Should I stay in my Primary Education course?

[DaisyWhite2002]

Hello everybody,

I am currently in the first semester of a BA Primary Education with QTS course, which I moderately enjoy but find challenging due to a demanding four-hour daily commute (I can’t live in accommodation) that I will need to continue until at least March. That’s when I start my placement, which will be local. To be completely honest, I am scared of going into my placement due to the behaviour issues I have been hearing about in the recent years.

While teaching offers a stable and defined career path, I am unsure if it is my true passion. I struggle with the idea of having to know everything about so many different subjects, and I didn’t realise how hard it is until I started this course.

If I were to leave the course, I would face potential financial consequences, including a student loan overpayment, but could instead pursue a local admin job (I have prior experience) while studying part-time for a degree in Law or Business Management through Open University. This path would provide greater flexibility, work-life balance, and broader career options, such as roles in HR or management, though it lacks the job security and clear trajectory of teaching.

I am torn between staying in my current course and pushing through the commute or starting fresh with a more flexible but uncertain path.

My question is, what would you do and why? If you are a teacher and have been for many years, would you say I should stick with my current course or change careers as soon as possible?

I would leave the course and do an open university course part time. But I say that because it’s almost exactly what I’ve done, albeit over a longer time frame.

I quit my PGCE in 2012, and most of the people on my course had quit teaching within a few years of finishing it. I continued teaching privately, but have how had a career change to accommodate childcare and am doing an Open Uni degree part time alongside full time work. It’s challenging, and a bit boring, but nowhere near as hard as teaching!

You could always go back and do a PGCE later once you have another degree. It doesn’t have to be a final decision to leave teaching.

Don't be a teacher.

I would change now while you can. So much more chance of career progression and flexibility on all levels in business.

Id think hard about what career you’re going to pursue if you change course.

Why law? It’s not easy, at all - isn’t there a lot of very dry and complex content to learn by heart? if you want to work as a solicitor be aware AI is going to remove a lot of the lower level jobs so do some research first.

Business admin sounds better I’d say! Much broader. But do you need a degree yet? Maybe get a job and experience and then work out what degree study would support your career path

your commute sounds awful. Is there really no course you could switch to closer to home? Would that help?

That's a hell of a commute for any course.

I wouldn't be encouraging anyone to go into teaching right now. Workload and stress are high.

Find something else to do. Vast numbers drop out in the first five years anyway.

(Ex teacher)

I was thinking about a career in HR, or maybe career advice in schools. I plan on having a family in the future, so it has to be a career with some level of flexibility and work-life balance. I already realise teaching may not be that.
Unfortunately due to the area I live in I don’t have many options. I’ve already done a year of English Literature BA at the same university last year before deciding to switch to Primary Education, so I already feel trapped in terms of Student Finance.

Leave now.

It has to be a job you love. It's such hard work, but so rewarding.

I wouldn't change my career for anything, but I need my passion to motivate me into the class sometimes to be ready to deal with 6 year olds throwing tables and chairs at me, spitting, running off, swearing and all the other more common place behaviours that are sadly nowadays seen in primary school.

If you're not sure now, then I don't think you'll stay the course. Invest your time in training in a career which doesn't even have you asking the question you've asked here.