Teacher training

[ThelastRolo20]

Hello

Just asking for advice from those who have gone through teacher training as a parent.

I've been considering when to restrain as a maths teacher, it's becoming increasingly hard to stay in my current career as I'm losing the passion for it (HR).

I do however, have a nearly 4, and nearly 1 year old. If I were to start ITT next year (preceded by an SKE) my eldest would be at primary and my younger in nursery. Is this ridiculously stressful? Should I wait until they're both at primary?

I know I can ask the provider, and I will, but does anyone know if the course is year round or just term time?

Really grateful for any insight and experiences.

X

What kind of teaching are you looking to do? Is it primary or secondary?

Teaching is an incredibly strenuous job; you are on your feet all day, you are having to be hyper-vigilant and quick reacting, you are using your voice and body language all day and you walk more than 10k steps without going anywhere! I would not suggest training to teach until you are sure the broken nights are over.

When I did it, it was term time...but different Local Authorities have different terms. I trained in Glasgow, but my home LA was Fife and they had different holidays. (I wasn't a mother, however.)

Have you considered the new government apprentice scheme for maths teachers? They pay you the unqualified teacher rate and waiver the university fees.
Worth looking into. It started this year.

Secondary maths

@mugglewumpthank you - worth considering the exhaustion for sure!

Having been a secondary teacher for 25 years and thankfully got out, l would not suggest training to teach at all.

Its a brutal job and everyone is fighting to get out. I do t know anyone who managed to stay longer than 57

there is no flexibility in teaching. your kids are poorly? you can not work from home. feeling dreadful? you drag yourself in. and you need to be in before and after school.

many mothers in the profession bemoan how difficult it is for them as mothers to balance the career.

juat something to think about

It used to be a career that combined well with parenthood. It was in the early 80s when I started but it isn't now. (I'm happily retired)

Actually when they are in nursery is a good time to do it as you can stay longer after school. Once they are in early years at primary it is harder as they have to go into before and after school and that’s hard when they are little.

Teaching is incredibly difficult to juggle when you have children who need dropping off and picking up, having two in different places is an absolute nightmare.

The PGCE course is September to June as you will spend most of it teaching in schools that you won't get to pick, with random bits at university. You also get assignments to write in the holidays and will spend time working at the evenings and weekends.

I wouldn't do it until they are both in primary, and only then if you have an incredibly supportive partner who can drop everything to look after the kids.

Hmm it's increasingly sounding impossible 😅 probably should have done the training pre children. Guess I'll have to think about putting it off for a few more years until they're older

I second the suggestion to make sure your children’s sleepless nights are behind you. I’m sure everyone thinks their job is hard on no sleep but teaching is really hard on no sleep. You are essentially performing a one-woman show for 7 hours a day, every day and making a decision every 30 seconds. There is no where to hide and certainly no quiet days. It is great fun and very rewarding though, but only with enough sleep!

Also, as a pp said, loads of teachers are looking for a way out and HR is often where they go… it amuses me that you are coming the other way! Perhaps the grass is not greener!

@FunnyOrcaHR can be a wonderful career, not leaving because it's unenjoyable but my long term goal had always to be a maths teacher. I'm now 36 and didn't want to end up being mid 40s when I made the shift!

If you did this it would be interesting for you to report back on the amount of HR breaches that occur within the school/s.

What is your degree in? I'm wondering if your long term goal was always to be a maths teacher why you'll need an SKE?

My undergrad is psychology so not close enough subject wise, also if your degree was completed more than 5 years ago you need to do the SKE. Not worried about that part but I am concerned about the practicalities of completing the training with small children given the replies on this thread

Secondary maths teacher of 20 years here. I was lucky to be able to take a 8 year break when my kids were little. There is no way the job is compatible with having small children and I have known very few colleagues who have them. It is relentless day with usually every single minute accounted for so as OP said sleep is essential. My youngest is now 9 and its still a struggle juggling the before and after school clubs for her as well as parents evenings, inset days, illness etc. Teaching maths is hard but on very rare occasions rewarding.

Thanks, I've trained a bunch of maths teachers with a variety of backgrounds and the only one who needed to do an SKE had an English degree, but maybe the others graduated less than five years ago.

I went through the 'small children, one at nursery, one in primary' period while working as a reasonably experienced part time maths teacher, it was awful and I mainly blundered through the early years in a bit of a daze. I remember going to drop one child off at the childminder then finding she wasn't actually in the car and panicking before remembering it was a grandparent day. Teacher training is more than full time, and extremely intense.

I had my son halfway through my teacher training and could only afford a 4 month break before going back, it was very rough- teenagers will push your buttons whether you're tired or not. It's doable but is likely to be a bit brutal unfortunately, and there's little to no flexibility when your child develops chicken pox unfortunately.

To give another (non teaching) perspective, I had the same age gap as you and found work in general hardest at the stage you are at. I felt sleep deprived and that I was just failing at home and work. Doing something familiar at this stage has some advantages especially as the teachers in the thread have made the point about always being ‘on’ so this might be the hardest period to start training. I did actually start a new (and v challenging) job during this period. It was hard but I don’t regret it as it’s opened doors and if was a unique job for a specific time. If I had a choice re timing, waiting a couple of years might have been better.

This stage doesn’t last forever though- 3 and 6 was better for me and each year since has been easier. For lots of jobs you’ll have to think about wrap around so I wouldn’t let that be a factor and you can offset to a degree by not needing holiday clubs.