To think I could train for one of these jobs part time?

[rainbowsunshineclouds]

I'm considering the following careers:

Primary school teacher
Nurse
Social worker

But only want to be studying part time due to having young children.

Is this possible?

If you want to train to be a registered nurse then you need to factor in shifts on placements - when you say part time can you be at work early, late and nights?

Similar with teaching, can you be in the workplace by 8am and not leave until 5pm or later?

I would say it depends on what your current qualifications are and therefore how much training you need.

Do you have GCSEs? A level 3 qualification? a degree? You could certainly do a pre access or access course part time, and a degree which would lead you to a PGCE or a social work qualification. You could then do the professional quals when your children are older.

But a nursing degree/social work qualification or teaching qualification will need placements which makes life more complex

Quite honestly?
No.
I did. PGCE with an 1 yr old and a 5year old (and a husband who worked away) It was full on and exhausting and I would imagine it’s the same for the other two as well. Even working part-time as a primary school teacher takes a huge amount if time with assessment and planning.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider them but they are not part-time study options. It’s tough.

Are you a single parent? How much family support would you have? I think it would be quite difficult to do, there would be a lot of studying and placements would probably be quite intense for all of the qualifucations.

UM no.

Im in a similar position wanting to retrain fròm one of those 3 to something else but it doesn't seem to be out there.

Please dont do teaching if you want work/life balance/time with children...

Can you not use Google to find out if there are any part time courses in teaching, nursing or social work that are local to you? Contact the local unis to ask?

Teaching would be tricky. Placements are usually full time.

Don't know about the other two.

In theory yes, in practicality no.

I left my part time pgce part time course in January, I had only been doing it since September but with a 3&4 year old I just found it impossible. It was a mixture of managing time off when the kids were poorly, finding time to do the assignments and planning once the kids had gone to bed, and still managing to fit in spending quality time with them was just all too much for me.

No. I retrained (not one of the professions you list, but not a million miles away and funded by the NHS) when my dc were small. Part time wasn't even an option, and no accommodation at all was made for childcare or family responsibilities. They're not family friendly jobs when you qualify either.

I know they do a part time social work course - I think through the OU, but you would still need to complete your 200 day placement and I don't think that could be done part time

Realistically ? No.

Over the years there have been different schemes to get people into occupations where there are shortages but I am doubtful they are very workable in reality.

I also think the 3 careers you have named are careers you have to be passionate about wanting to do, not having a vague notion of "if I can get some adjustments made, I might quite like to do one of these jobs".
None of them have family friendly hours once you qualify and certainly teaching and Nursing have placements during the course (I assume SW does too but am less familiar).

If you have a dh / dp who could pick up all the slack for 2 years (PGCE then NQT year) then you could do it full time. It is hard, but people do.

Placements as a student nurse are full time and have to be the same shift - so you're part of handover - so that means early starts, typically 7.00-7.30 am, or similarly, late finishes on a late shift. They don't make allowances for people who struggle with transport so they won't do it for childcare - emergencies yes but not routinely.
Social work placements are full time. They are office hours and can/should accommodate child care requirements (eg to leave on time) - this can limit the placement you'll get but it is more protected. However the placement days have to be fitted in between the date the lectures finish and a date for the exam board so while they will try and be flexible where possible, it isn't possible to do the placement days part time. At most you might be able to agree a couple of weeks at 4 days but that would be it really.

There are lots of single parents in social work but to do it you need to have support from family to step in, or friends - I have a colleague who has no family here but she's friends with another single parent and they take turns to have each others kids. They've made it work but it's complicated and usually means when she's at home she's got 4 instead of 2!

They do offer part time social work Masters, but the placements are still full time - usually 2 days uni, 3 days placement. You legally have to do a 170 days on placement, 1 is 70 days and 1 is 100 days and they need to be done all together, you can't do 30 days, then 40 days etc.

Nursing and teaching also have minimum placement lengths that can't be broken up.

I would also add that with social work, whilst I do mainly finish on time, if I have an emergency, I have to see it through, I can't drop it or pass it to a colleague because I have to pick my kids up.

None of those are massively family-friendly jobs