) but also a lot of stress. He rarely gets out of work before 6pm but he does stay to mark and plan as DC at home make it hard. He gets 13 weeks a year holiday and that is so beneficial in regards to childcare. I do know that some if his female colleuges seem to struggle with work life balance with DC, maternity pay not that good, having to give up tlr to reduce to part time etc.

Neither is easy however I can only speak from my own experience when I say that I would not do my nurse training again...no way. If you gave me another viable career path I'd take it, it's changing and for the worse.

This is a decision you need to make with your heart and not your head IMO. Both jobs are stressful, not particularly well paid and take up a huge amount of your life, especially training. You have to love it in order to last in either career. What attracts you to either career?

From the replies it seems that teaching is more family friendly. I think if I didn't have any children I would have chosen nursing. But in terms of being able to be at home with my little girl during weekends/evenings & holidays then teaching is the way to go. I know both are tough careers but I am mentally prepared for that. I will have to work hard and be organised especially during the training. Excited but very anxious at the same time. Thanks for everyones insights. It has really helped me

I grew up with a nurse and a teacher as parents. They had me just as their careers were atarting but I still saw a lot more of my teacher parent.

Something that stayed with me was my mum explaining: as a teacher you get so familiar with the topics that over the years you need to spend less time at home on lesson planning and research. But a 12 hr nursing shift will always take 12 hours.

Wow op, I'm amazed that you've managed to do a degree and have worked as a teaching assistant and in a nursing home as well as having a 2 year old and all by the age of 23! How long were you a teaching assistant? How did you fit all that in??

Ive done both.
More variety in nursing and less hours. As a teacher you work a lot at home unseen.
As a nurse you can do 12 HR shifts so you can do a full week in less days.
There is a lot of teaching in nursing.
I found nursing easier than teaching with your own young children.
As a nurse I don't bring work home.

I've done both - if you want time with your family that you can actually enjoy choose nursing. Nurses might do a longer shift but when you walk out the door you don't have to think about work until the next shift.

Nice to meet another one who has done both rocket
I agree. I remember trying to fit it all in teaching and shushing my children or getting them to bed, marking by the cot, but with nursing it's I go home and don't think about it until next time.

I'm a primary school teacher and I vote you do a pgce. Yes teaching is hard but I do think the nursing would be more difficult (in my opinion). At least we have most of the holidays to spend time with our children. I live right by our school so have no commute - I'm at school from 7 - 5.15ish and can get most of my work done during that time. I work through lots of breaks and lunches in order to not have too much work to do in the evenings. I think that it is a family friendly job.

Hi hmmwhatado I started my degree at 18. Worked for a teaching assistant agency part time as I was only in University 2 days a week. Got pregnant at 20 had her at 21 just after I completed my degree. Worked in a care home for about 6 weeks at the end of last year but the pay meant I was worse off so couldn't carry on. I've had other jobs aswell since I was 15- in a factory, nursery nurse, in retail.

Interesting to hear from those who have done both careers Rocket and Hive, your responses are making me doubt the teaching choice now. I want to treasure the time I have with my daughter, especislly her younger years as they go by so quick.

mmgirish thankyou for your reply. I would be willing to get as much work done as possible during dinners and breaks. I would also like my daughter to join the school where I work. Have you experienced other teachers doing the same?

A newly qualified band 5 with no shift allowance takes home £1250 a month. I have a band 5 with a masters degree on that salary. Shocking. I have been a top 6 for 16 years qualified 27 years with 2 degrees and a Clinical nurse specialist salary capped at just under 36000. My best friend who has been teachi g for 10 years and has her chartered teaching qualification earns just under 43000. So on the basis of future earnings and annual leave I would go for teaching.

One thing to consider is whether there will be a job for you at the end of training - primary jobs in this area are like hen's teeth. A friend retrained as a primary teacher at age 49 and has had to do two years' supply - this isn't uncommon.