Will any teachers own up to becoming teachers for the hours/holidays, rather than because they desperately wanted to teach?

[weddingdress]

When I finished my A-levels I was going to be a teacher, but I took a job in industry for the summer holidays (they didn't know I didn't plan to stay) and by Sept I was enjoying it, I'd been promoted and was earning good money, so I never went to Uni.

I am still with the same company 20 years later and have had a reasonably successful and rewarding career. They sponsored my p-t degree, so I could do a PGCE.

Since I had DS1 8 years ago, I've been working 2 days a week. 2 10/12 hour days plus commute and I enjoy it a lot, but there's no way I can do it full-time and unless I do, there will be no further progression for me. I just can't see a world where I am prepared to do those hours day in day out while I have a family at home and by the time they've gone, frankly I'll be almost retired.

I enjoy my job, but am a little frustrated when I see less capable full timers working above me and I can't see me doing the same job until I retire, so I've been considering having another look at my original career choice.

But, although I think I could be a decent teacher (have volunteered in school, with cubs and children's nature charity) I can't say I feel any desperate calling to do it. Before I get flamed, I really don't think it will be an easy option, My Mum and sister are teachers and I know the hours they put in, but they are at home in school hols and by around 5pm, even if they then work into the evening. On the days I work, I rarely see the DC's at all.

I have thought seriously about becomming a teacher for the convenience of school holidays

I have a good science degree and years of industrial experience but working full time in this field would be almost impossible when taking into account childcare arrangements.

3 of my BIL /SIL's are teachers and and tbh I think they have it easy in comparison.

although they moan of course that they are hard done too

The hours and holidays bit is OK as long as your won children go to the same school!!!!!!

My children get different holidays than dh does. They have different INSET days (an das a teacher ou can't just book a day off because your children are on INSET.

We hire school premises during weekends and holidays for an activity and regularly see teachers in there. A couple of weeks ago when EFSTED were due in every single teacher wwas there on the Saturday, some all day, some for half a day.

My dh also couldn't get a job close to where we live and adding to the fact his subject is music he is often in late. At Christmas I don't see him!

He is now freelance as a peri which is a bit better now.

One of the reasons I am looking at teaching is the hols (as well as being something i really want to do); I have SN kids who cannot access school holiday clubs.

It really is a very tough, very tiring job IME. I think a good analogy is policing or midwifery - lots of paperwork and charging around, and lots of relatively stressful situation management on a daily basis. Frankly the teaching is the easy bit in comparison.

I do similar hours in my current role as a university lecturer, but the pace is different, and I get more time to do things in a block, so I have found it more family friendly. I like being able to rearrange things for school plays and so on (usually possible with advance planning), or if one of the kids is ill and needs me there (usually possible with a bit of trading off with colleagues who also have kids).

When I was a teacher, I was so shattered by the holidays I spent a lot of them being ill or generally recovering. Really, the holidays is not a particularly good reason for choosing this profession. I think you need to be more driven than that, and feel a bit of a vocation towards working with children and young people. Personally that is what kept me going, and also made me a good teacher.

I can see what you a re saying Island ... but really 'every single teacher was in on the saturday ...all day ... half a day.. wow !

and how often are inspections ... every couple of years ?

That doesnt really hold any truck with me. When I was working in the real world industry, if there was a problem I had to stay till it was fixed,

Equally if DH has a deal going on then it takes priority over everything.

Its disrupting to normal family life of course but then I guess the financial reward is far greater than the teaching profession.

Peachy .. is that allowed ? I'm shocked.

Of coursre t's allowed! The provision allows children to leave of their own free will; my two couldn't cope- ther was an offer of a CM place for extremely agressive ds1 but with toddlers there, my refusal took us off the SS lists entirely but i couldn't risk other poeples children being ahrmed.

Ina few years dh willhopefully work from home so teaching will work wonders for us; someowne needs to be ehre as well for the SNU bus collection / drop each day 9they'd drp at a school I was working at but not at old CM's as she has to be out getting other kids fair enough).

I've done 3 years of the workload: one (PGCE to go).

I have worked in RL too.

In RL you can go to the loo or grab a sandwich or a drink more or less when you like. You can sit down more or less when you need to. If necessary you can have a fag out the back. You are not bashed about by 1000 teenagers in hallways when the bell goes, which is akin to standing on a London underground platform in rush hour, only teachers do it six times a day. Your physical needs can be met relatively easily.

You can often take a call on your mobile phone or even desk phone from your children's school or childcarer if it's urgent. In schools phones must be switched off.

You can go on holiday when it suits you, within reason and the confines of the business. You can take the odd half day off to go to the dentist, or to wait in for your heating to be fixed. In schools you have to be there when the kids are there, all the time. You can barely turn your back because you are in charge of other people's children, who need your constant care and attention.

There is very little flexibility, and that's where the stress and physical endurance side of things comes in. Nevertheless, a lot of teachers do work in the holidays, hang around in the evenings to see things through, and also voluntarily take school trips in holidays and so on - the recent PWC report into working hours shows that over the course of a year, teachers work the same hours if not more than other white collar professions.

So this is why a sense of vocation is required, otherwise it becomes very draining.

I don't think teaching is an easy option at all, but I do no several mothers who are re-training as teachers now that they have small children. They are doing it precisely because of the hours and holidays rather than any "calling" or real desire to be a teacher.

The holidays are great but unless you really like childrena and are able to cope with increasingly poor behaviour and unrealistic parent demands ( check out some of the comments on here about teachers!), this is not the job for you. You would just get pissed off, there is no head space in teaching iywim. You are on all the time. I love it though and find it all very manageable however in 17 years I have seen many fall by the wayside.

I did the opposite.

I became a teacher because I really wanted to teach and be a teacher. I did it for 10 years.

I left teaching about 3-4 years ago now as I found the work committments were intruding too much on my family life and that I wanted to be able to spend more of my free time with DD and my DH. I also found it very stressful. I was in a school in special measures (secondary) and found that I was no longer teaching (the bit I actually loved and wanted to do) - I was maintaining classroom control and order and managing behaviour. I was physcially assaulted when heavily pregnant and the child had no real punishment, and verbal assaults were a regular occurence. And this school wasn't that bad apparently - much worse in some inner city areas for example.

I went to work in prison ed in a male prison working with adult men from cat C right up to lifers and restricted prisoners. I did one to one interviews with the, I got paid nearly the same as a eteacher, had the same pension and got 12 week's holiday, but could choose when I took themm. I found it less stressful there!

I have now started working as a TA in an infant school and love it. Yes, I get paid a pittance in comparison and I still work hard. But, when I go home I go home. I actually do choose to do some planning and prep work, but I could easily get away with not doing so. I have my weekends and evenings back. And my school holidays are my holidays. And it is stress free - just fun!

People who go into teaching because of the benefits, rather than because they want to teach generally IME find it far harder to get on in their job and struggle more with the other aspects of the work. One of the things that keep teachers sane is the love of the actual teaching.

I know lots of people who work outside of schools. Don't know any who would offer to swap, lol!

most people become teachers before they have kids, so often not really thinking about the hols that much.
those i know who tried teaching for the hours, just couldn't take it & gave up.

many union surveys show teachers doing an AVERAGE of over 50 hrs a week, so the hours during term time aren't great. also, your work day is totally inflexible, you have to leave before the dc's go to school, and you have to come home after. and i used to work at least 2 weeks of the hols, AND there's the 5 training days a year, so really, teaching is not that great to fit in with having kids. if your kid is ill, you can't just take a days hol & stay home, you have to lose a days pay, or find someone else to care for them. you can never make nativity play, assembly, see the class teacher etc.

i found being a teacher pretty much made it impossible to spend enough time with dd during the term, and managed to go part time. it really isn't the easiest job to fit in with a family, time wise i'd have been better in an office with flexi-time

DH is going back into teaching. And no, he isn't doing it because of the hols etc. But I will confess to encouraging him mainly because of them. Will make my life much easier

dh works 7am-7pm every night and approx once a month til 10pm at school (for parents evenings). He also works weekends for perhaps 6-8 hours over the 2 days.

In half-terms he goes in for 2 of the days and works at home for a further 2.

At Easter he will go in for the first week and take the second week off.

In Summer he works the first and last week and takes 4 weeks off.

At Christmas he worked one of the weeks.

He has less holidays than in a non-teaching job - about 30 days per year.

He went into teaching because he is ambitious (promoted every year since starting) and because he is hugely committed to the children.

Laurie, 30 days is a lot more than most non-teaching jobs IME experience, but I do get that teachers don't work only "school hours"

I live opposite a primary school and the car park is empty everyday by 5pm and often by 4:30. OK they come back for school plays and parents eve's (about once a month?) In my job people are there until 8/9pm several nights a week and on 25 days hols a year.

Agree weddingdress. I get 29 and that's with lots of extra days added for long service.

30 days is a lot of holiday ime. I get 25 days and consider myself lucky and I've been doing my job 20 years! I am also on call 24/7 which can mean evenings and weekends clear (if no calls) or completely destroyed. The same for holidays. On top of that I have to fit in all the parenting stuff (alone). I have friends who have changed from the sort of job I do and all of them say how much easier it is (and more interesting). I guess it really depends what you are doing in RL before you change to become a teacher.

I used to get thirty days when I worked as admin for the local council and I worked 9-5.

The difference is definitely that he works in a secondary school, his friends in primary teaching don't work anything near like those hours.

DH as I posted above is working 68 hours per week in term-time and taking 30 days holiday a year.

I'm only pointing out the difference between the stated holiday (13 weeks) to the reality (6 weeks). That's quite some difference.

I'm an ESOL (English language lecturer) in a college and agree that we do have more holidays than the average office job but I also feel that we deserve them. Teachers - especially those in Further Education, who by the way get less holidays than school teachers - do not get paid particularly well and the job does entail huge amounts of paperwork alongside the teaching. The teaching, of course, is the best bit but being in front of a class all day is hard work however much you enjoy it and you often have to think on your feet. However, i do appreciate having 3 or 4 weeks holiday in the summer as well as the Christmas hols too.

Yes, but teachers don't stop work when they leave the building weddingdress!

IME teachers come home reasonably early, but then start work again straight after tea for another 3+ hours. My dad was a teacher and he reckoned he did about 60 hours a week on average. As for holidays - he would have a few days off at the start of each break and then spend the rest of it either at school or doing paperwork at home.

My children see far more of their father than I ever did growing up!

I'm currently working as a sessional lecturer where I get paid for 5 hours per week.

With travel and preparation I do double that. I love it and it's expected that we do that.

I'm not a teacher but now work school hours term time only. The job doesn't rock my world but it suits me and my family so much I can grin and bear it.

Daisy, that's exactly my point. I know teachers work in the evenings, but they can be home for tea with the family and work later. On the days I'm at work, I don't see the DCs at all, apart from the mad rush of chasing them out of the house, far earlier than is good for them, in the mornings.

My Mum was a teacher when I was growing up and I am sure she had a very difficult life, running a "perfect" home with no help at all, but we were unaware of it. She left home c. 8am, was home for tea and to take us to Brownies etc and then worked late into the evenings.

I'm not looking for an easy life, the reason I'm considering a career change is that I need challenging more, but I do want to be around a bit when DCs are awake/at home.

Perhaps consider primary teaching then or part-time in a secondary school.

Good luck