May be offered a perm position at a teaching job from September but it’s a 55 mins drive each way

[Sk999]

I’ve been the many schools and don’t easily like most places, not over the moon here either but I’ve come to know that there is no perfect place really.

I started as supply end of March and can continue as perm from September. Bit the distance is far, doable but I’m losing almost 19 hours a week travelling.

The point here is me and husband are planning to try for baby next Christmas and if it did happen I can get maternity pay and if I was very unwell I could have paid time off etc.

Then I would also be off for a year and could go back 3 days. Has anyone ever gone back 3 days to a school that was this far ? I think that is the hope that I will eventually go 3 days meaning I stay home 4 days and only travel 3 days.

If there’s a chance you may need Universal Credit as support when you’re on maternity leave, bear in mind that government maternity pay is deducted pound for pound, but company maternity pay is not, so you tend to be a lot better off.

Lots of people would find a 55 minute commute each way too far. 4 or 5 hours a day commute is insane imo. All that time sitting in a car, either side of presumably hours of sitting in an office (for most of those people). Christ - what a way to live. No wonder people are unhealthy and burnt out.

At least in teaching we are mostly standing up and moving around a bit. My 30 min commute is enough for me, but I guess if it were a choice of a nice school and all the nearby ones were awful, maybe I'd consider a longer commute. Sounds like your school is only ok though, OP?

You're being sarcastic obviously. But I don't believe what your friends allegedly say.

If I were in your position OP, I would find 55 minutes drive too far. There's too much potential for traffic delays in that long a journey and you can't be late. Maternity pay is all very well but are you going to want to do a 55 minute journey in each direction when you go back to work after the baby is born?

You must be doing teaching wrong then! I never get in to school before 8 and leave at half four at the latest. Do a couple of hours on a Sunday.
Why do you put this nonsense on every thread about teaching. It’s untrue and puts people off a rewarding job.

Mine is 35 mins driving which isn't much but it equates to 52 miles on the car each day. That soon adds up in fuel, mileage depreciation on my car, extra insurance costs due to the mileage and also looking at 2 services on the car each year due to the mileage instead of one. I love the me time,radio and podcasts on my drive but I'd rather spend my money on something else.

It’s not the longest commute OP and worth it for a school you actually like.

What are your other options? Are there viable schools closer to you who are hiring? If you don’t take this opportunity is there a chance you will be left jobless?

It’s not too bad. I commute to Frankfurt once a month and words cannot describe the level of hatred I have for this self imposed commitment (It’s my business and I set this contract up personally so only have myself to blame) 😂.

Is it 55 mins on a clear day or can it get much longer with traffic? I’d be fine with 1 hour each way as a daily commute but if it was turning into 2 due to frequent traffic jams it would start to piss me off. I do frequent long journeys for work and don’t mind, I stick a pod cast on and buy car snacks but I get to choose as and when so appreciate it’s different when you’re committed full time.

It's too far long term (I know lots of people do it but it's a waste of a life and completely unnecessary in primary teaching when there are primaries all over the place) but in your situation I'd do it for the mat pay etc and reassess once you've done your 12 weeks back. I suspect you will find it much too far when you have a baby.

I teach a mixed year group class so arguably higher planning load and don't do anything like this. If this is genuinely what your school expects you need to consider whether they need you more than you need them and if so cut back on what you're doing, or if not leave for somewhere more sensible.

This makes me laugh. Yes I work in education. No I have never had a commute as short as 55 mins! Obviously it's you job and your life. There's no law saying you cannot refuse a job based on how far away it is. So do whatever you want, but if you are wanting opinions, there's mine: don't reject a job for it's long commute when it has a short commute!

I would say it’s too far. You can’t use the drive for anything other than thinking/decompressing or, at most, listening to books/podcasts. You’ll still have your prep work to do when you get home, or you’ll be home pretty late and will need to leave home pretty early as standard.

It is doable if you really like the school (and if their schemes of work and resources are already in point) but if you have doubts or there will be a lot of daily planning involved, I wouldn’t commit to that length of a commute.

There are always schools that would be worth it, of course. If it’s amazing, then do it. If it’s just okay, you can probably find okay nearer home.

It the expectation that we should work these hours that have got the system into its current state. I spent too long working like that and now have a life long chronic illness and am struggling to conceive a baby.
OP- I think if you are confident they will be able to provide you with those part time hours then you should take it. Best of luck to you and your husband.

I've been in a few schools. It's standard. You are VERY lucky if you only work until 5. That is the exception. It's why we're haemorrhaging existing teachers and can't recruit enough trainees.

Leaving at 3.30 at a good school would make this a yes for me. I have done supply. This combination is rare in my experience.

As it says.

You must be paid less than minimum wage working all those hours? Interesting mix of responses from other teachers as well.

One factor to consider is the availability of childcare to cover that commute. You're okay if your partner can do the morning drop-off, but otherwise you would need somewhere that opens by 7.30. The other possibility is to use a nursery near the school, but then that works less well if your partner needs to pick up (eg if child is ill, or you have parents' evening going beyond the opening times), and of course it means the child has all the travelling too.

We are very lucky with parents, his parents actually live 7 mins away from this school and mine are on the way although it would delay me by 20 mins or so - I leave at 7:20 in mornings - I would probs have to leave 7 am instead.

3:30 on Monday Wednesday and Friday. And 4:30 on Tuesday and Thursday due to training.

As a positive slant….. I commuted slightly longer than that for a teaching post for 14 years. One real positive I found that was in have my an hour every morning to get my head in gear before the day started and the same at the end of the day to decompress and process the day and what I needed to do next.. Much of my planning and ppa was done then as the quietness of just me in the car gave me space I never got in school or at home. I now work much closer to- 20 mins - to my school but it if far more stressful as I’m always rushing through traffic and can’t use that time to gather my thoughts anymore

It sounds like you only want the job in order to get sick pay and paid maternity leave then to go part time. Teaching is a job you have to put your heart and soul into

This absolutely, then tue school has to pay supply to cover you. I wouldn't be happy if I was the HT.

That's good, although even if they have offered childcare you should double-check whether they would be okay with a 7.30am start. Childcare really takes it out of some grandparents, even if it's just 9-5.

I personally wouldn't take a job in a cash strapped school - which they all are - and then immediately plan to get pregnant. That seems grim.

I am not a teacher any more, but I didn't leave because of the workload. I loved teaching and moved into a parallel career related to my specialism and still work in schools daily. I also love my current role.

Funnily enough I often work at evenings and weekends too, and spent all day Bank Holiday Monday having to respond to a crisis situation, I won't get extra pay for that. Though I am paid for working 3 days a week, I log on and respond to emails and queries every day otherwise it gets totally overwhelming.

Teaching is bloody hard work. But teachers do themselves and their profession a disservice when they make out they are the only people working evenings and weekends or working outside their "public facing" hours.

There are many reasons why teachers leave. One is that teaching is a well known job that feels like a sensible option if you enjoy your subject and aren't sure what to do with it. Not all those teachers have a passionate desire to teach and many find it's not the right job for them. Far fewer people drift into, say, clinical psychology because it's really hard to get onto training and requires real dedication and perseverance. (I am not saying that no teachers are dedicated. My mother and sister were born to teach. Mum taught for 40 years and loved every second, and my sister is on 20 years and likewise, has no plans to change career). Others leave because of the pay, or because they aren't very good at it, or because they are in a toxic work environment or because managing difficult behaviours gets too much. Not every teacher leaves due to workload. That's a very simplistic analysis.