to become a chemistry teacher?

[MamaBerg]

I'm 40 and due to be made redundant due to the closure of our site. Its a global company with 50,000 employees so the 70 of us affected are insignificant to the powers that be. Anyway, Im in a semi-senior technical role. Next career step here would have been lab management. Pay around £42k
I'm trying to consider all options available, one of which is chemistry teacher. I would like to hear from people currently chemistry teachers what its really like. Is it all as bad as the media wants us to think?
My redundancy pay would cover the year not earning for training and fees. Plus I think there's a £30k scholarship for chemistry teachers which would cover some of the pay cut. If I'm reading the pay scales correctly, entry is around £33k then do you move a notch up the scale every year? So £45k in 5-6 years?

I’m sorry about your situation.
I’ve had the “I’ll just become a teacher” thoughts before so I’m posting to bookmark.

Have you spent any time with teens?
And/ Or have you considered teaching 16+

Don't do it!

Am a secondary and 6th Form chemistry teacher. Been teaching 18 years. Am in a large MAT.

I like my department, but everything else is run as a business now.

Very little parental support. Female staff are reguarly threatened with violence. We're a good/outstanding school. The kids don't care about anything other than their phones.

The chemistry course is so far removed from what most 16yo leavers actually need to know about how the world works. Also, most schools will expect you to teach all 3 sciences to GCSE.

Far more workload than can ever be completed. I work 3 days a week, and still work at home on my days off.

I only stick with it because 1. It means I can support my children and DH, with the holidays. 2. I am a coward, and it is all I've known for a long time. I am a good teacher, I work hard, but there is very little reward currently.

I teach English and absolutely love it. Teaching can be the best job in the world if it's right for you. That said, our school has had issues keeping lab technicians, which makes things stressful for the rest of the science department, I gather.

All the horror stories you hear depend on the school. I'm in a big comp in a deprived area, and we definitely have issues with misogyny, poor attendance, fighting... but we have good leadership, always feel supported and backed up, and even some of the roughest kids have a sweet side which reminds you they're just teenagers at the end of the day.

If you reach out to a local school, you'd be able to come in, watch some lessons and do some mini teaching sessions. That way you can get a sense of whether it's right for you. The good news is that schools are desperate for science teachers, so you'll be snapped up in a second. Just be prepared to teach physics and biology as well, because most senior leaders think if you can teach one subject, you can teach them all!

Good luck!

Not a problem doing the other sciences too. My undergraduate degree was 1/3 biology and I did physics A level too.
Going into a school to observe is a good shout thanks

Not a problem doing the other sciences too. My undergraduate degree was 1/3 biology and I did physics A level too.
Going into a school to observe is a good shout thanks

From a Science teacher perspective, ask yourself whether you are prepared for all of the below:

• 11 hour days most school days, plus a few hours at the weekend and holidays. That is not an exaggeration; it's what you will work.
• A gruelling PGCE year. It's not for the faint-hearted; you will be exhausted from juggling your placements and coursework.
• If you pass, a drop to 30k for 2 years minimum. The bursary is lovely, but be prepared to be resented by existing teachers that you will effectively earn more than they do (while being expected to do far less) and then to really feel the drop when you start teaching.
• Whilst there are incremental pay rises, be prepared to have to argue for this and hit a ceiling by year 4 (after which many schools will expect more than simply teaching for progression) and a huge ceiling after year 6.
• A room full of teenagers disinterested in your subject. And really struggling with it. Often both.
• Said teenagers being rude and disrespectful to you daily.
• Being judged all the time. By other adults and by teenagers. From how you walk, talk, what you wear, how you smell, your car, your lessons, your students' books, your results. You will be under scrutiny all the time. Nothing will ever be enough. You will never finish working.
• If you live anywhere near your catchment, always being on guard when you leave the house. Not having a private life.
• Dragging yourself into work ill, because it's easier than staying off and resting. Getting ill far more often than you likely have in a long time, because teenagers don't do hygiene well.
• Not being flexible around days you need. No ad hoc days off because the plumber needs to come over, your grandma is ill, you get a new washing machine, you need an eye test, your child is in a performance, a friend is getting married. You will be expected to put your job first.
• Not just teaching Chemistry. Or even just all 3 Sciences. Usually, you will also teach PHSE/ Sex and Relationship Education. You will cover other subjects you have no idea about - Art, History, English Literature, French - you name it, I've done them all. Some of them for a term or longer.

I'm sure there is more. People here will say I'm being negative. I see PGCE after PGCE quit at the moment when they realise they're not cut out for the reality of the job.

It's rewarding, yes, it's often fun, it's never boring. But teaching in England right now is not a job I would recommend, unless you are single, childless and prepared to dedicate most of your life to it.

People are so negative.

Do it!! Although definitely go to observe some schools first.

Also, not all schools are the same (and I'm not talking about state v private), there's plenty of options, especially for science teachers.

I would agree with @ThrallsWife having just retired from teaching after 30 years.

I absolutely loved my job. I would never recommend anyone train to teach now, it's utterly exhausting, particularly in the early years. There is a reason that recruitment and retention in teaching is horrific.

And why it is almost impossible to recruit quality science teachers. You will earn far more for much less work in a field other than education.

I’m a secondary teacher.

despite everything, it’s still the best job in the world.

go for it!

You need to experience school life today, and not just A Level or top set classes. I've been teaching 15 years and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Once you see the attitude, disrespect and lack of engagement you may view it differently. I have great relationships with my students, work in a good school, but it is still incredibly hard.
I wouldn't go into any training blind, especially given the PGCE qorkload being extremely tricky.

I am one of those teachers who has always enjoyed my job, but then I love my subject and really like young people. I teach in a non selective state secondary school with significant numbers of students on FSM and PP.
I don't particularly like the structure of the school, and I think some of the policies aren't great, but I tend to tune that out and focus on what needs to be done. Mostly the students are fine, so are the parents. You get exceptions, of course.
It is a very highly scrutinised profession, not that it's a problem, just to be aware.
We don't allow just anyone to come in and observe because we had a lot of time wasters, but if you can, it would be helpful.

I think training at a local school or MAT would be the best thing. I've mentored on SCITT, and it's good preparation.

This is a good, realistic summary. If you don't have a natural ability to connect with kids who don't want to be in the room it will be harder than the above. Same if you aren't strong at crowd control. However, if you are, then this is a fair representation.

Moving up the scale a notch every year?

we do desperately need good teachers to encourage take up of stem so I really don’t want to discourage you.

I have friends and family who are teachers, from whom I understand that as teachers in the public sector, pay rises and scale rises do not happen almost automatically they way they might in commercial settings. You may score mandatory increases, however once you are fully trained a school’s budget will not be increased just because you have been there for a year; they would need to make savings elsewhere in order to accommodate your increase.

I really hope you can make it work, we do desperately need good teachers. The private education sector can be better for teachers …

... often not great on the pension, though.

Suggest you get in touch with NowTeach; they were set up to support and mentor mid-career changers who want to go into teaching. The founder, Lucy Kellaway, is an ex journalist who started teacher training in her late 50s! She wrote a great book about it: Re-educated.

Ex maths teacher.

the workload is high and it can be hard to make it work around small kids if you have them.

school holidays obviously works well with larger kids but you will need to do some work in the holidays.

I found the hours exhausting and went to 80% which made my hours similar to a full time job.

contracts are in terms of teaching time and there is a lot of planning, prep and marking which especially in the early years takes up a lot of time.

behaviour is very variable between schools but all schools are seeing increased behaviour issues for a variety of reasons.

go into a school. Many schools are happy to host someone for a week who is thinking of teaching.

You would be likely to start on £32,916, not the £30,000 mentioned by a PP (unless you were in London or the “fringe” area, in which case it would be more) and that would be for one year not two.

My daughter is a teacher and absolutely loves it, though i think she has been lucky with her school (comprehensive). As a chemistry teacher I would imagine you would be very much in demand and would therefore be able to pick your school.

Incidentally, my daughter is now in her 4th year and earns over £50k (she is the fringe area and has some additional responsibilities).

Thanks I'll look it up.
There seem to be very polarised opinions here, not much middle ground!

To answer a few other concerns. I'm a scout leader so I'm used to working with young people

There seems to be a concern over how much work the training is? Like I don't currently have a high workload and pressure being technical lead on multiple projects 😅

All I wanted was a few insights into the job if I should consider it. I know there's a desperate need for STEM teachers hence the consideration

The training is very demanding. So is the job, it's absolutely full on. You'll be on your feet all day, and the demands to effectively meet every student's needs are increasing. You'll be monitored and watched a lot and all your results will be scrutinised.
I like it because I really like a room full of teenagers grappling with new concepts and developing understanding, confidence and communication.
It's not for the faint hearted, but it's a very rewarding job.

I’m not a teacher. If you do become a chemistry teacher, in your shoes, I’d go a for a comprehensive with a small 6th form. My DCs were at a school like tbis and both did A-Level chemistry in classes of less than 5. Only 2 of the science teachers (of about 15?) were chemistry specialists, so they did all the A-Level chemistry and the y11 triple science chemistry.

I’d go for it. Would a private school be any easier to teach in?

Nowadays, it's very hard to run A level classes with only 5 students, it's just not manageable, budget wise. The same with German and Music, so they don't run it.

You seem a bit dismissive about t(e training workload here. That’s not a good start.
35year career, now retired. It’s brilliant in the classroom if you like teenagers (even difficult ones - I did so while poor behaviour is exhausting it didn’t tip me over the edge). I wouldn’t recommend the job now though. It’s changed so much since I started and became more difficult to juggle so that the fun of teaching just isn’t worth it anymore.
Re the state/private issue - private has smaller classes and generally more parental support but the management can be very poor. It was an independent school which drove me to burnout and triggered my early retirement.