Tell Me What It’s (really)Like To Be A Teacher

[LucilleBluth]

I have applied and been accepted for a couple of School Direct and SCITT places for 2022. I’m 40, I work in a special school in a support role and feel like now my own DCs are older that teacher training is something I want to pursue…I have a good degree.

I obviously work closely with teachers and have teacher friends… BUT MN is so so negative about teaching. Will some of you MN teachers tell me what you love/hate about teaching. Am doing the right bloody thing here?

I adore my job in a secondary boys' selective independent school! I have a young child and am able to manage my workload fine.
I found my job in an inner city academy horrific, and it was nothing to do with the kids.
Choosing the independent sector was the best thing I ever did.

I have 3 TA friends who have gone through it over 40, and not a single one lasted more than two years past NQT/ECT. Also, you would be hard pressed to find many teachers in their late 50s, so you won't have a retirement age career path due to the insane youth culture that exists informally pretty much everywhere. There was a sad thread about older teachers not passing capability which would have put me off if the friends hadn't already quit. It is a HARD transition to go from even a HLTA post with lots of responsibility to a teaching post with ALL the responsibility.

It is very hard to make the transition from TA (assuming long-term and not 1 year graduate) but probably slightly easier in special.

@roarfeckingroarr

And why can't you recycle plans / lesson content? I'm interested

In special each child will have an EHCP and be at very different points in their learning

I also despair of the way Ofsted/observations have changed so much. I have a lesson observation feedback from 15 years ago where I got ‘outstanding’. I kept it as it was particularly glowing and made me feel fuzzy when I read it .

That lesson now, wouldn’t even get a good because there have been so many changes and diktats about what now constitutes good teaching and learning. I think that’s crap-my teaching hasn’t changed, just the criteria I’m judged on.

So much has been introduced since I qualified that has taken SO much time and distracted us from time spent with the children and planning wonderful lessons. Literacy strategy, numeracy strategy, Success criteria, APP, Thinking Hats, learning styles, WILF/WALT/WAGOLL, P4C, Mantle of the Expert, deep marking, two stars and a wish, green for good and pink for poo and the purple pen of pointlessness. Im sure there are so many more fads that I’ve missed.

So much stuff introduced with hours wasted, and then dropped quietly, having had so little impact.

What’s wrong with writing a title, eg ‘Letter Writing’ instead of a learning objective saying

LO I am able to write a letter

Which has to be printed out cut up 30 times and stuck into 30 Y1 books. Why???

What’s the point of reams of comments marking for children that can’t yet read it? What’s wrong with ticking the bits that were good?

I agree with pp. Age discrimination in teaching is appalling.

I don't love it but it suits me in that I like always having the school holidays off and not having the stress of sorting childcare out over the 6 weeks holidays.

For me it's not a calling or whatever but the benefits outweigh the negatives I like the holidays, the pension and the actual teaching. The pay is ok but not necessarily when compared to other grad roles - but other grad roles don't get 13 weeks holiday a year.

I don't like the way we're used as a political football so constantly changing what we do depending on the minister for education, I don't believe ofsted are fit for purpose, testing and data recording in primary schools is beyond a joke but it will take an incredibly brave head to speak up about it and paperwork isn't great but is slowly improving.

The biggest thing for me was going part time. I hated my job when I was full time all the stuff I hated seemed to far outweigh the good parts of the job. In going part time I feel I've got much more of a balance, but obviously I get paid less as a result.

The other big factor though is the school you end up in. Schools vary wildly in their expectations of staff.

You struggle to get away from thinking about work.

Everything needs to be done right now, for some reason.

You do the job of several people.

The goalposts change each year.

Management get progressively worse

I’m in my fifth year of teaching and will be leaving at the end of this year (job or no job).

I recently tested positive for COVID and genuinely felt nothing but delight as it means I have an excuse to not go to work for ten days.

I’ve felt much more ill than this before and gone in, because of the mentality of “you do it for the kids”.

Everything I do should be “for the kids”, but in reality, everything I do is for Ofsted, SLT or some other agency.

My school is lovely, my SLT are usually supportive, and when I’m stood at the front of the classroom, I really love my job.

Unfortunately, teaching is a very small part of being a teacher, and the rest is so unbearable that I’m not willing to put myself through it anymore.

I had a year 2 class at an infants school. We took them up to the junior school at the end of the summer term to get used to their new teachers. Our head insisted that huge amounts of paperwork accompanied each child. I explained to the year 3 teacher that I was behind on this this but it would be done by the end of term. She said " Oh we don't know why you do all that it just goes in a cupboard in the office. Nobody ever reads it." Told my head who said "Well I want you to do it anyway". Hours and hours of pointless shite evening after evening that not a single person ever looked at

If also add in my experience the people who go into teaching feeling like it's a vocation or whatever are the ones who don't last. Whereas the ones who see it as a job with good and bad aspects to it tend to have more realistic expectations and last longer.

I also agree with previous posters about time management. It's not my forte but I think it's one of the most important skills a teacher can have or develop.

I love my job (11 years and counting) but management, micro-management in particular and marking are the biggest issues.

A harsh reality of teaching is also that it’s more work to be off sick than to go in to work and be sick and half-functioning. Today I have either the flu or Covid (awaiting results) and feel like death warmed up but have still had to spend most of my evening setting cover work.

@Lacroix11

Broadly speaking, people who:

• Have supportive families
• Are good at maintaining their own boundaries
• Are expert at time management
• Have sturdy mental health
• Are independently minded
• Love the children
• Do not care unduly about professional advancement
• Are good at keeping things in perspective
• Have a fantastic sense of humour

… enjoy teaching and are great at it!

And people who:

• Are perfectionists
• Are people pleasers
• Have fragile mental health
• Have fragile egos or self esteem
• Care about being recognised and appreciated by anyone other than the children
• Struggle with organisation and time management
• Take everything very seriously and/or personally

… Will not last beyond 5 years.

By and large, I stand by this. There are some schools with psychopathic heads (not even joking) where the former group are chewed up and spat out for their courageous individualism, and there are some incredibly lovely schools that can accommodate the latter category to an extent.

But generally speaking, if you aren’t in group 1, run for the hills.

Completely agree. If you are in the first group you will love it. I know people who absolutely thrive in teaching. Many people in the second struggle and would be so much happier somewhere gentler, less relentless and with more time to decompress.

I absolutely love it but it absolutely has taken over my life.

I am one year on from probation year after the primary school PGDE (Scotland) for context.

I could NOT have done the course or this job with small children. Tonight, I have pretty much abandoned my teen as I've sat at my computer from 4.30-9.30 planning lessons, creating powerpoints and making worksheets for tomorrow. Everything was from scratch as nothing available online or from colleagues was quite what I needed.

I hope that planning becomes much more efficient once I've built up a bigger bank of resources so i don't have to make everything from scratch.

I feel constantly on edge thinking about what i need to do and what I've forgotten.

I worry a lot about the kids at the weekend, the ones who have SW involvement or I know have difficult home lives.

I am expected to do so much work in my own time. E.g. last night i was on zoom with colleagues for 2 hrs planning a school xmas event.

However, I absolutely love going into work each day. Love the children, love seeing them apply their learning - something that i have taught them! - across the curriculum. Love the variety in primary school, getting to cover so many different learning areas.

I think teaching needs to be a job that you totally love. If you're half-hearted about it, you will be miserable.

I used to live for my job; being a teacher was the most heart-wrenching, difficult but truly magical thing in the world.

Then I had my daughter and Im dreading going back - it made me realise how much I gave up to do the job to a high standard; I don’t want to be dragged back into long hours, stressful workload, entitled parents and parenting other people’s children, inevitably neglecting my own.
I would not recommend it to anyone, it’s completely thankless a lot of the time and if you value your home life, it’s not the job for you.

for all of my colleagues on this thread who find themselves in a difficult situation.
I feel for you. I know it's shit. No-one gets themselves into this situation without a real commitment to make a difference.
I hope you all find a way to get to live your best lives. (Hugs)

@MrsMo21

I used to live for my job; being a teacher was the most heart-wrenching, difficult but truly magical thing in the world.

Then I had my daughter and Im dreading going back - it made me realise how much I gave up to do the job to a high standard; I don’t want to be dragged back into long hours, stressful workload, entitled parents and parenting other people’s children, inevitably neglecting my own.
I would not recommend it to anyone, it’s completely thankless a lot of the time and if you value your home life, it’s not the job for you.

I do understand this, you are not alone. A lot of people come to this place after having their own children. It does easier as your own children get older so you might want to hang on in there. I left!

I hear a lot about micromanagement in teaching. I wonder if this is something that's different outside of Scotland, or if it's because I've only worked in one school so far? We are given a lot of autonomy with our teaching and lessons. I don't feel at all micromanaged. We do have to follow the school's agreed processes for marking, behaviour etc but I don't feel at all smothered by it. I can be completely creative in how I teach children the curriculum. And this is a big perk of the job.

Which aspects of teaching do others feel are micromanaged?

I’ve taught full-time for 7 years. My pupils and their parents think I’m pretty good at it. SLT don’t always agree because I’m not interested in jumping through hoops or brown-nosing for promotional opportunities

It’s fun, rewarding, intense, tiring, interesting, creative (unless you’re boring) and a huge ego trip. Takes over your life if you’re not careful so you need to make sure you find time for the things that are important. You’re always learning.

It’s easier than a care job. You get to sleep in your own bed and your days off are not punctuated by endless phone calls asking you to go in.

The regular wage is nice, unlike when you’re self employed and have to stress about money coming in.

And it’s more important than most other jobs with similar wages.

Yes it’s a lot of work but if I wasn’t doing this I’d be doing something else which may not be any more worthwhile or enjoyable. I actually don’t dislike marking, planning and writing reports.

CAVEAT some schools are awful toxic places and will break even (or especially?) a great teacher. Leave these places immediately and try a different school before you give up on the career altogether.

This thread is both depressing and very true. How do we all keep going and why are we tolerating this treatment? I was tutted at today in a meeting for "doing too much" then minutes later told to do more in my responsibility area. I work 55-60 hours each week and am exhausted and consumed by guilt about how little time I give to my own daughters. I despair but can't see a way out.

I was in a year 6 class today. 30 kids. 6 of them behave appallingly and the room shifts around a their moods. If 1 kicks off the other 5 join in. One of them told me today that the lesson was 'fucking shite'. Year 6.

I do enjoy my job but I loathe spending time in this particular class. Sadly dealing with pastoral/behavioural issues is a big part of the job and I am questioning whether I'm in the right job. To be honest I think I'm just in the wrong school.

@Tiredtiredtired100

I love my job (11 years and counting) but management, micro-management in particular and marking are the biggest issues.

A harsh reality of teaching is also that it’s more work to be off sick than to go in to work and be sick and half-functioning. Today I have either the flu or Covid (awaiting results) and feel like death warmed up but have still had to spend most of my evening setting cover work.

When I was pregnant with my eldest son I had horrendous hyperemesis and was frequently hospitalised and put on a drip. I was so thin my best friend didn't recognise me when she came to visit. My headteacher came to the hospital .....bringing with her 34 blank end of year reports for me to fill in. The supply teacher didn't know the class so I would just have to do it. Wtf

Hated it. Was micromanaged with no autonomy or flexibility. I’m so much happier in a new role & feel like I have my life back.

"My headteacher came to the hospital .....bringing with her 34 blank end of year reports for me to fill in. The supply teacher didn't know the class so I would just have to do it.* This is both outrageous and utterly unsurprising.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I've managed to survive 20 years of upheaval and change and occasionally lunatic heads. I've seen the job, and heads, destroy people in a way I haven't seen in any of my non teacher friends' jobs.

I also don't think the pay is good, when compared to other similar professional jobs. Especially where those jobs have clearly defined start and end times and are often more flexible. People who say 'oh i have to work in the evenings too ' often forget to add:'sometimes ', whereas in teaching, it's knowing that after 5 lessons+form+intervention+ phone calls+commute, you'll STILL have to crack open the laptop when you get home.

I love bits of the job, but am getting increasingly sick of entitled kids and the fucking moaning, whilst we bend over backwards for them every. Single day.
Why are we learning this?
Is so boring. Can't we watch something?
My uncle doesn't have any gcses and he's good a good job, why do I have to do them?
What's the point of all this?
Why do we have to learn about books? Can't we learn useful things like about cooking?

I'm just tired of having to make kids give a shit about their own futures, but being told what a privilege it is.