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?

Even in the above post I've just written I can see a typo with "I'm". It happens. Autocorrect is often a factor too.

When I entered teaching I expected to retire at 60. Now it's 67 at the last count but it keeps getting raised. Who on earth thinks that anyone is still fit to teach at that age.

Up till a few years ago I loved my job but now I'm used as supply cover most weeks because they can't won't get supply staff in and they know that as I'm in situ I can't refuse.

Would leave tomorrow but am in an area with no other job prospects

"Get a boring job 9-5 community nursing"
Handbag you don't get it do you? Or maybe I'm just crap at explaining what nursing for me is all about.
Frankly I'd rather work in Waitrose stacking shelves than do a "boring job in the community" not that they are at all happy by the way.
Why would I want to do a boring job for the rest of my working life? 9-5 Monday to Friday I'd go off my head in 6 months. Do you want to do a boring job till you retire?

Well stack shelves in waitrose then! I've no idea if community nursing is boring or not, you seem to think it is. My suggestion is that an 'easy' job 9-5 that you are already qualified for will give you money and security, freeing up time in the evenings and weekends to do something else. You could go part time and probably earn more money than you will as an nqt and have more time to spend doing something you are passionate about with young people. If you're not a teacher you can put effort and energy into the bits you enjoy and are passionate about. I did my training and nqt year in my early 20s with no commitments in a completely different climate and it was really hard going. It is harder now.

A huge amount of people burn out with teaching in the first 5 years. That's ok if you're 20s in a way as you are young enough to retrain. I've hit the wall in my 30s, gone part time and used my time to bring up a family and retrain but it's hard. I don't know what happens to teachers in their 50s who burn out but can't take early retirement. I'd hope that doesn't happen to you.

I hear you are desperate to get out of nursing and have hinged on teaching as a lifeline to get out of it. If you think the hours of paperwork and bollocks you'll have to do are outweighed by the great moments in the classroom for you then go for it. I wish you the very best of luck.

I haven't "hinged" on teaching I'm considering as an option, I have the relevant qualifications and it seems reasonable to add it to my list of things I could do, plenty of teachers I've met over the years on finding out that I have a degree have suggested I become a teacher. So if Im thinking changing my career it seems pretty obvious to consider retraining to be a teacher. I've read every comment on here taken on board everything that's said, all the negatives, and the few positives and I realise that it may not be the answer. I'm sorry if all who've written negative comments haven't completely convinced me to abandon the idea immediately, I will continue to look into it carefully, I don't have rose tinted spectacles when it comes to teaching, I'm not ignoring all the comments in fact all the comments have have given me much food for thought, pointers to look out for and questions to ask. But I'm trained to assess situations meticulously collect all the nessessary information and then make hopefully an informed decision.
The one thing I do know is that for me a boring 9-5 job is definitely not the answer.
I often say to my DC's the pastures not necessarily any greener anywhere else in fact it's often a shade browner.

I wouldn't. Especially teaching in the state sector. I think if I was in your position, I'd take a 9-5 less riveting job that allowed me free time in the evenings or weekends to do the things I enjoy outside of work.

I found this book really helpful when I was deciding whether to career change: www.theschooloflife.com/shop/how-to-find-fulfilling-work-roman-krznaric/

I think you need proper advice tbh. I used to recommend teaching to people with degrees who were in underpaid, unfulfilling work but in the last 5 years teaching has unfortunately become the same, so I don't recommend it anymore.

There are loads of ways you could work with young people which don't mean a complete change. What is it you truly want? It's not about whether random people on the internet think you'd be good at teaching or not, I'm sure you'll be fine at it, it's whether training to teach is right for someone at your stage in your life with the negative experiences you have already had in the public sector. I think you said you don't need to earn a fortune which suddenly opens up lots of possibilities for the charity sector, FE, HE, private sector training or education roles as well as teaching in a school.

They are paid differently if they have a relevant background. I was. I started 2 points higher than other NQT's as l had 8 years experience in a relevant background.

I guess 50 year olds will have more relevant experience than a 22 year old. So therefore would be more expensive.

When was that theemoji?

Pay portability was abolished a year or two back so heads can pay everyone what they want these days.

Im genuinely surprised that people think taking a less riveting 9-5 job is a good option. We send so much of our life at work why would anyone want to be bored day in day out? If I was two-three years of retirement then I could understand it but I'm 51 not 61. I work in a highly demanding setting, I have expert knowledge/technical skills which I regularly use, my intellect is frequently challenged. Why would I chuck that in to be bored 5 days a week wishing the time away? I want to be able to go to the loo and have a break for lunch not mentally decline in a dull dead end job.

I want to be able to go to the loo and have a break for lunch

And you think teaching is a good choice? Hahahahaha!!!!!

Teaching may not be boring but that doesn't mean meetings, data entry, filing and marking aren't boring and it doesn't mean teaching isn't soul destroying either. There are interesting, challenging 9-5 jobs where people can go to the toilet pretty much whenever they like and get a proper lunch break as well!

Teacher here. Have spent nearly all day today marking and preparing, and quite a bit of yesterday. Go on, someone tell me to work smarter not harder...

We send so much of our life at work why would anyone want to be bored day in day out?

I'm a teacher and detest being anxious, overwrought and stressed day in, day out.

I have had 2 hours sleep tonight. I have worked all weekend and I don't have time to sleep any longer.

Ok I accept teaching is unlikely to be the answer. But why do so many think that being bored or working in a dull job is the way forward for anyone?. I'm really am surprised.
My job is what defines me, I get out of bed every day to do it because of what it is, the enourmous effort, thought and intellectual requirement required to do it thats why I do it. The ups and the downs, the worry associated with critically unwell children, the relationship we form with terrified parents, seeing the children get better and parents realising that their child will be OK, and then there's the child that won't be ok, caring for them and their family. Or there's children who are ill and going to get better, looking after them and their families , smoothing as much as possible their path through ill health. I don't think most of you understand what I and many others like me do or why we do it.
Anyway thanks for all the replies it's been really interesting and helpful.
Good luck to all the teachers out there I hope you sort out something find some sort of way forward. I personally don't think the future for any public sector worker is particularly rosy.

"I don't think most of you understand what I and many others like me do or why we do it." Hmm. You run the risk of sounding incredibly arrogant there. I'm truly grateful for nurses, doctors and other hospital staff, but that doesn't elevate you to sainthood.

For many people, their job is a means to earn money, and their real interests and enthusiasms lie in their hobbies or their personal life somehow. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to find a career that also satisfies their personal interests. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stacking shelves in a supermarket and having a rich and interesting personal life, if that's what suits someone.

If your job defines you, looking at a career change is a huge step, as you run the risk of damaging your whole sense of who you are if you get it wrong.

If what gets you out of bed is nursing children why do you think retraining to be a teacher is going to work for you? There isn't time to give individual children and families what you want to give them if you're a teacher.

With the feeling I'm banging my head against a brick wall, the purpose of a less stressful, set hours job for someone in your position is to free up some time, energy and headspace to pursue other interests. Ime full time stressful jobs where there's no time to eat or go to the loo do not lend themselves to opportunities to retrain or volunteer as you are too tired and stressed in your downtime to do things like this.

Have you considered becoming a union rep and fighting for your rights to proper breaks and funding for equipment? Could you raise money for things for your ward to make it better for staff and patients? Maybe doing something proactive about the areas you are unhappy with will help as from what you are saying you do find your passion and purpose in your current work.

I'm not wishing to sound arrogant by any stretch of the imagination so am certainly no saint but I feel slightly frustrated that many are suggesting changing to a "boring" 9-5 job when I've tried and clearly failed to explain that this is not the sort of nursing that I personally want to do. There is nothing wrong with doing this if that's what you want but it's just not for me. I lead a happy fulfilled life outside of work but I personally cannot offset a boring job for the next 15 years with an interesting home life, many can and that's brilliant but I can't.
Handbag you are not banging you head against a brick wall I will say it again I have read every comment I have taken on board what has been written, it very much appears that training to be a teacher would be going from the frying pan into the fire. But I'm sorry if you and other find this annoying but I am not basing my decision regarding my career solely on the views of a bunch of strangers on the internet this would be very foolish indeed. I will carry on investigating teacher training thanks to all the comments on here I've got lots of questions to ask and lots to observe for. I suspect that at the end of it I will come to the conclusion it's not for me and that I can finally put it too bed but apart from my own time time and a small amount of money what have I lost by doing this?
Have I considered being a union rep? Do you have any idea how toothless they are? Do teachers get asked the same thing to improve their working conditions? Do you not read the papers listen to the news? Look happened to our junior doctors when through the BMA they rightly stood up to this government, pilloried by our press, demonised by our government, they lost public support for. There is a national shortage of paediatric registrars they are leaving hands on medicine in droves, they are so angry about their working conditions. We have (unlike teachers) a no strike agreement how quickly do you think the media and government would turn on nurses if they stood up fought back? Have you not read what happens to whistleblowers in the NHS? Boat rockers are not wanted, their careers will be blocked at every turn, the management will look for any excuse to put them through a discliplinery this is exactly happened to a collegue of mine who was out spoken every job she applies for she's not even called for an interview.

Raise money for equipment? Yes we can do that and we do, we've just purchased two new pieces of equipment but we can't purchase missing drugs, or staff, our trust is 10 million over spent, last summer they called a meeting and told is they were struggling to pay our wages! Nurses bursaries are being removed, this is predicted to have a serious effect on training future nurses combine this with the fact that there was a fall in the birth rate 20 ish years, ago many are leaving or retiring after paying into the NHS pension scheme for 30+ we are haemorrhaging more than we recruiting this was predicted 10 years as but as always there is no long term planning. Any fund raising we do will not resolve any of this.
Putting to one side all that is written above do you realise that your and my NHS is a train crash waiting to happen? As Kings Fund has said this summer has been like the winter God knows what this winter will bring the future is very grim, the NHS needs an extra 8 billion by 2020 on top the 113 billion that's already being spent, and that's just to stay as we are. Where will that money come from? We have a very expensive and ever increasing aging population, rightly they have high expectation of the NHS but these are not and will not be met unless something very radical happens.
Would you pay more taxes for a better NHS? This question will have to be answered one day.

Yes I would pay more tax if it directly went to fund health and education. Education is very similar hence the career change plans. Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

I was talking to someone I met when I was walking my dog the other day they told me that in the Netherlands they were asked to vote on a single issue; to decide whether they wanted to pay more in tax and continue to have a free health care or abolish free health care and all pay into a private health schemes. Unsurprisingly they voted for to keep free health care and pay more taxes. I've no idea how more we'd all have to pay to actually turn the whole thing round and put it back on it's feet but to me it seems like a no brainer to me.

I retrained in my 50s and decided not to do NQT because of the crazy demands, not because of slowing down and being aged
Does amaze me that people in their 50s are looking forward to retirement - can't think of anything more depressing - life is just beginning!
I did supply, and now work part time in an indie teaching maths (not my specialism) and negotiated a god contract, so only teach, do not do the other stuff.
One of the reasons I had the confidence to negotiate rather than roll over and accept drudgery is because I am older, have had another career and don't unquestioningly accept the status quo.
An advantage of being an older trainee is also that kids assume you must be senior/SLT.
No way would I be a FT teacher on the Ts and Cs that are normally accepted, not because of age, but because they are ridiculous.

Personally I wouldnt .
I come from a family of teachers and I cannot stand the way my stepmother rolls her eyes and smirks about everyone while talking in that stupid teacherly shorthand..eg

"oh yes a very interesting person" (smirk smirk eyeroll)

and then says something about a child like "oh yes thick as two short bog seats!" as though that makes someone a bad person.

I think you should go for it. Why not? I love my job Yes, it's demanding and politically frustrating but the actual teaching bit is fun and you meet great people.

You already work in a stressful, demanding career. You sound like you have the qualities to be a good teacher. You've built up theresilience necessary in your nursing career. We need more experienced people in schools with so many young teachers leaving after a few years.

To clarify my 'less riveting' comment: I assumed community nursing isn't dull (I have no experience myself) so less riveting in the sense that it isn't minute by minute excitement but nonetheless interesting enough. A friend is a school nurse and loves it. You've since said you don't enjoy it at all so that clearly isn't the answer.

Yes we work many hours so should do what we enjoy but for me work/life balance is by far the most important thing and teaching would not be a career I'd advise for that.