Going back to University as a mature student to be a teacher - bad idea?!

[Lostwelshlady]

Does anyone have any experience of going back to University as a mature student?

I’d love to hear your experiences, especially if you have young children. Also, any primary school teachers with young children- how do you make it work?

For context, I’m 40 years old with a 9 month old baby, and my maternity leave is going to end soon. I’ve told my current job I won’t be returning to my previous hours/schedule as I have zero childcare options, and I don’t want to put DC in nursery. (There are no good options locally and I’d basically be working to pay a nursery bill)

I’m paid well for the area I live in (decent jobs are hard to come by in my locality- it‘s one of the most deprived rural areas in the UK) so I know in one respect I’m foolish to leave my job as I won’t get the pay anywhere else for a few years. It’s a fairly standard admin job in the private sector which I just kind of fell into, but not something I particularly enjoy and has been quite toxic at times but pays above average as I’ve had a few pay rises over the years to stop me from leaving.

I have no realistic childcare options as DC gets older, so I’ve been thinking of career options which would work around being able to be home with him. My local university offers a primary school degree, and despite the deprived area is actually one of the top 25 in the UK to offer this degree. Am I being ridiculous to even consider it?

At the moment my thoughts are to get a basic job in the evening so that DH can watch DC, and then once DC is old enough to go to nursery school in two and a bit years, I could enroll in university and gain the teaching degree. Then if I got a job as a teacher I would be working the same hours DC would be in school? I know there would be additional hours but I could do breakfast club/after school club, and most importantly I’d be home to care for him during the school holidays? I feel like I’m being ridiculous even considering it but I cannot think of any work I can do that pays well enough and also means I can look after DC myself. We have family nearby but none are not viable options for any more than an hour or two of childcare for special occasions (elderly, health issues etc)

Can any mature students give me any insights? Or teachers with children give me a reality check as to why this would be a stupid idea? Or the practicalities I haven’t considered? Or does it work well for your family?! My head is spinning trying to figure out if it would work or is totally ridiculous. Thank you x

Teaching is woefully underpaid and under respected.

Talk to local schools, maybe get some work experience but take careful consideration.

It is hard work, long hours and not as parent friendly as you might think.

Some schools allow teachers time off to attend events for their own kids but far more do not. How will you manage missing out on those events?

Teaching is a vocational career, without a love of what you are doing you will be an ok teacher but rarely will you be great. Think about how you would feel of your kid was being taught by someone who was in it for the holidays rather than a love of inspiring young people. If you wouldn't want it for your own kids then don't subject other people's kids to it.

I appreciate that sounds harsh, but it is the reality.

It is absolutely not a job you can just go through the motions in. You can't coast. You have to put the effort in.

I teach at my kids' school. It's amazing.

We all go to school together in the morning. I'm in for 7.45 so they either potter in my classroom or go to a morning club 8-8.30 before school starts. 4 out of 5 days we all leave together at 4pm and the fifth day they get the school bus home.

I never miss a sports day, nativity, anything and we're all home in the holidays together.

Is that a school bus for primary-wow! Are you in England?

There’s not much in the way of leaving at 4pm 4 days a week or heads allowing staff children in the classroom before school in any of the schools I worked in, sadly :(

I did! Retrained through PGCE at 30, never looked back.

@Shinyandnew1 it's an independent school so bus is for children from years 2-13

Not a teacher

My primary teacher friends never, ever make it to soft start, assemblies, shows, school trips, special events, drop off or pick up.

That's A LOT to miss out on for primary age DC. Primary teaching with secondary age DC would be a better fit perhaps.

I have a lot more flexibility in my office job and with a bit of planning I've been able to make most things.

I escaped teaching in 2021.

Its no job for a family. Aside from the inflexibility, it’s bloody exhausting and stressful.

You come home with nothing left for your own children, just willing them to go to bed and sleep so you can get on with your huge pile of work.

Both my children referred to me as school mummy and holiday mummy. School mummy was a stressed grumpy exhausted person.

A lot of my holidays were spent preparing, particularly when they seemed to be changing the specifications all the time. Which will happen again under a new government.

It a tough job. I clearly remember doing open evening, going home at 9.30pm after open evening having being in at 7.30 am to a non sleeping child.

Its honestly not worth the stress it causes.

My mother did it in the early 1970s once her youngest was school age. There was zero childcare available then. We lived hundred of miles from any relatives. She did her teacher training at the same school and subsequently became a teacher there too.

I retrained at 40 when I had a 6 and 8 year old as a secondary teacher. That training year was tough. But I had worked in schools, helped out at primary, run a cub pack and did some serious shadowing before I applied. You really need to try it out to see if it’s for you.

If it’s any help, I did have a good career but I regret the weekends spent marking and doing prep. My grown up kids remember we never had family Sundays as I was always working in term time. It’s a huge trade off.

I've just finished an HNC aged 48 and (bursary dependent) will be starting a postgrad in Sept.

Go for it!

You will not work the same days never mind the same hours as your child. Inset, days, parent evenings, residentials, what about the days youre working in Easter or summer holidays? . Please do some research and dont go into this thinking teaching is a family friendly job. Twilight meeting often go on to 6:30/7pm. 3 nights a week ypu will be in meetings- lots of wrap around care finishes at 5:30pm - too early- or starts at 8am- too late. You will need other childcare.

Go into teaching with your eyes open to it.

I am an ex teacher. I stopped teaching when I had my first child do to the hours and inflexibility of teaching.

There has been so much in the media about teacher pay and conditions in relation to the recuitment and retention crisis. I’m very surprised that you aren’t aware of any of these issues.

Another picking up your comment.

Then if I got a job as a teacher I would be working the same hours DC would be in school?

Nope!

Most primary teachers are in school from 8.00 till 5.30/6.00 pm planning, assessing and carrying out work to lead their subjects.

There are also weekly (at least) staff meetings after school. Sometimes schools have a safeguarding update meeting each morning too. Add in meeting you may need to lead for your subject, you certainly need long days.

Also factor in that you may not work in a school close to home. I had a 50 minute commute each way. Once my marriage failed I had to move house closer to work as I couldn't find childcare that opened early enough for me to drop off or stayed open late enough for me to get back..

My other option was to take my DC’s with me, enrolling them in the school I worked in, and use WRAC local to my school too but I really didn't want my DC’s to be away from their community. I wanted them to have ‘their own’ school and not have to share mine. ( and my school at the time had a highly mobile community which we didn't belong to).

So because it’s been in the media lots I shouldn’t reach out to other mature students/teachers with young children to ask for their first hand experiences? Ok, thank you for your input.

You’ve had some good replies though.

I taught part time when mine were little with grandparents doing before/after school. Then my DH was able to have them when they were ill, for snow days or when they had INSET days. My kids’ school nearly always closed for snow days but mine was always open!

DH could also go to see sports days/assemblies and have them when I needed to work late for parents evening (often till 7.30/8), information evenings or school shows etc

Having read some of the replies, what sort of arrangements do you think you might be able to do for your DC for things like this? It’s good to have a bit of a plan whilst in the early stages of planning a career change. Do you already have a degree, @Lostwelshlady ?

@Lostwelshlady , what sort of work do you do now? (you said admin in private sector)
Do you have a degree, and in what sort of subject?
Do you have an area of expertise that you could use in a different role?

Are you hoping to have more than one child?
Whatever job you do, you will need some sort of childcare.

But Do You Like Teaching and Learning?!?

This really is the key question OP.
People have given you honest answers about the time demands of being a teacher. You have to really enjoy the actual craft of teaching. Then you make the hours work somehow!

I retrained as a teacher in my early 40s - it has worked out for me because I love teaching and working with young people. I work harder than my in previous finance career (and earn one third of my previous salary). I need every second of the longer holidays to recharge before the next term. I teach in the same (Independent) school my children go to. That has significant logistical and financial benefits.

Ring a primary school and ask if you can do some work experience. Really important to do this before signing up for a teaching course. I also recommend doing a scitt, rather than university course. That is 4 days in school and 1 day at college each week for a whole year.

Unless you are really certain you prefer primary, I would also consider secondary teaching. As a previous poster said, the top schools can be very competitive for primary teachers. Our local schools often have 20 applicants for a place. For some secondary subjects, you can pretty much have your pick of schools.

Hope this helps!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5132976-can-you-be-a-good-mum-and-a-good-teacher?reply=137238282

worth a read maybe

No No No!

Teaching is not family friendly in the least. You spend all your time and energy on other people’s children and this is never more true than when your first begin in the career.

By all means return to uni but do something other than teaching.

I have taught for decades now and still find the making and planning eats up my evenings.

It's not only childcare while you are in the job, you will need childcare while doing your training and uni course.

You will need childcare 100%. What are your fears of nursery or childminder?

I love teaching.
on its day, it’s the best job in the world.

I’ve missed nativity plays. Sports days. Parents evenings (for my own kids).
this year I had a different feb and oct half term to them so didn’t even get those holidays (but did get 2 weeks to myself so, you know…!)

The people I know who do it long term do it because they love it.
The people who do it for the holidays do it for 5 years max.

Do you already have a degree? So is this a one year course, or do you need to do a degree first, so 4 years to train?

Remember you won’t fully qualify until you’ve taught for 2 years too.

Do you actually want to be a teacher for any reason other that thinking it will be good for childcare? Because I see no mention of that. It’s just that teaching is hard and stressful and i think you need an actual desire to be a teacher to help get you through that. Do you think you’d enjoy the actual job?

Don’t go into teaching because you think it’s a handy term time only number. It’s a bloody hard job, not always a nice one and there is a LOT of extra work to do so you won’t have the time you want for your kid in evenings and weekends.

My experience is that most teachers work a good 60 hours a week, especially in the first few years.
I can't help but notice that in my current school, the only full time teachers with children are men, who have a wife either doing all the childcare, or working from home part time or compressed hours so that they can do childcare drops and pickups. None of the women teachers who have children work full time.
My own SiL did work full time with DC, leaving the house by 7:15 to drop 2 DC to childcare, and picking them up at 6. She always worked in the evenings marking after they were in bed, and sometimes at weekends too. Always 2-3 days at half term, and 3-4 days in other holidays. Extra stress times, like parents evenings or doing reports, meant extra work. Her stress levels were through the roof, even as a very experienced teacher.
I've seen teachers this year spend about an hour per child doing reports ( twice a year) and that's on top of a full teaching/planning load - that's 30 extra hours to find somewhere, from your own time.
Just saying. If your DH can't help out with the childcare, I wouldn't even consider it.