To retrain as a teacher at (just turned) 50?

[MyPearlCrow]

Just that really. I was a solicitor/partner in a law firm for my first career but burned out /got bored and cynical, so gave it up. luckily we can afford for me not to work which I realise is such a privilege.

I volunteer in a primary school now several days a week and essentially do an unpaid TA role. Here, TAs here are essentially teachers without all the planning/prep/responsibility, as in they actively teach the curriculum to small groups of children. They are highly skilled.

I have considered being a TA. I have been offered a paid role at my current school. But I’m still considering my options and it’s desperately badly paid. And all the TAs here are technically over qualified (all degree educated, or ex teachers, but don’t want the ridiculous workload of a teacher; entry requirement for TA role in England is just passes in gcse English maths and science) but they are paid peanuts. But it’s such a rewarding role and I love it. I think I could really add value.

Complete honesty here: I also realise that I’m used to running the show, in my old job. I suspect that in time I would want to make my own decisions on how to deal with my class, rather than carry out someone else’s instructions. I can already see ways I would want change up the teaching/approach for some children who are struggling. I am acutely aware that teachers just don’t have time to individualise the curriculum for 30 kids though, so I’m aware I might be looking at this from the 6-8 kids I currently take responsibility for in lessons and the ability to do this with a whole class might be much more limited.

i really love being with kids, I value education, I’m a good ‘teacher’ - as in I love to explain things simply and differently to children (or in my old role, to adults too).

Teachers - am I mad? I know too well how hard the job is these days. The primary curriculum here is crazy complicated. The breadth of ability and need is jaw dropping. But I truly believe in state education being a passport to a better life and would love to be part of that.

or do I just take the TA role, qualify up as much as I can in TA courses and accept I’ll be minimum wage forever but trying to make a difference?

important point: I have kids, so want to work part time. And train part time too. I know there are options for this but it will be competitive (I have top grades academically which I think might help). If I do a part time pgce, could I do my first year as a newly qualified teacher part time or is that not an option?

I don’t underestimate what a massive, difficult, demanding and at times (currently) desperately frustrating role teaching is. Am I too old for such a huge challenge? I’d love some wisdom from teachers and ex teachers please.

Go for it.

I retrained to be a secondary school teacher at the age of 53. I flew through training and ECT and am on track to be Head of Department by the end of this year. I'm 57 now.

My kids are all grown up - three of them, youngest late 20s, oldest mid 30s. I'm also a grandmother.

Interestingly, my background is also in law as a paralegal, but I got bored and went down a creative pathway before pursuing my passion (history and politics). I believe this makes teaching easier for me because on the one hand I have the organisational discipline from legal and on the other I'm doing what I love. Age means my subject knowledge is very robust - I've read a lot of books.

Yeah, it's tiring. However, working for the man for my entire life, including big stints where admin was super important, means I don't seem to get in the same sort of time-sink tangle as some younger / single career colleagues. I put in about 45 hours a week, 7.30 - 4pm on site, never take work home, plan / adapt for additional 5 hours pw (but that's most tinkering with lessons because I think they could be better - and those 5 hours are an hour here and there). I also go on holidays and weekends away, date night every week, hobby night once a week, walk the dog, etc. No sick days to talk of.

I work in a really tough school - white working class. Some of the most vulnerable children. It was in special measures when I joined. Behaviour remains a challenge, because we have some big hitters, but my classes are calm, orderly and the children are all exceeding expectations.

For me, the big thing that made me do it was because I wanted autonomy - and that's still possible even with OFSTED constantly on your back. I also wanted a new direction, something to do with the rest of my life that was worth doing. And sure, I wanted to make a difference, have a positive impact on young people's lives. They make me laugh. I experience real joy at work. There's something amazing about helping them navigate that journey from child to young adult, building trusting relationships and being there for the ones who really need an adult role model.

But no school is going to ‘direct’ a science teacher to teach French, except in a cover capacity. They just wouldn’t have the skills?

I do not have the skills to teach any national curriculum subject at GCSE level or above. I just don’t. No school worth their salt would employ me to do so.

I love this positive story, you sound like an inspiring teacher! Can I ask your subject? I’m guessing history? Sadly I don’t have a cache of knowledge on the side: I totally accept some people do. My husband could step into history teaching tomorrow, just on a deep and long held interest, but sadly I just don’t.

And just to say, age DOES make a difference. Really odd to see the claims that it doesn't. People continue to learn throughout their lives, therefore, you're just going to know more when you're 47 compared to when you're 27.

There's also a lot of angst from teachers who've managed to get onto the UPS scales by their late 20s / early 30s because they feel trapped by the salary. I took a massive pay drop to go into teaching. This is really irregular.

Yeah, I teach history, politics and a bit of philosophy.

You don't have to have a first degree in the subject.

If you're interested in secondary, I'd suggest contacting a training provider (local uni). I know a history teacher with a degree in a completely different subject. There are also SKEs - subject knowledge enhancement courses.

I love teaching. I’ve been teaching secondary for 20 years. My school is state with its challenges and not the most difficult of areas but not the easiest. It means a lot to make a difference, I’m rarely bored (apart from at the bottom of a marking pile), and I love my subject and learning new ways to teach it. There’s a lot of people struggling with the challenges of it and I get that. I personally can’t see myself doing anything else.

Yes, they will.

Most schools will deploy you to where you’re needed. Regardless of skill set. You’re a teacher first and a specialist second.

Teacher here - part-time 3 days a week in a small, 1 form entry school with 96% FSM and high deprivation. 3 kids at home, all under 8.

As PPs have said, yes it's bad at the moment but the day to day joy of the children is very much still there if you take the time to understand them and don't expect them to be robots barking yes Miss, whatever you say Miss.
I feel a lot of the positives come from the school you're currently working in. Is it realistic to expect a job to open up there if you did qualify? All schools are totally different so my only recommendation would be spend some time volunteering in other schools first, some small, some large, different areas etc to get a proper feel for the system as a whole. As a 1 form entry school we have to plan everything ourselves, we all have the expectation of leading a curriculum subject so the work load is more. However, smaller means we're a tight knit group, know the majority of the children across the school by name and a bit more freedom in the classroom as our books don't need to match our opposite class. Also, less expectation on paperwork. My current school we also don't mark as it's a pointless task, the kids don't read it. We live mark during the lesson and give them the feedback there and then which cuts down workload massively. Of course it's filled with other tasks but I get home to my kids by 5pm.

Hope this helps, I've tried to be as fair as I can.

Not RTFT, just the first 40ish responses.

You would not be able to 'run your own classroom' the way you wanted. Maybe down to minor things like seating plans and deciding which book to read at the end of the day. The rest is likely part of an overarching strategic plan.

The expectations aren't to be 'staved off' by an inner, more mature voice of self-regulation; they're a feature, not a bug, in the system.

You're never 'done' because contractually, you are obliged to commit as many hours as the job requires in order to fulfil the expectations.

Would you consider an HLTA role? Seriously, stay away from the planning, assessment and accountability side of things if you value your stress-free time and time with your DC.

I'm your age and am looking for a way out after 25 years, despite absolutely loving many aspects of my job and knowing that it brings out the very best of me and allows me to make a difference to the lives of children and families (my role includes a lot of working with families as well as class teaching). The cost to my own family and DC has been too great and I will never get that time back.

I would not even consider it!! I trained as a teacher at 34, taught for 6 years, left due to the immense stress, and went into youth work/safeguarding work for many years and then back to teaching about 6 years ago, as a supply teacher but ended up in the same school for 4 years so was part of the furniture. Left the school last year and now do tutoring which is 90% less stressful but worse paid.

Would not go back to teaching in a school now, no matter what the pay is. The hours, the stress, the horrendous behaviour, the abuse, the meetings, the report-writing, the planning, the marking, the parents’ evenings…need I go on?

IMO 50 is far too old to be entering such a demanding, stressful job. It’s physically and emotionally gruelling. You need to be fit and well and have lots of stamina. Most teachers your age are starting to plan their escape route! Also, you say you want to work PT and you have family commitments. Teaching is not conducive to this! You have to complete 2 years as an ECT (used to be called NQT and you only had to do 1 year under the old system) and it’s extremely unlikely you’ll find a PT role at entry level. Even if you did, that could potentially stretch your ECT period to 4 years pro rata. During your ECT period, you get a slightly reduced timetable, but regular assessments/observations etc, which bring an additional workload and stress.

Working PT as a teacher is a nightmare anyway, as you’ll still have all the planning, marking etc to do in your own unpaid time. It’s a career that definitely impacts on your family time, whether FT or PT.

I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole if I was in your position.

Just another quick thought -
Primary is a lot tougher than secondary but if you want a middle ground my sister is a middle school teacher and I have never been more jealous! She has all the perks of a secondary school but with younger children. If you have any near you that would be my port of call if I ever leave my current position.

But no school will get away with, say, appointing a geography teacher to teach French. If they can’t speak French they can’t teach it. Kids won’t learn. Standards won’t be met. It makes no sense at all.

Would love to hear real life stories of teachers being appointed, without their consent, to tesching a class for an entire academic year in a subject that isn’t their specialty: I just don’t believe it happens other than in a cover scenario. The only scenario in which I could see it working would be a ML teacher with a degree in French teaching yr7/8 German for a year when they have good conversational German. The skills of teaching a language would be transferable. Same, say, for a physics teacher teaching KS3 maths. A deep understanding of which you’d need for grade level physics.

I have one- maths up to gcse and I'm a humanities teacher.
Obviously I couldn't do it- had a nervous breakdown and left teaching.

We don’t have middle schools where we are, unfortunately.

If you're still tempted, @MyPearlCrow if definitely go for the on the job training via School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT). You're salaried, you're teaching straight away, and you'll know while you're training, whether the job's right for you. And if it's not, you've wasted far less time than if you do uni based training and then a first year of work.

@MyPearlCrow
Sorry, forgot to tag you.

I think if you’ve got the passion for it and I think you do then you should go for it. Why not? We need good teachers.

• But no school will get away with, say, appointing a geography teacher to teach French. If they can’t speak French they can’t teach it. Kids won’t learn. Standards won’t be met. It makes no sense at all.

Would love to hear real life stories of teachers being appointed, without their consent, to tesching a class for an entire academic year in a subject that isn’t their specialty: I just don’t believe it happens other than in a cover scenario. The only scenario in which I could see it working would be a ML teacher with a degree in French teaching yr7/8 German for a year when they have good conversational German. The skills of teaching a language would be transferable. Same, say, for a physics teacher teaching KS3 maths. A deep understanding of which you’d need for grade level physics*

@pearlcrow - how can you possibly speak so assuredly about this if you are not a teacher/have only worked as a TA in a primary?

Gently, highly skilled TAs are a godsend, but they are not 'essentially teachers'. Carrying the load is the most demanding part of the job, and you've acknowledged TAs don't do that. Likewise, skills, eg number, are taught in a particular way for a reason which doesn't always seem logical to the layman.

If you want to retrain, that's brilliant, and there would be no problem being a part time ECT, it would just take longer, but please, be realistic about the role you're currently undertaking compared to the role you'd like.

Yes you are mad. Even in your own post you state the TAs are ex-teachers who couldn’t cope with the ridiculous work load. You will struggle to find a part time role too.

@MyPearlCrow we currently have a PE teacher teaching "science" (general, not just biology) and PSHCE. The head of social sciences was an English teacher who was just moved and now runs psychology + sociology, as well as a new T Level. Teaching herself it before teaching the kids.

Both of these are permanent

Thank you. It sounds tough. I’m taking this all in.

HLTA looks like all the planning/prep for little more than TA pay. Can I ask if that’s an accurate assessment?

@Jk987 Being 'amazing' doesn't insulate a teacher from the unsustainable nature of the job. If anything, it puts you at greater risk of burn out.

I'm someone who has been praised for 'going the extra mile' for decades, invited to share best practice at conferences, achieving brilliant outcomes for my pupils, those with SEN in particular, supported countless families with housing and support needs, and recognised for bringing exceptional value in terms of the extracurricular offer at my school. And I love my job.

But it is unsustainable in terms of time and remuneration. After 25 years, I'm earning a fraction of what my peers with comparable degrees and postgraduate qualifications are earning and am painfully aware that supporting my own DC through the next stage of their lives with further and higher education is going to be hard.

PHSE I get, schemes of work to follow and common sense real life experience stuff. Doesn’t need a degree.

PE teachers often have another subject though? So less weird than, say, a science teacher teaching French, which was the scenario I thought you were suggesting. I imagine they had to demonstrate expertise in science and easy to see how that would follow from GCSE/A level/degree in PE which is very science based.

I didn’t say couldn’t cope, I said didn’t want. That’s an important distinction.