To consider retraining as a primary teacher?

[CrumpledCrumpet]

I’m early 40s, have two primary age DC, decent job/career with 50k salary but fed up of my current role. I love being around my DCs primary school and I see the teachers and I think “I want to do what you do”.

I always volunteer to help in the classroom when the opportunity comes up, I love being around the children. I love the school environment. When I was younger I volunteered in schools too - only talking an hour or so here and there though.

I like working under pressure/stress and I work better in situations with lots of feedback / stimulus. I like ‘performing’, delivering presentations etc in my current role. I’m generally patient and calm but enthusiastic.

But…

Everyone seems to be quitting the profession, so I clearly must have a rose-tinted view.

Although I like performing/presenting etc I am a classic introvert and think I might find being ‘always on’ exhausting.

I will obviously get paid less than I do now.

I can’t even get my own kids to listen to me half the time

Is it insane to even consider?

When I was exploring teacher training some years ago, the advice I had was to think about whether I would enjoy dealing with some of the most challenging kids, picking up the social issues, dealing with disruption etc rather than the actual teaching bit. I would have been great with the bright, enthusiastic ones but rubbish with the lower end and that would have made me eminently unsuitable to becoming a teacher.

@Scarby9

Thank goodness for *@pairsinparis and @WorraLiberty* redressing the balance on this thread. There are lots of teachers who love teaching.

Yes, it is hard.
Yes, it is relentless.
Yes, it involves long hours.
Yes, the stuff outside of the classroom can overtake the time and focus on the children.

But it is so rewarding too, and I laugh every day in a primary school.

The suggestion to take a week's leave and find a school (or preferably two) which will give you school experience is really important. Of course you won't get the full teacher experience, but you'll get more of an idea than just ad hoc volunteering as a parent.

I recruit for ITT, and we strongly recommend that experience before application - some potential career changers come back to report they have realised the reality wasn't for them; others come back energised and enthusiastic.

We have 7 more mature (aged 30 - just over 50) career changers (not counting TAs) on our PGCE this year. A term in, 6 of them are convinced they have done the right thing. The last will work with children, but probably more on the pastoral side or alternative education rather than as a teacher in mainstream. None of them regret leaving their previous career.

I think like lots of subjects on MN the overall picture can be a bit skewed, because people tend not to post about 'normal' things like how much they love their job.

However, it's pretty natural to post when we have something we want to moan/complain about.

I have wanted to do this for 10 years now but life has got in the way, mainly becoming a parent. I am still thinking about it but want to wait until my son finishes primary school in 3 years time as I am a single parent and don't think I would handle the stress of the PGCE year and NQT years without him being a bit more independent.

When people say about the micro management being soul destroying, the corporate environment is equally soul destroying but without the bonus of the actual teaching side of things.

And at the end of the day, it's not a life sentence. I have so far worked in about 5 very different industries and my career has changed along the way to now doing a lot of training of sales agents (who are essentially teenagers). I'm now toying between primary and secondary as having seen the primary environment more in recent years, I actually think I can relate to and help teenagers more.

I left the profession after 6 years. I loved the teaching side of it, but as PPs have said, that's only part of the job. I left because I found the workload completely unmanageable. I'd often find myself marking until midnight, working ridiculous hours and yet never getting to the bottom of my to-do list.

That said, I think I probably worked in quite demanding schools. Both of the ones I worked in had incredibly unrealistic marking policies that meant it took longer to mark each lesson than it took me to teach it. One of the schools also micro-managed how we taught to the extent that there was very little room for creativity, which I hated and found it took away the part of the job that I found the most joyful.

I might go back to it at some point, but not while I have small children. I did day-to-day supply for a while and if I was an NQT again, I think that's how I might start out to get a feel of the type of school I would like to work in. There's a huge culture difference depending on the school you're in. Good supply teachers where I am seem to get snapped up for permanent roles quite quickly and supply lets you 'try before you buy' a bit with different settings.

What I do now doesn't give me anywhere near the satisfaction that I felt as a teacher, but I'm also happier, calmer, and healthier overall. I'm also paid for the hours I actually work. So on balance- it's worth considering, but be sure that you're up for the stress and a poor work-life balance, especially at the start, and do your research into a school's culture as much as possible before accepting a position.

pensions are my thing abs it grates when people say PT it’s crap. It’s really not

I have taught for 20 years but because of being part time, my teachers pension info says I’ve only accrued about 8 years of pensionable time-that doesn’t sound very good.

Lots of food for thought here.

I currently work 4 days pw and I am considering seeing if I can use it for regular classroom experience - I think I’d enjoy it and it might give me a better feel for if I get enough out of the actual teaching bit of the job to make all the rubbish bits worthwhile.

I mean my current job involves a lot of meaningless paperwork and management pressure. I kind of feel like I might prefer all that crap if there’s something more rewarding involved in the middle of it!

If you compare against what you could accrue in a DC you’ll have done very well. It’s not the pension, it’s the part time work.

I mean my current job involves a lot of meaningless paperwork and management pressure. I kind of feel like I might prefer all that crap if there’s something more rewarding involved in the middle of it!

That’s really positive thinking-I like it!

What I find is that I’m prepping for lessons from 7.40-8.40, teaching from 8.40-3.20 and only THEN starting the paperwork, so I’m 9 hours in already, and often can’t think straight by then!

@CrumpledCrumpet

Lots of food for thought here.

I currently work 4 days pw and I am considering seeing if I can use it for regular classroom experience - I think I’d enjoy it and it might give me a better feel for if I get enough out of the actual teaching bit of the job to make all the rubbish bits worthwhile.

I mean my current job involves a lot of meaningless paperwork and management pressure. I kind of feel like I might prefer all that crap if there’s something more rewarding involved in the middle of it!

Are you considering TA work? I started as a TA, did my GTP (the old version of Schools Direct) at the same school and then stayed put for my NQT year. I found my TA experience extremely handy for teacher training because I already had behaviour and classroom management strategies up my sleeve. It also gave me the opportunity to see lots of experienced teachers delivering lessons across the curriculum.

@Fluffyhairteddy

If you compare against what you could accrue in a DC you’ll have done very well. It’s not the pension, it’s the part time work.

But my point is, if the full time job wasn’t so awful, I would be doing it. But because I don’t think I’m physically or emotionally up to it, I HAVE to be part time-meaning my pension won’t be good.

If the workload was manageable, I would love to be full time.

That part I agree with: even at most I will only do 4 days per week as I can’t do full time. It’s too much, but I’ve switched on faster accrual and will buy additional units to compensate. Anyway - off topic OP 😂

When people say about the micro management being soul destroying, the corporate environment is equally soul destroying but without the bonus of the actual teaching side of things.

This is the thing!

I generally enjoy stress and some of my best times at work have been under pressure that broke other people. Challenging situations get the best out of me. I don’t mind working long hours when it feels purposeful. I did a masters degree at the same time as working full time and it was pretty full-on for two years, it was all I did - but ultimately I loved it and was really proud of what I achieved.

I think it might be the perpetual ‘grind’ that would break me about teaching though. I don’t know. I think I would need to know the good bits are good enough.

I am not a teacher but my friend did what you want to do. She too loved presenting.
She loves her job. She is very organised and works in a good school with great behaviour management policies. The SLT seems to be key.
If you really want to do it, go ahead. I suspect if you don't you will regret it.

@Howshouldibehave so you work 2 days a week? Nobody gets a good pension working 2 days a week.

Also I have seen quite a few friends train as teachers, some of whom rapidly drop out. The ones who really struggle seem to have perfectionist tendencies or are the type of people who you can see would get bullied by the kids.

Is it better teaching in Secondary Schools or worse ?

@pairsinparis

I'm a teacher with two ds under 4. I work four days a week. I absolutely love love love my job. I love it. There's a lot of work, but the option to leave most evenings at 3.30 and then pick up work later in the evening if I wish. Everyday is entertaining, feels worthwhile, and I get a chance to be creative and not behind a desk.

It's hard work, but brilliant and I would absolutely recommend it. I work in an outstanding school, they care a lot about staff wellbeing and I think that sort of school is probably hard to come by, but worth trying to find!

The two words that stand out a mile in your post is 'outstanding school'. I imagine that teaching in such a school, probably in a 'nice' area, teaching children who engage within the learning environment would be a lot less challenging than teaching in a school in a highly deprived area. Someone I know did just that, and ended up getting physically abused by children AND parents.

Some years ago, I briefly, very briefly toyed with the idea of doing a PGCE in order to teach at GCSE/A level, but soon came to my senses.

This stood out for me
"I always volunteer to help in the classroom when the opportunity comes up"

Your kids must love you being so involved in their school life and if you are able to do this then you probably attend all the sports days, the school plays, the tea and cake for Mother's day.....

If you are a full time teacher you will be unlikely to be able to attend any event for your own children. As a parent I think you would be mad to give up a 50K job to do it. Teaching where "Every Child Matters" except your own!

That's a big decision to make, so you really need to look closely at it, and be prepared to stick with going down that path.

My DH made that transition after 15 years working in tech (late 30s). He was very burnt out, workload, stress, dynamically changing environment, etc. His dream was always to be a teacher, but the decision for primary level was a surprise, and came after research.

As other have suggested, the initial workload, and the school ethos/admin/policies was a very steep learning curve. Luckily he had great support from colleagues in a good school. He is very organized, efficient and coasting along in a routine.

He's very happy with the change, it's been great for our work/life balance, and feels he is doing something of value. I admit I miss some aspects the old situation though, all on the financial side.

... and on the financial side it's a big drop in income (but we easily manage), but there is also a wonderful certainty that we never had before either.

It is a rewarding yet frustrating job.

In the classroom, with the children yes incredibly rewarding.
However there are more children that can be draining coming into the classroom.

Draining because your the only consistent adult in their life. Draining as they cannot do anything independently and you can't work with them every day. Draining because there are behaviour issues of calling out, disrupting the class, draining because they are struggling with different languages and need you to take the time to explain the English again so they can understand.

This is just my current class and each child has a perfectly valid reason for doing what they do due to their needs and other situations but it's draining.

Then you have the endless planning. Have you included the additional support for SEN and those who don't have English and are you pushing those that get it and giving them challenge so they are not bored? That's for every lesson you teach. Then you have to mark and give feedback for every lesson you teach.

Then you have the data collections, are they meeting their targets? Who is on target, who isn't and why? What are you doing about it?

It is so rewarding yet draining. If you have the passion and the energy then go for it.

I am pretty much in the same situation!

Most teachers I have spoken too have recommended being a TA or HLTA over teaching, would most agree with that or not?

Not in a million years.

If you were thinking secondary, it is better to train to teach a subject in short supply as then you get more choice of schools to work in. Easier to find a good job.
It does seem to matter a lot where you work. But that is no different to any other industry.

My best friend did this, it's so sad watching her struggle with the planning and draining nature of the work. But i doubt it's like that for everyone. But you really really have to be all in, like a million percent, from what I've seen