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.

Thank you, I will. But I want to gather all the possible options and students’ views on that route. So I can make an informed decision about whether I do the training and, if so, which route to take.

Huge thank to the poster who linked the 5 part series, so helpful. It was on my list of things to look up myself so that saves me a big job.

Actually, looking at my notes, Now Teach just does secondary training, so not relevant to me sadly.

I get that you're very keen on primary, but your background would be a better fit for secondary.

Alternatively, could you consider a role with e.g. a Montessori nursery? My daughter went to one for three years and there was a well trained well educated older lady who worked with the older ones. She was fantastic with my daughter.

Sorry if the impression I got was wrong about the primary school you are working in, but it just doesn't sound like any school where I work with the surplus of TAs. We were all covering everywhere after Christmas because of illness.
It is definitely still worth visiting other schools.

The thread is quite long and I don't know whether it has been raised about the likelihood of getting a job. I know everyone on here talks about people leaving teaching (and I have myself) but actually getting a job can be quite hard depending on vacancies where you are. You said yourself your children's secondary has teachers who have been there for years, so low staff turnover means it's difficult to find work. Where I am in the country primary schools are still highly competitive and the student we had last year was back in our school recently doing supply as they had not been able to secure a job. As you have family, your flexibility to move is reduced, and even if you train in the school you are in there is no guarantee of a job at the end of it (we had people on temp contracts last year who weren't kept on simply as they had no positions available once people came back from maternity leave).

Didn't Now Teach lose their funding recently anyway?

primary is different. I am still surprised that teachers don’t get taught that detailed spag or the latest maths methods when training,

Probably because the content of the curriculum changes so often! When I was training, we still taught magic e!

Although people might be aghast at secondary teachers teaching out of subject but fe l fine for primary as you can easily 'gen up' on Celtic round houses the night before, this is still an issue in primary and the Ofsted 'Deep Dives' really highlighted this.

Whilst you might be a secondary teacher who has done a maths degree, teach maths across every year group all day, are in charge of maths and get a TLR for the privilege, it's probably reasonable to expect you to have a 2 hour grilling about your subject by a few Ofsted inspectors. In primary, you might be geography coordinator, despite having no GCSE in the subject, barely teaching it as you are part time or teach in EYFS, get no time to lead it and certainly no money for doing so, but you would still be expected to have the lengthy geography Ofsted interview grilling/learning walk/observations and know the subject/curriculum progression/intent/outcomes for each year group etc like the back of your hand. In a small school, you might also be responsible for phonics, maths and history as well-and get completely different subjects the next year when someone leaves!

Be very careful with SCITT.

I mentored a brilliant potential new SCITT teacher once. Honestly, she had the enthusiasm, work ethic and charisma to make a great teacher. But she found out a month in that her training was not paid; apparently there are unpaid routes, too, and with school budgets being what they are I can't see any school agreeing to a paid route when an unpaid one is available. This young lady had to quit after 3 months because she couldn't afford to carry on; we lost great potential and she never went back to teaching (I'm still in contact with her on social media).

Another thing to consider- if you wish to teach abroad then only the PGCE is recognised internationally

I managed the training provider side of a SCITT before I retired. The trainees were in school for 3 days for the first term, then four for the rest of the year. We provided the training on the other days in which we did 5 full days on English and 4 on Maths and obviously all the other subjects and aspects of being a teacher- managing behaviour etc. It's not an easy route though.
Things are constantly changing so look on the Get into teaching website here
Your school might well sponsor you or you can fund it yourself. Good luck

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.

That and...

important point: I have kids, so want to work part time.

That from your OP are the standout comments for me.

Being a TA is really different from being a teacher in terms of accountability. It doesn't matter that you're 'essentially a voluntary TA taking classes etc', you can still walk away at 3.30 if you want to and not think about it until you get your instructions for tomorrow.

Teaching, even part time, is not a part time job and doesn't fit well with childcare/having a young family. In general.

I'd love to be a TA working with 6 - 8 kids who really need me, that would be amazing. If I could afford to do that, I would.

Speaking as a 51 year old teacher with a 10 year old, who retrained to teach at 33 and has just left the mainstream teaching profession for something more specialised and flexible in SEND.

I did the assessment only route (secondary though) - I had been a TA for 18 months, wanted to teach, had a relevant degree and MA and a good relationship with my school and so they just employed me as an UQT. I taught a full timetable with no training route, no assessments etc, just working it out as I went (and doing a LOT of reading about pedagogy etc). After 2 (maybe 3?) years we managed to find an AO provider who came in and saw me teach 3 times, I provided a physical portfolio of everywhere that I'd met the teaching standards, plus 8 million other bits of paperwork and journals and reflections, and that was it. Qualified, and I had enough experience to reduce the NQT period to 13 weeks.

Having mentored a million TF, SCITT and PGCE students it seems to be the TF ones who have a bit more grit about them (wildly generalising). Though the standard of trainees has taken a nosedive recently.

You seem very unaware of issues in education. What did you think a recruitment and retention crisis meant?
also, I’m pretty sure nobody knew I wasn’t an expert in Media Studies/Re/History/careers - I had made myself pretty knowledgeable about the bits relevant to the classes I taught.

I am unaware. That’s why I’m asking about it.

But @MyPearlCrow you have children in school and you volunteer there yourself. Surely you take an interest in the (entirely not secret and only told to teachers) news about the retention and recruitment crisis?

Not sure what you want from me @cardibach ? My children’s schools have never struggled for teachers. The school I volunteer in hasn’t struggled to recruit either. I’m not a teacher so have no personal experience of any crisis. I follow the news but tbh there is currently, and has been for years, much bigger crazy worldwide political news which automatically catches the eye. This doesn’t get into the first 20 minutes of any News At Ten I’ve ever seen. It’s not been weekend guardian front page news.

I haven’t previously delved into any recruitment crisis, even if I knew there was one, as it wasn’t relevant to me. Now it is. Now I’m both interested and invested. Now I’m asking.

is that ok with you?

if I asked you about the intricacies of the legal aid crisis, and it’s impact on the recruitment and retention of newly qualified barristers, for example, would you have a clue what I was on about?

Not the intricacies, no. But I’m well aware that there is a crisis in terms of recruiting young barristers, particularly to criminal work, and that the way they are paid is part of it. But I’m not considering retraining as a barrister. If I were, I’d have looked it up and found out as it’s quite relevant.
Anyway, it’s good you are finding out now.

So what have you decided?

If it hasn’t been suggested previously, I would get onto the FB group ‘Life after teaching, exit the classroom and thrive’. This will give you a shocking insight into how toxic many schools are.

Hi op, what about going into FE? You would snapped up if you could teach Law A level. I did my PGCE aged 40, worked in secondary schools and now teach in an FE college. No (or very few) behaviour issues and engaged students. Still has its stresses and long hours but more time to plan and more freedom than primary/secondary.

I’ve moved to an online school partly because of the awful behaviour of students. I really wouldn’t.

I say go for it. I love my job. Drowning in stress but it's the best job in the world for all that.