to think people enjoy being teachers?

[inneedofgoodideas]

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!!

Secondary History teacher here (now also a middle leader in charge of 5 subjects) - I range from getting to November each year and being convinced that I need a new career and then swinging round to remember the positives! It's great but really hard work. I've taught for 8 years and have some good lessons and resources built up but curriculum change can be frequent and you need to adapt for each group. I generally get to work around 7.30 and then leave around 7pm, but won't work at home after that and try not to at weekends unless there's a deadline.

I've found that I really like managing other teachers and mentoring trainees so I'm in a good position - it's great to see how far staff come over the years as well as students. Best thing is to find a school where staff are a team and work together - we do lots of joint planning and that saves me and keeps it fresh. There's always someone to have a moan to who understands which is great (but avoid the corner of the staff room where it's nothing but moaning or it sucks the life out of you!)

I'd say go for it but get some observation time in a couple of different schools first and go in with your eyes open - it's bloody hard work but less soul destroying than being stuck in an office 9-5 for me!

I did my PGCE through School Direct last year. It was very tough (as I have a young family and a husband who works away a lot) and I had some tough placements but I got through it. I'm now an NQT in a great school but I barely see my family. I work upwards of 60 hours a week, and during the week long half term holidays, much of that is spent planning ahead for the next term. Easter/Xmas and Summer hols you at least get something of a break.

I did my PGCE through School Direct last year. It was very tough (as I have a young family and a husband who works away a lot) and I had some tough placements but I got through it. I'm now an NQT in a great school but I barely see my family. I work upwards of 60 hours a week, and during the week long half term holidays, much of that is spent planning ahead for the next term. Easter/Xmas and Summer hols you at least get something of a break.

Oops! Pressed ctrl enter too soon!

I work in a primary school and whilst I have got the marking and planning down to a fine art (most of my marking is done during the actual lessons, where it's actually more invaluable to chn anyway), it's the rest of the red tape and admin etc that takes up so much time!

I'm thinking of quitting teaching and becoming a HLTA instead, where I'll still get the enjoyable part of teaching but also be able to see my family during term time!

I love my job, but I do find it utterly exhausting. I'm in my 14th year of teaching now , so I'm much quicker at planning than I used to be in the first few years. I'm also less of a perfectionist as I just can't be (there isn't enough time in a day for every lesson to be perfect and kids mess up your perfect lessons anyway).

In terms of being family friendly, I drop dd off at the cm at 8 and pick her up between 5/5:30. So that's a relatively ok day for an 8yo, we eat dinner together, I have time to help her with her homework, I even volunteer at Brownies. I've worked 4 days so far this holiday, but that was a residential trip rather than report writing or planning.

I've found the last 3 years particularly difficult, not because of pressures in my school, but because the GCSE in maths changed for first exams last year (2 years of stress as we didn't know even roughly where the grade boundaries would be our whether the questions would actually look like the samples we'd been given), and now the A Level maths has changed for first exams next year (another 2 years of not quite knowing whether the questions will look like the samples, and not having textbooks published early enough). Add to that the fact that I'm teaching parts of the a level that I've never taught before and I'm working all the available hours before we even think about the rest of the work (marking, planning, report writing, revision sessions after school, lunchtime "homework help" sessions, detention duty, etc).

I really, really love the bits in the classroom with the kids. The paperwork stuff I don't enjoy, mainly because it's so time consuming, and a lot of my marking seems to be for slt or Ofsted rather than for the benefit of the pupils.

The bit with the children is great but the rest is relentless and dull.

I'm a career changer and have been teaching for 5 years -I bloody love it!

There seems to be this perverse 'oh woe is me, I work 20 million hours a day and I don't even have time to wipe my bum' culture going on but in my last career (sales and HR) I regularly worked 10-12 hour days, had days off cancelled at the last minute and had to deal with things like telling 180 people they were getting made redundant.
I worked bank holidays and only 5 weeks holiday a year -and I couldn't choose when much of it was taken. My children were at before and after school club and in full time childcare in the holidays. My salary was roughly equivalent to what I earn now so I took a short term pay cut but I'm so much happier

Yes I've worked 3 days this holiday but I've chosen when and where -and I'm ahead of what need to be done so I can have a more relaxed week 1, settling my class back in after the holidays (some of them have very troubled home lives and find holidays difficult)

We have a reports deadline of Friday -but that's to accommodate the people that choose to do it in the holidays, the majority of teachers did them before as we have had the deadline for a long time

Our SLT are very good, look after us and support in managing teacher workload -not true in all schools but I feel like I have a better work/life balance than in the corporate world

I'm a secondary history teacher - and I love it and hate it at the same time.
I love the kids and the 'banter' as they call it, I love my subject.

I hate he monotony, the politics, the constantly increasing demands, the endless changes, planning, marking and jumping through hoops.

Every winter I swear I'm quitting and here I am still doing it by the spring.

At present, the benefits outweigh the shit, but I can see where we are headed and as soon as the shit outweighs the benefits, I'll be jumping ship.

I think it has a lot to do with your expectations, and taking a job in a good school. You need to be really sure about what posts you accept, as the wrong school can be hell, and a nice school can make all the difference. Don't jump for the first job you're offered if you're not 100%z

I’m a teacher and I think if you love your subject it’s a good path to follow. Give it a go, you don’t have anything to lose.

I teach maths, which I do enjoy, but I don’t enjoy teaching it as most of my time is spent doing times tables and low level stuff that doesn’t interest me.

The holidays are good, the pay is reasonable pension is good and it fits round my family life (I can leave school at 3:45 to pick up DS but work again 7-10pm at home)

I'm place marking as I've just been discussing this with my DH. My youngest starts secondary school in September and I'm thinking of doing a PGCE in History!

I love it. Been teaching for 20 years. I do despair at the state of education at the moment, Academisation, rigourous new specs, corporate approach etc but, so far, my school isn't like that. It's my 5th post so I've seen a range of schools. It really really depends on the Senior Team. We have a liberal and lefty Head who is great despite immense presurre. It's not utopia but we are trusted to get the job done have a fair Marking Policy. It makes all the difference. I do agree that you either have 'it' or you dont though. I've seen trainees eaten alive by kids at our school and if you can't teach here (Ofsted Outstanding/ Rural) you can't teach anywhere IMO.

After donning my flame proof clothing...

I love my job. Yes it is hard work but it gets easier and you learn to be savvier. Money per hour is probably crap but my salary isn't bad (on just shy of 50 before tax). While term time isn't very family friendly I struggle to think of other jobs with the same career progression that give you the holidays off?!

I've taught in several different sectors.
Primary education is ridiculously hard and stressful. I had no life outside of work.
FE is hard. Very stressful but just about managed to have a life outside of work half of the time.
Prison education is piss easy, but boring. It had no impact on my home life.

I know someone who had a complete nervous breakdown after teaching until almost retirement age. She realised she gave her all to her job and left nothing for herself. She left her job suddenly then she went off abroad for a bit to recover.

OP, before you make a decision, go and do work experience in the schools in the place you'd like to teach. Ask to observe the top sets and the classes with the more difficult children.

Also to add As many have said it is a real baptism of fire when you start. You literally get thrown in at the deep end in terms of behaviour management and delivering a lesson and it takes a while to establish yourself and kids can be brutal to student teachers. I hated my pgce but enjoyed my nqt year when the kids saw me as a 'proper teacher'

It's possible to qualify for a PGCE and not immediately go into teaching.

Teaching is not always mainstream state school.

Education officer jobs for Theatres, Museums, Collections, Galleries are often available especially in London.

History isn't the end of everything - other disciplines and skills are always taken into account.

Online teaching, personal tutoring (in a Grammar School LA), marking for an exam board - are all viable.

A PGCE is not a sentence!

I love lots of things about teaching but there's things I hate too. I've been teaching on and off (fitting in having kids and studying) for about 13 years.

As others have said, the support from SLT can make all the difference. Even if the kids are difficult, having staff back you up and help you makes the job so much easier.

Hours during term time are really really long. Having said that, some nights I can leave by 4.30 (earlier if I really have to) and then work at home later. Obviously, having the holidays when you have your own children is a huge bonus, even though there's loads of work to do.

I work in special needs at the moment. Currently working with moderate learning difficulties and autism but hoping to move to work with severe physical disabilities. There's a huge amount of paperwork like writing EHCPs and support plans, plus constant making of individualised resources as well as for every single lesson. Then there's the usual assessment data and target setting which you get in mainstream as well. We also have lots more training than I did in mainstream.

However, I think back to all the jobs I had before teaching and whether I'd rather still be doing them. I wouldn't. They used to bore me silly. That's not to say teaching is never boring. It is sometimes, but I love working with children and helping them achieve.

The one thing that worries me is doing this job in another 10 years, aged 50. Not sure I can physically do it...

I career changed to become a teacher and have never regretted it. I have noticed that there’s often a difference between those who went straight into teaching and those who have had other jobs. It is not the only job that causes stress, where you disagree with policy and have to do things that seem tedious sometimes! It is also not the only job where you have to work long hours. I found it really family friendly in that I could leave early enough to give my children only half an hour in after school club or pick them up if they were in clubs etc, but DH did the morning run which was a godsend. Being able to work from home was great and not having to arrange childcare for all school holidays was a huge saver for us—and really nice as well. I coped with marking ok by being very organised about it—there are methods—and in some schools like Michaela you won’t do any (though they ask a lot in other ways). It is excellent if you like people and less so if you prefer to work alone. Pick your school carefully—a good one will set you up brilliantly, a bad one will stress you out. I love it still after nearly 20 years.

I am Head of History. I love my job on the whole but I work in an independent school which frees me from a lot of the red tape. My friend who taught science in a state comp had to leave after 8 years due to massive stress.

I really like the idea of teaching, deliver the occasional specialist lesson at school and run a before school club. But teachers make the profession sound so awful I can't bring myself to do it. DH works 60+ hours a week already, I work part time and do all the family workload. If I launched into a new career requiring 60+ stressful hours a week it'd break me, I quit IT for the terrible work life balance with no support from dh, and that at least paid well!

I considered teaching. I went to an open day which allowed me to sit in classes & talk with students. It helped me decide whether teaching was for me (it wasn't)

I love my job.. Currently on maternity leave and as much as I love being at home with my son I also miss my kids from school and my colleagues, I enjoy catching up with what they are doing through seesaw and will be going in to visit soon. I am sen primary teacher. I only have 6 kids in my class but they all have many different needs. I will say no two days are the same and it is definitely difficult at times and with the range of needs and lack of support government wise due to lack of funding often I need to have a plan and a back up plan (as well as a back up for the back up plan) as sometimes my day just doesn't go to plan but I honestly wouldn't be in any other job. And if I have to work long hours at least I can do some of them at home and while I do do work in the evenings and during holidays I can do it while my own child sleeps or at times that suit me for the most part.

It's simultaneously the very best job and the most infuriating at the same time.

Teaching the kids is amazing. Some will drive you absolutely mad, but they're always 'your kids'.

The marking. God, the marking. And the endless admin. And the politics...That's the infuriating part.

I've been teaching for 17 years, but I need an escape route now. I can feel myself getting annoyed with the same initiatives coming round and round. I think maybe I'm less patient now and I'm sad about how I couldn't ever switch off when my children were small. If I had the time again, I'd do something else.

Glad some others share my experience of pointless data/marking.

I will say that I think it might be the only job where you get a bone broken by a 'service user' but you are the one you ends up feeling guilty because you had to leave a lesson to go to A&E! And then, of course, the guilt of them being excluded. I'm gearing up to have to beg the hospital for a summer holiday date for my operation.