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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think people enjoy being teachers?

122 replies

inneedofgoodideas · 09/04/2018 15:13

Hi,
I am seriously considering taking a PGCE to train as a secondary history teacher. However, I have read so many horror stories from teachers who don't enjoy their jobs....
so if any readers are current/ex teachers, please can you give me an honest review of whether you enjoyed it or not?
I'm in my mid-20s, living in London and currently very dissatisfied in my job. I have a first class degree from a good university, and a Masters degree from another good university, both in history. I love history, and want a job which involves communicating with people and 'making a difference' (cringe) so thought teaching might be a good way to go.
any advice much appreciated :)
thanks all!!

OP posts:
Catspaws · 09/04/2018 15:16

I'm not a teacher but know lots and most of them do love their jobs!

It depends a huge amount on the school and the support that is on offer, but I think it is a rewarding career. A lot of them have said you have to accept that not every child is going to be receptive to you or willing to engage, however good you are. And there is a lo of pressure with testing and marking etc. But I think it can be hugely rewarding and enjoyable.

Catspaws · 09/04/2018 15:16

(My mum, dad, best friend and BIL all teachers!)

ScipioAfricanus · 09/04/2018 15:19

Most teachers will tell you they enjoy or enjoy it, if by ‘it’ you mean teaching. The lack of enjoyment is generally from government nonsense, wasted time on initiatives, ridiculous levels of data collection. I find more and more I feel conflicted on colluding in a system I think is pretty much broken.

However, I love being in the classroom. Even my rubbish lessons I generally enjoy being there or at least find it stimulating. Teaching is great. But it is hugely deleterious for my health and I wish I’d gone into something else, in some ways.

You can always try it and see. Schools like cheap new enthusiastic teachers and it’s easy to move on if you don’t like it. But so get some work experience in schools before you do a PGCE. So many people I trained with discovered they didn’t really like schools (or children!) as much as they bought they did!

ScipioAfricanus · 09/04/2018 15:19

Enjoy or enjoyed, that should say.

ScipioAfricanus · 09/04/2018 15:20

Ugh sorry for ridiculous number of typos! Good practice for the essays you’ll have to read! Wink

scaryteacher · 09/04/2018 15:22

Ds has First in History and is doing an MA in a history related field. I have told him not to go into teaching!

I loved the job, but after 5 years had lost my spark, as one of my Year 11s told me. It does grind you down. It is difficult to teach well on less than 60 hours a week all told, but I was teaching Humanities and saw 600+ kids a week come through my classroom, many of them for just an hour a week, which is a nightmare come report time when you have to remember who they are.

I felt like a hamster on a treadwheel at times, and it took me 18 months after I left to stop waking up at 0500 in a muck sweat panicking that I hadn't done my planning. I still get teaching dreams when I am really stressed.

I was 35 when I qualifeda and 40 when I left. Both dh and ds think I would have croaked from heart failure had I stayed on much longer, and both have commented that I became 'me' again when I'd left, not a stressed, tired individual whose only focus was the job.

HighwayDragon1 · 09/04/2018 15:22

I love my job.

The hours are long, a good work/life balance is hard, there is more red tape and goalposts changing than in any other line of work, we take shit from kids and parents and the government, there are exams followed by data input followed by more assessments.

And then there are those moments, the moments that you get through to a child. The moment they get something, the lightbulb comes on. They look up at you and you can see howproud of themselves they are. The moment when a VERY "difficult" child has to leave (LAC) and sends you a message thanking you for being there and helping them. Receiving a card that says thank you. Knowing that you are influencing their whole lives, knowing that it is possible that you are the reason they succeed in life. They are mad and funny, they never fail to make me smile.

I could earn more doing something less stressful, but then I wouldn't have 100 extra children in my life.

applesauce1 · 09/04/2018 15:23

I'm currently in school working. Was in last week and will be in tomorrow. I have a deadline for Friday. It's the holiday right now... When people talk about how many holidays teachers get, it actually works out at a lot less time off than other graduate jobs with similar salaries. I work at least 10 hours a day (on a good day) with no break. I make decisions not to drink so that I don't have to go to the loo because I don't have time.

Just a very small window into the pressure of being a teacher. Everyone wants the earth and you'll bend over backwards to deliver the impossible until you can't take it anymore.

The hours of the day that you're actually with the children is very rewarding, on the whole, but the majority of the job is filled with stress, pressure and not enough time. I personally cannot wait to leave the profession. I've done 5 years (the average lifespan of a new teacher), and I'm done.

On the plus side, I never clock watch and am never bored.

Conversely, I do have stress related eczema and never have enough time to eat lunch.

I'm a primary school teacher, by the way. Sorry I don't have better news for you...

DumbledoresApprentice · 09/04/2018 15:23

I’m secondary history and I bloody love it. Try and spend some time in a secondary school before committing to anything.

Papplewapplewoo · 09/04/2018 15:26

I love being a teacher - but I’m in school at 715 frequently still working at home gone 10pm, and spend a good 10-12 hours working over the weekend.
I also get sworn at daily and I’ve had teenage boys square up to me and put me against a wall, I’ve also had kids tell me the most horrific things are happening to them.

But it’s an incredible job.
I love it but it’s not easy or sustainable and I couldn’t do it with DCs

LokiBear · 09/04/2018 15:27

I love teaching. I love working with young people. There are parts of my job that I hate. The fact that schools and teachers are the scapegoats for society ills, for example. Workload is heavy, but the holidays are a massive perk. It is a well paid career and very family friendly. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a job in which you don't work at home, but the perks outweigh the downsides.

Papplewapplewoo · 09/04/2018 15:29

I thought being a teacher would be my forever job and it breaks my heart that it’s not if I’m honest

Original poster
inneedofgoodideas · 09/04/2018 15:29

Thanks everyone. Out of curiosity, those who have decided to quit the profession - what have you done next? I'm all up for giving it a go but am worried what it might lead to next if I didn't like it/found it too much.

OP posts:
BiscayTrafalgarFitzroy · 09/04/2018 15:30

You've got to enjoy it otherwise it's not worth all the crap that you have to put up with that comes with it. If I didn't enjoy it I'd be well gone!

Aneurin · 09/04/2018 15:31

I'm a Head of History in a relatively good secondary. Really deprived area but relatively supportive SLT.

I'm currently typing this with one hand as I recover from a broken wrist and ruptured tendons acquired breaking up a fight. The tendons are going to need operating on. I had one day off work with this as I couldn't not be there for Y11. Prepare for massive guilt if you need to be off work, plus twice as much to do to undo the mess caused by your absence!

Teaching is a wonderful job until it isn't. The highs are ridiculously high but the next minute you can be crashing down lower than you thought possible. I've been teaching for 15 years and I think you really have to be secure in your self-worth - any sort of low self-esteem and some kids/SLT will get in your head and make you believe you are crap.

You will work long, long hours, a lot of the time on stuff that makes no difference to the kids - data, reports on data, reports on the reports on data ! It's the Easter holidays here and the only day I haven't worked has been Easter Sunday. I've been into school 4 days for revision classes.

It is the best job and the worst job, sometimes all within one lesson! If I had my time again, I wouldn't do it. I'm stuck at the moment, but looking for opportunities outside of teaching in the next few years.

sonjadog · 09/04/2018 15:35

I´m a secondary school history teacher. I love working with teens, watching them learning and grow. I love that my days are so varied. I love that I get longer summer holidays so that I can travel and also have time to hang out at home. I love that I have to keep learning myself as pupils´ have different interests and questions.

I don´t love the admin, but I deal with it.

NorthernKnickers · 09/04/2018 15:44

Family friendly? 😂😂😂 it really isn't! I don't know a single teacher (I am one, by the way!) who would say it was family friendly! It breaks you! Leaving home at 6.30 in the morning and getting in at 6.30 at night, then working another 3 hours (or more sometimes!) in the evening, 10 or 12 hours every weekend...family friendly? Fuck me! It's Easter holidays right now. I've been in school 4 days. I've spent 3 days at home writing reports (still not finished! and I've not even started planning next terms work...that'll be Thursday/Friday then! I was hoping to spend some time with my family...I've had to disappoint them...again! It is gruelling, hard, graft. Don't let anyone tell you different. Yes, the kids are great. Yes, the moments in the classroom when it all goes to plan are wonderful...but getting to that point is bloody hard work! Learning walks, book scrutinies, lesson observations, Ofsted, constant changes to the curriculum and assessment regimes, academisation, HMI, 'drop ins', all of which add to the ever increasing workload and falling morale. Family friendly? 🙄

Pinkvoid · 09/04/2018 15:44

My DGM loved teaching, so much so she delayed retirement as long as possible and didn’t completely retire until 72. She was, however, a primary school teacher as are my cousins and they love it too.

As for secondary school teachers, I know a couple and both hate it. It completely stresses them out, one of them had to sign off sick for a while as she was verging on an emotional breakdown.

I teach English in a college which I love. I have no personal experience of teaching in a secondary school but I knew I didn’t want to do that. I do teach some adolescents GCSE and A level English but most of my classes are adult learners (GCSE or access course.) The admin is shit but actual teaching is a thrill every day.

TotHappy · 09/04/2018 15:46

Did 5 years here too, secondary Humanities. At first you can tell yourself you're just putting up with the shit so you can help the kids, then you realise that all the shit is really barking the kids as well as driving you to the verge of breakdown... My last year i was just placemarking to leave so not really following any of the stupid rules and initiatives...God knows how anyone who does survives. I dont know a single teacher who believes it is sustainable. Not a single one. The system is utterly broken.
I moved on to being a sahm, then got a very part time admin job, which has now swelled to include doing the books for the small charity i work for, so i guess I'm gaining transferable skills. This is not a graduate level job. But teaching is punishing. I once described it to SLT as like trying to push a rock up a hill which keeps falling down, only imagine that the hill is still 'undef construction' so the shape/gradient/direction keeps changing all the time, and people behind you are constantly shouting 'Faster! FASTER!'

Lillipuddlian · 09/04/2018 15:48

I couldn't do it. I love children, but you have to be on all the time, don't you?

Mind you, I live in Canada where teachers make the equivalent of 55000 pounds and have eight weeks off in the summer!

I think teaching is a noble profession and a calling. It's very hard to get into in Canada, lots of competition and they usually start with a few years abroad teaching in the uk! I hear the pay and workload are better here.... give it a go, you still have your other two degrees, think of it as a good add on...

Yorkshirebetty · 09/04/2018 15:48

I've been a secondary school History teacher for more than 30 years. Mostly it's been very enjoyable, and I'm happy going into work. I like young people and love History, and have had some fantastic, funny, intelligent and interesting students. Yes, bits aren't great, but I just try and tune out a lot of stuff and do my best for my classes. Go for it!!

Lillipuddlian · 09/04/2018 15:49

yes, op... what about phd or teaching with your masters in college???

Dolphincrossing · 09/04/2018 15:50

Unpopular post alert.

I love teaching, and I don’t recognise most of the posts on MN about the hours involved.

LokiBear · 09/04/2018 15:50

I'm a head of year and head of department. I disagree that it isn't family friendly. I never need holiday club care for my kids, I can pick them up at 4.30 most days and then work at home in the evenings. I'm in for 7.30 every day and my kids go to before school club. I've worked 3 days of my Easter holidays and my kids have had me to themselves for the rest of the time.

Ohyesiam · 09/04/2018 15:50

Yes hardest for the core curriculum subjects, the pressure would be less for history, but there are less jobs going.
My DH loves being a teacher, most of the time.