Anyone work in further education? Is it good/bad/awful??

[Fishoutofbowl]

Don't really think I am being unreasonable but posting here for traffic Im judging wondering if anyone works in further education college and how you find it.
I'm considering this as an option after uni and would like to canvass some honest opinions!

I have friends/family who do.

At the moment it's dire. Very little funding, low morale.

There's more money being put into apprenticeship training I believe, so it's worth looking into that, but many colleges are a mess.

Awful. Don't do it.

Just going to bed now but will pop back to the thread tomorrow if you want any more details!!

Don't at the moment but did not long ago - the lack of money, morale at rock bottom, stress levels sky high working environment nearly broke me. I would look elsewhere if I were you....

It broke my husband, he had a huge breakdown and now vows never to return. 4 of his colleagues also had breakdowns that year

Oh dear. What's so bad about it exactly?

Meant to add, I have had a few days work experience in a college which seemed like quite a nice environment, so I'm surprised responses here are so negative, but I did find it difficult to know whether teachers were being totally honest about issues, hence posting here!

I work in FE (not as a teacher). It's challenging and stressful, but working with young people is worth it.

I absolutely love it - and I teach English, so all my learners have already failed, most hate my subject, many don't want to it. It's compulsory too.

My specialist interest is behaviour management, which fits because, honestly, the behaviour can be appalling.

I've been called all manner of names, had to break up numerous fights (including chairs being thrown at people), parental support is often totally missing...

There isn't any money, pay is lower than schools (even though I have a good degree and a PGCE), students are disengaged. Many are living in poverty.

But all of that aside, when you get the kids onside, when you see them grow and change, when they pass exams, or improve, or just say "hello" when you pass them in the corridor after months of surliness it is the BEST job in the world.

You need to be incredibly resilient, able to stand your ground in the face of some extreme behaviour, be able to admit when you are wrong, be able to laugh at yourself, be able to see through the walls they have built around themselves, be able to deal with a HUGE amount of stress and pressure and not break your heart over the kid whose clothes smell of cat pee, the kid whose skin is grey with dirt or the girl who is parenting her five younger siblings because their mum is on drugs.

It really isn't for everyone. It takes a certain type of person to teach longterm in this type of establishment. The behaviour gets worse year on year and bums on seats for funding takes precedence over anything but the most extreme behaviour.

I love it! But many, many people don't. We have high staff turnover, and lots of people off with stress.

I would recommend that you ask to shadow a teacher in FE before you make a decision.

I do. It very much sounds like it depends on the college. Mine is great, I love my job. It’s hard work but most worthwhile things are. What field are you thinking of?

Thanks for responses, I did go for a weeks work placement in fe, organised by my uni, and thought it seemed like something to consider, but didn't know how much was individual to that particular college/my geographical location, as they are looking to recruit people here.
I am thinking of health and social care- my degree would allow me to teach that and child care.
I dont know what to think of it really, I appreciate the honest opinions here- keep em coming

I work in FE (non teaching) and I love many things about my actual job. The current climate though is horrendous, and it's been the same but getting gradually worse throughout the last 10 years that I've been here. Funding is being cut dramatically year on year and in ten years I've personally been restructured (with redundancies) three times with another one on the way this term, and seen numerous other departments being restructured numerous times. Future funding will continue being cut for the foreseeable future so nothing's going to change.. Pressures from government are also increasing so there's the constant forced changes and need to improve while at the same time losing x million in funding per year. Everyone I know is working to fill in the job done by at least one colleague who left but wasn't replaced, which you can do for a short period but not indefinitely, and everyone is knackered and fed up the 'initiatives'. The actual work is very rewarding, but constantly comes up against frustrations of if only we had more resources for this that and the other.

Having said that, I've been in this workplace for longer than I've been anywhere else, so it's doing something right.

I personally love it, maybe it depends on the college.

I teach English so I have a couple of GCSE classes a week primarily consisting of adults who have either failed or never done GCSE before. I find them the trickiest to teach but they’re mostly adults so they’re far from being obnoxious. They just have very basic English knowledge a lot of the time and they often aren’t there by choice, it is simply to further their education/career prospects so they don’t enjoy it as much. I have one A level class I teach twice a week and two access classes again, twice a week. I spend some time during the week sitting in the English workshop in case any of my students require extra help. The access classes are my favourites . The classes range in age from 19-66! They’re a diverse bunch and I always thoroughly enjoy teaching them.

The toughest thing is marking, especially over the school holidays. I have three primary aged DC so I don’t get to spend the entirety of the school holidays with them as I will sometimes have to go into work for open days/GCSE workshops in the run up to the exams/to get paid for my marking. There isn’t much to mark from GCSE level but I have 25 students in my A level class and I am very, very fortunate to only have 10 in one access class (that almost never happens) but 20 in the other. I try to level it out so they don’t all have essays due in around the same time but I can sometimes have 35 2500 word essays to mark. Not easy.

The admin is also a fucking nightmare. It is all computerised now which may make it seem simpler but technology can be a real twat at times. We have to add a lot of work to the revision section on the college’s website and also the students are ‘tracked’, we have to fill that in every so often (just attendance, their current grades, their target grades etc.)

The actual job is a pleasure though. I would never, ever choose to teach secondary. I have friends who have quite literally had nervous breakdowns, one actually has PTSD after a student threatened her with a knife... In college we can have some challenging students but the college has absolutely no tolerance for them and if it’s serious enough, they will simply be thrown out. There’s a high security presence including an on site police officer which definitely makes staff (and students) feel more secure than I ever would in a secondary school. I also couldn’t stand teaching young teenagers.

I did a few years ago, though pastoral rather than teaching. It was tough and I much prefer HE personally. Constantly changing funding landscape meant there was no stability, and the associated resourcing and morale issues. Also seemed to be a lot of difficult personalities but that was probably just that institution!

I did it for 10 years and loved it for the first 7. Finally escaped this year, less pay and more hours, but by god, I feel free!
Awful, bullying management, no support for disciplining students, behaviour getting worse, more and more paperwork.
I went off sick with stress for 2 months last year as both C & G and BTEC came in to EV us at the same time and they wouldn’t accept our online. Everything had to be printed off in triplicate and then they go5 super picky, so it had to be done again and again, even though everything met the criteria the first time around.
You get much lower pay than schools and you don’t (contrary to many beliefs) get the holidays off. I still only had 28 days a year, only to be taken in holidays, no more than 2 people in department allowed off at a time, so I ended up carrying it over. I got to the top of my grade (band 8) and then there’s nowhere to go, without finding a non teaching role.
In the end I put my cv onto LinkedIn and got a call from a recruitment agency a week later and was gone by Xmas. Had a call last week from my old HoD as they still hadn’t filled my role. 😂. Never going back.

It's tough. A permanent contract is like gold dust.

There is a lot of insecurity in the FE sector at the moment, contracts may be short term. Health and Social Care and Childcare are still in demand but you may find that students lack basic numeracy and literacy skills which they need to resit alongside as well as find placements. Bureaucracy and attendance can be an issue. The ongoing threat of Ofsted inspections, moderations and meeting targets adds to stress.