If I became a teacher, would I be able to not need childcare during school holidays?

[Twiglett]

or is that naive?

(assuming I work in the same LEA as my children's school .. I understand I would need before and after-school care)

Depends on how much prep you're happy to do in the evenings, but most of my teachers with kids friends have no childcare for the hols. If they go into school (usually to get their classromms ready) then they take their children with them.

bear in mind different schools will have different inset days so you will need childcare for those too

YOu should be able to do marking and preparation work while they are playing or sleeping.

If you went to a private school you would get longer holidays and you could sort things out while they are still at school

what would you each?

oh good

what about daily hours .. am assuming 8.30 till 5ish? or is that naive too

teach

possibly 8 rather than 830

Teaching is about as family unfriendly as you can get.

How would you feel that you can never see your own child's school play because you are working, you will miss sports days, you will work at least a 60 hour week during term time.

If you actually want to be a teacher then go for it! Make sure you want to be a teacher for the right reasons. Teaching is a vocation.

If you just want the school holidays then there are other jobs wirth looking at. For example school support jobs. I believe that some speech and language theraphy jobs can be term time only. Or maybe you could get your own franchise like a toddler music group or a toddler craft group,

MIL, on hearing I believed teachers got 14 weeks holiday a year, claimed it was only 4 or so cos she had to go into school so much in the holidays. And then she had a rant about low wages (she was on over 30 grand, more than DH gets and he has a PhD!)
So, according to MIL (secondary school) yes you will cos you'll only get 4 weeks actual holiday a year.

You would probably be ok with no childcare for school hols but my teacher friends have not been able to arrange time off to see their children's school plays/sports days etc.

My mother never had childcare for school holidays. She worked when I was about 8-10 at a private school, and I can't remember inset days being problemmatic (but maybe they didn't exist). And then in a state school when I was about 10.
TBH, given that my 2 brothers were older, I think that inset days that conflicted with her being at work were just days I spent at home alone!
She did marking and stuff in evenings, weekends and school holidays. I made my own way to and from school. I was quite mature and there wasn't the fear that there is today with regards to children doing this.

what would I teach and what level?

arrgghhhhh

how does one decide?

IME primary school teachers work longer hours than in secondary. It varies a lot from school to school according to the culture. At our school (secondary) most staff arrive between 8.10 and 8.30. At some schools you can't find a space in the car park after 8 am.

In secondary English is particularly grim for time-consuming marking.

Obviously the first few years can be very tough time-wise because there's more P&P because everything is new.

How old are your children?

What's your degree twig?

Oh oh oh. Should of course have said that she worked parttime, so three days a week I think. Which meant that more often than not, she was available for things like plays and school events. Which when I got older were more often in the evening anyway. For parents' evenings I was home alone
And she was a governor at my school, and I would go to governor's meetings with her, and sit outside the room reading a book. I rather liked that.

She was secondary english teacher. And the marking was hellish, she found.

ROFL at it being family unfriendly

I'm so sorry but think about a job where you get 4 weeks off a year, where it is standard for you to work 12 to 14 hour days (not with paid overtime) and give up a number of weekends, also go away for a few nights .. because that is family unfriendly

Twiglett,

Most the teachers I work with get in about 8am and are still there when I leave at 4.20pm. Teachers don't get much in the way of breaks or a lunch hour. Quite often a teacher will not get even the chance to go to toilet.

I reckon that my humble little support job is infinately better paid than a teacher. I do 37 hours a week at not much more than the minimum wage. A typical teacher only gets one and half times my salary yet works about the twice the hours I do.

Spend some time observing at a school and talking to teachers if you don't believe me.

Degree is Economics and Management Science (joint hons) .. have 7 O's and 5 A's

Talking about levels .. not interested in secondary .. but maybe further ed (basic literacy/numeracy or Business/Marketing/Economics), could be interested in primary level too .. but again here the bureaucracy puts me off

Now my mother didn't particularly enjoy her work. She was a fantastic teacher, with a passion for her subject, but only went back to teaching when my father left. But I think she would have agreed that in terms of family friendliness, she could have been in a much much worse position workwise.

I moved to education (am not a teacher though) from industry, and at first was amazed by how much hols you get! But you soon get used to it.

At our school even SMT aren't in very much at all during the hols!

starting salary for NQT in London, according to website here is about 24K .. so as a teaching support I could make about 16K yes? with no paperwork?

Where I work people get in about 8ish and leave about 4ish. It's more hours for people on management team but that's their personal choice. Staff meetings weekly till 4.30 - 5ish. I think it's family friendly depending on your Head. Ours is great, I know some people aren't so lucky.

I think the majority of people are very naive about the work load of teachers.

A lot of people leave teaching because it is so family unfriendly.

Twiglett, what would happen if your child is sick. If is very hard for a teacher to take time off to look after a sick child. At least when you a conventional job you have some say when you can take an afternoon off.

What happens if your child has a hospital appointment. Some head teacher can be pretty unreasonable about teachers taking time off for family reasons.

It is a myth that teaching is family friendly - yes, it is during the school hols, but on a daily basis it is not. I am considering a move away from teaching when my DTs start school in Sept as I will not be able to take them or pick them up, have no family near enough to help and will never be able to take a day or afternoon off to see them in their play, sports day, help on a trip etc.

The first few years of teaching are by far the toughest and will require you to spend a massive amount of time workign at home. I run a teacher training course based at my school adn have had mature students come to me in tears wanting to quit the course because they simply don't see their kids anymore. You may find FE far more flexible but also less well paid.

DH can work at home for sick children if he has to ..

The thing is I don't want my children in childcare .. I can't go from being a SAHM to never being here for them .. and the stress of working out the different combinations of childcare requirements actually causes me huge inertia

other things I've considered are retraining to be a SALT or a counsellor

tbh want to see DD through reception (be there to take her in and pick her up) before committing to out of school hours job .. so that'll be Sept 2009