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.

I'm a (mostly) secondary school teacher and I love my job. The kids are the best bit: teenagers get such a bad time, but they are the most rewarding age to work with, IMO.

Parents, you can avoid much more easily at secondary tbh!

A lot of the enjoyment of the job comes down to being in the right school and position for you. It's absolutely the best job in the world if you get it right.

I loved being in the classroom, but spending all weekend marking essays just wasn't compatible with having a family. Never went back after having kids.

On a good day it is the best job in the world.

This is such a lovely thread to read. Two of mine are at different London comprehensives. At one of those schools in particular the staff seem to genuinely be happy, when I have been in meetings with them about various issues they clearly get on well and have quite a laugh.

You've reminded me of all the bits I miss... including the English Dept camaraderie! English teachers make the best colleagues!

Teenagers are incredibly frustrating, but I also end most days still cracking up about something funny they said during the day.

My subject is despised by many because it requires so many skills that many would find hard to combine, but you always reach a few. You always get smiles and thank yous (and yes, also many who'd walk past you ignoring your friendly good morning and look at you like something smelly stuck to their shoe).

You get a bottom set on a Friday period 5 and just roll with the energy and find a way to engage them in a theoretical concept by talking about one of them hypothetically dating Selena Gomez.

Your days are never the same, you always think on your feet, you always get creative intrying to engage reluctant minds. You get paid to talk about your favourite thing all day long. You call up parents at the end of the day and tell them how fantastic their child has been and hear them tear up because they've had nothing but negativity for a while and it actually makes their day.

In my subject, you get to play with fire, balls, colours. You get to use glitter for legitimate reasons, get to make fairy lights, get to make paper aeroplanes and call it work. You get to act. Yes, mostly you get to act calm and happy when you have had a shit day or someone calls you a bitch, but you also get to perform that you're a detective on a mission to solve crimes or that you are really competitive enough to beat Mrs Jones' tutor group at being awesome.

Teaching teenagers is so random, you get to know many people and discover their talents, get to see children grow into young adults and see all the weird and wonderful things they do. I might be greying prematurely, but it keeps my mind young. In the right school with decent SLT, even with all the societal problems and pressures on schools and money issues, despite being in tears some days, I still love it.

I love the actual teaching. Especially to keen sixth-formers; I get paid to introduce them to topics I genuinely care about. Even in an independent school (see username) there are classes which you vaguely dread getting on your timetable, but they're the minority.

The downsides of the job are well documented and revolve around endless paperwork, most of which seems entirely pointless to me, and inconsiderate SLT. This has definitely increased over the nearly 30 years I've been in the job. I get home each day completely exhausted. The mood feels more corporate than collegial.

I am easing towards retirement, which I plan to take as soon as the financial situation permits (DC in university). I don't regret my career choice, but I also wouldn't advise it to new starters.

In my subject, you get to play with fire, balls, colours. You get to use glitter for legitimate reasons, get to make fairy lights, get to make paper aeroplanes and call it work.

That all sounds fun and all, but in maths we get to solve equations and do hard sums.

Nothing like the excitement of a kid with a correct answer and a big tick.

I love my profession and being in the classroom but increasingly parents don’t give a shit about the rules and actively encourage their kids to disregard them. See the example of a recent thread on here about parents doing the same at primary school.
Our slt is fairly reasonable and it probably won’t be that to drive me out. Trends come and go but what profession doesn’t have old ideas returning with new names in the end!

The reason they are mostly over 45 is because most of the young ones are leaving like mad due to workload/motherhood (including me, for both reasons). There are loads of news articles about it.

Workload and pay is actually worse in primary too.