Did anyone else regret training as a teacher?

[Wisdomtoothpain]

After my degree I did a PGCE, which i passed. In my first role I got put on an informal support plan so I quit before it was made formal.

Went to another school with horrendous expectations, an awful bully of a line manager who had several complaints made against her from other staff, very poor behaviour from pupils including threats and violence.

I put in all the hours as I was told it gets easier after the ECT, but I just couldn't pass it. So I left and now work in a low paid admin role, though I am applying for other things.

I regret ever becoming a teacher, I see my old schoolfriends and course mates and they're all doing really well, some people are head of department, some are band 7 or 8 NHS, basically all in senior roles.
I just feel like a joke, I wish id gone into another industry. Anyone else?

Yes exactly....I didn't even ask that in my post so I don't know why they needed to bring it up.

DS had a terrible experience at his training school (Schools Direct) and almost had a nervous breakdown. fortunately he was able to go back and complete his training at a school where he had connections and he became a valued member of staff there. Some schools are toxic. Have you considered doing supply so you get a sense of what your local schools are like? Also, why don’t you use your qualification and do some tutoring?

What happened 5 years ago?

I used to teach - did 12 years before I moved into something else. I don’t regret it as it gave me a lot of skills that I use in my current career. Try not to think of it as a failure - just an experience that you can use to pivot to something else

Agree with all of this. I don't regret my academic qualifications, but I do all of my teaching and CPD qualifications, particularly those, that were funded out of my own pocket. I don't miss being shafted by SLT, I loathe Ofsted, I don't miss gobby college kids giving it large and only being in college, so their parents can get benefits. I don't miss the stress, aches and pains and headaches, after having to shout over large classroom numbers. Early retirement at 50 and have had 4 years of absolute bliss. I wasted my career opportunities, going into teaching. However, seeing kids achieve was the highlight.

Not really. The first part of my teaching career was brilliant. I simply made a bad move after that and stuck it out far too long. I wouldn't go into teaching today but as well as the nightmare of the last part of it I do have some wonderful memories.

I got QTS in 1995 when there was no NQT year and no ECT years. I still have QTS and a DfE number. QTS and ECT are separate.

Covid.
A more prescriptive curriculum.
More hours expected.
The list is long.

It’s incorrect.

Nope. It's a very good qualification to have. I'm no longer a classroom teacher but have diversified into exam marking and tutoring and make a good income from it. I wouldn't have this work if I didn't have QTS.

NQT/ECT years are brutal. But it's 2 years of hell in order to reap the benefits.

You still have your degree, even if you didn't pass your ECT. Can you use your BA / BSC to do something else? You might need to undertake further training.

OP has QTS. I didn’t do any NQT or ECT years and I need QTS for my current job.

I didn't say she didn't have it. I said I'm glad I have it.

She hasn't passed passed her ECT. There will probably be jobs she can do without passing her ECT but she hasn't found one yet.

No regrets here. I qualified 17 years ago, was an AHT, left to concentrate on my growing family and now I’m back in the classroom, where I’m happiest. It’s not for everyone, but I love it.

The Schools you train at are so critical to your experience. I've been extremely fortunate to train at an Ofsted Outstanding School and then after my PGCE year went to an Ofsted Good School in a relatively small market town to do my NQT (Now ECT) and then develop on. Now, after 7 years in the profession i'm off to a new school to progress as an Assistant Head of Year.

Maybe find another school/training provider and go from there. Don't write it off yet.

I trained in the early 2000s. My career hasn't exactly bloomed, but I don't regret it.

Even then the PGCE was gruelling. I was fixed into an area with high demand and fairly low supply of jobs. I completed my NQT year across two school on supply (with minimal support). I basically did supply and temporary contracts until about 10 years ago. At that point family life, and post-Gove academy culture became too much. It turned out that my children are ND, so it's turned into a SAHM gap.

I'm about to return to the classroom this September but in a support role. I'm overqualified, but my experience is relevant. I won't have the additional workload at home and I'm hoping it will be less embroiled in politics. I'm mentally framing the difference in salary as actually being a similar rate for hours worked by the time I take teacher beaucracy into account.

I've worked in all kinds of schools. It's not the catchment of pupils that makes or breaks a school, it's the management culture, and how they support their staff and work as a team together to support the pupils (or treat the staff like disobedient children to be controlled)

Covid - being treated like second class citizens
Post Covid catch up unrealistic expectations putting pressure on children when they needed catching up socially not being pressured into a more formal curriculum
Funding cuts really starting to bite affecting SEND support, TA hours, resourcing and training
Gove’s curriculum seemed to crank up ( might just be my experience) leading to decreased autonomy and lack of creativity in the classroom
Introduction by Ofsted of unrealistic and huge workload inducing subject leadership at primary level
Being micromanaged and dictated to over style of delivery
Excessive paperwork
Unbearable workload
Excessive scrutiny
Deterioration of behaviour
Parents abdicating their responsibilities

And on a personal level, perimenopause and some other health issues

I voted YABU for leaving when put on an informal support plan. Children deserve high quality teachers and you were identified as needing help with improving, so you quit.

I work in Secondary Science and I find that some providers pass literally anyone on PGCE and this really sets ECTs up to fail in their first job because frankly they shouldn’t have been given QTS within that 1 year in the first place.

Cool story

How many people do you know who do exactly what they originally trained for, and have a career? I don’t know many.
I originally trained as an academic scientist (phd etc, but there were no jobs in my field), went into industry, changed (adjacent) fields about 4 times (got bored each times), went into management (hated it), now in a completely different science role. Fairly sure i’m going to change a couple more times. i’m end 40s.
most people i know are similar, we change with the circumstances.
You can as well, there is slways time for learning and new roles!

What is your undergraduate degree in?

Obviously circumstances vary and the school I work in (as DH) is very supportive and most staff stay for many years. We had an ECT that needed an informal support plan last year. They were really struggling with behaviour management but have since completely turned a corner with the support they've been given. We would have been very disappointed if they had up and left at that point.

Your situation might well have been very different of course, but your post and comments come over as you having a negative attitude. You haven't failed the ECT, I presume, you've just given it up?

You could try again elsewhere or move into another degree level role in a related or different area. See what has happened as a learning experience and a chance for a reappraisal of your goals. No experience is wasted if you learn more about yourself and your preferences, skills and aptitudes.

I didn't want a formal support plan on my records so I didn't feel I had much choice, I know a lot of teachers are managed out with these.

Unfortunately, being graded Outstanding by Ofsted is no guarantee of anything much. One 'Outstanding' school I worked at was the most toxic place I've ever worked. I was only doing a maternity cover there and I quit early!

You posted in AIBU… I was explaining what tipped it over into YABU for me.

Obviously YANBU for the second toxic school who sound like they didn’t support you enough. But you left a school that did put a support plan in place in favour of this school.

Maybe you got unlucky with the schools, there’s a lot of toxic ones out there, and you need to find a school that will support and champion you to become a great teacher. Maybe teaching just isn’t for you. That’s okay, there’s plenty of other careers to explore until you find what is the right fit for you.

Sounds like my story from 25 years ago. I retrained in something else and honestly it feels like a small footnote in my career path now. I wasn’t cut out to be a teacher but I am good at other things. Also some senior teachers are bullies.