People saying not teaching, too much stress etc.I get it’s a stressful job, but lots and lots of people have stressful jobs.
Indeed, though I suspect many of the people on this thread saying they don’t mind what their children do, but wouldn’t recommend teaching are actually teachers so are speaking with some experience.
Yes, there are good holidays (though no leaway at all for days off during term time, no matter what the reason) and like many jobs-sick pay and a pension. However, many people are finding that the job is only sustainable any more part time (without seriousness harm to your own mental health) which totally screws that pension.
I haven’t needed to say a word to my children about why I might not want them to teach-they decided that all on their own-years ago just by seeing what it was like and how much of your evenings and weekends are lost to it. They can see when daddy walks in from work, his work is done for the day, but I have hours still to go. It’s understandable that they see his job as far more preferable!
I wish someone had told me what it was like before I trained-I wouldn’t have gone near it. To be fair though, it wasn’t like this when I trained 20 years ago anyway-it’s almost an unrecognisable job now which is what’s so sad as I KNOW none of the things we now spend hours doing, actually benefit the children.
People aren’t saying that they don’t want their precious child to have a job that’s stressful-all jobs can be stressful. It is fair enough though, to hope that your own children don’t end up in the same miserable situation that you see your colleagues desperately trying to escape from on a daily basis.
and unless you do something listed as gross misconduct pretty much have a job for life.
That is simply untrue. I know of several teachers who’s have been ‘managed out’ purely because a new head didn’t like them. Mainly because they were experienced and expensive. If you are UPS, your card is pretty much marked unless you are SMT or have a particular marketable skill. When budgets are in the mess they are in-head want an NQT who they can pay £22,000 in a classroom, not someone on UPS3 who they have to pay £38,000 for doing exactly the same job in a class. The wealth of experience is overlooked and only the cheapness is valued when the budget is so limited.
A manufactured ‘Poor’ lesson observation (in someone’s opinion) will take place on this poor ‘elderly’ teacher= compulsory weekly observations = unexpected drop ins = weekly planning and book scrutinies = stressed teacher = more observations, often at 2.45 on a Friday afternoon just to make sure the kids aren’t focused = capability = competency proceedings = out on your ear.
This can all be done easily with half a term-I have seen it done several times in several different schools. There is no one in my last two schools under the age of 50. As we are all working to 68 now, I strongly disagree that it’s a job for life.