Aibu to become a teacher?

[Heartofstrings]

Not sure why I feel the need to post this.

I have 2 kids - age 3 and 4 and a husband who is a student.

Eldest boy starts school in sept, youngest boy starts the year after.

I left teaching 8 years ago due to mental health issues. I've been tutoring since and work is busy. The variable income is stressful though and I work late into the evenings 4 nights a week.

I worry that I won't see my eldest boy when he starts school.

Is this an awful idea?I can't work it out

Currently I work 40 hours over 4 days (plus extra admin and marketing) - 10am till 8pm.

Won't you just end up doing roughly the same though?

I’m glad your mental health has improved. Financially could you look for a part time position?

I guess my rough hope would be 8am till 6pm (or 7am till 5pm) so that I can be around in the evenings. I currently don't see my kids before bed 4 days a week

I can't work out if I would be taking a pay drop or increase. Weekly I will earn less but it will be consistent so I think I will earn more.

Maybe 4 days a week would be good.

I do hear how awful teaching is now but I loved being in the classroom.

I think I'd stick with tutoring for the time being and see how the land lies in 6-12 months time. Teaching isn't easy at the moment, give it ti e and see how you feel, act in haste repent at leisure as they say!

Could you do a 3:2 situation between teaching and tutoring and see how you feel then?
What is on your pros/cons list?
Could you move your tutoring around so you see your LO after school? Maybe add a Sat am?

Well can you not do some supply work and see how it feels?

@Heartofstrings

I can't work out if I would be taking a pay drop or increase. Weekly I will earn less but it will be consistent so I think I will earn more.

Maybe 4 days a week would be good.

I do hear how awful teaching is now but I loved being in the classroom.

Well none of us can decide for you.

I wouldn’t say it was a good job for anyone struggling with their mental health though-you are only ever one dodgy observation away from being put on capability, if you work for some of the heads I know.

A good step would be to see what supply is like around here. I'm not sure it's thriving any more.

Saturdays and Sundays husband is at uni. His lectures run at weekends.

What else could I do? I guess this is the big question. I have aat level 2 and my education degree

If you aren’t sure, and have track record of teaching being a bad fit with your mental health — don’t do it!!

What else could I do?

To get anywhere near a decent salary, you’d need to retrain in something else, starting from scratch, sadly. It’s why lots of us are stuck in teaching.

Specialist / advisory teachers roles are good. Retraining as a teacher for the visually impaired, for example.

I’m not a teacher and have no skin in this game. I wonder whether if you want to prioritise evenings/bedtimes with your kids, teaching us better than tutoring? Presumably you can mark/plan at 10pm but not teach? So a bit more flexibility on timing?

I did this. Returned after a 2 year break 10 years ago and even in that time there were lots of changes to the curriculum and management (I went back to the same school). Did another 8 years part time with three young children. Had a headache at the end of every day and a lot less energy for my own children. Taught a secondary subject that all children have to do, in a comprehensive and quite a few classes were tough to manage. Considered changing school but had a career change instead and now have a much better work life balance and better mental health. Wish I had retrained earlier in something else instead of going back to it really.

I would say it depends where you teach and what you teach. Mental health wise it's not a great job if you have a family to juggle too, but that depends on your individual circumstances. Being able to control your own hours is worth a lot, but you do need to be able to pay the bills!

Are you primary? Don't go for 4 days teaching if so. They'll get a TA to do the fifth day who won't help with any planning/assessment/talking to parents etc.
Go for 3 days so you'll share with another teacher who will take their share of that burden.

Teaching is a great job (the actual teaching bit). The shit that goes with it, not so much.

How worthwhile it is will depend entirely on the school you are in, how supportive the SLT are, and the subject/year groups that you teach.

Its a fairly 'safe' career, unlikely to be made redundant any time soon, but in any situation the hours are definitely not 'short'.
I teach an 'optional' subject so the upper year groups are generally a lot of fun to teach and very little of the 'can't be arsed' pupils... but the staff who teach things like English and Maths where they have the whole year group taking the subject find the behaviour very challenging to manage.
On the flip side there are 9 in the English department to rewrite/update their one course when the government decides to make changes as they do every other year, and 5 in mine to rewrite/update our 6 courses...

Are you primary or secondary?

I'm secondary, work 4 days. Usually in my school 8:30 - 6:30, sometimes even until 7, and atm I'm still bringing home lots of work to do in the evenings.

I've been teaching over 20 years, and it's the worst I've ever known. I'm trying to hatch my escape plan (as are so many of my teacher friends), but after 20 years and minimum salary needs it's not easy!

Personally, I'd only do it if you could afford to teach 2-3 days a week (if you can find a job)

None of this fills me with hope.

My issue is I'm in a brilliant position. I have a successful tutoring business working on word of mouth. I earn well for the hours I do and am able to have some flexibility.

My only real downside is working till 8pm 4 nights a week. I need to change this but I have to pay the bills

I'm primary

My only real downside is working till 8pm 4 nights a week. I need to change this

Why do you need to change this?

How easy will it be to get a job teaching after being out for so long? Where I live there’s zero teaching jobs available and a few trained teachers I know are having to do different jobs. Like others have mentioned there would’ve been a significant change in the curriculum since you last were teaching.

I'm just aware that my eldest boy won't see me 4 nights a week. But I guess realistically I don't NEED to change it.

I'm worried my income will go down in September when schools are more settled. I currently teach 17 group classes a week

I’m applying for ill health retirement. Teaching has broken my mental health. Endless pointless scrutiny.

Someone on here described it as being in an abusive relationship. I entirely agree. The kids are great, but it’s not about them.

So relieved I’m getting out.

Sadly, the nice ‘teaching’ bit and being with the kids feels like about 25% of the job now. I don’t even mind doing displays, but it’s the ‘other stuff’ that takes up so much time outside the 8.45-3.30.

The rest is assessment, marking, planning, pointless admin and paperwork, evidencing why every single pupil hasn’t made progress every minute of the lesson, new initiatives, more paperwork, moderation, pupil progress meetings, data drops, book scrutinies, learning walks, observations, success criteria, learning objectives, triangulation. It’s not recognisable as the same job that I trained in, in many ways.

Keep an eye on job adverts. A lot depends on the right school and head. My DDs school has just employed a PPA cover teacher who will do small groups in the morning and PPA cover with the other classes in the afternoon. Also look at the private sector too. Some schools have very little turnover of staff because they do really look after their staff and make sure there aren’t excessive demands on them.