Becoming a secondary teacher - am I crazy?

[oliviaskies]

For context - had my DD when I was very young. Have three decent a-levels in generic subjects. Worked in random, uninspiring jobs my whole life. Now that DD is older, I'm considering finding a uni that does a degree where I would get QTS at the end of it, hopefully one nearby, and becoming a secondary teacher. Has anybody done anything similar? It seems crazy to me to even consider it, but I'm in my 30's, so surely young enough for it to be worthwhile!
AIBU - don't do it/retrain in something else
AINBU - go for it!

I refrained from an accountant to a math teacher and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

I love it. The job, the kids, the subject. It’s hard, but at the end of the day, you need to view it as a job, don’t give too much of yourself to it. I don’t. I don’t work into the night and I rarely work my holidays.

I also did my teacher training with a newborn and honestly I didn’t find it too difficult to juggle the two. I had a fantastic mentor and a great support network. I was pregnant during my NQT year too. I do think you’ll need resilience , flexibility and a good support network. I also didn’t do a PGCE, as I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully commit to writing assignments with a baby, so I did a SCITT and achieved QTS, it hasn’t held me back, I am halfway through my masters and I am a head of year now.

Did a PGCE in English at 42. Love Engliah and teaching, but god I hate the National Curriculum. Dragging completely uninterested students through heritage literature and 17th century romantic poetry was painful and pointless. I couldn't see the benefit to them. Felt I was forcing them to read books/poems/plays they hated and couldn't relate to and ultimately turning them off reading for life. "Shakespeare's well dead Miss. Hasn't anyone written a play since then, one we'd care about?" Is something I found hard to argue with.

The English Language curriculum had a point - teaching the different between fact and opinion, recognising persuasive writing, critical reading of news articles etc.

Still teach, but not in mainstream. Don't think I'll ever be able to read Dickins again either!

Go for it. I love teaching. I can honestly say that some of the teachers in my daughters school have changed her life. They have given her so much confidence and continually inspire her.

Honestly is can be good but for me there is a lot of politics, it’s not what you know it who you know. A majority of it is brown nosing.
The admin is intense and pressure to do as soon a possible is killer.
Behaviour is appalling- that is really dependant on the school. A majority of students don’t value education and I spend a majority of my time finding ways to get them engaged

Thank you all for answering! Seems to be quite a split between people who love it and really don't. A good point about the curriculum - I was so glad when my DD chose to go on a more vocational course at college, she was one of those who hated learning 'pointless shit' (her words, not mine!)
Will have to go and read a lot more into it, and give myself plenty of time to think it over.
Family time isn't a massive thing, for anyone saying it's not as good for family time as expected. DD is 17 now, and it's just me and her, so unless there's a new baby anytime soon, which hopefully there isn't, that's not too big of a concern.

Oh the national curriculum is stupid!

teaching English really affected my love of the subject. It very nearly killed it. Even now, when I read a book, I can imagine myself standing in front of a year 10 class trying to make sense of it for them.