Training to be a teacher with a child (currently doing a phd)

[andie123]

Hi everyone
Looking for some advice. I'm in the final year of my phd and me and my partner are just starting the adoption process. I realised about 6 months ago that I didn't want to be an academic, and I am really struggling with motivation with regards to my phd. Through my phd I started getting involved with local schools and trying to get kids interested in science, and I absolutely love it. It's made me realise that what I really want to do is teach. I'm planning on taking some time out after my phd, as hopefully we will have our child soon (ish) after I finish, but I hope to train to be a primary school teacher once our little one is settled in. I guess I'm just wondering how difficult it is to train as a teacher with a child? Would be great to hear from some people who have done it or in the middle of doing so? I'm not sure what route to take, currently looking at teach first, pgce and gtp. I'm unsure whether I'd qualify for the salaries gtp route, I know I'm technically a student but doing a phd is much more like having a full time job.
Also any encouraging words regarding my phd would be gratefully received!

HI!!
I've just finished my PhD in Science education (last week)!! I actually qualified as a teacher (secondary science) when my son was a toddler (18 months....14 years ago). I did a PGCE and he went into nursery full time. It was absolutely fine and as long as I devoted 9am-5pm working on uni work.
What is your PhD in? Why primary?

Please read some teaching threads in the staffroom, as unfortunately the enjoyable bits of teaching (getting children interested in science, for you), will only be a very small part of the job.

I think that you might do better working in a museum or community outreach for a university.

I'm an ex teacher, so message me if you like.

Nostress congratulations on finishing your PhD! What do you plan to do now? My phd is on the canine oral microbiome, technically it's in microbiology but I'm really a molecular biologist. I want to teach primary because I really enjoy working with younger children. I've worked as a tutor for about 6 years now, and I think I'm better at teaching primary school children. Even though the actual content is very simplistic, actually keeping a 10 year old interested and engaged for an hour is a big challenge! Also I'm not sure I could cope with a class full of teenagers!
BranchingOut I've done quite a bit of work with my local museum actually, and found it to be a lot of fun. The people at the museum told me however that they've had loads of their funding cut recently and some of them were facing redundancy. I'm not sure it would be a stable career to go into at the moment. I'd not considered the university outreach though, will definitely look into it though. Do you know where I could get information about that? I know that science would only make up a small part of everyday teaching, but part of the reason I want to teach primary is because it would involve teaching all subjects. If you don't mind me asking, what made you leave teaching? I will definitely message you as I have lots of questions. You might end up regretting saying that I could :)

Well I'm looking to continue in research but thats not easy with funding etc! I'm going to take about 6 months "off" to try and get some papers published. Although I will be keeping my eyes open for jobs. Then if I don't get anywhere with that go back to teaching!!
I've always imagined that primary teaching is more stressfull! More marking & you are with the same kids a lot so no break from troublesome pupils.

In a sentence, the work consumed my life and I was burned out.

But I don't regret doing it, although I think that I probably should have left before I did. Feel free to message me anyway.