PGCE and family planning

[MaariaT]

I'm starting my PGCE in a month but i'm feeling very discouraged by a lot of the responces online on how difficult and exhausting a PGCE is and I'm usually very determined to take on a challenge as long as what I am recieving from it is worth it. Here are a few of my worries:

1. I am someone who gets tired very easily (sleep 10 hours). I am in the process of getting my health checked. Found out I have an iron deficiency and a deviated septum which affects the quality of my sleep but I dont think these are matters which can be solved promptly.

2. I have recently undergone an event in my life that has had a huge negative impact on me mentally. A little embarassing but sometimes I struggle with completing small tasks such as folding my laundry and worry that when I start my PGCE I need to be on top of everything

3. My partner and I have been wanting to start a family. I have heard it is difficult to be pregnant while doing a PGCE so we are delaying the idea of having a baby right now even though it's something we both really want and talk about often.

4. I am unsure about my future career. My partner and I agree that when we start a family we will prioritise our children and their upbringing. I do know that a lot of people have differing opinions on this but personally I do not want to go back into work after maternity leave when my child is only one years old. I would prefer not to have a stranger look after my baby and I do not want to burden any family members to look after the baby for very long periods of time. My partner and I have decided that when our children are young and not in school yet I won't work full time. I would prefer doing something flexible in the meantime like online tutoring.

I plan on getting back into teaching once the kids are in school. I am aware that I will need to complete 2 years of ECT. I'm wondering after a long gap if that will be possible. To add on I want to do my ECT part time as I take on a lot of the responsibilities at home. And all this planning is for so far in the future I have no idea what my life will be like in the next 5 years or so.

So I was wondering if doing a PGCE will be useful and beneficial for me. What are other peoples thoughts on the route I want to take. If a PGCE will come in handy I am willing to work on my tiredness and mental health. Knowing that a PGCE will be useful will help me feel motivated

I think you should maybe be honest with yourself. You don't want to do a PGCE nor do you really want to be a teacher. You want to have a baby and stay at home. A PGCE is hard work as is being an ECT. Being a teacher is quite gruelling especially at the start. The question you should be asking yourself and your partner us can you afford to not have a career. There are many other jobs you can do of course. However if you do want to be a teacher then yes you do need to grit your teeth and do the training.

I’m an ex teacher and now a sahm. I couldn’t have done PGCE/NQT year while pregnant.

You will find it hard to get a job if you do PGCE and wait to do your ECT (unless you’re going to teach maths/physics). I imagine you would become
deskilled pretty quickly and your planning a career break of at least 7 years.

I wouldn’t suggest to anyone to start a PGCE if they have a mental health issue which is currently not managed.

Do you actually want to do a PGCE? It doesn't sound like it.

How financially stable are you? If you're not working full time so not earning much would you be able to afford rent and living costs if you and your partner separated? You need to make sure you're not putting yourself if a financially vulnerable position.

Do you actually want to be a teacher?

Tbh OP the comment about the washing would lead me to think you aren't going to manage it.

Please don’t do a PGCE because it’s useful! To get through it, you need it to be a route you really want to take: because you enjoy working with children, because you value their learning and characters, because you love your subject and want young people to feel the same.

All that aside, being pregnant and not particularly well in the first place, will not work well with teacher training- that’s 3 years in total. You’ll need to be on top of your game all the time in school, plus your essays/ admin on top. Teaching isn’t a job where you can ever have an “easy” day as you are tired/ didn’t sleep well. Children just don’t work that way.

We desperately need new teachers, we are missing so many, but are you sure this is the right decision at this point?

A PGCE is a master's level qualification alongside full time placements (i.e. working) where you're constantly learning and reflecting.

It is full on because otherwise you wouldn't be ready or qualified to be responsible for your classes as an ECT. You know your subject, but not how to teach yet.

This is challenging for most people and can take its toll on mental health and family wellbeing.

If you're not in a good place before you start, it doesn't bode well for how you'll feel by the end.

Do you want to be a teacher? Would you want to do something education related but not in the classroom? Are you doing this because of the holidays?

If you want to be a teacher, get qualified before having children. It will give you more options later.

As a side point, do not become a SAHM in any way unless you’re married. You say partner so I assume you’re not married.

I think if you truly want to be a teacher you need to commit to three years now: training plus 2 ect years or if you aren’t ready for that level of commitment then wait until you are ready to want to return to work and then train. I think you would struggle to get a job with just the pgce and then no experience after a career break. You’d be competing with this who have just done their training. I’ve just mentored a lady with 5 children who has just done a pgce and ect 1 after her youngest kids started school. You sound like a family is your priority now so just embrace it!

Nothing that you’ve written about is insurmountable if you really want to be a teacher, but from your OP I can’t tell if you do. We’ve had teachers who had to pause their training for maternity leave, who have gone on to be brilliant teachers, likewise plenty of colleagues will face challenges regarding mental health.

Having said that, the PGCE and ECT years are incredibly full-on. Everything just takes longer and is more effort when you’re new. I don’t drive but have often heard teaching compared to driving. When you first start out, everything needs conscious thought and effort, but over time things start to become a reflex that you don’t even think about. I think this is especially true of classroom management and behaviour.

If you don’t actually want to be a teacher and just want to fill the time until you get pregnant, then there’s probably far less stressful things to do. I’m not saying that with any judgement either, I did a PGCE as a bit of a gap filler so that I had something to do whilst I figured out what I really wanted to do with my life. When I started I didn’t envisage a long-term career in teaching either. In the end I totally fell in love with it and can’t imagine doing anything else. Maybe it would be the same for you?

Whatever you decide to do, it doesn’t have to be final. You can always do a PGCE later if you decide not to proceed now, and if you do decide to do the training now you, can go back and do the ECT later if you want to start a family straight after the PGCE (I know it’s advised that you start ECT as quickly as possible but it isn’t required).

All the best!

Hi OP how old are you - however I would highly recommend not doing a PGCE if you are low energy and not enthusiastic- I would ask your training provider to defer for a year and get a job as a teaching assistant loads available and get a feel for the reality of school - this is from some one who has had to delay finishing her pgce due to illness

Have your babies now and then when they’re off to school see, if you want to do your pgce. I don’t see the point in doing it now, then having babies, having a big gap on your CV, and then trying to find a job as a teacher years after completing your PGCE. I don’t think many schools would like the look of that tbh OP. Best of luck