To wonder if I could/should get into teaching

[Whattodo182]

That really.

I'm looking for a career change, not an easy life FWIW.

I have a degree in a pretty vague humanities subject, but probably would be looking to get into history/English/social sciences teaching.

Is there a demand for these subjects? Lots of info online for funding for training but seems to be mostly science/maths. Could I take this route despite not having a relevant degree?

Any opinions/advice welcome

8 week SKE courses exist so that people with any kind of degree can teach shortage subjects.

Where can I find a list of shortage subjects?

I work in Science / STEM x

Thank you @Philandbill . At the risk of derailing, I wonder how they could change ofsted and the power they have?

I don't know, for all those saying don't get into it... I work in a school and there are multiple teachers who have been in the professional 5-10 years who are on £40-50k in a single form entry primary school. They work 8-4.30pm most days and have PPA to do their planning and TAs who cover classes while they mark. So they don't have loads to do at home. 14 weeks holiday a year, paid. They get bit chunks of bonuses if they take on more responsibilities (which doesnt require much, planning assemblies and clubs etc).

Is it stressful? Yes. But any job paying that salary (close to home) usually is stressful.

The pay really isn't all that bad and it increases annually, despite performance, unlike lots of other roles. So you just need to stay where you are to build up a good salary.

And those in my school get a good work/life balance. They regularly have days off to go see their kids do performances or for appointments etc. Then there's the savings associated with no childcare in the holidays. And it's quite easy to work part time which isn't always possible in other sectors.

I guess it depends on what school they teach at.

I wouldn't want to do it, because I would be shattered being around kids all day. But I think, for an energetic, extraverted person, it would be a pretty good career path.

Presumably recruitment/retention might improve if ofsted changed.

@EmmaDilemma5 the pay doesn’t increase annually automatically, you have to meet your performance management targets which are very specific.

And for most teachers PPA is a drop in the ocean in terms of planning time. Unless you’re actually a teacher I don’t think you can really comment on how much work you think the teachers in your school do in their own time.

Orange pink
I think things have changed. Most schools finish at 3.45. In most schools I have worked in there are after school meetings twice a week until 5. It is rather incompatible with family life unless you have a spouse at home. I have been a teacher for over 25 years. It has become more demanding.

I’m taking a break while my children are tiny as I am able to do I’d like to spend the time with them. When they start school I’ll go back

People aren’t saying ‘no’ just because. Look at the attrition rates. The average career nowadays is less than 5 years. If teaching is the sunlit uplands, why is recruitment and retention such a problem? The older career teachers are staying because they can’t beat it for money. Earlier career teachers are leaving in droves or just not signing up at all.

I am ok where I am for now - however I’ve seen the ECT/ITT format break lots of people who are leaving teaching not to return. Why do you think the ECT wages were raised the most? This is a well known pinch point.

Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try teaching however, as someone who is actively doing this as a new career under the new framework (not seen anyone else on this thread yet) I’m telling you it’s not quite the sunlit uplands being made out by some. Critical thinking would tell you that if you look at teacher attrition.

Run for the hills NOW

Husband just left secondary school teaching yesterday after 17 years. He's wrung out. He is going into FE teaching but it means a big pay cut but it's his health that counts right now! Give your head a good wobble.

I’m an English teacher of 29 years! Love it but term time is relentless. I broke up yesterday and as usual am now feeling ill and run down.
Do your research carefully though and if you find a good school, it can be really rewarding. It’s also relatively family friendly in the holidays at least. Hours are long in term time - I do about 60 a week. As people say, get into some schools and talk to teachers.

I dont think any demand now for history or social sciences...they all want maths and physics teachers....i got redundancy about 5 years ago and then claimed pension early...i worked part time in FE college, well paid and work load was ok and had colleagues that coasted along for years doing very litte, lots of nasty managers also so i took the deal and now may do some supply work ?

@ConnieTucker interesting, maths wouldn’t be an option, I have no interest in it and am no good at it…poor kids! Honestly the thing that puts me off is the salary, I don’t mind a bit of working in the evenings, to be honest most corporate jobs especially WFH ones you end up working more than your contracted hours if you want to stay on top of things etc…BUT the difference is I’ve worked my way up and am on £60k..at my stage of life it’s hard to go back to the ‘beginning’ of a salary ladder and start again. I started on £28k in mu company 15 years ago…also, living for the holidays, I think that’s also the norm in most jobs, everyone lives for the holidays unless you are one of those rare workaholics who are truly passionate about work…and teachers get more holiday to ‘live for’. If the starting salary was about 10-15k more I could make it work, but never going to happen 🙄. I have a supportive husband but couldn’t cope with after school commitments multiple days a week, maybe when kids are older but not now. Hats off to all teaches you do a fab job!

There is no way anyone you work with in a one form entry school after 5 years teaching is on 50k. Unless they're the head.

There are no bonuses in teaching.

You yourself don't appear to be a teacher so I have no idea where this apparent expertise on salary comes from.

OP, what do you currently do?

I enjoy teaching part time in a very good sixth form, but it’s still pretty challenging with evening work and weekend marking etc. I'm also very experienced so it’s slightly “easier”. I would never teach secondary.

I'm sorry but do you actually work in a school. A person teaching for 5 years will be M5 at the most which is under £30k. I left teaching last year but NO teachers arrived at 8am and left at 4:30. PPA time I could plan maybe maths for the week but that's it - the rest I'd finish at home (working for free). If teachers did leave at 4:30 then they'd be leaving with 60 books to mark that evening (primary). Moving up the MPS is subject to meeting your targets (it is performance based) and is not guaranteed. It's a terrible work/life balance in term time which is most of the year - and I worked in a 'nice' school. I couldn't go to my children's nativity or sports days last year but I had to do the Christmas performance and sports day at school. It is not easy to switch to part time, even with Union help. Yes it does depend on which school as some are better than others but mine was a great school but was still awful for work life balance. It was just about manageable without children but not all when I had children

My partner is doing a PGCE I hope that’s right 😂 but he’s teaching science. Could you look into this if you want to teach?

@EmmaDilemma5 so you're not actually a teacher then.... Our (excellent) admin staff come in after me and leave before I do so they don't actually know the hours I work each week. They do know I work every evening between 7 and 9 though as I often send emails then.
And as others have said, if it's all sunny uplands why are recruitment and retention such a problem in so many schools in so many areas?
The somewhat irritating Lucy Kellaway founded Now Teach for people who wanted to go into teaching in later life and made a big noise about how wonderful it was. Except that she couldn't hack it as a full time maths teacher and became a part time economics teacher very quickly.... There are also many teachers who work part time because full time hours are untenable with a family. Obviously if you work part time you are paid part time hours and your pension also takes a huge hit, so part time is not the panacea it is made out to be.

It's not a given you will definitely start at M1 as a new teacher if you are a career changer. DH started on M3 - still not loads of money but at least some attempt at recognising he is a fully formed adult with 15 years in a relevant career.

I am only still teaching because I am part time. Even then I spend one of my days off working. I wouldn't go back to full time teaching, it's exhausting.

Agree that marking is much less onerous in maths. You can automate a lot of it if you know what you are doing, though best to keep it under the radar. Before I decided to give up teaching I tried automating some of my marking in a humanities subject with some success. But you can’t automate essay marking. I taught A level, example 60 students, 15 mins MINIMUM per essay. Marking required at least fortnightly. That’s already 30 hours a month of your own time that is subsumed. That’s just the start of it.

Hmmmmm sorry for hi jacking OP thread a bit! I was pondering it today when I stumbled across the thread. Just having a rough week, I’m utterly exhausted, busy at work and just back from Mat leave, first hols with oldest DC in reception and have to go in next week and do more work, while putting by equally tired DC in holiday clubs that she doesn’t really want to go to…and got me a bit jealous of the teachers who finish now. However, as this thread proves the grass definitely isn’t greener!! If only the starting salary was more..and to be fair it would be just as tiring looking after DC at home 🤷‍♀️

I work in a very naice private school, with good, well behaved students, a Head of Dept who will set cover work if I'm too poorly to do it myself, a Senior Leadership team who understand we're human, and refuse to have unnecessary meetings.
However, they want their money's worth out of us in terms of high quality teaching etc.

I guess my point is that not all schools are bad. You just have to find the one that fits you.

Having said all that, for a (post)graduate profession, even at the very top of the pay scale (approx £45k at very top), the pay is appalling. I graduated in 2006 with people who went into professional roles and got £45k as a starting salary, even then.

To be fair, I leave at 3.30 every day (get in at 7.25) and rarely mark at home. But I have been teaching a lot of years. The expectation on teachers now is huge compared with when I qualified.

Despite managing my workload really well, I am still utterly exhausted by the end of a half term. This goes within a few days of breaking up so it is definitely teaching that saps me. I am asleep in an armchair by 8pm most nights (which makes parents' evening interesting!). It's a constant performance and lots of scrutiny.

I am bit gobsmacked at the attitude upthread that 7.30 - 6pm days in any job are somehow seen as not worthy of a raised eyebrow in this country. That's a minimum 50 hour week, well in excess of various 'norms' and directives across Europe.

Bear in mind OP that lunchtime in the state sector is about 35 minutes and manic. It's just not the same kind of job as any others- it's fairly unique . We aren't really treated like grown ups!! Very little autonomy, which a lot of career changers find bizarre.

I like teaching because it keeps my brain ticking over. I like learning new stuff, planning and actively enjoy marking work ! Lots of people don't and get a shock. It helps that I love the subject I teach. Some of my colleagues are forced to teach random other stuff to fill timetables (RS, workskills, LS, cookery...) and this is a huge cause of stress. I have never known so many MH absences as this year.

Don't just go and be a teacher in any old thing because of a bursary - you'll feel unmoored, unspecialised, deskilled- and you might hate it. You will also probably not get, for example, sixth form teaching for a while.