Is over an hour too far to travel for teacher jobs?

[SoMe10101]

Applying for jobs and my cutoff point atm is 1 hour. However most jobs seem to be over an hour away. Are they too far?

I think an hour’s commute is simply too expensive for a teacher’s wage! Maybe it would be different for a leadership scale post.

DH does about an hour and ten minutes in peak time. It makes for a long day and I do most of the child/ house admin stuff (I teach 10 minutes from home). He works in a relaxed school with minimal behaviour problems, but is still really tired by Thursday night.

Mine is 45 mins - I don't mind it, gives me a chance to decompress and switch back to mum mode when I walk through the door!

I did an hours commute each way driving before marriage and having my child.

It was doable as I only had myself to think about and the pay was better as it was inner London.
However it isn’t sustainable (I did it for 3 years) and I would now pick a job closer to home.

There will be other jobs coming up after may half term. Also depending on what area you are in sometimes agencies have lots of jobs on their books that aren’t in tes etc.

Good luck

My commute was about 30 minutes if I left early in the morning and was prepared to get to work at 07:20 (which I was, and did every day), 45 minutes otherwise. 40 minutes going home. To be honest that was more than enough for me.

I don't drive so use public transport. My commute to school is 90 mins each way. Have being doing this commute for over 20 years. Depends how much you need the job I suppose.

Primary or secondary, and where in the country?

My commute is 35/40 mins but on the way home, this can often become 1 and a half to 2 hours.
If I leave the classroom on the dot, the commute home is significantly quicker. If I stay 5 mins to pack up, I’m done for. It can be a bit awkward for a teacher to be rushing out on the bell.

I think it's too far. Very early starts be ause you have to allow at least another half hour in case of traffic problems) and late arrivals home. It grinds you down over the months and years. And there will be more jobs in May! Nearly summet resignation date...

Would you be on a train or driving? You may found your could car share? Have you a job atm? If you are in n.ireland I would take it u til you get one closer to home!

I drove an hour and ten each way for 2 and a half years to an independent school with 8.30-5 hours and lots of evening events. I was knackered and was saved by lovely free lunches which meant I only needed toast at home. It’s exhausting. And remember I had smaller classes there so less marking. 45 mins is about all I’d do now.

I’m a teacher and my commute is bang on an hour (except when there’s accidents). It doesn’t bother me in terms of time because I plan my day in my head on the way there - what books I will mark in my ppa, ring that parent just to check little Jonnys feeling better about his nan dying etc. On the way home I use it as time to switch off from things that might have upset me or evaluate things that haven’t gone to plan. I also feel like the radio presenters are my friends in a sense because I listen to the same ones each day

45 minutes was roughly my limit, although road conditions make a difference. Much nicer doing a rural drive against the flow of traffic than a congested urban drive in the opposite direction.

Fortunately by the time childcare came into the equation I was quite local.17 minutes was more than enough on the days DH was out of the country and I had 35 minutes to drop off two DCs in two locations (school & nursery) and get to my desk. Oh how I cursed the days that the tractors were out. That was the year that finished me off for several reasons, but solo, multiple drop-offs were on the list.

Too far. You need to be at school reasonably early if the school has staff briefing once or twice a week. If you get caught in traffic you will be late for morning registration which may not go down well with the cover coordinator if it happens on a regular basis.

Then all the afterschool stuff such as training once a week, department meetings, open evenings and parents evenings ending at 7pm .

You will be too tired to mark books and plan lessons

To far. I set off at 6.50 and it’s a 30 minute run unless there’s a motorway hold up which happens fairly often. If I set off at 7.30 it would take me an hour just because of sheer volume of traffic. I prefer to go early and do some work before school

rather than sit in the traffic. I’ve had nights when I’ve got home at 8 or 9 o’clock because of hold ups on motorway or because of weather problems. I wouldn’t like to be travelling any further. Would you be travelling on a motorway?

Too not to.

Don’t do it. I used to do a 55min (on a good day) drive to my (teaching) job- through London traffic. I didn’t like it. I did it for 10years.
Now I have a 5 minute drive to a different teaching job. It’s changed my life. I appreciate the short journey so much. I can get involved in the life of the school so much more. I can pop home whenever. I can be near home for my kids/school run etc. I’m saving so much wasted time.

I do 30 minutes and I hate it! To be for, I have to go home via the stables, so add an hour and a half, plus half an hour home from the yard. I’m changing jobs to somewhere 10 mins from home this year. I’m not worried about seeing the kids, I’m too anti-social to meet them in town!