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?

The difference between being a Scout leader and being a teacher is that in scouting, you have some say in who is in your group. You generally have more supportive parents to start with (the feckless don't send their kids to Scouts), you can exclude those who do not pay (as a teacher you have to teach those without equipment all the time), you can exclude those who repeatedly affect the fun of others in the group. You have helpers, and parent helpers. You even have a say in the activities you do. None of that applies in teaching, where you get what you are given, will see those who verbally abuse you and destroy your lessons day after day back in the classroom and have to more or less suck up willful destruction of property along the way, usually all while being left on your own.

The difference between being semi-senior in your job with what sounds like managerial duties and being a classroom teacher is that as the latter, you have no say in how anything is run. You will start at the bottom. From top to bottom, here is where your opinion is in the grand scheme of things: MAT CEO > MAT Leads > Headteacher > Deputy headteachers > Assistant heads > Heads of faculty and Lead Practitioners > Seconds in department > experienced teachers > you.
You will not determine what you teach, and when you teach. You will not determine who you work with. You will have no say in when you get a break, when you complete certain paperwork, when you have meetings. You will have no say in who you teach. In some schools, you get a script to use in how to speak to students. In some schools, you get a premade PowerPoint you are not allowed to deviate from (and will be expected to create more of the same for others).

You will be expected to plan, prepare and assess mostly in your own time. You will be expected to look out for, document and report on everything, including medical issues, SEN needs, allergies, mobile phone use, social media use, social issues and interactions, abuse, neglect, sensory needs. You will need to be in constant contact with parents in your own time - via meetings, phone calls, parents evenings, email. You will be expected to set and stay on top of homework, create and maintain displays, keep your classroom tidy, keep folders with evidence for all manner of things. You get 2.5 hours a week to do this in school. In addition, you will be expected to attend weekly training - twice a week while you are an ECT - after a full day of teaching and duties, to then continue planning and marking.

To the PP who said it's one year, not two - most schools are so cash-strapped these days they will not progress ECTs after year 1, but instead wait the full two years. Yes, the 30k may now have increased to 32k. It's not a lot of money after deductions for the amount of work involved.

Really? I could understand not running German and Music (as an MFL graduate I’m very sad about that) but Chemistry? That’s a core mainstream subject.

We always run it because it's popular and gets a great uptake, I'm replying to a poster who said in her DC only got 5 students! Very low. I'm surprised as well, but that really can't run.

Yes that was me. Both my DCs were in A-Level classes of less that 5. DC1 was in a class of 2 for physics. Maths has 2 classes of about 10 which was the biggest class for both of them.

OP I wonder if I know where you work - south east, near London / m25/m3 area? If so, I get you. There are quite a few people over the years who have left to go into teaching - some loving it, some found it v hard. I know quite a few teachers, and it’s so dependent on the school you’re in, the people around when you’re training, the leadership team etc. One friend hugely unhappy in one school and loving it in the next.

Of course a scout leader isn’t the same as teaching, but it does demonstrate you’re not totally averse to working with teens.

I agree with the advice to talk to teachers in real life - could you ask around at work if anyone has a partner who is a teacher who you could talk with?

edited to add - I’ve got kids in high school / sixth form at the moment. They’ve had some wonderful teachers and we need more of them. Definitely worth looking into at least.

Wow! I teach in a school with a lot of FSM, PP and EAL and Additional Needs. We still get more than that for the A level classes! Apart from German, which can't run. Maths and Physics are very popular A levels.

we didn't run English Lit last year. We went from running courses with about 5 kids to now not being able to run courses with a cohort of below ten. When you hear about the cuts to education budgets these are the hard choices having to be made.

Yes, I agree.

And adding to the above, being asked to teach, permanently, subjects that you have no idea about.

Geography teacher, large MAT, presented with a full timetable for the start of the academic year but to teach some geography but also home economics - hardly a subject that can be taught from a text book, so much worrying H&S.

Secondary English teacher, I love it. Workload is hard but I manage (and English has a high marking load.) I currently work 0.8 (4 days) but will return to full-time when my youngest starts Year 1 I think. I have 4 children between 3 and 12 and I like the flexibility. I do have to do work in the evenings and weekends but I can work when my kids are in bed or get up early in the morning and do it. The holidays are obviously great as I don't need to worry about childcare and I never go more than about 7 weeks without some quality time with my children. It is intense during the term, but its swings and roundabouts. I have worked for around ten years outside education an prefer the intense workload of teaching with the regular holidays. I am at the top of payscale so full time would be on around £51000. I then have various responsibilities which take me up to about £56000. I also do exam marking in the summer which will be about £1500. So overall I will be on about £57500. I'm a middle leader so enjoy having some responsibility, but not the pressures of SLT.

One of my responsibilities is for Teacher Training so feel free to PM me. There are various routes with different advantages. Bear in mind that the £30k bursary is tax free and paid over ten months so is about £3k a month. It is often more than you will get paid net for a while as teacher.

In my opinion the most important decision is the school you will work in.

Yes! I trained at 40 and have been teaching for 5 years.
The QTS year was full on, but nothing harder than my previous role in the city. Do you have children? It’s fantastic to have the same holidays, but isn’t always a family friendly career during term time (but many other careers aren’t either).
Salary wise you won’t have a huge drop, and should fairly quickly climb back again. Chemistry is one of the most in demand subjects - our school has huge numbers of applicants for many roles, but we have struggled in the past to recruit for chemistry and physics.
Definitely call a few schools and see if you can visit. I did some work experience in a school, 2 days a week for a term, to check it was where I wanted to be. If you find a school struggling for chemistry teachers you may find they offer you a job without the training - private schools will sometimes fund training on the job for difficult subjects.
Good luck!

Wow! My DC2 left school 3 years ago. Things are probably getting worse tben.

You should do it - Science teachers are hard to come by and once you’re qualified you can negotiate on salary, it’s not unusual in London for Science teachers (especially Physics) to be on £60k plus. Im a head of English and on £72k. I love teaching but it is probably very different from what you’re used to.

Just retired from teaching 38 years of chemistry/ science.
I haven't missed it for a single minute.
By all means go and have a look but bear in mind that a lot of the horror stories you have heard on here are true.
I enjoyed the first half of my career but the last half was very hard. In my early years kids were allowed to be kids. They tried their best. Some were interested, some were not and the curriculum was less prescriptive so you could always find areas to expand if they showed an interest.The big changes were Ofsted, League tables and the gradual disappearance of experienced staff.
Schools and academy chains are now run by ruthless number crunchers who don't care a jot about either the kids or their staff. Exam results and ticking boxes on SEN and diversity take priority over everything else. For middle managers, the goal is scrambling up the greasy pole to an obscenely salaried non- pupil contact job. Teams are put under rediculous pressure to produce top grades from mediocre or weak students, to improve the promotion prospects of their team leader.
When I started teaching, the only battles were with the kids, parents were largely supportive, as were management. Now you are continually fighting on all 3 fronts as well as trying to teach.
I remember gaining loads of insights and techniques from observing older experienced staff. Time to do that was actually built into your timetable then. Not so now. Newbies are expected to sink or swim with very little support. It's very hard for newly qualified teachers. I have seen many in tears and loads quit. The workload, to do the job properly is as bad as other posters have said.
Behaviour varies from school to school but you really have to be tip top at classroom management, or the teens will really take advantage.
I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who could get a job elsewhere.
My late father summed it up after I spent a whole weekend writing up a report on exam results for a Monday meeting. He said "Why on earth would you do a job where you have total responsibility for results, but no power to change anything about the process used to get there?"

You've had some great responses here to give you a rounded view of the pros and cons. I'm married to Chemistry teacher and have other family in the profession. My husband is the only one who isn't moaning about the job after 26 years.

He knows he's lucky on the following fronts,

Small secondary school at 800 odd pupils, good to outstanding, best school in the MAT so aren't excessively scrutinised. Head that is experienced and good at playing the game with the MAT. Mature workforce of experienced teachers, over 70% of staff have been at the school over 10 years. Close knit supportive staff community. Wider SLT is largely supportive and sensible about people not being expected to martyr themselves to the profession and work life balance. This is a good as it gets in secondary, and getting rarer to find. The individual school makes all the difference.

He is very good at compartmentalising, being pragmatic and ignoring or doing the bare minimum on the busy work that adds limited value and instead focuses on the kids and their results. You need thick skin and resiliency, you are being critiqued 24/7.

Peak work load periods around mock exams are tough. Marking exams and adding up scores is common on a Sunday night. He does all other marking and prep in school to create a work/home boundary getting into school for 7.45am and leaving between 17-18.00.

I would say you can definitely earn more in the private sector (as I do in our household) but the job security and wider benefits are good. My husband was seriously ill last year and hospitalised and received full pay for 3 months before he began a well supported phased return again at full pay over a 3 month period.

The highs can be amazing. He's had letters of thanks from parents and ex-students for inspiring them, including one working at Cern another at Nasa and a student from his favourite ever tutor group is now a famous actress we see regularly on TV. He's certainly had a career where he can say he's had a positive societal impact and I'm very proud of him for that.

It’s so important to find the right school (as with any company!). And schools change over time as management changes.

1. don't do it if you're attractive and thin because you WILL get blamed if your students sexually harass you.
2. You won't be on 45k in 4-6 years. I'm was head of English at a hoity toity private school after about 2 years and was on 36k.

I left to tutor online where I get 3x the salary and no one hits on me or blames me for it.

We've had a few trainees through the door who have expressed a desire to teach, shortly after being made redundant. I don't think they lasted. If you have a passion to teach, it might be for you. If you're running the numbers because you're in a sticky situation, it probably isn't.

@MamaBerg I teach physics after an industry career. I LOVE my job.

You need thick skin. Don't take things personally when a child has a go at you. Behind every not so nice child is usually an awful home life which helps you see them differently.

Some management are rubbish too. It depends on the school. Your head of science is the person you need to be supportive and helpful who will back you up if management piss you off. You'll find teachers often stand up to bad management decision in a good school.

The hours are tough. Its around 10 to 12 hours per day you work. I do 4 days a week and work around 45 hours a week. Sometimes more. But we get 13 weeks holiday and once GCSE and A LEVEL classes leave things get easier and you have more time to work on other things, pastoral projects, lesson improvement etc...

Some people are just not cut out for teaching. It's not for everyone. Go spend time in a school, ideally a rough state one. Arrange a couple of observation days.

Pay tends to go up a pay range every year. You can start higher than M1 if you have good subject knowledge. I started on M3.

If you do indeed work in this area I can recommend an excellent secondary school!