to be second guessing re training as a teacher … help!

[Starcarbar]

I worked as a solicitor for around 9 years. It 34 and we want to ttc in next few years. I’ve always wanted to go into something other than law and my plan was to do teacher training from next year ahead of ttc. I keep having doubts. I don’t know if it’s the media but I often hear about how the workload spirals etc. I typically work 8-6 or 7 in law and can usually avoid working a weekend. Does anyone know if it would be worse than that in teaching? I love the idea of making a difference and working with kids and in certain I want to leave the legal profession. Am I making a mistake? I feel like it’s now or never to jump ship!

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You are more likely to do 8-4:30/5pm at school then 7-10pm at home with teaching more during your training and ECT years. Half of Sunday too and at least 3 days in the holiday when you aren't recovering from the billions of illnesses you pick up at least at the start of your career and everytime the curriculum changes so you have to make new resources.

Keep your career in law, teaching is not child or parent friendly. If you want to make a difference to young people volunteer at Brownies / Scouts / Young Carers. Make a work experience programme for teens interested in law where you are currently etc.

Sorry, but I wouldn’t encourage anyone to go into teaching now. It’s downhill all the way and is increasingly soul-destroying. I’ve been teaching (secondary) for over 20 years and am looking for alternatives.

@HPandthelastwish 7-10!!! That sounds horrendous. I will check out that board thanks

You'll have loads of posts telling you they work 24/7 and never see their kids. I can't speak for primary but I've been teaching secondary for thirty years and only rarely had to work late in the evening or more than a couple of hours at a weekend. It is harder at the start unless you work in a school with a great bank of resources but if you work smart, efficiently and chose what to give a fuck about very carefully, it's perfectly doable. The school you work in matters enormously too..it has to be a good fit with the right level of management involvement..oversight but not constant scrutiny is the ideal. I've been very lucky in my career and raised two kids alone while doing it. But there's many that will say different. You just have to try it and see.

You'll likely have to miss all, or almost all, of your future children's nativities, assemblies etc etc because you'll be obliged to be in school with your teaching obligations.

What subject? 8-6 and no weekends teaching high school maths is very doable. English or primary? Not a chance.

remember it isn't just managing your workload, youll have many evenings taken with extras and have to fit in teaching workload elsewhere.

The subject, the keystage, the department, the school all make a huge difference in workload.

Haha! Yes, it's worse than that. When I was classroom based, I'd start my day at 6am, leave school at 7pm and have to continue working in the evening until at least 11. Weekends were for marking, planning, resources, paperwork etc. 8-6 would be a dream!

It’s not an ideal career to be starting out in when you have babies and young children.

I retrained after a 25 year career. I’m going to leave teaching. It’s not family friendly. The first 1-2 weeks of every holiday are spent recovering from work (it took my dh two years to understand not to book a holiday straight after breaking up as it’s a complete waste of a trip).
There are loads of brilliant things about teaching, but time for you/your family is not one of them.

This.

It's truly awful and I wish I had listened to advice like this before I did what you are considering. The workload is ridiculous. In school from 7:30 till 5:30, go home, quick dinner, neglect your own child and continue working till 11ish. Every fucking day. Plus half the weekend. It's stressful, unhealthy and impossible to make a difference to anything. Stick with your current job and find another outlet for your desire to do something worthwhile. I ditched it and couldn't be happier.

I was a secondary teacher and left after I had my daughter because it was so all consuming, I couldn't put other people's children before my own. It takes over your life; particularly as you learn and train. It takes a while to build your resources and there are so many other drains on your time. I was a HOD in London (so well paid in comparison to a lot of other teaching roles) and I once worked out that if I counted all my unpaid working hours I would be making just over minimum wage. There is no flexibility or working from home. You can't take time off for your children's nativity or sports days etc. It's not worth it to call in sick because you have to sit and plan so much cover you might as well just go in. It is really rewarding and fulfilling but it's not something I would encourage people to do if they're starting families/have young children.

I typically work 8-6 or 7 in law and can usually avoid working a weekend. Does anyone know if it would be worse than that in teaching?

It would be. Yes. I've just retired after 30 years of teaching and you won't be able to get away with those hours.

Don't do it. I loved teaching children, I was a great teacher and spent 8 years trying to make it work, but it's truly an awful and thankless job and there are so many reasons I left. Even if you're lucky enough to work in a more enlightened school without as much of the pointless crap thrust on teachers, the workload and expectations are ridiculous.

I think there's a very specific personality type suited for teaching - people with tons of energy and a limitless capacity for shit - and those people can survive in it. If you don't fit into that box, forget it.

I left 6 years ago. At that time primary teachers typically worked 60 hours a week and secondary teachers 55. Teaching seems to be worse now and you will work more in the early years of your career.

I've just given up after 7 years as a second career. I'd definitely say don't do it but would agree that it varies hugely depending on school and subject. However, contrary to a PP, I find maths much more demanding than English except for exam marking.

My 24 year old DD has just quit in her probationary year, with no plan B, due to severe anxiety. She was on a 0.8 timetable and working 50+ hours a week.

I have heard people in the past saying the same - that moving from law they won’t struggle with the long hours as they are used to it. And I completely get the logic, but sadly the type of long hours are very different. Now i’m not saying for one minute law is easy or stress free. But teaching is SO wearing. Every hour, 30 different people come into your room, with 30 different sets of moods, emotions, abilities, needs. You have to be ON all the time to deal with them. One hour can be exhausting enough to make you deflated for the whole rest of the day. But then, those 30 leave and 30 more come in. 6 times a day. Teaching is an absolute joy, and I love it, working with kids is amazing. But until such time as the insane demands on teachers’ time and health are considerably altered, I would not set foot back inside a classroom and I would recommend you not to do so. I’m so sorry to be pessimistic, but it is no life. The only perks are the holidays, and 20 years ago, it used to be manageable enough that you could survive a term and recharge during the holidays. Now not even the holidays are enough to make me even consider going back.

I think the training and ect years are pretty tough going and it might be harder having kids earlier in your career, although you also have less responsibility so less ludicrous workload. I'd been teaching for 9 years when I had kids so I was experienced enough to wing it a bit if I'd had a bad night with the kids and was a bit disorganised. It's one of those jobs where you never quite feel like you've done everything and you have to be comfortable saying no if you want to make time for your kids. You are a bit at the whim of your head of department / school because if they suddenly decide they want to embed the latest strategy into the curriculum that could mean loads of extra work. In secondary there are pinch points in the year when the marking load increases. Different subjects have different extra commitments e.g PE will be lots of extra curricular, geography lots of trips, English lots of marking, maths not always popular, music lots of clubs, drama running whole school productions outside of school hours, RE - parents often object to it and their kids are then vile to teach, cookery - the chaos of kids cooking and washing up badly etc so think careful about the subject if you are thinking about secondary.
No idea about primary.

You could probably do 8- 6 everyday and manage your workload but you would be getting paid a lot less than in law and most nurseries operate within those hours so yourself either need to work less or get a nanny, which you wouldn't be able to afford.

The biggest issue is the horrific behaviour in so many schools so carefully research what your local schools are like.

I teach primary and I just wanted to add something a little more positive than the previous posters. I don't doubt that some teachers work extremely long hours and have a poor work life balance, but it's not like that in every school. The trainees I mentor are encouraged to develop good habits and to have a good work life balance. Their well being is important. The trust I work for are conscious of staff workload and we are able to take time to go to our own children's nativity, sports day etc where possible. There's also no judgement if we need time off to look after our own children, as we all understand how many bugs there are!
If I was you, I'd get some experience in a school, more than one if you can, to see what it's really like and if it's for you. If you work in a 2 form entry school you will have a partner to share the workload with. There are lovely schools out there and it can be a brilliant job that is family friendly. Good luck!

I love teaching but the problem is finding a decent school. I go to all my kids' performances, have a good work life balance (work long weeks but with holidays factored in, it works out the same over the year as regular jobs) and enjoy my job.
Finding a decent school is absolutely the key and if my current school was like my first, I would have quit.
The pace of work is quick in schools and the first years of teaching are brutal but having holidays with my kids is amazing (sometimes, at others it's bloody exhausting!)

What all the above posters have already said. I taught for 10 years (primary) I left the year after I had my son because it the workload was just too much. I would rather have been a good mum than a good teacher- found it impossible to do both. Especially the days where you had to rock up on 4 hours sleep and somehow still be amazing. The largest group of people leaving teaching is apparently women in their thirties and I'm not surprised.

Having said that, your current line of work I'm sure is stressful- and that is good preparation for teaching.

They talk about the 'good' holidays but you end up working through them preparing for he next term and he only real break you get is in the summer. (Although you spend the first week getting over the exhaustion and then from mid August the dread of having to do it all again for another year creeps in)

Also the maternity package offered in teaching is very basic. You're likely to get only 6 weeks on full/90% pay. I would advise finding a different job/career.

A lot of my friends are teachers and I would not contemplate it for a career. They spend evenings marking and planning ,get hassle from managers ,parents and of course from pupils .I would not be a teacher ever. If you talk to teachers a lot are making plans to leave.

I left secondary school teaching in March. I was arriving in school at 7:15am and leaving at 4:30pm at the earliest. Four evenings a week I would work 7pm until 9pm and then Sundays I would work from 1-5pm and then 7pm until gone 10pm. I did nothing on Saturday unless marking tests and exam papers to short deadlines. I have let friendships slide and neglected my own mental and physical health. I am glad to be out. I wouldn’t advise anyone to go into teaching.

I have got 2 friends working in secondary (Science and Maths). They are quite relaxed about it, saying that it's doable if you don't get too involved. Like you do your hours, use available resources, lots of oral testing so less corrections. I think if you go into it with high ambitions you will deflate quickly. They basically consider it a job, no more no less. They do have a lot of free time compared to a solicitor friend of mine but I think it's because they are very organised.