How Stressful is the PGCE Really?

[DudeDudeson]

Hi, I have a place on a PGCE but have had cold feet about it ever since being offered it. I've been teaching English as a foreign language for too many years now and really want to get out of it as it feels like a trap. I'm decent enough at it after an initial few years of being absolutely rubbish at teaching. I've taught at university too while doing my PhD. I was ok at that but not great according to my former supervisor.

Anyways, long story short, I actually went and checked out two schools and it was ok? I mean the behaviour was pretty meh, nothing majorly awful. And yet I read a flood of stories about how awful teaching is the in the UK. My concern stems from this and also the workload. I'm ok with a steady amount of work but would not be able to withstand an avalanche of demands and zero work life balance. I also suffer from IBS and insomnia, exacerbated by stress which are not good for teaching. For reference I did teach full time in ESL, teaching 6 hours of classes a day but couldn't keep up with the pace. I'd get overtired and make mistakes. The reason I'm considering teaching is that it's a meaningful job and my CV is solely in education as that's all I've ever got jobs in.

I have an offer of an Instructional Design course as well, and am eyeing that but have major doubts about landing a job after it as many ID firms want corporate experience which I don't have. Conversely if I managed to survive the PGCE, I would be confident about landing a job. However, my lack of confidence stems from the actual surviving part. Given that my school visits appear to contradict what I'm reading on the internet, I'm at a bit of a loss in gauging just how demanding the course is. If it's fair, I think I can pass it. On the other hand what I'm reading is seriously spooking me and I can't afford another course that doesn't work out. I need to make whatever course I do actually result in a step up from what I've been doing for years.

From your experience you will likely manage the course. The issue is whether you can cope with the job. If you find teaching EFL exhausting you are likely to find secondary teaching exhausting too.

That's good to know. My aim would be to do the course but try to work anywhere but England if possible. If not I would try to find a supportive school to work in and could finish out the 2 years NQT.

I did teach full time in ESL, teaching 6 hours of classes a day but couldn't keep up with the pace

But why would you think teaching full time would be any different?!

Your whole post is about ‘surviving’ the PGCE as if once you’ve made it through the finishing line, then getting a job and a lasting career in teaching will be easy.

Teaching is just more of the same- 6 hours a day of lessons, marking, planning, assessments, parent evenings, book scrutinies, learning walks, reports, Ofsted, Deep Dives etc etc

I'm a secondary teacher - I would say it you are not fully invested, then don't do it. It is a very, very difficult time to be a teacher at the moment. I've been at it a long time and it is the most stressful it has ever been (and it's always been stressful). It can be very rewarding, but if you don't really want to be there, it will become overwhelming very quickly.

Your other option is to work in a school, maybe as a TA or cover supervisor for a year, get some real mainstream classroom management experience behind you and then ask your school to sponsor you or if you have enough experience go the Assessment Only route if it still exists.

I found the PGCE year hellish.
Jumping to someone else's tune, teaching their way, observations every week, filling out endless lesson plans and the the uni assignments on top.
Teaching is easy compared to that.
The bit that makes me think you shouldn't is the work life balance bit. There isn't one in teaching.

I actually found the NQT year harder than PGCE! Responsibility for my own class was huge and I also caught every bug going. The year after that was hard as well as I lost any additional non-contact time and was given a subject to coordinate (unpaid). THEN things seemed to get easier for a few years.

That was before the Tories got into power and made everything crap though…

It depends on whether you actually would enjoy being with young people/would be able to relate to them?

My eldest was literally born to be a teacher. They have this balance of reasonable discipline/relatability with the pupils/patience with them/sense of humour/ability to see the good in everyone/gets on well with colleagues etc. They are just completing their 3rd year post-PGCE and I am not seeing any huge levels of stress or anything, any more than any other job.

They had 2 one year contracts and now a permanent full-time one. My own degree pretty much led to a teaching career, but I couldn't have dealt with the kids!!

Their work/life balance is absolutely fine.

I'd need time to destress e.g. cook, possibly catch up on an hours' sleep after work or just rest (which is what I often did full time ESL teaching), and most importantly play and record music a bit. I can work after school hours but I need defrag time or I'll go crazy.

I’ve been teaching 17 years and now a head of department. If you’re having doubts, don’t do it. My PGCE was awful, so stressful, but I think with your experience you would manage and pass it. However, teaching is becoming more and more stressful every year. I’m in a good school in a nice area, behaviour is fine but I’ve still had the worst year ever. There’s a reason teachers are striking.

Tbh @DudeDudeson I'm not sure teaching is for you. It's a very intense job often with minimal breaks during long days -think 11 hours in school with one 15 minute break. Home around 6.30/7pm and then work a few more hours into the evening. That's the reality sadly these days. The pace and workload are relentless.

I used to get feedback forms every week from the kids. Some classes hated me, some loved me, most were neutral-positive. I wouldn't say I naturally relate to kids, like I am an introvert and not high energy. I was just myself, didn't try to be funny or cool because they'd see right through it anyway. I noticed younger age groups 13-15 didn't really gel with my classes because I wasn't "funny" whereas I had a lot more success with 16-18.

Is this widespread across many schools in the UK? I can't see 11 hours of work being sustainable for anyone beyond people who are almost superhuman. Afaik you're entitled to at least 1 hour of a break at lunchtime, I didn't see anyone working during those breaks in the schools I was at, they had a few more breaks in between as well. Also in terms of preparation is there flexibility where you do it? I often took work home with me rather than preparing in the school just as a matter of preference.

I’m at work 10 hours most days-I get in at 7.30 and leave at 5.30. I’m not first in or last out and would say that’s pretty standard. That’s including taking a half hour lunch.

Some days I leave early but I don’t tend to arrive much later as there no space left in the car park if so! If we have Twilights, events or parents evenings, then it’s much later.

I did a PGCE after doing ESL (which I enjoyed and was good at). I had cold feet but ignored it. Did my PGCE and school placements and hated it! I got good grades and feedback partly I think because my ESL experience gave me confidence in a classroom plus some ideas and activities. Both schools told me to apply for jobs there. Guess what. Neither of them employed me, one didn't even interview me. They gave the job to a 21 year old. I went for loads of interviews and got nowhere. I then tried supply which convinced me that the job was not for me at all. I ended up going back to ESL (big mistake in financial terms) and teaching in universities abroad. Teaching ESL is so much less stressful than secondary school teaching. If you find ESL stressful, just forget it. I don't know how old you are, but get out of education if you can. I wish I had.

I'm in school 7.45 - 5 3x a week.
Til 4 once a week
Til 6.30 once a week.
Apart from at report time I don't do evening work in the week, but I do 2 ish days in a half term and every Sunday approx 4 hours.
That's in primary with a small class of less than 20.

Don't think I've ever had an hour's break at lunchtime as a teacher. Books to mark, afternoon lessons to set up, children to see, colleagues to liaise with, meetings, clubs to run, etc. Lucky to get 20 mins most days.
11 hour days are totally the norm. If you think about it - you teach say 5 hours per day. Each hour lesson takes at least 30 mins to plan and prepare. Then you have to make or gather the resources and adapt the learning for different abilities. After the lesson you have to mark the work in order to inform the planning for your next lesson. Now add in staff meetings, briefings, departmental meetings, parents, observations, events, assessments, reports, individual learning plans for SEND pupils, subject leadership, class assemblies, parents evenings can you see that an 11 hour day is often not long enough.
Why do you think teachers are leaving in droves and striking?

I'm 38. I did some degrees, MSc and PhD before this and kept ending up in ESL (frustrating if not existentially anxiety inducing). I don't look my age but you're saying it's actually hard to get a job in secondary teaching? This is my main pro for doing it, that I could actually finally get out of TEFL into something with some security. And it was main con against ID, that I'll just end up back in TEFL. But if the two are equivalent in terms of jobs prospects where I am at this stage in my rather failed life, then it changes things significantly.

I’d say this is a fair example of the hours required to do the job properly. Some weeks more, some weeks less.
Every type of teaching comes with responsibilities and stresses of its own.
Your own descriptor your abilities don’t exactly fill me with confidence that you’ll make a great teacher!
Good teaching requires commitment, enthusiasm and a desire to improve your kids lives. These are the things that balance out the mind numbing bureaucracy, annoying parents, ofsted and pointless paperwork.
I don’t get the feeling that that’s how you feel about it.

How about ok teacher? I don't excel at anything.

I have small children and work 4 days. I sit down for half an hour at lunch. Have never ever ever in 10 years had an hour and sometimes it's literally 5 minutes. Work 8-5 plus maybe another 2 more hours at some point in the week. Sometimes, like at the moment, I work an extra hour every evening. I would say I'm only an okay teacher, definitely not a great one, and I only get away with it because I'm experienced, so know what I'm doing, and keep a low profile in a school where the head has bigger priorities. Don't think I'd have passed my NQT year doing what I do now...

Hold on, you have a Masters degree and a PhD and you can only find work ESL??

Did you get a pass for your PhD? Even if you didn't finish your PhD, did you at least get a MPhil ?Why not teach at Uni, do a PostDoc, try and get a Grad trainee job, 38 isn't too old and many corporates are very open to PhD's trying out for Grad trainee jobs.
There's an accelarated program for PhD's into teaching. Most teachers in the UK don't even have a Masters degree, so you'd walk into a job, here in London they'd be fighting to death to employ you.

As someone with a PhD myself, I'd advise getting on the phone to your old Uni and asking for career counselling, mine offer support for life , most Uni's offer something. Even your local dole office would help as the WORST thing you can do is drift into teaching because you can't think of anything else to do, A TERRIBLE IDEA , DONT DO IT!!!!!!!

That sounds like more than enough work. I mean there is the flipside that doing more than this will just burn a person out and they won't be able to teach effectively when they're in the classroom. The information I'm getting is seriously a downer though. I was hoping to start a new trajectory in my life but it appears I'm going to get chewed up and spat out by the system rather quickly.

I became a secondary school teacher after teaching EFL for many years
I would worry that if you found that stressful you will not be able to cope in a secondary school environment
I work p/t now - 3 days a week - am in school before 07:30am until 5ish then I work at home - no time for naps!
You said you didn't gel with 13-15 year olds either.....

I have an MSc in visual effects, which is creating special effects for games and films. I wasn't any good at it so no job. PhD is in American literature. I got some interviews, 5 for jobs, 3 for postdocs, but didn't get any of them. I've kind of given up after last year. I've applied to hundreds of positions but just rejection after rejection. It really broke me to be frank, particularly my postdoc proposal which I spent years working on and refining. One particular rejection for it where I thought I was so close just completely shattered any remaining confidence. I saw two career counsellors but they didn't know what to do with me lol.