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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

After reading a thread warning against teaching as a career!!

157 replies

SunsetOnTheHorizon · 29/12/2025 00:27

I'm due to complete my degree and I am applying for a QTS+PGCE course for September 2026.

I am aware the teaching sector is a nightmare to work in right now (going by the recent thread).

But my main aspirations are to 1) work as a supply (once I've completed my ECT years) and 2) to work abroad 3) work in specialist schools not mainstream. Considering these 3 factors is it still a stupid idea to go into teaching? Thankfully my dh brings in the bulk of the income, this is something of a dream that I am looking to fulfill. Always wanted to teach, and didn't get round to it as I ended up raising a family. I currently work as a TA in a special school - that's why I am more inclined to work in one once I'm qualified.

AIBU to continue pursuing my dream considering the current climate?

OP posts:
Original poster
SunsetOnTheHorizon · 05/01/2026 23:19

Diamond7272 · 03/01/2026 20:54

Oh god, just seen 'distance family friends'... (do you mean distant?)

'theses' too.

The bar must be low. Really low. Please get someone else to check your application for a PGCE or your journey will/should be over before it begins. It's not fair on the children to dumb down their education so much. I'm amazed it passed the standard to be a TA...

Now your just being a snotty little brat! You're snide comments are immature and unnecessary. Go through all the MM posts from education staff and spell check. (Oh, I've planted some more spelling errors in this post - I was checking all along who was paying attention). Have fun.

OP posts:
Diamond7272 · 05/01/2026 23:24

SunsetOnTheHorizon · 05/01/2026 23:19

Now your just being a snotty little brat! You're snide comments are immature and unnecessary. Go through all the MM posts from education staff and spell check. (Oh, I've planted some more spelling errors in this post - I was checking all along who was paying attention). Have fun.

Show quote history

You're = you are
Your = belongs to you

Please don't apply to do a PGCE. You will just waste everyone's time and patience. Be thankful you have a TA job already (I wouldn't employ you).

Ps: Are you aware that entrants need a GCSE grade B in English and Maths these days (or equivalent) - at least that used to be the situation before desperation set in.

Original poster
SunsetOnTheHorizon · 05/01/2026 23:34

Diamond7272 · 05/01/2026 23:24

You're = you are
Your = belongs to you

Please don't apply to do a PGCE. You will just waste everyone's time and patience. Be thankful you have a TA job already (I wouldn't employ you).

Ps: Are you aware that entrants need a GCSE grade B in English and Maths these days (or equivalent) - at least that used to be the situation before desperation set in.

Edited
Show quote history

The errors have been planted. And you're still correcting them - take a breather.

I think you have a bee in your bonnet about the bin not being collected or something else, bedroom related. And you've decided to release that upset out on my spelling.

I wouldn't even dream of working for or with someone like you. You're extremely crass and obnoxious. I can imagine you in the workplace, a bully who is unsupportive and mean. You would suit working as a prison guard.

OP posts:
Original poster
SunsetOnTheHorizon · 05/01/2026 23:40

ProudCat · 03/01/2026 21:17

Retrained to be a teacher in my early 50s. It's fine. I'm old enough to be the head's mom. A guy recently joined us who's just qualified in his 60s. We both have industry backgrounds.

That is an amazing achievement. In your 50's, you must have been really determined. Impressive!

OP posts:
Diamond7272 · 05/01/2026 23:41

Look, I don't care what you do or where you go. Experienced teachers on here have offered you excellent advice, but you always seem to know better. You are wasting your time applying to be a teacher... But please by all means have a go!

Any international school in a tax haven is welcome to you... Although I doubt they will be too keen to embrace 4 children and your husband, who presumably would relocate with you...? (maybe he will breathe a sigh of relief and stay in the UK)

Toodle pip. :) (of course your errors were purposeful, of course)

Ps: I hear the International Schools of Beirut, Tehran and Tora Bora are nice.

Original poster
SunsetOnTheHorizon · 05/01/2026 23:49

ridl14 · 05/01/2026 21:46

Hi OP I'm returning part time from mat leave soon, qualified in 2021. The trainee year (I did School Direct in a really tough academy) is absolutely brutal. I think if you can stick with it through the ECT years, it does get better. Returning for another year in the same school is easier than starting afresh - you know more of the kids and routines, you can adapt previous resources - but don't be afraid to move schools to find one that's a better fit. Move schools before you give up teaching entirely.

I did 3 years in said tough school, moved to one that is reasonable about wellbeing (as in not working teachers into the ground until they leave or get signed off - or attacked in school!). My first year in the new school I also found really tough, back to 14h days between work at school and work continued at home, and I was very close to quitting. Returning for another year there was much easier.

Find more experienced teacher friends and get their perspective on whatever is going on in the school. There's a great book by Bruno Gomes (Teacher Workload: How to Master It and Get Your Life Back), goes into different ways to make your life more bearable.

It does get easier and a big part of it is getting quicker at everything as you get more experienced, unconscious competence, figuring out what you can get away with not doing in that particular school and learning to care and do less. I have definitely not mastered that last one and there are a lot of perfectionists in teaching. I still worked through my lunch breaks all through my pregnancy and was on my knees giving kids feedback and encouragement right up to 38 weeks. And trying to tick all the boxes for the scrutiny we're still subject to. Tbd how I cope now I'll be prioritising my child and juggling nursery!

Thank you for the book recommendation. I'll be looking into it as part of my decision.

I agree - the school in which you train in plays a huge part. I've heard about some horror stories on here about a mentor that bullied one student out of her PGCE course. All because she was doing her course part time, according to the unsupportive mentor, a part time pgce does not equate to how a "real" teachers week would look like.

OP posts:
Diamond7272 · 06/01/2026 00:02

Urgh, it's been dumbed down to GCSE grades of C (level 4) or better in English and Maths to be enrolled on a PGCE course.

It's pitiful.

Might be good news for the OP though...

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