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?

@Howshouldibehave

Surely if you have a sick child you stay home?

This is absolutely not the case in my school or the last one I worked in-both LEA schools.

Our absence policy is clear that you are not permitted time off to look after unwell children past the first day for any childhood illnesses like ‘common cold’ or ‘chickenpox’. If it’s something serious, you can appeal to the governors for approval, and it would be unpaid.

That's outrageous. What if you're a single parent and have no family nearby? I presume you can take unpaid leave? I'd be contacting the union for advice about that.

I've been a teacher 9 years and have a 2 year old. Teaching is relentless. I've been thinking about a career change for a while now. I've had time off with stress a couple of times.

Those who say it gets easier. It depends on your school, whether you change year groups, your personal circumstances. Since having my daughter my priorities have changed. I'd say that it's more frustration for me nowadays than stress/panic.
I spend a lot of my week frustrated and annoyed with the demands put on me when I have to put my family first. Some things I've just said 'no' and I've sought union advice a couple of times in the last year.
I've come to the conclusion that if my work starts to suffer because I'm leaving work at 4pm to pick my daughter up from nursery (which I rarely get to do), or if I don't meet deadlines because I did bathtime and storytime instead, then fine. If that means I end up getting the sack, then fine. It's not worth it.

My daughter comes first. Every single time. If I end up out of a job as a result, then at least I can say hand on heart I've put my daughter first. I'll find another job

That's outrageous. What if you're a single parent and have no family nearby? I presume you can take unpaid leave?

Yes, the governors would probably be ok to approve unpaid leave.

I really don’t want people heading into teaching thinking that the pp’s view that teaching is more family friendly than other jobs is the case. I wouldn’t say that’s true at all.

I've been teaching since I qualified in 1994 and have taken 2 terms out to have my DDs. @Lacroix11 has nailed it; I definitely have lots of the attributes in group 1. As lots of others have written, it depends almost entirely on the Head/SLT.

My first school was run by a sociopath. He and his henchwoman (Deputy Head - neurotic chain-smoking witch) had favourites that they groomed for stardom, essentially over-promoting people just out of their NQT year so that they would be grateful and kowtow to them. A very nice, very experienced science teacher took me to one side when I failed to get a promotion that a more junior (but favoured) colleague got and told me to get out whilst I still could. She was stuck until retirement. She was a fantastic practitioner, she ran her department brilliantly, mentored new staff and was given the most dysfunctional tutor groups every year, most of whom adored her because she was firm but kind. That was 25 years ago. I took her advice and moved on. We're still in contact and I'm grateful to her.

I have worked p/t since my DDs were born, sometimes in more than one school simultaneously. I have been at my current school now for 19 years, moving up from 1 day per week to 3 now. We had one awful Head for a few years and my mental health took a battering. However, he moved on away from teaching and since then it has been fine.

I spent 2 terms in an independent school and hated it. Parents treated me like something they scraped off their shoe: "we're paying so..." In my current outstanding state school, that attitude doesn't exist. Parents are largely very supportive and their kids are fine.

Someone asked about recycling lesson plans. If only! Until Covid, I did teach similar things at KS3 but would always tweak them, mostly for my own interest. However, as I teach music, the kids have missed so much practical work that I have rethought my schemes and things which we did out of necessity over the last 2 years are now being slotted in but in slightly different ways. The GCSE and A level specifications seem to change as soon as I develop expertise in delivering it. We first entered kids for the new GCSE spec in 2018, this year the set works have changed so I had 4 years' expertise and resources now completely useless as they are entirely different pieces of music for the 2022 cohort (current y11).

Aside from the leadership of the school, funding and the revolving door of government crap and new initiatives, it is a great job. I love working with the kids and interacting with them. You never quite know what will happen on any given day, so you have to think on your feet and be flexible. You have to be able to laugh at yourself. Kids seem to respond best to staff who set clear boundaries but who are fair.

You can make it positive by

Working in a good school
Working part time
Being very organised so you can reuse lessons
Get resources from online
Have strong boundaries eg what doesn't get done before 5.30-6 gets carried over to the next day.
Don't stress over the data, what I mean is don't spend hours analysing it and filling in forms.
Do jobs straight away.
When you are feeling super stressed, do a day where lessons are less teacher led. (Research/poster/worksheets) it's ok to look after your sanity and wellbeing.

On a side note, I've noticed that people who suck up to management can generally get away with more...I can't do this but I manage to go under the radar even with firm boundaries and a gung ho approach to admin. It's usually on time but a bit slap dash and does anyone check? I doubt it....

Working part time

I agree here-the people I know who are happier (I wouldn’t actually go as far as to say happy) are part time in an attempt to preserve their mental health.

They are still doing 10/11+ hour days but only 3 or 4 of them, and just about hanging in by the skin of their teeth. The impact that has on your pension is huge though.

The pension isn't worth the stress for 40-50 years though.
I'm part time and I'm still stressed. More time off work is just more time to think about work.

Part time made no difference to me. It’s still being in an unpleasant working environment. That’s the issue.

This thread has made me feel really sorry for teachers.

I've recently moved my primary age DC from a Good school in a nice area to Good school in a poorer area. Most would think I am insane, but the former was a smaller school with mixed year groups, the SENCO was also the deputy and there was just something about the environment that gave this underlying vibe of toxicity. I couldn't put my finger on it but I think this thread has clarified.

The latter school is bigger has more resources, more support staff and get a feeling that the staff genuinely do care. My DC has started to thrive already.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is teachers, we see you. And we appreciate what you do. I'm sorry teaching has become so difficult for you

@plumpudisnice

This thread has made me feel really sorry for teachers.

I've recently moved my primary age DC from a Good school in a nice area to Good school in a poorer area. Most would think I am insane, but the former was a smaller school with mixed year groups, the SENCO was also the deputy and there was just something about the environment that gave this underlying vibe of toxicity. I couldn't put my finger on it but I think this thread has clarified.

The latter school is bigger has more resources, more support staff and get a feeling that the staff genuinely do care. My DC has started to thrive already.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is teachers, we see you. And we appreciate what you do. I'm sorry teaching has become so difficult for you

I presume the former school you feel the toxicity from the staff, not just management? You won't find many teachers that don't care, truly.

I loved teaching, if I could have been just a teacher I woul;d have stayed but it's all the other stuff that gets dumoed onto schools that's made me leave. I didn't want to be a social worker, police officer, marriage guidance for warring parents etc etc. How often do you see on this site 'tell the school', eg parents squabbling about parking, that in reality have nothing to do with schools? Too much time is taken away from teaching and learning by minor probelms.
If you do go ahead, make yourself a promise to never respond to parents' whiney emails out of school hours, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

@Jenster03 yes I felt the toxicity from the management not the teachers. The Early years staff were amazing.

It took me ages to actually get the SENCO who also was deputy to realise that my DC had SEN. It was only at the point that they were so far behind that she started the process of ensuring a SEN plan was in place. Prior to this she planned to keep DC in reception rather than moving them up in to year 1. I challenged that and after the class teacher confided that they were really unhappy with the Deputy heads decision to keep DC back but didn't feel they could intervene.

I think that was the start point of me thinking this must be a toxic environment to work in if staff can't raise concerns with their management.

I’m in my second year so can only speak for that.

It’s very tiring and it’s difficult to juggle work with having a life. Your to do list is never finished and there’s ALWAYS more you can be doing which is why it’s so important not to reinvent the wheel. You have to be strict on yourself about whether it’s actually worth making your own slides/laminating that resource/differentiating that activity five different ways.

The meetings, ofsted, school improvement plans, new initiatives for teaching XYZ are fairly soul destroying at times and it can feel like you don’t have time to teach the kids with all the extra shit you have to do.

It’s fun, challenging and incredibly rewarding. You give and give and give emotionally and it can leave you with very little left for the people in your actual life. Personally, for me it’s the absolute #1 driving force in my life - teaching is everything to me and I can’t imagine doing anything else. You cannot do it if it’s not completely what you want to do because it does involve a lot of sacrifice. A lot depends on the school - on placement, everyone at the school was out the door by 4:30pm but at my current school I probably do about 50 hours a week actually on-site and then work at home too.

I really love teaching - it's an amazing job... Incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. But the workload is killer. I was an English teacher in a secondary school and I couldn't do it anymore after I had my 2nd child. I still work in education, and I know that I could always go back but the thought of returning to that level of work is terrifying.

I’ve been a teacher for 15+ years, taught from 3-16, with a small change of career (in a related industry) in between…can honestly say I love it. I’m an HoD in low socio-economic area where pupils and parents can be extremely challenging. It’s tough emotionally and physically; you are basically acting all day, every day! The workload is high and you forever feel you are chasing your tail, the hours are long but no more than a similarly paid job in private sector. I bring paperwork home and the emotional side is very difficult to leave behind in school. I frequently have students emailing me at all hours, weekends and holidays and when you know you’re the only positive adult in their lives it’s difficult not to switch off those email alerts. However, I went into teaching to make a difference to the lives of others, and find my job so rewarding as I know I do. I treat ‘my kids’ as I would my own. It’s not easy but teenagers are honestly the best people I know and I wouldn’t change my career even if I had the option to.

@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.”

I find it interesting you’ve put it this way as I left one job because the second group seemed (inexplicably) to be most of the staff. So many egos and people pleasers who took everything very seriously battling for approval from senior staff! It was really shit.

One of the things I’ve noticed in school is that people seem to find it really difficult to leave, even if they are at breaking point. I’m not quite sure why this is or of it might be the same in other workplaces too, but somehow schools seem to be able to gaslight you really effectively. Maybe cos it’s all ‘for the kids’ 🤔

I’ve had good and bad experiences but ultimately went back to a support role because that was more rewarding for me. I found teaching a bit boring despite being good at it; compared to the relationships you build as a TA teaching in secondary fell a bit flat.

*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.”*

Wonder how l made it to 26 years then. Things on that list that l have: perfectionist, fragile mental health, and cared what my employers thought of me, and very much a people pleaser.

So 4 out of your list of 7🤔

@BoysBagsShoes

Sounds like we work in similar schools! I love it too but find it very emotionally draining, so much safeguarding issues and often get home and wonder if I missed a clue today. Worry in the holidays that kids are with their families and they haven’t got school as their safe space. Kids who were permanently excluded still come after school most days to see their friends/teachers. Tough but worth it!

This is my tenth year and I retrained at 39, having a baby just over a year in (maybe don't do that!) My energy levels are good and I mostly enjoy the actual teaching but every year more bells and whistles are expected. The last two years of cancelled exams (with a third to come, no doubt) have been beyond dreadful, as I only teach exam classes. I like my students, I like my colleagues, I like the management, but let's just say I have made my friends swear to tell me if I ever become That Parent. Also having moved to the independent sector for better pay and conditions, I'm not too impressed that the school is trying to take us out of TPS (do ask about that and do your own research, anyone considering a move...)

A school is only as good as its Head/his or her minions and it's hard to ascertain their true nature from the outside, so it's a game of chance sadly.

My sister is a qualified teacher working as a TA. She gets treated like crap mostly.

Oh, I don't know who said "the battles are so bitter because the stakes are so small", but they may be onto something.

Positives: you get to watch young people grow up; you're part of something bigger than yourself; you get to laugh a lot (because students are funny/gallows humour); you get paid to talk about your subject - not that you actually get allocated time to learn more about it sadly.

I'm just about to bow out after 11 years. It's a job that has given me amazing friends, a lot of laughs and an opportunity to teach abroad and I don't regret it. But ofsted, data, behaviour - I've reached my limit and have found a new job out of teaching.

@Philandbill

"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 recall marking first year exam papers in the maternity ward, I'd stopped work '6 weeks' before the due date but less than 2 weeks in my waters broke and nothing else but the medics insisted on keeping me in hospital, I needed the exam papers to relieve the boredom!

@Phineyj

This is my tenth year and I retrained at 39, having a baby just over a year in (maybe don't do that!) My energy levels are good and I mostly enjoy the actual teaching but every year more bells and whistles are expected. The last two years of cancelled exams (with a third to come, no doubt) have been beyond dreadful, as I only teach exam classes. I like my students, I like my colleagues, I like the management, but let's just say I have made my friends swear to tell me if I ever become That Parent. Also having moved to the independent sector for better pay and conditions, I'm not too impressed that the school is trying to take us out of TPS (do ask about that and do your own research, anyone considering a move...)

A school is only as good as its Head/his or her minions and it's hard to ascertain their true nature from the outside, so it's a game of chance sadly.

My sister is a qualified teacher working as a TA. She gets treated like crap mostly.

I have heard that the independent sector is better.

I live in an area where there are a few independent (and prestigious) schools which I've been tempted to make the move to. A former colleague of mine did and has never looked back! Paid much more, resources are wonderful and behaviour (primary) is great. Pressure from parents yes but she says that's a doddle compared to jumping through hoops in our academy.