PGCE as a single parent?

[Icouldhavewrotethis]

Has anyone done this? I've been looking into it as children are all at school but I have no support.
Can It be done? How hard was it and what were the biggest problems? How much Student Finance were you entitled to?
Any tips,advice etc etc ?
Thank you

Not for pgce so much but I'm a teacher. It's a v v difficult thing to do without childcare support because there are parents evenings, meetings etc that you HAVE to attend. As a student you can't 'wing it' in lessons and planning takes time. It's miles easier now I'm a couple of decades in but I remember being at my desk at 7am and staying til 6.. That's not possible without childcare support.

I do hate to discourage anyone from going into the profession. I love teaching and obviously the holidays work well for childcare but day to day it is v tough since being a single parent. My parents are 5 mins away and probably help me out 2-3 times a week on average!

I did this 7 years ago. My dc were 5 and 2 when I started my training. It was hard work, I found a good nursery and as a trainee I didn't have to do parents evenings or open evenings. My first year was harder as you gave a full timetable plus all of the parents evenings etc, and trying to find childcare was a nightmare. It's much easier now as mine are bigger and I have good friends who step in for collecting my dc when I gave parents evening but I also help them out in the holidays. I'd say go for it. But be prepared to be completely drained for the first year.

I don’t want to give you little hope or too much hope (and did/doing a different degree - completed undergrad now doing masters) but I honestly do not think HE it is worth it with children anymore. I suppose the benefit you have is knowing that you get the holidays with your children if you become a teacher even though your days won’t typically be 9-3s and free weekends during term time.

So I’d like to say it can be done and you can do very well but it is very very hard to find the balance between university and being a mum/looking after a home. You will probably find most of the time you are giving one of those areas more than 50% so the other area is failing.

I am debating about dropping out of my masters degree and while I did enjoy my undergrad degree, I do feel like it’s all been a little bit of a waste and not worth it. I went in with good intentions to set a good example to my son to enjoy education and get a career and to provide for him without government assistance financially, but I keep finding I either focus on home life with my son and keep him happy or I neglect (not literally) him and do really well at university.

I want to be a good mum and a good student - but I can’t be both. What is more important? My children.
The extra hours and work you put in will not make you that much financially better off than with universal credit. I am really not one to advocate government assistance, I’m really not, but you won’t be much better off financially on a teaching salary when you also take into account the amount of work you do, the stress of the job and stress of home life and lack of family support.
Not to mention the student debt you will pay off foreverrrrr.

I would really ask yourself why you want to do the course and if you think you can still give your children a good enough amount of attention.
I really don’t want to sound negative but I wish I knew then what I know now :(