If you left the corporate world to go into teaching what was the biggest shock?

[coodawoodashooda]

Just wondering. Usually we have threads from fed up teachers. Im a teacher, not looking for a fight. Just interested.

Effective teaching comes from constant review and checking of learning. Spending hours marking learning done that day is pointless. Better to stop, class mark and then check understanding before moving on

Surely that depends on the subject and level. It would be bizarre to mark lengthy essays in class. A quick maths check marking would make more sense if you wanted to check understanding

@LittleBearPad

Effective teaching comes from constant review and checking of learning. Spending hours marking learning done that day is pointless. Better to stop, class mark and then check understanding before moving on

Surely that depends on the subject and level. It would be bizarre to mark lengthy essays in class. A quick maths check marking would make more sense if you wanted to check understanding

Obviously! Not the same across the sector.

@CallmeHendricks

So, your anecdote is 50 years out of date then?

One is the others aren’t!

@CallmeHendricks

So, your anecdote is 50 years out of date then?

@CallmeHendricks - I’ve got friends in teaching, a few older ones have got out but into businesses supporting them, ex colleague teaches at his son’s private prep school after being a civil litigation lawyer but no idea what he thinks.

A lot of the younger teachers I know some like it because they like the teaching side, some are fed up with bureaucracy and want to leave.

my DM trained as a teacher in 70s and finishing at 3.30, no work in weekends or holidays (or very little) and school holidays appealed to her as a parent

Yes, I think I would have liked to teach in the 1970s! Things are very different now.

Yes, the one that perpetuates the myth that teachers go home at 3.30 and have long holidays free from any work.
There are enough people desperate to level that as a mockery of teachers today, without adding fuel to the fire with mis-truths.

Threads like these just reinforce the idea that teaching is not in any way a rewarding career.

I love teaching but after 10 years of cuts it is a very, very hard job. I don't think there is anything wrong with people being honest about that.

That most headteachers are psychopaths.

Also so much drama over nothing. I have colleagues that wouldn't make it to breakfast in a corporate environment.

This. x100 over.

Also:

The general lack of critical thinking in otherwise professional, caring staff.

I have a theory it's something to do with how government and SLT imposes their will on teachers, any individuality is stamped out or they're driven out during training/NQT years/etc.

The lack of being able to grasp complex topics and question it from multiple angles, or question the narrative from different perspectives, even if you don't know the subject in detail.. you know, just general analysis skills.. are shockingly absent from the educational environment.

Huge culture shock.

Not being paid for my holidays. Yep- for all those people who moan about 13 weeks off a year or whatever, we don't get paid for that time!

Also, on a lighter note, I still laugh at staff meetings when the head teacher says 'tonight's meeting is about bla bla bla' - it's not even 4pm, love!!
(Tbf, when you arrive in the building at half 7 in the morning, 4pm can feel a bit like bedtime!)

I've gone the other way - 11 years a teacher and 4 months so far in the corporate world. So this is a kind of inverse answer but my biggest shocks in joining the corporate world are:

• Being trusted to do my job without being constantly monitored
• Receiving thanks and appreciation now and again
• Being able to go the toilet when I want and have a long or short lunchbreak - whatever I need. I will be trusted to make up the time.
• Only doing one job instead of several (as a teacher I was also a social worker, family liaison officer)
• Stakeholders are rarely rude and aggressive (unlike certain secondary pupils, their parents and SLT).

Wild horses wouldn't drag me back .

I did it both ways teaching to industry and back again. Teaching has amazing colleagues and resilience in the face of absurdity and extreme resource poverty. Industry had better lunches, training and pay/conditions.

I think it’s interesting how I can always tell the teachers who have always been in teaching - jumping from school - uni - NQT - teaching. As someone else said up thread they just fuss more about things, I’m always shocked by how much they seem to think nothing else can be similar to teaching.

I've worked in banking, HR, run a hostel, been a cook and a cleaner; I think nothing is like Teaching. I have a friend who used to do underwater bomb disposal in the navy. He'd been through war but didn't make it through the pressure of teaching.

In many schools teaching is sadly toxic. Even in the good ones it's a very hard and unusual job.

I have a different perspective. I've been a teacher for many years and did one year working in business due to a move. I'm back teaching now. It was a revelation to me being able to go the toilet or for a coffee anytime I wanted. I couldn't believe how relaxed office life was. I could see its charms! Back teaching because I'm trained for it, good at it and the office salary was less than half what I earn as a teacher. The year was an eye opener though. It makes sense to me now how most people have no idea how full on and stressful teaching is.

Yeah Yingmei I recognise that😂. I never stopped living a lunch break. Did go back to teaching though - it’s invigorating.

@YingMei

I've gone the other way - 11 years a teacher and 4 months so far in the corporate world. So this is a kind of inverse answer but my biggest shocks in joining the corporate world are:

• Being trusted to do my job without being constantly monitored
• Receiving thanks and appreciation now and again
• Being able to go the toilet when I want and have a long or short lunchbreak - whatever I need. I will be trusted to make up the time.
• Only doing one job instead of several (as a teacher I was also a social worker, family liaison officer)
• Stakeholders are rarely rude and aggressive (unlike certain secondary pupils, their parents and SLT).

Wild horses wouldn't drag me back .

It's amazing once you step outside, isn't it?

Suddenly you become a fully functioning adult, nobody tries to tell you otherwise.

Not being paid for my holidays. Yep- for all those people who moan about 13 weeks off a year or whatever, we don't get paid for that time!

For goodess' sake, why does this get trotted out all the time by MN teachers? It's something I never heard from any of my colleagues in my lifetime teaching career. No-one whinged about it, no-one even mentioned it.

We're paid for the job. Our salary is split over 12 months. We know the salary when we go into it, and the way it's structured simply isn't worth a thought. The more people who trot it out on MN teacher threads the more stupid we appear.

I get why teachers are defensive. We get so much shit aimed in our direction, and as a pp mentioned, that creates a bunker mentality. But statements like that (and the one that claimed that NO OTHER JOB involves working outside normal hours) make me cringe.

@Shinyandnew1

my DM trained as a teacher in 70s and finishing at 3.30, no work in weekends or holidays (or very little) and school holidays appealed to her as a parent

Yes, I think I would have liked to teach in the 1970s! Things are very different now.

@Shinyandnew1 - she loved it! What’s more she was a primary class teacher but then later job shared as an arts and drama teacher.

She hates the grammar police and was medically retired when more rules, regulations and extra work for the teachers came in.

Many many years ago BIL started at a magic circle law firm at the same time his cousin started teaching.
They tried to do a yearly comparison - no of hours worked including overtime vs remuneration (salary plus pension.) In those days there was no pension for BIL as it was voluntary.
It was an interesting comparison. Cousin did indeed have to work over the holidays but BIL didn't get his holiday (called back in and wasn't allowed to take his 2 week skiing holiday which he had paid for and wasn't refunded.)
I would be fascinated if they could look back at their careers and see what they could compare now.

I work in the corporate world and wanted to retrain as a teacher until covid came along. Luckily for me I am still in the corporate world. There are still some aspects of teaching, which appeal but I am sure teachers would find aspects of my job appealing too.

One thing I think is hideous for teachers is the attitude of some pupils and parents.

My current teaching salary is around £28k, I’ll bet the other high pressure professionals are paid significantly more than me.

they're really not. this would be a management level salary in many industries.

I earn £32k, i have degrees, a masters, 20 years experience, a whole lot of pressure and responsibility, long hours, multiple competing deadlines. a big proper job, its quite a usual salary.

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy

Not being paid for my holidays. Yep- for all those people who moan about 13 weeks off a year or whatever, we don't get paid for that time!

What do you actually mean by this?

You have an annual salary split across 12 months - you’re paid the same every month. Why misrepresent the facts? It just sounds stupid.

That sucks handsnotwands

Not teaching but my first job after corp was in a pastoral role in a mainstream secondary.

Utterly gobsmacked how it was the norm to walk straight past a collegue without even so much as a hello or acknowledgment.

@Handsnotwands

The median UK salary is £32.7k

More people earn more than £28k than earn less.

Most senior professional roles will demand a higher salary than that. It’s a fact.

Social Workers
Accountants
Solicitors
Graphic Designers
Marketing Managers

All managers in these professions would earn significantly more than £28k.

Thanks for the responses re: planning. I am supposing that at Indies there is more flexibility, less change, year on year, as they don't have to follow DofE so closely?

As an aside, and looking at the teachers of the future. A few of older DD's cohort went into teaching. All from top indy schools, and top unis. Many have gone into indy or grammar schools, but quite a few went in via Teach First, and have survived the journey despite being in some very challenging schools. The overriding feedback is that there are some really badly managed schools, and some excellent ones, regardless of area or deprivation. They have been in some terrible schools, left and then found much, much, better ones. Management matters hugely.

My DD is thinking about teaching as are some of her cohort too. There is always a narrative of "young people don't want to do this or that" particularly teaching, nursing etc. But my instinct is that they do, evidenced by the huge numbers of youngsters applying, but that retention is difficult. The culture definitely needs to change, in both education and health, from the public, and from the organisations.