Teaching OMG!

[LucilleBluth]

I have been training to teach this year. I started my PGCE as a 43 year old in September 2024. I’m about to finish it-well I say that. I’m feel like I’m hitting rock bottom with two weeks to go. I have worked in schools as support staff before so I wasn’t totally blind and I have good friends who are teachers, but oh my god, it is such hard work. The workload is insane-the kids are lovely but I’m dealing with so much extra stuff like SEN, EAL is off the charts, behaviour, kids without equipment and who can’t cope unless a lesson is chunked and scaffolded so much I may as well spoon feed it.

I don’t feel I can do it full time so I applied for a Cover Supervisor role-15 qualified teachers applied for a £21000 year job, I,didn't get it. What’s the point

Teacher pay needs doubling. I’ve been awake since 1am.

Sorry I laughed at this. Of course he's outstanding and inspirational. He's got the easiest job.
Meanwhile, in the real world...

Most of the fun of preparation used to be creating our own schemes of work IMO. I remember months translating and preparing Chaucer, for example - by the time I taught it I knew it upside down and backwards. The same with Paradise Lost and all the Shakespeares. This wouldn't have happened if I'd just tried to nestle down into someone else's scheme of work.

Add to this the talking, making noises, putting on lipgloss, telling me my lesson is boring, messing with a water bottle, not having a pen, chatting about the latest group chat drama-and I’m strict.

This is just secondary teaching I'm afraid. You'll get better at managing it.

The insane workload isn't your fault.

So interesting to hear this.

I am not a teacher but have thought for a while why don't schools have text books anymore? I think it would make it easier for teachers AND kids (especially the ADHD / ND ones, having everything organised in one place).

Having books shouldn't of course preclude being able to do supplementary sheets of paper if needed but all these hands outs are a nightmare for disorganised kids!! I know there is a cost involved but charge parents for lost books if need be.

You didn’t get it because as a newly qualified teacher you lack experience! I’m not sure what expected teaching to be like? Sounds like you thought it would be an easy ride with long holidays and the reality is starting to hit you! You also knew what the pay would be. It sounds like you don’t want to teach, so maybe go back into your previous field!

I think we are not paid enough, and we would love to be paid more.

I might only be speaking for myself here, but we see how little money there is, and of what money we can get into Education, we would much rather see it spent on support and provision, which ultimately may make Teaching more manageable.

For Teachers to be paid more it often has to come from existing budgets, as we have seen this year, and quite often there is very little left in the school kitty.

If you think teachers pay is poor, look at nursing! Teachers in comparison earn significantly more than a band 5 nurse, which is what mists nurses are on. Band 5 is around £37500 whilst a teacher with no added responsibility gets £45350! Teachers also get supplements for added responsibility which nurses don’t!

He isn't the epitome of teaching.

The amazing teachers are the ones who can get those chatting, lip gloss applying kids to engage in their subject. Who recognise the small wins of the kids who may not be academic.

The fact he refuses to teach lower years tells me his classroom management skills suck

Very much the same in Primary regards to this, we ask parents not to let children bring in items such as lip gloss, balm, toys etc, but we are often met with hostility and god forbid they lose said item..... 😔

Let's not start the Teacher Vs Nurse debate....the media and government love to play that card at every opportunity.

No point in engaging with with someone pushing that agenda, agreed.

I gave up for all those reasons about 15 years ago. I'm in my 50s and found it took over my life. It just never got any easier. I'm now a teaching assistant. The pack is poor but I now have a life outside work.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/teacher-training-and-education/how-much-do-teachers-get-paid#:~:text=Qualified%20teacher%20salary,-The%20pay%20scales&text=England%20(excluding%20London)%20and%20Wales,%C2%A330%2C000%20to%20%C2%A346%2C368.

I am due to start my PGCE Primary this September and I’m really having second thoughts.

Add on that TLR's are often quoted for extra responsibility but it's not guaranteed that it can even be paid, all depends on budgets, lots of teachers are having the extra responsibility but without the TLR.

Very well said.

i thought I knew what teaching was all about , my mum is a teacher I’d spent my whole life in her classroom and watching her struggle

doing it yourself IS totally different, especially if your heart is in it and you have retrained late in life and think you know what you are letting yourself in for

give yourself a break op most teachers are teetering on the brink of breakdowns at this part of the term , you are not alone

teaching is not for the faint of heart , and despite was some people may have commented on here - you really don’t know how hard it is until you are in it , standing up there being responsible for a class and their outcomes , so op don’t beat yourself up about not realising how hard it is.

Just go in with eyes open...there are still teachers out there who love their careers. You might be one of them.....it is an amazing vocation, just doesn't come without its pitfalls.

My son’s off to uni in September, he wants to be a primary school teacher. I’m not in education myself, but I was a school governor for a while, so I’ve seen how tough it can be for teachers. I do worry a bit about him going into it, but obviously I can’t really say that to him.

I watched a uni promo video recently where a teacher said, ‘We don’t go into this profession for the money,’ It’s frustrating how often we hear that, as if it’s just accepted that teachers shouldn’t be properly paid. I’ve seen it said in this forum plenty of times about paying hairdressers and other skilled workers what they’re worth, so why don’t we say the same about teachers, who shape the future?

If you think it's so well rewarded, why don't you retrain? Then you can apply for one of those imaginary TLR supplementary payments that are about as common as unicorns.

OP, when I was at that point I took a mental health day and didn't go in on the Friday. I actually went home to my mum for the weekend! Then I managed to see through the last couple of weeks. If you can, it would be good to finish even if you take a few days and give yourself a break.

I've been teaching for more than 10 years since then. It can be good in the right school.

Btw, your HoD friend is pretty awful for giving himself only those classes! Someone in his department is getting screwed over with the difficult classes for that one.

Don't do it. It's not a long-term career.

What a helpful post!

Not really, no.

Pay for the actual job you are meant to do as a teacher is ok mostly.

The issue is all the other stuff that you have to pick up that there should be independent staff to do it lunch time supervision, SEN applications and soon and so forth.

The issue is perpetual underfunding of the wider sector and the dissolution of things like children's centres, surestart and the likes that were once able to provide early intervention and support to parents