Friends are all more successful than me. "Failed teacher"

[Flotraidroberts]

Hello;
I'm 28 and I class myself as a "failed" teacher.
I live in Chester and jobs are far too competitive. I've been trying to get a permanent teaching job for 3 years but can't. I've had long terms during this time but sometimes the school won't do the induction due to being too busy and if I don't get it done by the end of 2023, I become an ECT.

I don't mind supply, like Ive said, I have good feedback from schools, I've had long-term PPA covers but I just can't get the job. A school I was in a few weeks ago said they had over 90 applicants for a job!! And that seems the norm around here.

I'm currently on a long-term now doing PPA and have been in the school nearly half this academic year but the school haven't got the time to do the induction. It's stressing me out.

Anyway, my stress has increased tonight as my friend who finished her PGCE this year has just got a permanent teaching job and I feel happy for her but at the same time useless in myself.
Boyfriend is now questioning me about whether teaching jobs around here are actually hard to get or whether it's just me.

I feel just sad. I'm applying for a job tonight but I feel like motivation is going. I have had interviews and sometimes get to the final 2/3 but I just never get the job.

All my other friends have great careers and some are established teachers; It's got to the point where I am avoiding meeting up to save the questioning about how supply is going.
I can't move as I have a mortgage here in Chester;
I'm feeling absolutely lost at the moment. Surely at 28 I should be more established now?

Finish your NQT ASAP. Problem solved.

My neice qualified last year as a primary school teacher in your area and only managed to get part-time position (3 days). She later picked up another 1.5 days in another school. It is not the same as a full-time permanent position, but she is happy getting experience in two settings and hoping a full-time position comes up. Maybe look out for maternity covers.

I teach in the south. We get lots of applicants for teaching positions and very few for support roles.

Have you thought about alternative provisions (Octavia House, Red Balloon type places) in your area or speech and language units?

Hi,
Have you tried looking a little further afield? Try Wirral, Liverpool or even North Wales. I live on the Wirral but had to commute to Liverpool last year for my NQT. I was offered 0.5 teaching 0.5 cover on the Wirral last year, took it, and have just been made full time in the same school. It will happen for you, I’m sure x

Did you read any of her post?

I spent several years doing supply then had several temporary contracts, some of which were part-time, before finding a permanent job. I think I was 30 at that point. I stayed 15 years in that job and have been in another permanent job for the past 5 so you have loads of time.

Look at it à

Whoops! Look at it as getting a lot of varied experience. And you are not a failure. You have a degree and QTS and you are working in the area for which you trained which is actually very successful.

Would you open up more options if you speak / learn to speak Welsh, being so near the border. Also there are excellent rail links to north wales, Manchester, Liverpool, could you look at schools further afield but near a station?

Sending hugs, this sounds grim for you . If it helps, different areas have always had different labour markets for teachers. My mum was a primary school teacher (would have been 94 this year) and it was well-known then that you could never get your first job in Wales because it was waaaayyy too competitive so you travelled away then returned once you had a few years under your belt. Sounds like that might still be the case! I agree with other posters, head over to Warrington or some parts of South Manchester- definitely commutable from where you are. Make sure you get fully qualified. (Obviously speak to your current head first and emphasise how important this is - get the union involved if necessary.)

No, you're absolutely not a failure. You are still getting jobs in an incredibly tight labour market and it sounds like you are good at what you do and want to continue with it.

Good luck 🤞

Have you thought about paying for some interview coaching?

Yes I did. All of this is mind game while she has to focus on finishing. It will clear up. She is a good teacher. she is almost finished , it's a way to second guess herself. The pride of finishing will help also for any interview phase further down the line. This is my opinion. Let the friend gloss over their short term success. Focus on you. I need not advise on the job market, there were plenty of very positive advice there.

I'd commute for a long way foe a year. Up to 90 mins.

Also...you could look into porting your mortgage to move to a different area?

TBH I think it’s ridiculous to be so tied down by mortgage and partner that you can’t move elsewhere at 28.

You want a permanent teaching job - they are apparently available in other places.

You’re young. Widen your horizons.

Now is the time to be applying as an NQT because that's what head teachers will be expecting at this time of the year due to notice deadline passing. Apply for everything within a 15/20 mile radius. I am in Cheshire (about half an hour from you) and I have seen loads of jobs come up over the last month and I have got one myself.

The whole point is that she can’t find a post though, @ladydoris !

However, while I wouldn’t phrase it as harshly as the one above I do think you have to look at moving, if only during the week for now.

It always amazes me how so many people seem to think its "easy" to get a good job in teaching or otherwise!You are most certainly not a "failed Teacher! You are just starting out and presumably have a degree as well .Your BF is being unfair here.Chester is a nice MC town I think so will be a lot of competition for jobs .What about a commute to Liverpool? Would that be doable .Lots more jobs there I would think .Perhaps to gain some experience and then move back in a couple of years .There will be tutoring jobs for 11 plus exams ,help generally with children weak in certain subjects .You will get there Nil despradum as they say!

People with mortgages move all the time, I don’t get that argument. Is your partner’s job truly tied to where you’re living now? Can’t you both move to an area where you’d both have a commute, to make it fair?

When you start you have to move were people don't want to move, it's the rule, even if it's for one full year. Or two. Do you have family that you can stay with elsewhere in England ? It's has already been stated, but if I don't say it out loud I will be bemoaned for it. There.
Finish your dissertation. For good. Get it fully approved and wait for D day. Then look for a NQT job in a wider perimeter like crazy. Take pride in yourself. Your "friends" looking down on you is not helping for your self esteem. You need to boost yourself to get were you want to. You've got this. All the best op.

Then means as soon as you have finished your paper. Not august.

Primary school teaching is very over subscribed. Are your friends perhaps doing secondary teaching, where there are shortages in certain subjects, though not all.

It sounds like you have experience and motivation (a Masters on top of teaching certainly isn't easy) and would be a good investment for a school. There is a crisis in mentoring in schools though, so you might need to emphasise the qualities you have that would make it easy for a school to support you through the last term of your NQT programme.
Stick with it- you will find the right school and a lot of interviews is no reflection on you. Best of luck!

I did my nqt year, had a baby and am now leading a private tutoring group three days a week. When my baby turns three I'll pick up more hours and prefer this as the work doesn't bleed into home life. There's still that feeling of failure though, with my fellow nqts having jobs but I also know they're killing themselves to stay afloat and it doesn't appeal unless I found the perfect pt nearby job.

How far are you looking commute wise? Could you try further and then once you have you NQT try and find a school closer to home?

I think the fact you’ve not finished your NQT nor had the support says lots. Supply is tough and I mean really tough. I think it shows your adaptable, resourceful and flexible. You’ve got experience without being expensive. Talk to your supply handler about jobs- lots of schools have supply and make job offers. Remember as an nqt your not expensive ! Wait till your top of scale, been successful and the school wants you on main scale not ups.... huge paycut and unjustified- you work harder building a new department up.

Sorry if I’m being thick but how is this possible when we constantly have threads/articles etc about how teachers are ‘leaving in droves’, schools can’t get supply staff… but you can’t find a permanent job?

I think it’s ridiculous to say you can’t move because you have a mortgage. If my career which I had trained for years and spent several thousand pounds on was about to go down the drain I would go wherever the jobs were. Mortgages are portable. Sell the house. Or see if you can swap to a buy to let or do long distance with you boyfriend long enough to complete you NQT year.
I sympathise but I actually don’t think you are doing everything you can.