How do you teach?

[StarChartEsq]

I'm thinking seriously about training to become a teacher. I have always wanted to but been put off by a)My parents (who were teachers), b)the very un-child-friendly expectations of most schools towards teachers' kids.

I'm entering my 40s, with young children and looking at Primary, particularly infants though I'd like to teach Juniors too.

My questions really are:

How do you manage the work load with a family?
Am I right that I'd never be able to go to my kids' class assemblies or parents consultations?
Do I need to up my energy levels significantly?

And:

How do you arrange childcare for your Primary aged children? I have 3 and a full-time Nanny will cost almost double my starting salary and I am at a loss to know how to arrange it during training. Any one have any ideas?

Many tia

In what way?

I teach in a primary school and have done so since I was 22 (oh so young!). I also have 3 children. They are older now, so childcare isn't an issue (12,16 and 18), but when they were younger it was.
Before they were old enough for school, they went to a day care nursery. Fortunately my husband was able to drop them off in the mornings and I picked them up in the evenings. My husband also took them to school in the mornings and then we used after school clubs in the evenings.

However, the children have always been very independent and I probably let them do things like walk home from school from a much earlier age than some of their peers. They also became good at taking the bus independently to after school activities from about the age of 10.
I didn't go to assemblies etc, but again my DH's job is more flexible and he could do things like that (sometimes).
I always used to leave work at just before 5 and then work after they'd gone to bed. Nowadays, I stay at work longer and don't do so much in the evenings.
Schools vary in how flexible you can be in your PPA time and whether you can swap it with someone else.

It was hard when the children were younger, but we did manage.

For a year DH and I were both on SLT. It just didn't work. We needed childcare from 7.30am - 6pm and it still wasn't enough because I felt as though I was 'late' only arriving at 8am. I also felt that I left 'early' leaving at 5.30 and regularly had to sneak out of meetings- not a good look. TBH I was in school shorter hours than most of the teachers. There were regular occasions where DH and I both needed to be at school late, for example he would need to be at a school play and I would need to be around for a parents' evening. We were stuffed by that as we have no local family.

We survived the year but that was it, survival, family life really suffered.

I also think you are a little idealistic about the chalk face. In a class of 32 you will have such a huge range of needs that even planning to the nth degree and differentiating every lesson 4 or 5 ways you will know that you can, at any given moment, only meet some of the needs. Some of the children just will not be able to learn well in a normal classroom environment whatever you do. You will have to live with that and you will be held to account for that. Your pay and your progression in the career will depend on that. The curriculum is about to change into a format that will be even more inaccessible for a significant group of children- you will not be free to teach these children in the way they need to be taught. Ofsted dictate exactly 'how' you need to teach to be 'outstanding', which you will be required to be. There is less freedom in teaching now than I think there has EVER been. It is frustrating and TBH upsetting.

I am now back to PT hrs with an SEN class. I have the time for my family and I can give every kid I teach the education they deserve.

The workload is horrendous. You will not see your kids and spend quality time with them!

Charles Thank you for the insight. It would be natural to be idealistic when considering a new career. I'm not worried about workload, but I am worried about family time. I'm also worried about my energy levels as 32 of other peoples kids, followed by 3 of my own each day might mean I'm in bed by 7pm, instead of lesson planning. That would be crap for the kids I taught and no doubt I'd be encouraged to leave.

My Dad was, until 3 years ago a Teacher Trainer, and whilst I realise that in just 3 years things have changed quite a bit, much of it is still the same. Until I had children I worked in Education in one capacity of the other (though not in teaching) and have seen quite a bit of the paperwork and evidencing that needs to happen, and I love all of that really, at least I loved scrutinising it, - much better to generate my own and actually see the kids it applies to and get to know them and their personalities and their motivations.

The problem is that workload and family time are intrinsically linked. If you choose to go into teaching, you will have to accept that, especially in the early years, family time will be compromised. There is no getting around that.

The average primary school teacher works 59 hours a week.

Ha ha - teaching in an independent school would not be the easy option! Long, long hours too.

I just think that, for example, your data might show that a child isn't making enough progress. You might know that the child has a dx of ASD, really short attention span, poor working memory and sensory issues regarding noise (none of this in a mild form would trigger external support/ additional resources). You might know that the child needs learning broken into small, more concrete steps. You might know the child needs lots of repetition to consolidate learning. You might know the child needs reduced language and careful explanation of any abstract or metaphorical language or concepts. You might know the child needs regular time out in a low arousal environment to reduce overload. You might know the child really need some specialist intervention for their social communication which would really improver their life chances. You, however, cannot do this because your TA has to work with your 'bubbling under' group, or your group of children new to English, or be out doing a maths intervention. You have to show that that child with the ASD dx makes academic progress in every lesson. How are you going to pull that off when your teaching has to be open ended, ask leading questions, pacey, based on independent discovery, hum with social interaction, risky, exciting, 'wow' every single lesson.

You can't and it's your fault.

There are 5,6,7 other children with other very individual needs too. Starting to not look so good for your appraisal.

I'm not trying to put you off. Just trying to demonstrate why the data focus, which you seem keen on, has it's flaws because of under resourcing/ over crowded classes.

It's really not the hours I'm worried about. It's the flexibility and WHEN those hours are I suppose.

The school I am a Governor in, chuck all the teachers out by 6pm. The HT suggests that if a teacher can't get their work done by 6pm they need extra support, ppa time, supervision, TA assistance. I don't think she puts a restriction on the start time though but I guess unless teachers have keys to the building there must be one.

It's the same story if you have a super-able kid who gets everything the instant you mention it. If they need to be pushed to get Level 7 maths you have to make that happen EVERY maths lesson and sitting them with a GCSE text book won't be acceptable. You have to stretch them. Whilst also supporting your Level 2cs.

This is why teachers are stressed.

Most schools are open by 7.30. My sister is a primary teacher ( I teach secondary) she gets in about 8 and leaves at 4.00 except for weekly staff meeting, training sessions, parents eveing, school fayres and discos. She does most of her work afte her children have gone to bed.

I teach secondary and have DTDs in yr3. I drop them at breakfast club at 8 and get into school at about 8.15. School,day is non-stop and I leave any time between 4 and 5.30 depending on if the girls have an activity (they do on Tues & Thurs) I always leave at 3 on Fridays and pick them up from their playground - the rest of the week they go to after school club (open until 6)

You have to be very very organised and very efficient, accept that house work will slip and be kind to yourself. Holidays are great, though I've been off since last Friday and my girls have been in a holiday club every day whilst I go into work.

There is zero flexibility in teaching if full-time.

Unless you need to, I wouldn't bother tbh !! Having said that I love my job but I only have 20 pupils in my class and supportive parents.

Noappointmentnecessary Wed 09-Apr-14 17:58:28
The workload is horrendous. You will not see your kids and spend quality time with them!

I have five children plus a stepson, I really don't like the implication that they don't see me. I have time with my children every evening from just after 6 pm until they go to bed. One evening a week I get home at 4pm. When my exam classes go I will have even more time with my children. I suspect I have more time with by children than many other working parents.

Primary, trained when my children were 6 and 8, I was about the same age as you are now.

I was REALLY lucky with my training provider, as I lived near one of the very small number (now, I think, dropped to zero) of PGCE providers who did a flexible part-time primary PGCE. I spread my PGCE over 5 terms, and for my final full-time placement DH was unemployed - I wouldn't have been able to manage it otherwise.

My first job was not quite full time. I had to go in every day (my lovely childminder takes the children from 7.30 am) but didn't teach for the whole of every day. Tbh, that was ideal, especially as both children at different points have had hugely time-consuming (10-15 hours per week) extra-curricular activities.

I then moved to working full time. I manage it by:

• Working pretty much all day every Sunday
• Using at least half of all the shorter holidays (the summer is the only exception - I suppose i only lose about a third of that) to catch up and plan.
• Leaving school not particularly late - parent taxi duties call - but starting work again once supper is eaten. So I might leave school at 5, but will restart at 8 and finish sometime between 11 and midnight. Virtually all my planning, and much iof my marking is done at home, as I do at school only those things that HAVE to be done there - displays, photocopying, meetings, running clubs, contacting parents.
• Having good pre-school [childminder] and after school [school-based after school club] care during primary, and, tbh, giving my children more responsibility and independence than many their age. DD, for example, now 11, walks home, lets herself in, gets changed for her after school acivity, and walks herself there. DS is home alone from 7.20 am until he leaves for school at 8.10, and also returns to an empty house where he is expected to complete his homework.

My children's schools run evening parent consultations, so I get to go to those. I usually miss concerts etc, even if they are in the evenings, because to attend them would mean a lack of lessons for my class for the following day. I am going to ask for a single half-morning off to attend DFD's leaving assembly on the final day of term, but it may be turned down - my old school was more flexible about that kind of thing, but it was easier because I was in a jobshare and we could flex the hours between us on occasion if we needed to. It doesn't really happen for full timers.

It is punishingly physically and mentallly, and in term time utterly relentless. I love it, though :-)

I've been teaching for quite some time, and in the same school, so I have a level of flexibility that a new teacher doesn't have. I have a lot of my materials prepared (although they are constantly being tweaked, it's less work than starting from scratch). DS is still in nursery, and I drop him at 6:30 when they open, go to the gym, then I'm at school by 7:45. I tend to leave straight after school at about 3:30 unless I need to meet with parents or staff meetings, and pick up DS and spend time with him until he goes to bed. I then work for a few hours while watching tv/glass of wine. I do no work on a Sunday, that's the day I spend the whole day with DS, and I make sure I take time off on the school holidays to be with him and we usually go away to our holiday house. DS will go to the school I teach at, so that will make his primary years easier to attend events/assemblies/etc.

The training and first years of teaching are hard though. You need to be ultra organised and be prepared to work longer hours. There is quite an element of 'proving yourself' as a teacher. Cut down the non essentials where possible so you can concentrate on what is important. I pay for a cleaner to come in once a fortnight and give the house a full going over so I just have to keep it tidy in between visits and I get the lawn mowing done and gardens maintained. I use my slow cooker a lot and cook in larger quantities so I can freeze meals. I shop in bulk a lot which saves me trips to the store.

Good luck with your decision OP.

Midnite - where do you live with a nursery opening at 6.30? Earliest round my patch is 8am and I need to be in work 7.30 ish

God, it's turned bleak on this thread. Can I please point out that a) it really isn't as bad as people are making out and b) it really really isn't as bad as people are making out. I still find time to see my DC, have a social life and a hobby which takes me out of the house one evening each week.

I agree eviltwins.

Sleepyhoglet I'm in Australia. The day care centre my son goes to is open from 6:30am to 6:30pm.

Eviltwins I agree. I'm in a routine and don't find it bad at all. It's busy during term times, but I get to leave work at 3:30 most days so we take the dogs to the beach and I get to spend plenty of time with DS, and I can work from home and still get plenty of time off during the holidays. I still have plenty of time for my hobby (I breed, show and trial dogs). I also get to be active during the day, have a lot of fun with my students, and make a real difference to them. I wouldn't change my job for the world.

Training and nqt are the hardest. A supportive school makes all the difference as does having family/partner who can be flexible. If you want to you can make it work. It is a hard but rewarding job. Give it a go! Good luck.

I am no longer a full time teacher as found it hard being nice to other peoples children all day and then getting ratty with my own. I felt a rubbish Mum and a rubbish teacher! I now teach part time (although do miss having a class of my own).

You can do it if you are very organised and have a very supportive partner. I used to stay late after school and get as much work done there are possible. I always tried to do my planning for Mondays lessons on a Friday afternoon by staying late. This was to avoid spending all day Sunday working. Once home with the children I would then wait until they were in bed before starting school work again.

The main problems I found were if my own children were ill.

Getting to see school plays/sports day etc very much depended on the Head and how flexible they would be. With working part time I can often rearrange my teaching so I don't miss them.

I retrained a couple of years ago as a lone parent in my 40s. Used before and after school club for childcare, with occasional favours from friends eg parents' evenings. Didn't find training or NQT year too bad to be honest. Am part time now by circumstance rather than choice but I must admit it is quite pleasant and gives me time to do MA
My dc's school does parent meetings in the evening but if there was anything urgent I'd contact them as and when, anyway. I loathe assemblies so not attending those has been a real plus ditto sports' day. You'd most likely need school experience for a training application so you could use this time as an opportunity to see what kind of school you enjoy working in.