Would you do a PGCE with a baby?

[WalrusWife]

I’m currently pregnant, working in the civil service but I’ve been offered a place on a university led primary PGCE. When the course starts, my baby will be 6 months old and DH will be sharing parental leave so will be at home with her.

I know that the course is very intense, I have experience of volunteering in schools so I have some idea about the realities of schools and the work involved.

I do want to teach but wondering if I should defer my place, can’t decide!

I wouldn't.

I was beyond exhausted doing mine when I lived at home and my mum did my washing and cooking!

No. It was the toughest year of my life, totally exhausting and mentally draining in ways I could never have expected. The hours away from home and working to plan lessons all weekend was terrible, way worse than actual teaching. No I'm sorry but I just don't think you'd last the year and still be a good parent.

If your partner can do literally 80% of the work then I think yes, it is quite a good time to do it. I did it when my ds was 4 as a lone parent.

It’s an incredibly full on year. You say you have experience of volunteering in schools but that doesn’t give you any experience of actually planning a lesson and having observations with feedback, plus the essays take a lot of time to research and write. My uni based PGCE would have been impossible to complete in the way I did with a 6 month old. I often worked very late, sometimes 10 or 11 at night making resources, reading, planning, marking etc and it was generally a really stressful year full of pressure. You’ll also be observed by your lecturers at university and have to keep a log to provide evidence against the QTS standards, the list is endless. I finished with a 5,000 word case study that was really interesting but I completely threw myself into it and spent whole weekends at the uni library. Being a mother now I just can’t imagine how I would balance the two without feeling guilty and that I wasn’t doing my best work. Also 6 months is so little, you may still be having sleepless nights which would be very hard. Accept the place it do it a year later.

I recently mentored a pgce student and her workload was absolutely bonkers!

Thank you for the honest comments!

Is this a first baby? So husband yet unproven as to whether he will actually be doing the bulk of the work? Or is this baby 2/3 and you know he exactly how much he will be doing?

Honestly. No. It is incredibly difficult and takes a lot of your time. I think I wouldn’t feel as though I were doing either job (teaching and parenting) properly if that makes sense.

And I say this as someone whose partner fully takes his share of the childcare responsibilities.