Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

[Ohdesireer]

Is this saying still relevant?
I only ask because I’ve wanted to be a nurse all my life, I never got my GCSE’S and didn’t think I was clever enough.

I’m now mid 20s with two DC (3&4)
I decided at the start of this year I was going follow my dream.
I’m halfway into my GCSE maths, if I pass this then onto an access course for a year then uni.

But I’m put off, I got myself a job in a care setting to gain experience for my application. It’s shift work and my partner also does shift work, he’s the main earner so his takes priority and probably always will.
Trying to figure out shifts is a nightmare, I also narrowly escaped having to work Christmas Day (some CF was going to call in “sick” and I would be the next person in)
The thought of missing out on Christmas Day with my kids is daunting. I know people do it, but they know they have to do it and still choose to work in that job.
I don’t know if I want to be the mum who isn’t home for Christmas.

As my partner already works shifts and weekends, I want the DC to have some stability and a parent who is there on weekends.

I think getting into teaching would be the best option for me, maybe a primary school teacher.

My partners mum is a teacher at a blind college.
She leaves at 8:30am and is home by 5pm Mon - Fri.
Once in a blue moon goes into work at the weekend and even then it’s not a must.
And obviously has half term off.

I’ve looked a lot into nursing and the further I look the more I’m put off. I live in a small city (I’m not even exaggerating when I say, most people think it’s a town) so jobs in nursing are hard to come by unless it’s with the NHS.

I’ve heard the saying “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach”
I haven’t looked much into teaching yet, I’d just like advice if people still think this.

I’m not saying I believe it, I just want to know if others honestly do.

My family never expected anything of me.
My mum always said to me, I’m going to end up pregnant at 18, live in a council house and aspire to nothing. She was correct, this indeed did happen. But I now own my own home. (Nothing wrong with living in a council house, but 90% of them in my area are filled with druggies so not the best environment to bring up kids in)

I feel like if I go into teaching, my family will still think I’ve amounted to nothing. Yes I overthink, but the quote is just stuck on loop in my head and I think I need someone to snap me out of it.

I don’t mean to offend anyone, this is just what has been drilled into my head for years.

AIBU?

probably

Have a biscuit you absolute tool. Don't be so bloody ridiculous.
For some reason this comment has made me howl, which is unfortunate as it makes me cough.

Good grief. I'm stunned by how stupid the contributions by @Maryjoyce are.

I think as teachers, we have to deal with more real-world experiences than many other people of similar ages. Looking for solutions to every issue that gets dumped on us from budget management to dealing with parents and colleagues (many of whom can be itrrational and uninformed), supervising staff to SN, child abuse and the effects of grinding poverty or mental health issues on children whilst being continuously assessed.
As well as managing to be a WOHP, running household finances, raising children,prepping for Brexit, doing all those adult life skills and remembering to find Xmas presents.
Buckets and buckets of common sense available on demand.

I’m thinking of doing a PGCE in the future, my degree is in nursing! I wouldn’t really recommend nursing as a career, not in the UK anyway.

I volunteer in a primary school and I enjoy it more than any paid role I have done! I know that the teachers work really hard but most of them seem to like it and they haven’t put me off yet.

34 years down the line, I still enjoy it. Children are the best bit.

Hi SilverApples! I’m glad you still enjoy it. I agree with the other posters - teaching is something you really want to have to do.

I think that it can be something you really want to do and that’s great. However, I don’t think really wanting to do it necessarily makes someone a good teacher and I think it’s possible to be a good and effective teacher without a burning desire to do it.

Teaching being seen as a vocation is largely what allows it to be, put simply, taken the piss out of with regard to working hours and workload. I don’t much care if my child’s teacher dreamed of teaching from infancy or applied for a PGCE on a whim as long as they are effective in imparting knowledge and getting children through their examinations.

@Maryjoyce "Lack of proper experience in the world"

I had this conversation with a friend who is an accountant. He works in an air conditioned office, with other accountants he gets paid expenses and travels business class. He gets a bonus. HR deal with all the messy personal issues.

That week I had dealt with social services twice. Found ways to give money to students who had nothing to eat - we can't just 'give' them money btw. Spent my own money to buy snacks for a Christmas party and make sure everyone got a secret Santa present. Arranged for food bank delivers to families with no money.

Cried when an ex student got deported back to Afghanistan, wrote a couple of letters to lawyers pleading for residency in the U.K..

Oh I also did loads of planning, teaching and marking.

You haven't got a fucking clue about the 'real world'. Out of touch with reality? I see more 'reality' in a week than most people do in a life time.

That 'those that can't' saying is the precursor to 'we've had enough of experts'. It's a throw away comment from someone who is feeling inferior by their own lack of knowledge.

As a friend of mine, a teacher, once said to me "I'm confused by this notion that one person's world is somehow more 'real' than anyone else's".

Oh, I feel better now, Mj seems to be basing her opinions on experiences from one school, one teacher and third-hand accounts from a child. With a dash of an inferiority complex, and some strange ideas about people from Liverpool. I was expecting a more erudite attack

All of this!

No not Just one school experiences sadly I just happened to say the most recent things in a whole catalogue

@Maryjoyce

Give it up, @Maryjoyce. Proper teachers on here are telling it as it is. Read Moussemouse above, and tell me she's not in the real world.

Well said Silverapples!

Irvine must from the MNnontrolls, crusaders against alleged non pc trolls and groups. Nothing to do with this thread.

I was going to say q the teachers but I am too late. Teaching can be easy in some circumstances... if you are primary - especially lower school and been in it a few years so you do not have to prep - it is a doddle. This is mainly true if you work in villages / affluent areas where the majority of parents create the added value for you by reading and teaching their kids in support. Hats off to those in inner city and problem areas.

@Dandygal1976 you're a teacher?

No - my sister is a super head of now 3 schools. One is in a very deprived area where the authority give all the LA supported children to and one is in a very affluent area. She would say the teachers in the affluent area do not know how lucky they are and how lazy and entitled they can be (not all of them - some go above and beyond). A lot of my Friends are teachers - we have very close personal ties. So I am not just generalising.

lazy and entitled teachers?
How are they managing?

teachers in the affluent area do not know how lucky they are and how lazy and entitled they can be

Just another super supportive super head.

I'm sorry I made you laugh cough @knittedfairies !!!

I know how you feel, it hurts!!

Teaching, nursing, doctor -this are highly stressful and exhausting professions by those that can and do.

That's saying is spiteful and totally uneducated.

Teaching friends do not work 9-3 more like in school at 7am leave at 5pm and bring 4 hours work home and working one / two days on the weekend and the rest.

Nurses work far more hours than they get paid and then paperwork etc on top and it's also shift work. Same for Doctors.

Nothing wrong with training to be a teacher - don't listen to ANY one on here or in RL -you build your own dreams.

Phone a local school and go and do a day shadowing a teacher - or a nurse and see what suits you.

I was told at age under 10, that I'd sit no O Levels -very dyslexic -I have 4 degrees. Absolute nonsense.

Love the close net bashing from teachers on here when someone has another point a view. I am close to a lot of teachers and, for the main, they live the life of Riley once they are up and running after a few years (again - affluent areas, not in a senior position). I rarely see any holiday working other than a couple of days at the end of the summer. Whether you like it or not - this is my experience of a lot of teachers.

BoneyBackJefferson - there goes the bashing from teachers. My sister is well respected and these are personal comments to me. She gets on well with all her staff as far as I am aware. The school she just took on have relieved staff. The last Head was a nightmare. The first thing she did was to get air conditioning in the staff room and decorate it all because you should value the staff first and foremost.

How would working in a bank or building site or film set make you more likely to know enough Buddhists to know about varieties in what they eat than a teacher? The teacher in that example was just wrong, it had nothing to do with common sense or "real life" experience.