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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wish I’d gone for a different age range?

65 replies

Wishiddoneprimary · 12/03/2022 15:06

When I was 21, I signed up for a secondary PGCE and regretted it and wished I’d done primary.

I couldn’t really apply for primary teaching roles as no experience or training and I’d have been competing against others with the training (when I qualified there was actually a surplus of primary teachers!)

It’s a small regret but really think I’d have been so much happier … waiting for MN primary teachers to tell me I’m UR! Grin

OP posts:
Prescottdanni123 · 12/03/2022 16:49

As an ex primary school TA, I have never regretted making the switch to secondary school. I couldn't imagine going back to primary work.

TristesseDurera · 12/03/2022 16:52

@PaddlingLikeADuck

Asking seriously….

Why would anyone choose to teach pupils of secondary school age, which all the challenges that must involve, over the option of teaching much cuter and sweeter 4-10 year old children?

I honestly don’t understand why secondary school age would be someone’s preference?

Have you ever smelled a primary school classroom?
VickyEadieofThigh · 12/03/2022 16:53

@PaddlingLikeADuck

Asking seriously….

Why would anyone choose to teach pupils of secondary school age, which all the challenges that must involve, over the option of teaching much cuter and sweeter 4-10 year old children?

I honestly don’t understand why secondary school age would be someone’s preference?

You don't have to know all the curriculum subjects. And some of us prefer teaching older children.
Prescottdanni123 · 12/03/2022 16:54

@PaddlingLikeADuck

Asking seriously….

Why would anyone choose to teach pupils of secondary school age, which all the challenges that must involve, over the option of teaching much cuter and sweeter 4-10 year old children?

I honestly don’t understand why secondary school age would be someone’s preference?

I just couldn't get on younger children's level. Some people can, some people can't. Some people enjoy teaching little kids how to spell the most basic words and how to work out the answer to what's two plus two, but I found it was like pulling teeth. It's a rewarding job and I have upmost respect for primary school teachers and TAs, but I just wasn't cut out for that age range.

Teenagers can be cheeky and badly behaved, working with them is hard and stressful, but they can also be wonderful. If given the chance to shine, they'll light up a room.

HamCob · 12/03/2022 16:54

@SavoyCabbage

Now is a good time to switch because of the shortage. I'd apply for a KS2 job and go from there. They would have your arm off where I live. I was in a two form entry yesterday in year one and there wasn't a teacher who actually worked in the school in the whole key stage because they can't get anyone.
Unfortunately there is probably a good reason for that!

OP is there anyway you could drop a day and use the day to gain experience in primary through volunteering or working on supply?
I'm a primary teacher and personally wouldn't recommend it. The 9-3 is great but there is so much other stuff that isn't. It's very different to secondary from talking to my secondary friends. I don't want to say too much as I'll probably get piled on by secondary teachers but basically in many schools you are expected to put your class above and beyond everything at whatever cost to your own family and work life balance.

Didiplanthis · 12/03/2022 16:55

My friend just got a primary job after 20 years teaching secondary !

Wishiddoneprimary · 12/03/2022 16:58

Tbh, if I was going to drop a day I wouldn’t want to spend it in a primary school Blush Grin or any school.

I know I made my decision years ago and I wouldn’t want to change now but I do wish I’d made a different call way back.

OP posts:
SavoyCabbage · 12/03/2022 16:58

@Wishiddoneprimary

I teach English.

I’m not actually convinced I could teach English to primary age children, strange as that may sound!

It's a completely different job I imagine, but there is no reason to think you couldn't do it.

I think working in EYFS is like having a job to,do, but while you are doing it 25 people are trying to stop you from doing it.
Tactics include
Telling you it's their birthday in October
Asking you if you know their grandad John and his dog Coco
Wetting their pants
Dragging someone off a tricycle
Falling over whilst wearing tights so two of you have to be there to look for a graze
Telling you the toilet is blocked
Spilling milk on the child next to them

Wishiddoneprimary · 12/03/2022 17:02

The first two and the last two happen surprisingly often in secondary Grin

OP posts:
Musmerian · 12/03/2022 17:08

@PaddlingLikeADuck

Asking seriously….

Why would anyone choose to teach pupils of secondary school age, which all the challenges that must involve, over the option of teaching much cuter and sweeter 4-10 year old children?

I honestly don’t understand why secondary school age would be someone’s preference?

I’ve been teaching secondary fir 27 years now and love it. I wouldn’t like to teach primary at all. I’m an English teacher and love my subject and teenagers are given a bad press. They’re very engaging and funny. At A level and IB level I get bro teach lots of interesting texts and I work in a department full of subject specialists which is very intellectually stimulating.
izzy2076 · 12/03/2022 17:20

I started in primary. There were bits I loved about it. Having your own class all day every day is a double edged sword. You get to know them really well, and they end up feeling like family and I actually felt like I loved them like me own. (I was young and unjaded!) On the flip side: you see them all day every day for a year! I found primary schools quite insular, bitchy and cliquey compared to secondary.

I much prefer secondary. Staff seem to be much more of a mixed bunch. Behaviour is a lot more challenging but teenagers are brilliant and fascinating. I laugh every day and wish I wore a body cam sometimes as there are so many WTF moments. You can have some really good conversations in with this age group and whereas little kids seem to talk in anecdotes and I felt I had to be a lot more sugary in my delivery whereas I feel I'm much more my sarcastic self in secondary.

Burgoo · 12/03/2022 17:23

I don't think having a preference is ever "unreasonable", its what it is.

I can't think of anything worse than dealing with year 8 teens for an hour a day, let alone all day. Especially when you are now supposed to be a social worker, coach, mentor, teacher, administrator etc.

ChocolateMassacre · 12/03/2022 17:29

I've often wondered how primary teachers get to the loo/get a hot drink ever. Wouldn't like to be pregnant as a primary teacher Confused.

It was bad at my DS's nursery but the ratios were smaller. Being able to handle 30 tiny children, get them to sit still some of the time against their basic natures, deal firmly with hitting, wandering off and 'accidents', and still be one of the people that most of those small children love most in the world is no small achievement. I lack the serenity for it, I think Grin!

Also, you can be more honest with older children. I remember meeting one of my brother's teachers in the supermarket with his trolley loaded with booze. When my brother tactlessly commented (nothing rude, just "having a party, sir?), he was told, "No, I need it after a week dealing with you lot. This is what you drive me to!" My parents thought this was hilarious.

2reefsin30knots · 12/03/2022 17:35

I did a secondary science PGCE 21 years ago then immediately did my NQT year in Y4. I must have been in a very different geographical area to you because there was a massive shortage of primary teachers round me at the time and they'd take anybody with a pulse. I got my NQT job at the first interview I went to.

If you want a job in primary, just apply for one!

NeverDropYourMooncup · 12/03/2022 17:41

@PaddlingLikeADuck

Asking seriously….

Why would anyone choose to teach pupils of secondary school age, which all the challenges that must involve, over the option of teaching much cuter and sweeter 4-10 year old children?

I honestly don’t understand why secondary school age would be someone’s preference?

Toilet training. It's as a general rule far further along with teenagers.

Fewer parents stomping into the playground demanding to 'have it out with' you.

Get to specialise in one or two subjects rather than having to be all things to all people. So no requirement to do PE when the last thing you want to be doing is standing on a field whilst kids run up and down, complain they need a wee, somebody else looked at them funny, need their shoelaces done up or want to go back indoors/don't want to go back indoors and you still have to show a facsimile of enthusiasm for the subject/and no having to slog through fronted adverbials if you'd far rather be teaching a class to play hockey.

The pitch of an unhappy six year old is just at the right level to make you want to drill your own eardrums, compared to an unhappy teenager's grunts and moans.

You only have to deal with somebody having a bad day/being an irritating wotsit for about an hour before they're off to do the same to next teacher, then you won't see them for at least 2 days, compared to being stuck in the same room as them for around thirty hours a week.

Teenagers can be cute, funny, infuriating, remarkably wise, a pain in the fucking arse and you can go from seeing a flicker of wide eyed innocence and joy to seeing the drily funny, knowledgeable, kind and ultimately brilliant adult they will grow into in the course of a lesson. Some of the pithiest one liners I have ever heard have come from the mouths of fifteen year olds.

It's not just childcare with spellings as some seem to think primary is - secondary teaching is also about widening worlds and helping them grow at a time when they are more vulnerable, as it's when they won't have the same protection/support of parents as they should have at age 6 - you're there for their first steps into freedom and true independence becoming an adult, whereas primary are there for their first steps away from their primary carer and becoming a little person in their own right.

A qualified secondary teacher should have no problem changing if they have knowledge of the Year 7 transition. Ofsted look for linking between the key stages - and the expertise of a secondary teacher would be very useful in equipping younger ones for the change in learning, environment and process, just as a qualified primary teacher is often welcomed by secondaries for both nurture classes and for handling the transition from that side.

And the private sector love specialists.

Wishiddoneprimary · 12/03/2022 17:48

I’d definitely struggle to change. I don’t have the first clue how to go about teaching maths, science, etc.

OP posts:
LizzyD78 · 12/03/2022 17:52

I’m was a Primary School teacher for 18 years with a Secondary PGCE and am now back in Secondary focused on Sixth Form! There’s more flexibility than you’d think…

NeverDropYourMooncup · 12/03/2022 17:53

@Wishiddoneprimary

I’d definitely struggle to change. I don’t have the first clue how to go about teaching maths, science, etc.
Transferable skills. You can teach. You can manage a class. You can plan lessons to fit in with national curriculum/exam board requirements. You can navigate helicopter and completely disinterested parents. You can stay awake during SLT meetings barely and stay away from the beady eye of new SLT determined to be seen as making sweeping changes. You're probably very well acquainted with the Deep Dive of Ofsted.

You can do it. You might find it isn't for you after all, but even that primary experience could make getting your next secondary role easier precisely because of the Ofsted focus on linking to the primary curriculum. And you'll know exactly what is being taught in primary, which will inform how you teach secondary in subsequent years.

UneFoisAuChalet · 12/03/2022 17:55

I trained in MFL secondary. About three years ago, I decided I couldn’t hack the workload anymore. I was beyond exhausted, so I began teaching MFL in primary. The workload is a joke and there’s no pressure from the exam years. But honestly, I think the pros and cons of teaching either are similar. In primary, you’re ‘performing’’, non stop talking to keep them interested whereas in secondary you teach, they apply, so you have some time to ‘relax’.

In primary, there’s a lot of mothering going on (miss my tummy hurts, miss I didn’t like my lunch, miss he’s looking at me funny) whilst in secondary, I loved the banter with the kids and the issues that teenagers are going through made me feel closer to my pupils. Yet, they’re bigger, louder and harder to control than the little ones.

In my humble opinion, it’s the same shit just different ages.

Wishiddoneprimary · 12/03/2022 17:56

I don’t think I could now. Maybe twenty years ago Smile

OP posts:
Butchyrestingface · 12/03/2022 17:57

My late mother was a primary teacher. She really loved the wee ones (ie, age 4-6) and wasn't so keen the further up the school they got. Her teacher friends used to comment on how they didn't know how she had the patience for that age group - the majority of them seemed to prefer the older age range.

Such were the frequency of those comments, it makes me wonder if the elementary years of primary are undersubscribed vis-a-vis teachers? I have no idea, since I'm not a teacher.

Cornishmumofone · 12/03/2022 17:59

Are there any middle schools near you. A friend I trained with realised secondary wasn't for her. She easily found a job in a middle school. She loves teaching that age group.

Movinghouseatlast · 12/03/2022 18:04

You can do primary supply. You would probably work every day, maybe even end up with long term sickness cover. I did 2 years full time in the same school once!

Wishiddoneprimary · 12/03/2022 18:06

I can’t really commit to supply, tbh. It doesn’t pay enough and I think I’d find it very stressful.

OP posts:
Derrymum123 · 12/03/2022 18:11

We have an ex secondary teacher (art) in Reception Class. She is probably the best teacher in the school. I am so envious of her classroom displays and her energy. She absolutely loves teaching primary but was considering leaving teaching altogether before she made the switch.