Would you train to be a teacher?

[Iwantacareerchange]

I'm currently working as a paediatric nurse (27yrs) but the NHS is now in such dire straights with serious lack of staff both nurses and doctors and equipment/medication that I and most of my colleagues now genuinely fear a child on our ward will die and we will loose our registration. Also the NHS is being broken down and privatised, lots of areas have been taken over by profit making companies this depresses me money is coming before the health needs of our children. I took a career break when my children were little and have a good class degree in area that apparently there is a serious significant teacher shortage and "Get into teaching" are always emailing me. Today I spoke to them and have arranged various visits to schools etc to see what I think.
So the 64 million $ question would you retrain as a secondary school teacher?

I've been teaching secondary maths for about 13 years. I moan and mutter and i get really tired but I love it. I enjoy teaching. I like the 'performance' of it. It's interesting. It's challenging. It has taken me a while to work out the work / life balance thing but I think I've got it sorted now. I don't finish everything, but I prioritise and multi task like a good un! I don't work evenings after 6pm and I rarely work weekends. I love my school. I'm not sure I'd start at 50+ but for me... it works.

Thank you kitty the pros and cons of your DH's job are similiar to mine although we increasingly are bringing work home as we have "link roles" but no time (or space) to do then at work. We are now regularly inspected, our trust failed the last one (not our particular department), we were inspected the other week and "failed" because a key had been accidental left in a cupboard door, at the time we were struggling with a desperately unwell baby, the fact that all the children and parents sung our praises counted for nothing. One member of staff on that shift went off with stress and has not been back since!
It's interesting what your DH says about night as an get older I too find I can't do them, I do a mixture of long days and nights every week which is even worse IMO.
I have children but still work every Xmas! Our trust technically only allows staff to take 1 weeks holiday during school holidays but as my children are grown up but at uni my departments pilicy is no holiday during school holidays.
Not once have I said teaching was an easier option but I'm genuinely not sure where is, I'm not looking for an easy number, I could find one of those and stay in nursing, it's just a different option with different stresses. Maybe a change is as good as a rest?

The advice to get some experience in the classroom is spot on. Too many enter wearing rose coloured specs and find the reality doesn't match their dream.

The profession needs dedicated people prepared for the long haul.

OP a change could be great. That's what DH and I are hoping for by going abroad. It's just trying to make sure it's the right change is the hard part!

Absolutely get into schools to observe to give you an idea what it's like. And ask questions- lots of them! Remember what you see in the classroom is planned and generally being dealt with by someone with lots of experience (I put people observing or on work experience in with 1 of 3 teachers in my dept- between us we have 60 years of experience). The amount of experience makes a massive difference in classroom practice. So find out how much work is happening behind the scenes to create the lesson you are observing.

Good luck whatever you decide

Am booked to spend some observation days in a local school (and paid for it). I definitely don't have rose tinted spectacles, my colleagues would cheerfully tell anyone that! Nearly 30 years in the NHS Im totally cynical although I prefer the term realistic .
I'm also looking at other options and as I said above welcome other suggestions I need to earn about 22k minimum a year.

"Am booked to spend some observation days in a local school (and paid for it))". What!

No, its not for me i don' think. I'd think about being a lecturer at a college where the pupil are mature but not school age children no thank you.

You can't get a teaching qualification without a minimum of 10 days experience in a school. It's a requirement to get onto the course.

My experience before I went to uni was great. I loved it.

3 out of 4 of my placements at uni were unbearably awful.

Somehow I still ended up applying for jobs and for the most part, I love my job now. I am in a great school for support, my line manager is amazing and my partner teacher and I get on brilliantly.

I've thought about it but have read too many forums. There are a lot of unhappy teachers out there (and lawyers!).

If I were retraining in my 50s I'd pick something a bit less intense.

I remember some older pgce students we had a couple of years ago and they struggled to get nqt jobs. Even with shortages there is no guarantee you'll walk in to a position.

You'll start either on m1 or whatever the academy's lowest teacher pay is and with performance related pay you'll struggle to go up the scale. It's not worth 60-70 hour weeks for 20k a year. If you work til 68 you might get 4k a year pension if you start now, although it would probably be less. If money's not that important perhaps consider something less stressful that's still rewarding.

Maybe see a career advisor. There sounds like there are lots of careers/ jobs that you could do without either being a teacher or a nurse.

Op you seem to want to disregard everything people are saying and keep comparing it to nursing ( quite often appearing to say nursing is harder). The people on here who are appearing to be negative are not being difficult they are being truthful and describing reality.

I would love to know how a teacher doesn't work after 6pm and does not work weekends- I can only assume they are not a primary school teacher, as I rarely get home before 6 and still have several hours of work every evening and work at least one full day over the weekend - every weekend and I am never 'caught up'. It's exhausting & emotionally draining.
The politics and pressure is immense, the things you state you dislike about nursing are exactly the same in teaching - but you are accountable for 30+ children and get judged ( hammered, accused of being a poor teacher) if the children don't perform as the robots they are expected to.

I also don't see why you would have to pay to spend a day observing in a school, I've never heard of this & observing for a day or two will not show you the full reality of teaching. I also suspect anywhere charging for this would show a 'rose tinted' version of teaching to entice people to sign up.

Train to be a teacher if you truly want to be a teacher and are doing it for the love of working with children ( even when you are dealing with rude, badly behaved children and difficult parents) as that is what keeps you going. If you are thinking of going into teaching as you think it is as an easier career but has good pay I think you will have a huge shock.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

I also suspect anywhere charging for this would show a 'rose tinted' version of teaching to entice people to sign up.

That's a good point, the worst school to work for near me has plastered its fence with "TRAIN WITH US" posters and I imagine the teachers are under pressure to "sell" it as a training site to observers because they're marketing themselves so heavily

The better schools don't have to do any of that, they have people applying to volunteer and shadow and train anyway - these schools are known to be more transparent and teachers can probably speak a little more freely to people on work experience.

Spotty I'm not ignoring any comments far from it I've read very carefully everything that has been written and taken it all on board I've also talked to a few teachers as well who often say say similiar stuff. Neither am I saying nursing is harder apologies if that's how it's come across it's just a different type of hard from teaching and we are stressed in different ways.
I could stop here but I would like to go into schools as well I don't think that's unreasonable. Making a career change or not as the case might be is a big decision so I need to be absolutely sure that I make the right one.

I would look for another school /s ,ones that don't ask for payment. If you could manage it I'd suggest one day a week. explain that you're interested in a career change and offer to help out. It will give you a better picture.

Paying for the observation is a bit

So it needs to be work with children. What about child minding or even fostering. I don't know about rural areas but here in outer London there is huge need for good foster carers and the pay is very good indeed.

My postman son works in a rural area but that's not with children so won't help you (he does earn what you want to earn which is about £22k a year).

You could also as I said do some tutoring on a self employed basis but that would need to be whilst still a nurse so you can build it up to earn as much as you need before you fully pull the plug on nursing. What about children's holiday camps? My children have worked at those in school holidays although to get your £22k a year you'd have to combine it with other jobs. A lot of people like that kind of portfoliio working, working for yourself etc although as I don't (I'm a self emplioyed (happy) lawyer) you don't get sick or holiday pay so there are pros and cons to it.

Or the teaching ENglish as a foreign language qualification - we know some people who have worked all round the world doing that (and with your children at university now is your time for that)

All the schools listed in my area who were offering observation days for my subject have requested a payment (unless you're on benefits). It's not a huge amount, they do take up a reference and the cost per day decreases the more you do.
I'm not that bothered as long as the day has been organised properly; I get a chance to observe a selection of lessons and speak to staff of all levels of experience.
If after my first visit I'm still interested I'll do as many as I can logistically. I'm not rushing in or out of this it, I need to make an informed decision. That's one of the reasons why I posted on here, I've read and reread everyone's comments and the PM's that have been sent.

Also remember people who aren't happy about things tend to write more than those who are so lots of negative comment from most teachers on here doesn't necessarily mean that all teachers are unhappy.

Ah it's an organised campaign to hire staff... you will get the 'teaching is wonderful and easy with long holidays'

I would contact other schools ( most don't advertise you can go on) and say you are considering a career change and can you do some work experience ( a day a week, a block week etc) you will get a more realistic view.

Me I've seriously thought about fostering in the past but DH is sadly not on board at all. I dont think child minding is for me and my house is completely unsuitable in terms of layout and its full antiques. I could do voluntary work with children's charities and just work bank/agency so I would be one step removed for politics and have more freedom. That's something else I'm looking at I could do a specialised course and try become a lead nurse on CP, a friend does this but apparently having anything to do with SS and she said from observations being a social workers makes teaching and nursing look like a walk in the park, completely underfunded because councils have no money left, desperately short staffed, she was saying the other day because few if any of SW she's worked with have lasted three months in the job as it's just a nightmare and the responsibility is massive they're condemned if they do and condemned if they don't.
Maybe at the end of all of this I'll realise that nursing isn't so bad after all!

Just be warned that they may not give you a realistic view.

Teaching is stressful and time consuming. Other than knowing you will have holidays "off", I would argue it is not a family friendly profession. I leave at 6:45 every morning and am often not home until 6:45pm. I have worked all of this weekend. Sometimes the children in my class get the priority over my time. I hate that. My DD gets a really rough deal.

The pressure on teachers is insane. I am at my limit right now because I have a deadline. I set my alarm this morning for 6am.

I am truly shocked at charging for observations! Crazy!

I think public service jobs are hard work full stop- teaching, nursing, police, social workers. All are underfunded. All are now taking in the target ridden business practices which work for business where clientele is predictable and the true output is measurable. That just isn't the case in our fields.

I think it's really hard now to find a job you can feel is worthwhile and without significant government interference without consultation with the people who know and understand the job.

Perhaps consider something in the third sector- I'd imagine some charities may have (paid) work for someone of your experience.