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

It's in the news today - teaching incompatible with raising a family

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51yzv95wg9o

I went to Uni when I was 39 and graduated with my degree and PGCE 4yrs later. I retired from teaching at 66 2 yrs ago. I loved it

@grannycake , did you have young children during this time?
You sound like you were a good teacher.

@KirstenBlest I had three children -2 in primary and one in comp. My son was taking GCSEs when I was doing my finals. I worked part time in the evening which meant my DH could reduce his hours to do school pickup and teas.

It was tough but definitely worth it and I loved my career

I know lots of teachers who went part time after becoming parents. How do all these women become Heads if they give up? They pause and then go again. The heads are not woefully underpaid. £70,000 is something to aim for, but of course it’s not easy. What job is? What higher paid job can you do part time? Deputy head can be part time or job share. It’s flexible and many parents like that. Also I can assure you dc of doctors don’t see them at sports day!

I don’t actually know (or have known) any deputy heads who are part time or job shares.

Also I can assure you dc of doctors don’t see them at sports day!

There are loads of doctors, nurses and dentists at my DC school (close to a hospital) and they were often at sports day as they had booked annual leave for it.

Never saw a doctor parent at our sports days. I did know them.

As a school governor, I’ve seen deputy job shares. Twice. Why not? Worked well and you don’t lose the expertise. One school I know of had a job share head. To keep the best, be creative. So many schools are not. Many should federate too. But they don’t.

maybe try working as a teaching assistant

Being a mature student comes with its own set of challenges.

I did a postgrad at 40 mostly online due to covid which was a great advantage for me at the time. The only thing I didn't like was the group activity which although done remotely was frustrating being so much older and joint working with people so young and inexperienced. One refused to share her work for the benefit of the group project, another went in the huff, I got snarky comments and an accusation that I had a 'problem' with one of the girls - I felt like I was back at high school! I was glad when the module ended.

I’m a teacher. I’d say secondary is easier than primary in terms of managing your workload and possibly shorter hours in school (my primary friends seem to have harder working conditions than I do )

if you can find a school with a family friendly headteacher, you may be able to get some days off for school events. My head is great and several teachers have early finishes / late starts to fit around children - but I think that is rare still. I do feel schools are starting to be more flexible with time off and expectations on working hours as they understand the importance of wellbeing.

I’m 49 and did not enjoy school placements one bit. I had a much better paying job and thought I might feel some fulfilment in teaching. Big mistake. I couldn’t bear to be mentored by younger guys and the facilities were just awful. They couldn’t even provide an office chair or a desk. You can’t go to the loo, and they just sprang after school stuff on me constantly. I could see I was going to be used as free labour for after school lessons. There was no time to prepare. This was all a total shock after having a corporate career when you’re looked after pretty well. My desire for planning and organisation just wasn’t satisfied, I am not teacher material. I think you’ve got to be prepared for quite a lot of physical discomfort and feel like it’s your best option. If you have better options you won’t stick it out. Mostly this was a bad fit for me. I also couldn’t bear to be telling kids to be silent all the time, this goes against my values where I think kids should be encouraged to participate and contribute.

Could you do some shadowing/volunteering in a local school to see if you think the work would suit you? I couldn’t/wouldn't want to do it but we need good teachers and it does suit some!

A friend is a school librarian, which works well for her with caring for her own school age children.

There is nothing wrong with your plan except

1. You would not be able to be with your child before and after school. You need to be at work early to set up and will not be able to leave often before 5.
2. It is very difficult to have time off for school events for your own child. You often cannot attend sports day, nativity ay, parent mornings etc.

3 You will be working at some point over the weekend and some part of some evenings.

Yes the holidays but the rest is very unfamily friendly.

I've not rtft so I don't know if I answered this at the time it was first posted, but nobody should go into teaching because they want a job around their kids. It's hard. All consuming soul destroying at times kind of hard, and even though I loved it I left after 15 years I left because I found that I couldn't be any sort of mother and any sort of teacher simultaneously. My kids were 4 and 6 at the time. Admittedly I had quite a big TLR and went back full time after both my babies (and plenty of women do manage it,) but there are other jobs that are far more family friendly. Also, the kids you teach deserve someone whose passion it is to support them and help them succeed and not just be there to save on childcare in the holidays.

How can you do a postgrad with only an HND? Not to sound mean or anything, I’m just curious.

On the teaching course I did years ago, there was a huge range of ages. Some of the older people had age and experience behind them which benefitted them greatly.

You would be better off moving to a civil service type admin role and going term time only.

Teaching is not compatible with young children and no childcare.

@ladyamy42069 @ChocoChocoLatte HNC is only first year of uni / level 4, what postgrad can you go onto from there? Unless you have a degree already ofcourse

Ex primary school teacher here. Teaching is a very un-family friendly profession - as I suspect many others are! Very long hours each day, working evenings, weekends and part of the holiday. Little flexibility to attend assemblies, sports days etc. Spent more time with my class than my own children.

You still need great childcare to teach. My experience is working in secondary and lots of the teachers there with small children had lots of family support to do it. They had more flexibility to leave earlier do work at home if they didn’t have department/after school/all school meetings of course.

You also have to make sure you get a job working in the same local authority as your child otherwise your holidays are different. You still need to work things out for training days as well as you might be working whilst they are off school.

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.

You wouldn’t be able to be at home with him before and after school every day as a teacher.

Do it if you want to be a teacher. I trained as a mature student at the age of 38, I was a single parent with an 8yo and 6yo. 7 years later I’m a head of department and (mostly) enjoy my job, and I can’t deny, having the holidays with the kids is lovely!

But in my training year, and the first few years when the DC were in primary, I was paying an absolute fortune for childcare, and I was absolutely exhausted. Luckily I had a great childminder. I missed so many sports days and concerts, once DD2’s class had a ‘special person afternoon’ where a parent or relative got to come into your class- I had to arrange with the school for DD1 to be DD2’s ‘special person’ as there was literally no one else 🥲

It is also a really tough profession so if you’re not in it for the right reasons you will find it even tougher.

But if all that doesn’t put you off then by all means go for it! I would arrange to go into a few schools to see if it’s for you.

I do have a degree from attending university previously and have a considerable amount of industry experience, which is highly regarded. I am now mid way through my first semester of my Masters.

Ah your post made it sound like you were going straight from HNC to PGDE. All the best!