Teaching experiences

[Jules108]

Posting here as I'm not sure where else this would be appropriate to post.

I've seen a few threads on here about the difficulties of being a teacher/teachers leaving their profession.

I want to become a secondary history/ humanities teacher and I'm wondering is being a teacher rewarding? Is the workload manageable? I should add that I'm a single mum to a toddler.

If you wouldn't mind sharing your experiences, good or bad, I'd appreciate it 🙂.

It can be extremely rewarding or it can be daily banging your head against a brick wall.

The workload will be high. Expect to be working after your child has gone to bed, late every night. But it is manageable in the sense that people manage.

It depends so much on the school you're in, the support you get (or don't) from management, your own capability. No one can tell you whether you can do it until you try.

I'm in primary so not sure how similar but I love it. It is very exhausting and the paperwork/ admin can be a bit overwhelming but I love teaching. I have been doing it for 12 years now and gave 3 DC under 6. Your training year will be hard as a single mum as there will be lots of late nights and early starts, have you any family to support you?

is being a teacher rewarding?
It can be. It isn't always. I have found it rewarding, frustrating and heart breaking in equal measure. Remember for every child you inspire with a love of history there will be another who holds a grudge against you because you gave them a detention and another who messes around and disrupts your lesson and another who struggles massively with their literacy and requires one to one support you can't provide and you feel like you are constantly letting them down but there is no budget for a teaching assistant.

Is the workload manageable? No. In all honestly I think it's nigh on impossible to do everything well so something has to give. Some schools are more supportive and effective at managing staff and their workload than others. Do your research and speak to other teachers. Use your training time to get a knowledge of and feel for all local schools. Don't work for a school you are not sure about and negotiate your salary and working hours if you are not planning on working full time.

I should add that I'm a single mum to a toddler
Are you planning to train with a toddler? Training for me was about 60 hours a week so sometimes 15/20 in my own time. I would say it's almost impossible with a toddler as you would probably need to do 2/3 hours some evenings and work most of one day at the weekend. I would advise waiting until your child is slightly more independent.

The workload becomes more manageable the longer you have been in the same job.

I have been teaching for 13 years.

Get this moved to staffroom if you want traffic from actual teachers. On AIBU you may just star a war. Accidentally!

Thank you for your replies.

@Yellowcar2 Kudos for the 3 under 6! I'd have my parents and my SIL for support.

@Sunshine93 So I'll be starting a fast track undergraduate degree this September. Then the plan is to do a PGCE or maybe look into other teacher training routes. So DC will be 3 when I start

Teacher for 24 years, started teaching just before my kids were born. The first few years, including when they were toddlers was really tough. My husband had to change jobs to help juggle childcare - no family nearby. The workload is intense, 50 hours a week minimum in term time. This time of year my history colleague has just had over 220 end of year tests to mark for her ks3 classes, in just 2 weeks, so lots of evening/ weekend work meeting the deadline and inputting the data. There are meetings until 4:30 once a week, and twilight in lieu of INSET until 5 every few weeks. Plus up to 7 parents evenings, 3 tutor evenings, 2 open evenings and other events that all go on until 7:30pm. But on the plus side, the kids are great, and you do get the holidays off with your kids to make up for barely seeing them in term time.

One thing I do regret is missing all their firsts as I was working. First day at school, nativities, sports days etc... I never saw any.

I would suggest spending some time in a school and weighing up the pros and cons carefully first.

@Piggywaspushed Thanks! Will do. I wasn't sure where was most suitable

@Springcleanish I hadn't actually considered that I'd miss their firsts and the ability to attend their school days. I'm really glad I posted this as there's some pros and cons that hadn't even crossed my mind

@hanvicteacher Not at all! I'm 22

My sister is a teacher and has been for 20 years. She loves it

I teach science and also have additional responsibility in my department.

The teaching part can be hugely rewarding and for the most part, I love being in the classroom. It can also be very challenging at times and mentally/physically draining. It's hard when pupils you care about have horrendous things going on at home and you know you can't fix it - you really do and up being the constant in some kids lives.

The workload is high and I don't think there is any getting away from that. Planning/marking is a lot but then you will likely have a tutor group to look after, duties to do, phonecalls to parents, data to input, SEND info to sort. It really feels never ending sometimes. I usually work when my 5 year old is in bed.

All in all, I love what I do and despite the crazy workload I honestly can't see myself doing anything else.

@hanvicteacher Thanks! I look very young for my age too which is unfortunate for teaching secondary

I would check the job market where you live. History teachers are not in demand, geographers are and currently get a bursary.

Personally I think it's next to impossible to train to become a teacher whilst looking after a preschool child. There is just too much to do all the time.

For a variety of reasons I don't think AIBU was the best place to post this if you want serious answers without the thread being derailed.

I was 20 when I started teaching. Really didn't cause any issues. I had lots of energy back then and probably more commitment

Teaching has become a truly horrible job. I advise you strongly to consider another way of earning a living.

I trained when my DS was 1.5. It was tough but manageable. The NQT year was hard going too (that’s in Scotland - do they have it in England?). The job is very rewarding. I’m lucky I’m in a very supportive school with a great department. We have pretty challenging pupils but that’s the aspect I enjoy. I’m lucky to have a headmaster and business manager who will try let you attend first days at school etc for your own children - unpaid leave/toil (again I suspect in England this might be trickier). Yes the workload is tough - you will need to work most evenings. You sometimes need to adopt the ‘good enough’ approach to things because there isn’t time to be perfecting PPTs until midnight. I teach in same area you’d like to - it’s great!
I’d check ahead now about entry requirements- despite teacher shortages they tend to be in STEM subjects and not humanities so it can be challenging to get a place. You will definitely need experience working with children (like volunteering with guides or something). You’ll need to have spent time shadowing in a high school. You may need to have had experience of working/volunteering in a heritage toy organisation. Check ahead so you can tick things off while you’re working on your undergrad. Final thing is you will be much more employable if you are qualified to teach more than one thing (in Scotland this is dual qualification and is usually done after you complete PGCE but some places offer dual qualification as part of teacher training). Good combinations are history/politics or religion/philosophy. So if you have options to take ‘outside’ courses on your undergrad course think about how that could help you dual qualify.
Good luck!

A good question....

If you are suited to it and the school it’s great.

If you aren’t and the school is over demanding/crap/poor management then it’s less good.

Generally it’s quite child friendly ( your own!) we had few problems as our children’s holidays more or less matched our own as teachers. ( for me exactly the same as my children attended my school. We didn’t have those, non teacher, problems that some have over the summer break.

Workload - history isn’t as bad as say English or maths but is worse than, say, technology.

Some teachers spend a lot of time marking, preparing whilst others less. Perhaps they are more efficient, perhaps more pragmatic, some find it easier. Depends.

Your day is effectively split - school hours and then flexi time to prepare/mark etc. The school ones are quite short really, some do just those, some start earlier, some finish later - up to you really. I liked to get in early, do an hour at the end and then not start any work until our own children were in bed.

Some schools get various bees under their bonnets with initiatives, marking schemes etc. These can be great time wasters. But soon pass.

Teaching practice and the first couple of years are hard work, survive that and you can probably cope with the rest.

A school that supports its staff is worth its weight in gold. Some do, some pay lip service to it. Good supportive colleagues help, a school where you can share your problems without feeling a failure makes life easier.

Some schools have crèche/childcare attached to them. My, now adult, daughter’s school does.

I’ve retired now, 61, I see ex-pupils around, which is nice and sometimes useful. (Less so a colleague who went for her smear test to be met by an ex-pupil now a nurse! But it was fine. )

Looking back it was the right career for me.

None of us can really tell you if it’s right for you.

Look into pgce or equivalent that pay as you train. ( otherwise it’s an income free year)

See if you can go to a school and shadow a teacher for a day or two, see what it’s like. I did this for a few, some decided it wasn’t for them, for others it convinced them. Some teachers will try to put you off - natural born grumblers, go with your own feelings.

All the best.

My son was 10 weeks old when I started my QTS. I loved teaching, I loved working with the kids, especially those with additional needs. I hated the politics, the politics between teachers, bitching about each other in the staff room, as soon as one left, they’d start gossiping about them. Then there was the work outside of school time- easily 4/5 hours each night as you try to get to grips with everything. Personally I believe I just had bad luck with my schools-

School one- class teacher went on the sick at the end of my first week, and I ended up doing whole class teaching from my second week, with a few observations.

School two- was horrendous, I found out on my last day, when the secretary apologised for how I’d been treated, that they were closing the school at the end of the academic year. Both me and another student seemed to bare the brunt of their anger over this.

School 3- the deputy, who was my class teacher, told me in front of the whole staff room, to shout more at the children. At the end of the day a teacher called me into her classroom where three other teachers were waiting. They told me to ignore what was said as she could only control the children by shouting, and to be able to do it as I was, was not a gift to loose.

I finished my degree and decided I couldn’t put up with playground behaviour all the time. I was probably unlucky in my schools, but it spoilt it for me.

I ended up working in learning and development anyway- so still used my teaching degree, but with adults instead of children. On the plus side I was earning more than I would teaching, worked from home a lot when I became a manager, and arranged my own diary so never missed anything important the dc were doing!

I did my PGCE when I was 34 with a 3 year old and a 1 year old and a VERY supportive DH and excellent childcare and my mum and dad able to step in if needed and I STILL found it hard. NQT year even harder.

I think I’m good at it now - I love working with the children, but could do without the late nights marking and filling in stupid paperwork.