To dream about a future career as a secondart school teacher

[chocolatesun]

I have wanted to be a secondary school English teacher for many years. However I was put off for various reasons and pursued a much more lucrative professional career. I’m now 38 and settled in my job. I still dream about teaching English literature to teenagers. I think I’d like to change careers in the next 5-10 years, not because I don’t like my job but because I don’t want to look back and regret not doing it. Whenever I mention this pipe dream to others I’m immediately met with a barrage of negativity.

Mumsnet teachers, am I mad? Is teaching as bad as people say? Why are so many teachers unhappy (or are the unhappy ones just a vocal minority)? I would be taking a massive pay cut to do it but money isn’t everything in life!

Following as I'm also considering the leap into secondary teaching (different subject)

Secondary, not secondart!

You need to post this in the Education Staffroom forum.

What do you think teaching literature to teenagers means? Which texts? What ages? How?

I'm not talking lesson plans but what makes you think it could/should be a good idea?

I'm a secondary trained English teacher but have moved to work in a sixth form college. I love English, but now teach a different (related) subject - I miss teaching literature but unless something radically changes wild horses wouldn't drag me back to teaching in schools. Not for a million pounds. That's my take on it.

I’m a high school teacher of 17 years, 11 of which as a head of department. I’m 39, so I have been doing this since I finished uni and have no experience of other jobs.

I work in a great school, with pretty good management, ofsted outstanding, rural area, great kids on the whole. My subject has smaller numbers in exam groups, which lightens the marking load. So my experience would vastly differ from other teachers in challenging schools, with bad management, difficult colleagues, large exam groups etc. My school works hard to keep impact on our work life balance low. You will get other people telling you some stories from hell about their workload. BUT it is still really hard here at times. Especially in terms of the hoops we have to jump through to prove ourselves, the pointless tasks we have to do, the sheer amount of marking (especially for English teachers!). Just the other night in bed I was lying there wishing I could be a SAHM.

Basically, it’s like any other job in that it depends where you work, who for and who with. The biggest factor for me is whether or not you are cut out for it. It’s a vocation. If you are made for the job, you can deal with the stresses and bad bits better. I have mentored many trainees who were just not cut out for it, so were never going to handle it as a career. The holidays are great, but there are zero other ‘perks’ other than having some great satisfaction from the lessons and students

Ive been an English teacher since the late 80s. I love the eta hing. However, I would t wish being a core subject teacher in a state school on my worst enemy. The pressure is ridiculous, you are blamed for everything and forced to teach in a way which kills they joy for everyone. I moved to independent (against my principles, really) and that’s better, but it’s going the same way.

Teaching not eta hing

I decided about 5 / 6 years ago that I wanted to be a teacher and I am wishing the summer away now because j start teacher training in September

Teaching English is great. The crap that comes alongside it is awful.

If you’re seriously thinking about retraining, arrange to spend some time in a local secondary school to shadow someone in the English department. Really shadow them, notice how they spend their ‘free’ time, ask how much work they do at home, etc. Talk to as many people in as wide a range of schools as possible.

As I say, I love teaching English but Ive genuinely been looking into becoming a postie this week as I’m just so burnt out by the rest of it.

Is teaching as bad as people say? Yes.

Name another job that requires you to simultaneously manage the needs of up to 32 different people (when legally it should be max. 30), with a significant majority who don't want to be there. All the while, you have SLT breathing down your neck, constantly changing goal posts, no money to buy the exercise books or other resources, government constantly telling you you're greedy and underperforming etc. Should I go on?

The thing that really got me down, was feedback from a recent observation. My observer told me she thought my lesson was brilliant, all students making progress and engaged, but she still had to put something in the 'areas for development' box. No matter how good you are, you are not good enough.

Actually, add to that, that once you reach the top of the pay scale, you never get paid any more no matter how well you do. I’ve been on the same pay for 7 years now despite getting some of the best results in the school every year

Here's my take on it, based on five years experience as a teacher who wouldn't go back to it for any money:

If you genuinely LOVE the classroom experience, with the teenagers, then that can make the rest of the job worth it, especially in a school with good support and senior management.

If what you love is your subject, you'll find that after a few years teaching at school level, it becomes tedious and frustrating, and you'll look for any other job you can possibly find.

If you're not sure, go into some schools to observe. Do the PGCE, but don't be afraid at the end of it to decide to go back to your current career. Teaching is hard; being a teacher in the current school system is ludicrously hard. But if it turns out to be the job that makes your heart sing, you should do it.

Depends are you imagining wide eyed teens hanging on your every word as you open up their beautiful minds to your favourite literature. Or do you picture it tough but one day you get through to them and they all stand on the table shouting o captain my captain? One or two kids will make you feel wonderful and share you passion. The vast majority will suck it dry. Why not teach evening classes to adults. Lots of call for that.

Depends are you imagining wide eyed teens hanging on your every word as you open up their beautiful minds to your favourite literature. Or do you picture it tough but one day you get through to them and they all stand on the table shouting o captain my captain? One or two kids will make you feel wonderful and share you passion. The vast majority will suck it dry. Why not teach evening classes to adults. Lots of call for that.

Eatalot has expressed my earlier post in more expressive detail, and I'm gagging to hear the OP's response.

Bobbiepin. You are right. I once had "starter activity was well thought out and engaging but lasted 30-60seconds longer than it should".

Approximately 1/20 of your job as an English teacher would be to actually teach English Literature.

Ahh how romantic! The truth is literature forms about half of everything as it’s a lot of language analysis now which is quite dry!

A level is wonderful - gcse is but as I say you have to focus on language as it’s the one that ‘counts’.

And dealing with children/parents/SEN issues/persistent non attendees who then turn up three weeks before the exam and expect you to get through the whole course/stress from meeting targets/marking....

If I could find a way out I would. I adore my colleagues and the kids but the other shit is awful.

I agree teaching A-level literature is amazing but it tends to be snapped up by the teachers at the top of the pecking order in a department and everyone else is lucky to get a sniff at it in my experience. Zero chance of an NQT getting it (language on the other hand...!)

Do not do it. It saps every ounce of your time, energy and self esteem

Hi thanks for all the comments. I’m not quite imagining the ‘Dead Poets’ Society’ scenario although that would be nice! I suppose I like the subject, I like talking and engaging with young people and I would love to be creative in my job (albeit with curriculum restraints). Of course I love the idea of making a difference, too, although I realise that most students will be ambivalent.

I have to say that teaching English is not really creative at all - in some schools you literally have to use the same powerpoints and lesson plans as everyone else in the department so you're basically just delivering someone else's lessons. I've not had quite that experience but my most recent secondary school teaching was planned to the week for me, we were given powerpoints and handouts which we could change as we wished but time and energy constraints means you did only what you could, which wasn't much. Zero choice of exam board, texts, homeworks or assessments - all imposed on you. Marking schedule imposed too so you couldn't even organise your own time. It was so uncreative, rote and dreary I couldn't wait to finish that job.

I would love to be creative in my job You won't be able to. Especially as an English teacher. I teach Psychology A level and for two weeks of the year I can be slightly creative. Core subjects do not get that flexibility.

@eatalot my areas for development point was to include more outstanding teaching practice FFS.

@chocolatesun - go for it. If you love literature and care about young people, you'll enjoy it. I've been a secondary History for more than 30 years, always state comprehensives. I have, in the main, enjoyed it and still do. You've got to have energy and be pretty resilient, but it can be a great career.

Do it but be wary...I had a year 8 call me a ‘fucking muppet’ today because I took his phone off him (he was on snapchat).

Still, only three weeks until the next half term 😂😂

Thanks all for the advice and different points of view. It’s disheartening to hear how stifling the system is but I haven’t heard anything here that I didn’t expect to hear. I think spending time in a school and possibly shadowing a teacher is a good idea, as some have suggested.