To wonder why someone would want to be a secondary school teacher?

[Teateet]

Not judging anyone, despite the tittle, but I was wondering why people remain secondary school teachers.
Just finished an opening evening at a secondary school for prospective students and I left with the following thought: unless you adore teaching and view it as absolute vocation, being a secondary school teacher sucks.

The pay isn't fantastic, and very poor in London, for a graduate.
There is very little room to coast if you're have a rough day / week.
Breaks a prescribed, you cannot have a coffee / tea break when you feel like it
Dealing with teenagers, who have their own angst.
Dealing with abuse from students and parents.

I noticed that there alot of teachers 45 + and not much below.
i am assuming, the older ones got to the property ladder and are pretty secure financially.

It just seems like a tough gig.

Slightly more than a Civil Service Pension. Much older teachers retire at 60, then it went up to 65 for middle aged teachers, and young teachers can expect to retire at 68. Anyone can retire at 55 but they lose 4% for every year they retire early.

As a secondary school teacher, YANBU. I do know plenty that like me are early thirties or younger but lots of us want out.

I would caveat I've just had a very tough day - pregnant, lots of grief from some poorly behaved kids and no support, exhausted and short of breath by the end of a third full day of teaching (miss my old office jobs where your work hours were your work hours, not detailed presentations with printing filling all the work hours so you have to work outside of work to be ready for work). On top of that had cover to prepare for a midwife appt which took ages, detention duty and an open evening this week.

That said, the teaching aspect is really rewarding. There are so many interesting, funny and sweet kids I work with who I really enjoy spending time with. I'm just drained.

I'd like to look for something else after my mat leave and worry I'll be underestimated but it is bloody tough and I worry all the time about the effect of this level of stress on the baby.

And yeah forget tea breaks, the biggest thing would just be being able to go to the loo when needed! My school has been good about allowing me to go when necessary but I struggle to keep hydrated and can't last more than 2 lessons atm, last year I'd have to hold it for 3 lessons in a row + tutor time while being active the whole time. When the kids leave and I sit down at my computer to work, that's my "me" time!

I think a lot of teachers especially ones without other experience struggle to think what else to do or have success with other jobs. Lots come in to it for great reasons but I'd tell any prospective trainees to think of something else.

I never wanted to do anything else. Decided to be a teacher when I was 12! It can be truly awful. Even if you're lucky enough to be in a lovely school with really, really well-behaved kids (as I am now, thankfully), the workload is very punishing. I'm 52. I'll never work in another school and I hope to drop my additional responsibilities and go part time in a few years. I can't carry on long at this level.

I think you've got to be a certain type of person

I looked into it but the paperwork and target hitting put me off. My brother did his PGCE around 30ish. He's taught in a referral centre (not sure of the correct terminology) was put into headlocks, spat at etc but he loved it. He then decided to teach English in Asia. Been there three years and travelled the continent during the holidays. The Muppet now wants to come back to English secondary..... Took him ages to have the guts to do his PGCE but he seems to want to experience the career not in the usual way.

DM was a secondary school teacher in the 1980s. She was constantly ill
And grumpy. As soon as she gave it up, we got our lovely mum back.

To this day, she still feels guilty about not helping some kids enough. Her education authority didn't recognise dyslexia and she remembers a boy with awful dyslexia but she had no resources to help him. She wishes now she'd somehow found more time and energy to help him.

There are many negatives but here are some positives:

I think it depends on the school. I recently changed schools and am enjoying it so much more.

Teenagers are generally pretty funny people. I enjoy
my subject. People who go into teaching are on the whole nice, likeminded people, so the colleagues are a big plus.

I love having the long summer holidays with my kids. I also like the way that every September feels like a fresh start.

It’s lovely when you bump into ex students all grown up and they remember you.

There are times, just sometimes, when you actually feel you have made a positive difference to someone’s life.

Sometimes I dread going in and having to ‘perform’ when I don’t feel 100%. Then I remember how boring it was working in an office.

I always say it's both the best and worst job in the world.

Best is in the classroom with a class who are willing to learn and enthusiastic. This has become a lot less with the changes in curriculum as well as the rise of TikTok and short attention spans.

The worst (am not going to mention paper work, SLT or the usual suspects) is the students who just don't care, the arrogant, the downright nasty and the ignorant. You see the sort of adult they will turn in to and have no power to change them as they don't care. Their parents are usually the same. There are a lot more these days who read you their rights. They disrupt the learning of all others. I swear 20
Years ago you could get through to the toughest of kids, but know some are just so entitled.

oh and the whole SLT/Trust blaming the teacher/NDAs and bullying

It's not a very family-friendly profession

I am not a teacher and definitely do not have the skills to deal with multiple children/teens and I hate public speaking for a start (I'm aware there are thousands of other aspects)
...however I think there must be pros and cons regarding the above quote.

Several PPs have said they are pt teachers which is possibly more family friendly than ft. But a few people I knew on mat leave were in professions where they said pt was not a thing, you either went back ft or not at all (law and finance)
The fact you have the school holidays is surely more family friendly than a large majority of jobs?

...but appreciate that teachers don't get to go to their own kids assemblies, concerts, sports days etc and have evening events such as parents evenings, as well as marking/lesson planning at home.

6 ft year 11 boys love a sticker!

It's the best job in the world.

(Idealistic, but you would never get the same kind of buzz in another role!)

I am a teacher and in lTge part I agree with you. I actually enjoy the teaching mostly. I don't enjoy being micromanaged every minute of every day.

It’s a rollercoaster - lots of ups and downs but once you realise that, just try to relax and enjoy the ride!

It gives you a huge sense of purpose.

You are making a difference to children’s lives.

You are teaching a subject you hopefully love.

Some days you do a game or quiz or sth like that and it is so much fun, you think ‘I am so lucky they pay me for this!’

Or you see the school play where everyone is trying so hard.

Or an ex-student sends you an email to thank you that they are now at university.

If You have great colleagues who laugh with you and help pick you up when you are down.

Cons

• ungrateful, demanding parents who just don’t get it,
• marking and workload
• kids who treat you badly and with disrespect (rare)
• overzealous, unreasonable management.(not the case luckily at my workplace)
• lack of respect for the profession, those who think teachers stop work at 4pm and have holidays that are way too long! And tell you do when you say you are a teacher - so rude and just inaccurate.

I still love the job after 18 years and I think the kids are amazing. I love that it's never boring, I feel like I make a difference, my colleagues are great, I laugh for a good chunk of each day and I get to step into a buzzing, vibrant community every morning.

Term-time it is not family friendly at all. I missed my DD’s first day of school, sports days, a lot of plays etc.

But the holidays all together are glorious I’m not going to lie. DH is a teacher too so we are all off together. Downside is no term-time holidays for us!

Both DD's have friends who have gone into teaching post grad, a couple just starting out now. At the moment they all love it. Quite a few went through Teach First which is a pretty tough gig.

They are all funny, intelligent, hard working young people who want to make a difference. The rest of the cohort have gone into medicine, so same/similar vocations. Young people still want these jobs. We just have to ensure they stay!

Once you take the holidays and pension into account, it’s better paid than average. Even in London.

Most teenagers are fun and challenging to be around.
Its more interesting than office work
its not physically hard like building trade/cleaning/armed forces
The hours and holidays are 100 times better than emergency services or restaurant or hospital work or most work.

Thank You for this lovely post 😊

I’m a secondary teacher. I suppose I got into it at 21 and stayed because of the holidays and having young children. I’m part time, couldn’t do it full time once I’d had my first child.

Refreshing to read so many teachers say how amazing their students/teens are & how much they love working with them.

So much blame is put on the kids for what is happening in schools and interesting to see teachers mostly put the blame on SLT/workload etc.

You just have to live your life in the holidays. Term time is a write off. We’ve had open evening this week so that was a 14 hour day. It’s absolutely exhausting in term time.

Being part-time in any job is more family-friendly though. That's not a specific upside of teaching. Sure, there may be some jobs where you can't be full time, but in lots you can.

Yes, the holidays are great for families, especially if both parents are teachers (we were until dh quit teaching a couple of years ago). But many teachers with young children struggle, as they are in school early, are occupied with collecting and looking after their dc between 3:30 and bed time, then have to work for hours afterwards. My dc are older, so I can work from 8a.m. to 5:30 at school, do another hour or two when I get home, and a few hours on Sunday morning. Yay...

I’m a secondary teacher/head of department and whilst the hours are ridiculous and it’s an emotionally and physically draining job that makes me drink wine/cry more than I’d like to, I bloody love it! The (inner city, deprived) kids I teach are amazing and make me laugh every day - they absolutely need good teachers to give a shit about them. I recognise I’m lucky though - i work in a small school with a decent/humane SLT and a lovely department (plus having more planning time as HOD means I can usually wee at least once during the school day..) I know that is absolutely not the case for a lot of people and I’ve worked in other schools where staff have quit or been driven out due to the horrific toxic environments and ridiculous expectations from both SLT and the government. I’m hopeful things might improve under the new government but there is a massive issue with recruitment and retention and I understand why people don’t want to stay in the profession.

I love it. Most of the time, not always. Like any job, it has its downfalls. I'm at the top of my payscale and I'm just not qualified for any other job that pays the same.
I rather like the holidays too but they are desperately needed.

I used to work in a mid size rough ish secondary, teaching English.

I left to work outside of mainstream (PRU then EOTAS) due to needing better work/life after bereavement, divorce, 3 small (then!) kids. I like my job now, working term time for education charity in managing role on similar to my UPS3 salary.

I really REALLY miss teaching in a school sometimes. Maybe it's rosetinted specs of the past but I fucking loved teaching English. Loved it. Maybe I'll go back to schools one day, see the recognition and penny drop moments again, decide on a Friday afternoon we "need" to revise by watching 10 mins of Macbeth again, see teens develop social conscience reading Inspector Cals, all of it. Maybe it's wine and nostalgia right now but I walk past a secondary school to take my own little one to primary and see them going in and I miss all of it. Even the shit bits.