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

Op feel free to PM me, I'm very fortunate with my band 8b role but it's taken a lot of stress to get there, with multiple applications and refusing to fund the extra qualifications I needed for the role. The first few years of nursing with no children were fantastic (itu) but as soon as I started going up the ladder issues started. Bear in mind the Ward you start off on could easily give you vast experience and confidence or end up with you loosing confidence and becoming an hca. I'd strongly recommend you do bank or pool work in an NHS hospital before deciding. When I met DH as a nqt he was earning more than me (qualified same year) did all planning and marking at work and had weekends and evenings free. That's no longer the case as a headteacher. It drives him nuts to see teachers complaining about planning all weekend, there's something wrong if that's the case. Teaching will very much depend on the school you go to and the staff , if you hate it I think it's harder to move on than in nursing.

I found nursing easier with children as children's activities tend to be after school, or early evening teatime ish.
If I stayed at work to get my planning done I couldn't make the activities, or I'd have to leave work on the bell, and have to do it later.

I enjoy both but like others have said if I had my time again I'd choose accountancy.

Can't remember which poster said it but what about Occupational Therapy degree as a third option?

I don't know any nurses just a midwife. But I know teachers (my mum was one) and my neighbour has last summer given up work after having had her third child and being worked like a dog as a head of dept in a secondary school. Teaching is hard work now with the days and lesson plans compared to when my mum has taught! Having said that I've got friends who teach and they do it because they have children and its child friendly.

If you didn't have a child I'd say teaching but with one so small definitely not. A PGCE will mean you hardly see your child for a year and then if you plan on teaching full time you'll miss every drop off and pick up, assembly and sports day going! Not to mention the fact you will be doing some evening/weekend work too.

If you plan on doing part time it will be hard to progress and move up the pay scale quick enough to make it worth while.

I am really grateful that I worked full time until I was getting paid a good salary before I had DD and went part time.

I don't know enough about nursing to add.

That's what i'm most worried about- not seeing enough of my DD. Especially when she's still a toddler. I want to cherish these years but give her a better life at the same time. I know others have said to consider a different job but I can't really picture myself doing anything else :/

I will say that if you don't have a strong stomach, forget about nursing. I remember when I was training having to dress an infected leg stump. There were drainage holes and as I cleaned it, pus shot out of one of the holes and hit my apron. I almost fainted.

Another time we had a man with a pressure sore on his heel. We took off the dressing and his heel was brown and hollowed out like a rotten apple. We had to open all the windows the smell was so bad.

Another time I catheterised a patient and suddenly black fluid poured out instead of urine (don't ask).

I mean, it's hard core. When I started training about 3 girls dropped out after the first placement cos of the grossness. It's not for the faint hearted.

At least teaching is clean!

@ElspethFlashman this is very true. I was redressing an ulcer and I saw bone. Not a tiny amount but bone.

You really do need to be strong stomached. I cleaned out an amputee wound that turned into an ulcer because the patient was depressed and didn't take care of themselves. It was the saddest thing I have seen.

Not going to lie Elspeth those descriptions have made me feel a bit uneasy. What if I couldn't handle it. Starting to doubt myself now

I am a teacher and know nothing about nursing so will be a biased reply but I am currently on maternity and never planning on returning to teaching. The holidays are good but the workload immense during evenings and weekends. Ultimately, the issue is constant observations, appraisals, ofsted, assessments, accountability, etc. that has destroyed it for me.

My DS is currently making this decision. Been offered either a 3 year primary education QTS degree or a 3 year nursing degree. He's leaning towards nursing because he prefers shift work, and isn't confident leading people but works amazingly as part of a team. Also, the workload seems a bit more manageable with nursing. This thread would be really helpful for him!

Do you think teaching will ever improve in the future? It can't carry on with the teachers so overloaded with work that they are all leaving? Surely it has to change?

Yes us nurses work 12 hour shifts but don't forget you pack more hours into a day so work less of them which means you don't need childcare 5 days a week. I work part time so 2 shifts a week so I can work 24 hours over two days which only means 2 days of childcare. The only issue is that nurseries aren't open 12 hours.

Nursing is very rewarding but you will have to work nights and weekends. There are always jobs. Obviously what you really want to do is children's nursing not biased!

No you need a childminder if you do long shifts. My colleagues either have childminders or very obliging grannies.

I work opposite days from my DH.

user - At the moment teaching runs on young teachers coming in, working like loons then leaving forever. As long as there is a supply of graduates like the OP who want to have a career they feel is socially worthwhile who can tell themselves it's family friendly because of the holidays (which is sort of true up to a point) there won't be the impetus for change. Don't want to make this an election thread, but if the Tories get back in it'll get much, much worse in the short term.

Have been teaching since the early 80s and have seen the profession morph into what it is now. I am semi-retired now and only teach 0.2 - but even that stresses me a bit (pathetic I know). I went full time when my youngest was 4 and started school. I missed every sports day and every performance whilst they were in infants because they were during the day. I could go in the juniors because those were in the evenings. I also missed some parents' evenings because they clashed with parents' evenings at my own school.

It was good that mostly we didn't have to worry about child care in the holidays (apart from inset and sometimes different Easter holiday times). However my evenings when they were little were marred by always having my own work at the back of my mind whilst we were doing tea, bath, reading and bed. Then, just as you want to relax after working all day, you had to start again (sigh). I know other professions do this too, not just teachers. I am sure they all feel the same.

I could never ever have been a nurse though with all the gross stuff and all the distressing stuff.

Being a secretary was ok too - but not good for child care and the pay wasn't very good either.

Thank you Cardibach.

I have just completed an English degree in the hopes of teaching and am now having second thoughts due to everything everyone has said, I have been offered a scitt place at my child's school so in theory I wouldn't miss assemblies etc but this may seem a stupid question but if they stay in, is the aim to turn them all into academies? If so, would they be different to work at or more pressure? Thanks
Also trying to avoid an election thread.

If your subject is English, I'd definitely say rethink. The pressure in core subjects is relentless. My subject is English and I've been teaching since 1988 The job has got worse and worse and expectations on staff have got higher and higher. As an NQT and then an inexperienced teacher you will find yourself taken advantage of. Things will take you longer anyway and Heads will expect the world. Everyone is one fall out with an unscrupulous head away from unemployment -it is scarily easy to fake a competency investigation. I work in Wales so I don't know much about academies, but I believe the plan in England is to move all schools that way, yes. Working with the kids is great, I love the teaching but...would I do it now? No chance. My DD has just finished an English degree and had a place to do a PGCE. I supported her with a sinking heart but last week she decided she couldn't do it and withdrew. Despite the fact this means she is facing next year looking for a job when most graduate opportunities are filled, I couldn't be more relieved. Sorry to be a downer.

Nursing will be much more demanding in the short term with regards juggling placements and childcare but in the longer term, there are lots of opportunities for family friendlier hours in outpatients, community and occupational health settings.

The overwhelming negativity and woe is me attitude from teachers on MN would be enough to put me off teaching for life. I don't think I've EVER seen a positive comment from a teacher about their chosen profession. Luckily I have enough friends and family members who teach to realise that it's not actually akin to being sent down a mine.

I'm a specialist TA and teach lessons in an academy. The pressure on teachers right now is immense. Endless rounds of data, spreadsheets, targets, assessment, observations etc. I know teachers who are regularly up til midnight and in tears the next day, especially those teaching core subjects. Academies are run like businesses with similar pressures. The kids are being assessed more than ever and this is impacting teacher's time. They say there's no time to plan lessons due to all the other data based jobs which frankly seem pointless. At least five really good colleagues of mine are getting out. As a pp said, teaching is surviving on young graduates doing it for a while then leaving! No experience of nursing but sure it's bloody hard work. Tough one!

I agree about the English - although I was thinking about secondary. The pressure on English and Maths was immense. I was MFL and the downside to that was that all the time/resources/staffing and TAs etc were (understandably) poured into core subjects to the detriment of non-core ones which meant we had bigger classes, only TAs if they supported an individual pupil and fewer resources, but I still wouldn't have swapped.

I was once observed with a large bottom set by someone who taught a core subject who was aghast that so many challenging pupils were in one group with no other support and wanted to know why. It was because we only had 3 sets to their 6. But I still wouldn't have swapped.

Sorry OP - I am derailing your thread.

Op..I trained as a paeds nurse at 21 stopping when I had kids in my 30s.I liked the 12 hr shifts as I could request them and mainly get what I wanted.Liked having days off in the week and your holidays are longer.Loved team work and the job satisfaction and technical skills I acquired.Sure you work Christmas etc but I've been working in a school the past 4 years and I'd never make it as a teacher-it's really full on and your evenings/weekends are not your own.Plus so many options with a nursing career.

It makes me laugh when people say teaching has regular hours. You can expect to work from 7am - 11pm+ every day including weekends and a large proportion of the holidays. It's a really thankless job (aside from the children) and in this current climate, is really not a nice thing to do. It's also really expensive, as many resources come out of your own money.

I have friends who are nurses and they say that they could never do what I do. They seem to have way more free time and actual social lives.

This ^ With bells on. Few people commenting too comparing secondary and primary. Totally different ballgame. You can walk out of secondary at 3.30 with kids. You walk about about 6pm with the caretaker in a primary!

I wouldn't go into either. I'm a teacher who didn't go back after child no2 because I wanted to actually spend time with my own kids. Trust me. You do teaching - you will not see your child!!

Star WTF? . You can walk out of secondary at 3.30 with kids. You walk about about 6pm with the caretaker in a primary! this is utter, utter bollocks! Where do you get that idea from? Same number of lessons to plan, and I'm pretty sure marking 30 GCSE essays takes longer than 30 pieces of work by a primary child! It's not a competition,though, and for what it's worth I could never teach primary - but that's because I prefer working with teenagers and teaching the subject I love, not because it's more work!
Lello are you suggesting I'm telling porkies then? Because some people you know say something different from what I'm saying? I love teaching. I hate all the crap that goes with it. I couldn't recommend it as a job to anyone now.

Cardibach no I'm saying that MN seems to attract a core of teachers who moan constantly about the job and who don't see anything positive in it. Luckily for me I know plenty of teachers IRL who aren't so negative and who balance their job perfectly with their family and social lives.

Well lucky them. I know lots who don't.