Is it best to work in a school when you have kids?

[Lovealazysunday]

I have 3 dc’s all under 6 I currently work within Human Resources I’m working 40+ hours a week. I’m missing out so much on my kids. I enjoy my job, but would rather see my kids more in all honesty. I’ve barely seem
them in this 6 weeks holiday.

My kids are in school now for the next 15 years and I want to be able to be there for them which I don’t feel like I am at the moment.

Is this is an unrealistic expectation? It seems like this is the only way I will ever be happy.

you could join the office staff in a school perhaps
at least you should get the holidays off

Pay is terrible, as others have said, but all of the TAs in our school started because of the hours fitting in with present parenting. So if you can take the hit financially and find a good school who will allow you to attend sports day etc, then it could work for you.

if you need low money, then you could look into retraining as a teacher, but you won’t get more time with your children. You will get holidays ‘off’, but your term time working week will be insane.

There's a whole wealth of possibilities between 'don't get to see my kids enough in my current job' and 'work in a school' though?

HR is such a key job you could do it anywhere. How much leave do you get in your current job? If you switched to somewhere like the civil service, I have 33 days standard plus 8 bank holidays, plus up to two days flexi, which is very easy to accrue =65 days/13 weeks which is the same as teachers/TAs get.

If you were seriously thinking of becoming a TA that is presumably at least a 50% drop on your current salary - you'd be better off dropping to 3 days a week in your current job or trying to negotiate full weeks in term time and 2 days in the holidays or something, and at least you would still be in your current role when the kids are older without having to retrain/catch up again.

Also bear in mind that working in schools might be great for having holidays the same time as kids but you don't get any other time off - so how would you cover illness/any events that take place within school hours? Even drop offs and pick ups - unless you work in the same school as your kids, you won't have time to drop them at their school and then get to yours and vice versa so you'd still have to pay for childcare at a significantly reduced wage.

*more money

Dh works in a school and yes, gets all the holidays off, but doesn't get to do any school drop offs or pick ups, cannot take time off to come to assemblies, he cannot go for weekends away with friends unless he goes Saturday morning (and pays for the Friday night), Terry time weddings he cannot attend (few and far between in fairness).

I wfh full time and have WAY more flexibility (and income) and get to do drops and pick ups attend all the assemblies etc, I know the parents and dcs friends.

Surely you would be better just going part time in your current job?

Ta pay is basically NMW.

I asked about dropping a day and it was refused. The amount of work I do couldn’t be done in four days in less I worked longer shifts.

Such a hard decision to make I guess I will keep looking.

Job share? So 2.5 days each with another part timer sharing the role.

I forgot to add - I work 4 days in addition to working school hours from home.

I also share the role with a FT colleague.

Be careful of being paid PT hours to work a FT role.

Keep looking elsewhere, where employers are more open to compressed hours so you can have a day off during the week.
HR is so broad. There are a lot of companies working to a 4 day week since Covid.

Having a job in a school is great for work/life balance and seeing your kids. TA jobs are not well paid, so keep that in mind but there are other jobs, which are better paid, receptionists/admin/finance officers. Also factor in that you can only take time off during school holidays, so going away will always be expensive.

If you find a well run school, that is flexible, so you can see your kids events , it can be very rewarding. I mixed part time HR with part time TA. It worked well for our family.

My previous request to work shorter days was refused. I was already working PT then. I left a few years later and effectively chose my own PT working pattern in the next role. Post Covid, the same employer was happy for me to return to the team and accepted that I would be working shorter days and suggested I either work 3 or 4 days and have Fridays off. Go where you are valued.

LA pay scales re. my current employer are generally higher than the LA pay scales in my previous role. Both neighbouring London LA’s.

I work in a school (not a teacher).

Pros: school holidays (when the align - kids get a different half term and Easter to me next year).

Cons: sports day, presentation assemblies, find out what's going on afternoons are all impossible to attend.
Inset days are a nightmare if the other parent can't take the kids
Pay is LOW. TA's get paid for about 30 hours a week, 85% of the year. Other roles may be 40 hrs, but still only 0.85.
You probably still need before and after school childcare.

Depends if you'd earn enough

Edit:
Post Covid, the same employer was happy for me to return to the team and accepted that I would be working shorter days. They suggested I work either 3 full days or 4 shorter days and have Fridays off. Go where you are valued.

I work in a local private school (that our child also attends) in a non-teaching role. This sector is crying out for people with professional experience in a variety of areas eg HR, admissions, marketing, finance, catering, facilities etc. Salaries are nowhere near what you can earn outside of education, but the working hours and other benefits (at pension, possible fee discount for your own kids) makes it very much worth it for me. Also, I love it! Worth having a look in your area.

I did this. Quit my full time job and worked in my dcs school. Latest 10 years. It had its benefits-holidays off can do drop off and/or pick ups. But there is a major downside..... you see EVERYTHING! Your kids getting bullied/your kids being the bully/ staff who treat kids like shite/the bitching in the staff room etc. It if fucking hard ! And you have to stay neutral that is the hardest thing keeping your work hat and parent hat separate when you walk through those doors! And the pay is shite. My youngest left last year and I followed her out of the door by that point I couldn't take any more. Yes the job has rewards whether you work in the dinner hall or the office or a class room but the job is not for the light hearted. It does give you an extra appreciation for teachers though x

It certainly works well for some people. Not all teaching jobs are all hours in term time either. You could always change back when they’re a bit older and want to do more things independently.
I don’t really understand the point about expensive holidays, that’s the same for anyone with children. It’s the minority that are willing to take kids out term time and with 3 children the fine would be substantial

I’d be looking for another job in the same field but with a different organisation. Or else I’d research flexible family friendly companies and work out what you could do to get a role with one of them. Also look at whether you can buy more annual leave, go part time or outsource household chores to help you.

As others have said, schools have very little flexibility during term time. It’s likely the other parent would have to do pick ups drop offs and sick days.

100% just for the fact that it takes away the stress and cost of school holiday childcare. It's worth any other drawbacks.

I worked in HR and moved to education when my youngest was about 3. I spent a year working at TA level (which required a pay cut!), then did my PGCE.

TA hours - fantastic, I had all the time I needed to be off with DCs. Fairly unique to my role (I was employed centrally and worked across different schools) I had a couple of days in lieu of INSET to use when I needed time for sports days etc. Pay is appalling though.

Teaching - it depends on the school you are in. I have certainly had spells where I feel I don't see my children during term time - 90+ books to mark each night, planning and other admin at weekends. Evenings were pretty much get home, sort tea, get children to bed then work until bed time. One particular school was terrible with time for your own children's activities - the head was arsey with me for asking to miss an EVENING performance of the school nativity to watch my own child's. I was only ablebto because a colleague offered to help me out and supervise my class. Not all schools are that bad though - my former colleagues have been on strike due to SLT expectations and workload!

That said, you are still likely to work 40 hrs per week (plus) during term time, but there can be more flexibility - e.g. you might find yourself marking books at a swimming lesson which you can't do with HR admin. Not having to worry about school holidays childcare is great, and of course getting to spend much of that time with your children.

Some schools are more flexible about seeing your own children's assemblies etc. Go into teaching with the expectation that you will miss them and it will be a bonus if you don't.

When my son started in reception and my daughter was in year 2, I had a serious think. I was working 30 hours a week with good pay but the school holidays were impossible for childcare and I got to the point where every school holiday caused so much stress and anxiety!
so I applied at my children’s school for an office role - full time with all the holidays off. It worked out perfectly and I now have stress free school holidays
our headteacher is so flexible, on special events like sports day, assemblies etc she always just lets me go. Even if she didn’t, I could still request the time off (it’s just unpaid) - never looked back! Go for it