To think midwife’s get a rubbish deal compared to teachers?

[Midwifeacher]

Both should earn more than they do, obviously. My sister is trying to choose between midwifery and teaching. Both seem so different but she wants a guaranteed career and is trying to decide which route to take. I’ve been running comparisons with her.Whats shocked me is what a shoddy deal midwifes seem to get. Before taking into account that obviously, sadly, it carry huge emotional weight when things go wrong. Not entirely comparable in profession but why would anyone do this job?

Starting salary:
Midwife - £29,970
Teacher - £32,916

Highest salary without going into leadership
Midwife - £42,618
Teacher - £45,321

Holidays:
Teacher - 13 weeks plus term time bank holidays (though some unpaid, this is included in above salary) major holidays off, no flexibility to take term time off
Midwife - 27 days plus bank holidays, often work major holidays, can book time off when needed, though hard to get approval.

Pension (employer contribution):
Teacher - 28.6%
Midwife - 23.7%

Shifts:
Teacher - 6.5 hour shift mon-fri daytime (student facing) lots of reported overtime
Midwife - 12 hour shift inc evenings and weekends (patient facing) lots of reported overtime

AIBU to think midwives are getting a crap deal? Is it because they’re not as unionised?

also she’s obviously not basing which career she goes for on the above factors, but it has to be taken into consideration!

It’s not a case of an unexpected death every shift. But midwives deal with terminations for fetal anomalies, earlier miscarriages and preterm births which often don’t have good outcomes. Plus obstetric emergencies which while don’t (thankfully!) often lead to death but can be really stressful to deal with and (rightfully so) are often investigated afterwards, which isn’t easy to switch off from.
These Things happen a lot more frequently than you’d expect. Most midwives deal with these things pretty regularly if you work on the delivery suite.

So do midwives have to grade test papers each night, mark classwork and homework, plan lessons, contact students and parents about this and that and teach classes in the day time?

Both jobs are hard. It's not a competition !

Quite.

She has LITERALLY said right there that midwives don’t have the same amount of admin.
Doesn’t mean one job is easier than the other.
why not just be supportive of each other, they’re both tough jobs in an increasingly challenging climate?

I haven't read the whole thread but I used to be a teacher and considered leaving to train as a midwife for a long time. In the end (and after speaking to lots of midwives throughout my pregnancies!) I concluded it was just as bad. So my advice would be neither of those things.
I did quit teaching.

I dont think it is odd at all. It is fairly typical of intelligent women from working class families to go into teaching or nursing as that is what they know.

The odd part is the comparison between teaching and nursing constantly. They aren't even similar!.

The odd part is the comparison between teaching and nursing constantly. They aren't even similar!.

Yes, exactly what I meant-they are so different.

I could understand if you couldn't choose between nursing/midwifery/radiography/physiotherapy/occupational therapy as they all have a similar feel, but to do either midwifery or teaching (and nothing else) seems strange to me.

In my 30s I trained to be a teacher. On paper it seemed like an attractive career.
The reality? Teaching until 3.30pm, meetings or after school sessions until 5.30pm. Marking sometimes until midnight. Most of the school holidays spent creating resources, teaching material, lesson plans etc
Day to day teaching dealing with behaviour issues, abuse, safeguarding issues. So many politics to deal with and the ongoing Ofsted stress.
I left the profession.
My friend is a midwife and finds it emotionally difficult. Bad hours, emotionally demanding. She experiences some very emotionally distressing situations with drug addicts, people in extreme poverty etc

It takes a very special person to do either of these professions.

Midwives get paid for their overtime.

Teachers don’t…and on average work 26.5 hours over their paid time every week.

This isn’t entirely accurate. The extra shifts they pick up yes they get laid for. The shifts they get off late, sometimes hours late, and the times they work a 13 hours shift and have to work through their lunch, they don’t get paid any extra for.

Become a midwife then teach at a Uni? 32 days holiday plus you get paid at lecturers rates, lots of WFH etc

And the pay is rubbish. Worse than teaching and worse than midwifery! Workload is horrendous and getting worse.

They are two completely different jobs so you are comparing apples to oranges.