PGDE Fear

[FinancialTrain]

Hi, I'm about to embark on a PGDE in Scotland but am getting really cold feet reading all the negativity. I was hoping to get the other side of the story, are there any positive experiences?

Bit of context - I've taught English as a foreign language to teenagers and adults for a number of years. I'd say my classes with teenagers were a bit better because the anxiety of managing them made me put in a bit more work. I then transitioned to teaching adults full time. In fact this was the second time in ESL where I taught full time (the first time it was my first job and I got sacked because I couldn't keep up with "the pace"). Anyways, this time I had a lot more experience but again couldn't manage it. I was teaching classes for 6.5 hours, so not just prep but actual classroom teaching. I found the strain of it too much combined with the commute and had to request to go back to part time - this eventually led me to being fired because they wanted full time teachers.

In my next job I had the teenager class from hell where I had to teach out of control feral teenagers for 4 hours with another teacher. They didn't listen to the him either. In fact when we swapped classes the behaviour in the second class was worse. Anyways I walked out of that job because I didn't get any support from the admin, in fact just gaslighting. I also had problems with IBS, exacerbated by early morning rises and would regularly fall asleep in the evenings as I'm a nightowl. I wouldn't say I'm smart, charismatic or good with bantering with "the characters". I'm a serious type rather than entertaining. Therefore I'm worried I'd be meat for the grinder in the Scottish education system.

I'm willing to adapt myself and deal with the issues I have, but at the same time I don't want to wash out after 3 months with 10k lost to tuition fees, accommodation and living expenses. I also have a problem with accommodation at the moment in that I can't get anywhere that's quiet enough (light sleeper/insomnia) and which has ensuite (IBS again). I'm concerned that if I have a stressful living arrangement this will compound the stress of the course and again I'll burn out. I want to give this every chance of success but the horror stories don't help and I'm wondering if I'm self-sabotaging before I even start. Simultaneously, I don't to stick my hand in a meat grinder as I may not be "the right stuff".

After you first sentence I was going to say that teaching in Scotland is different from England in terms of all the rubbish you don't get from OFSTED, but as I read down your post, you really aren't describing the CV of someone cut out to be a teacher , tbh.
You say you've been sacked for not being able to keep up with the pace of teaching adults, who, as a rule will have chosen to be there and won't give you any of the classroom management issues you will spend so much of your time dealing with in schools.
Then
this time I had a lot more experience but again couldn't manage it. I was teaching classes for 6.5 hours, so not just prep but actual classroom teaching. I found the strain of it too much combined with the commute

Well, that is what it will be like in schools. Technically not 6.5hours straight of lessons, but you are still managing the pupils at break times / form time / assembly possibly..... and 30 of them at a time.....many of whom will have a wide variety of additional needs which you will be expected to differentiate for. You will still be teaching for up to 6 hours, every day.

I also had problems with IBS, exacerbated by early morning rises and would regularly fall asleep in the evenings as I'm a nightowl.

I have heard Scotland is not as bad as England, but I assume you will still need to get up at a reasonable time in the mornings to be ready for your first pupils, and you will normally be expected to work in the evenings as well.

I like to be encouraging where I can, but you really aren't selling yourself as a potential teacher in this post.
Have you shadowed teachers in schools ? Got any work experience before deciding to do the PGDE ?

In relation to the last question, no, it's not possible where I'm from as I don't know any teachers and wasn't seriously considering the PGCE until this year. I taught in Higher Ed too and studied to become a lecturer but it hasn't worked out as I have problems "selling myself" and am uncompetitive relative to my peers who are more illustrious.

In relation to the first job, it was my first job and I guess I was overloaded with work and couldn't handle it. I'd put that down to it just being my first job with an insane commute on top which did me in. You'd be surprised, a sizeable minority of adults were just there for the visa but would expect to be entertained at the same time. I did hold down that job from which I was eventually let go for 2.9 years. I'm currently in an ESL job where I'm doing ok. Teaching is all I know and all I can get employed at. I've been teaching for 15 years on and off and can't get hired for anything else (I've tried many other things/courses and despite many interviews, never made the grade). People are willing to hire me for teaching however.

“the teenager class from hell where I had to teach out of control feral teenagers”

I would question whether teaching teenagers is the job for you. I teach teens and I love them all even the tricky ones. They can tell if you dislike them you know.

What subject are you? I know you've taught English as a FL but many teachers of everything start that way.

That was the only class where it was actually the stuff of nightmares. The other classes over 2 years were fine. I have to say they were already out of control before I stepped into the room, you could hear them screaming and shouting from down the stair well. I don't know what was wrong with them but it was nuts, I'd never seen anything like it. Yes, though I would put on a poker face and never play favourites (even if I dislike the student), I'd say they could probably tell. Sometimes, students would think I was annoyed when I was actually in neutral mode.

English literature

I should probably add, I didn't dislike most of the students, I was mostly neutral although some students I did like. There were one or two who I thought were shitheads but mostly because they took an active dislike of me in the first place.

I doubt you will get through and pass the course. Seems like you really havent done your research and any wavering now will almost certainly present as a major problem later on into the training.

Walk away.

It is a poorly paid career, highly stressful and only suitable for people who have good teaching role models, good health and a few quid already in the bank.

Drop out rates crazily high. Try something else as tefl/what not, is nothing like teaching in a school. Save yourself a lot of grief...

(i am a teacher btw)

I defo don’t think you should become a teacher!

“shitheads” that says it all ……

You have to treat kids fair and like everyone to gain respect from some children. Especially if anyone has Sen - your the kind of teacher I dislike - kids can see through your lies and you make some children life miserable.

Don't do the course! We need nice caring kind teachers for our children.

I noticed that you hadn’t mentioned a single reason why you wanted to be a teacher, then I came to ”Teaching is all I know and all I can get employed at.”.

Don’t do it. Spend some of that money on careers counselling instead.

From what you have written it will be a disaster. I’ve seen people who passionately wanted to be teachers, had worked as TAs first to get a realistic picture, we’re absolutely determined…. and still get drowned and disillusioned by all the paperwork and pressure from SLT. These were people who loved the actual teaching.

You aren't cut out to teach. You don't enjoy it and you find it hard work There are loads of different jobs out there, get looking to find one you can get something out of.

Calling kids ' shitheads'. I don't think you're teacher material. Spend the £10000 on training for something else.

OP I came on to say that the PGDE and teaching in Scotland can be very different to England and (broadly speaking, very generally) it's a good, rewarding career. I did the PGDE and have taught in some of the most deprived areas of Scotland so know the reality of the career and the challenges.

Then I read the rest of your post. To make it through the PGDE you need to be tough and fully committed - it's very much a sink or swim course. Your days will, almost always, be longer than 6.5 hours as you're learning your craft in ten months before you go into you NQT year. It's intense!

Also, while I don't believe that teaching must be a calling - it wasn't for me, it was a job that was fairly well paid with good holidays that I had a vague interest in - you do need to want to do it and care about the children in front of you. This doesn't have to be lovey dovey stuff but you need to care about whether they're happy and safe and where they're heading in life and that includes the "shitheads" to use your words. It doesn't sound like you do. In fact, I'm curious about what you said at interview to get onto the PGDE as it's usually a very competitive course.

I'd seriously rethink this decision OP and either quit before you waste money and time on it or reframe your thinking and go into the course appreciating you have a lot to learn and need to adjust your attitude. Good luck.

I agree with the others. I am a secondary teacher and I think you have to really like teenagers to do this. You need to be able to approach these students you describe with a sense of humour and you have to give off the vibe that you enjoy teaching them.
I'd hate to discourage people who want to teach from doing so (I've been teaching in comprehensive schools for nearly two decades and I love my job) but, as others say, you may just be setting yourself up for more misery (and at a great expense to you) when this might not be the career for you?
Saying that though...perhaps your OP was overly negative as you were just expressing your doubts - and that maybe there is a spark in you that loves teaching which didn't come across? It's definitely a job you grow into and with the right support and training could be a very different experience to the one you've had so far. However, as pp have suggested, you need to continue the soul searching as to whether your attitude towards teenagers and general difficulties with the day to day physical demands of a teaching job indicate that you should be broadening your horizons now.

Well you're assuming a lot. Not ALL children are angelic little darlings, some are just bastards, even teachers themselves will admit that. They are people after all and not all people are nice or easy to deal with. That being said I never once let that influence my interactions with them, I treated everyone fairly and took their behaviour towards me on the chin.

There are just two things that I think you need to consider.

1. Preparation and time. Teaching is time intensive. You will need to work outside your contracted hours in school. I recently worked with someone who came from abroad. She was not prepared for or willing to do this. It broke her.
2. Resilience. I have been at it for 25 years plus and it still requires resilience. There will be classes that challenge you and SLT pressures etc. There is also a lot of scrutiny. Inspections, learning walks and book scrutinies.

It doesn't have to be a labour of love but you will find it even more stressful if you are not prepared for these factors.

I spent twelve years as a teacher. (Admittedly England not Scotland). This will make you miserable and probably very ill.

Do something else.

I'm a Scottish secondary English teacher, 12 years experience.

A few things jump out. You say you don't get on with the larger characters, you're a serious type and you think you'll be chewed up by the Scottish teens. If we put aside your incredible bias toward a whole nationality, you just sound like you can't really connect with teens. If you want a class of quiet, compliant children then this job is not for you. You will never get that, regardless of country.

You say you can only get a job in teaching, again not a great reason to go into it. The first 3 years of training, probation and nqt are hard going. You need to learn about Curriculum for Excellence, National 4 and 5, Higher, Advanced Higher, plus the alternative qualifications we put the less academic kids through. You need to create resources, create seating plans, behaviour strategy, extra curricular activities, parents' evenings, marking (in English, the marking is HEAVY), report writing, data input, I could go on.

I've worked with a number of students/probationers/teachers with a similar mindset to you. They struggle. The pupils see right through you, as do other staff. Negative outlook doesn't travel well in this job. We are in a teacher shortage crisis, and it's showing in the quality of teachers who ate qualifying as they can't think of something better to do.

This post has seriously made me think this is just a wind up now.

No-one who thinks like that could seriously be thinking of training to become a teacher.

I am regretting lifting you off 'Unanswered threads' now.

You don’t like the hours, you don’t have a basic fondness for young people (e&oe), you talk about teaching as a last resort. Don’t touch this with a barge pole. You will waste your time and money, and young people deserve better.

Well it's the attitude that there are no consequences for children or their parents who have raised them badly, that there is a teacher retention problem and complaints about classroom behaviour. Take some kid that bullies other kids, is constantly disruptive and even assaults a teacher or at least makes their life miserable. Are they not even a bit of a bastard? Sure they may grow up to be a nice functioning citizen, but it's not remiss to label a spade, a spade.

Hey, I have no issue with Scottish people or kids, I was thinking in general across the world. These things are universal, you get "characters" in every culture.

Wow.
Just wow.
I can't believe you are thinking about becoming a teacher or how you got on to the course.

Yes,

Don't teach.

For yourself and your future pupils... Children know. They won't like you with your attitude, and then yes, they will (hopefully) piss you around.

Do something right. Join the army or grow Christmas trees.

I completed the PGDE- you need to have a lot of strength, commitment and resilience to get through the year. It is heavy going, you are a student but also full time teaching. The uni days are long and the placement days are longer. You will be creating a file of all your planning whilst writing essays and researching at the same time. It’s a non stop year where you need to adapt to constructive feedback.
I’d say if you’re unsure now then you’re not ready for it. Im not saying that to be mean but your PGDE year and the first few years of teaching can be very difficult.
Children come first, your negative attitudes towards them need tk be dropped. Yes some children can be difficult but there are reasons behind it and if you go in with that attitude in mind then you are not right for the job.
Once you complete your PGDE then you’ll have film days teacher, night time and weekends will end up becoming planning time. You will have staff meetings, courses, parent phone calls and parents nights. It’s not a 9-3/4 job. It’s non stop and can be very stressful but also incredibly rewarding.