Considering a PGCE in Physics with Maths

[Catlady1988]

I've just been made redundant from an industrial job ( they got rid of mostly part time working mums, in a mainly male department, but maybe that's for another post). I say this to say I'm a little done with capitalism right now and I'd like to explore teaching. I've signed up to some PGCE courses full time at my local uni. However I'm a bit worried about the workload. I usually pick my son up from school at 3.15 and I don't know if there's any way that I can either drop him off at 8.30 or pick him up at 3.15 some of the days ? Also what would my availability be like for him in school holidays ? He's only 3 so he's in preschool now due to start reception the same time I'd be starting the course, so he's still pretty little and I don't want to compromise on being with him that much. From Reading other posts it seems like people start their days at 8am and finish at 5/6pm, is it realistic to be able to do some of the work once my kids already in bed, and go home earlier ? What is even happening in the school placement once the kids go home ? Are other teachers staying late to teach me? Seems a bit crap for them. Also I read a lot of people saying how hard the PGCE is and saying its harder than undergrad. Well my undergrad was hard, without a kid, in my 20s. Now I'm older and slower and my day starts at 5am and typically finishes at 8.30pm and that's with working part time only. I'm feeling a bit worried about how I Will handle it. I was formerly a good student...got a 1st, went on to do a PhD... but I was always so stressed out, I'm not sure how I'd handle it now.

I admire anyone who teaches with smaller DC tbh. Not sure how they manage.

I trained and then taught (secondary MFL) when my DC were older - junior age up. I used to leave school at about 4pm so I was able to take them to their activities in the early evening, then I did my extra work later (it's not so much when you are training as when you are working IME – so much marking and prep).

Looking at your plan, pickup from school would depend on the timetable of your PGCE (so maybe possible in a uni week), but when you were on placement then it would be impossible tbh. You'd need some kind of after-school childcare without any doubt.

Once you are working in a school then yes, childcare before and after school would be essential.

What’s your motivation to teach? Have you had some time in a classroom to see what it is like? If not then I would advise that.

I doubt if you'd ever be able to drop your son off at 8.30 or pick him up at 3.15. There's quite a bit to do in school before the classes start - staff briefing, form time, getting the classroom set up etc. Then there's tidying up at the end of the day, bus duty, meetings and so on. But you could sort some childcare out. I did my PGCE when I was about 45 and didn't find that too difficult. But teaching is definitely hard work with long hours (over 50 hours a week for me with marking) and it is stressful.

My actual PGCE was fine.

The teaching placement not so.

You need lesson plans way ahead of time, in some cases 1 week, which sounds fine but then the lesson you teach on Monday has something happen so your plan for the same group for Wednesday pm needs to be totally overhaled.

Your marking has to comply to the school's policy which might include using green ink, or using stickers or a list of things you have to include such as 'What has the student done that is positive?' and you are staring at a blank page.

Then there is a meeting with all PGCE students and who ever is in charge at that school, it could be 8am or it could be 4.30 pm.

Then there are the school rules eg one placement we were not allowed to give out a pen. Even if the student started the lesson with a pen and it ran out of ink.

Teaching can be the most rewarding thing in the world but it is difficult to get there.

I don't know if there's any way that I can either drop him off at 8.30 or pick him up at 3.15 some of the days?

No, there isn’t. You will need bombproof childcare.

I've signed up to some PGCE courses full time at my local uni.

What does this mean?

School holidays are fine.

The university days may be a mixture of in person and online, not sure these days. My times were 9am - 6pm.

For the school placements, you will be in the school to learn about the job and start doing parts of it.

So for example you might be asked to watch a specific student with a disability during a lesson and see what he does and how the teacher supports him. You'd then need to discuss what you saw with the teacher and she would explain why she made the decisions she did (for example the worksheet was larger because he cannot see very well, the TA prompts him every now and then but not very often).

So you need to talk to the teacher and this can only happen before or after school,

Later in the course you might teach a short part of a lesson. You'll be asked to plan this in writing in advance and give it to the teacher. She will then meet with you to give feedback on your plan. You'll then change it to take her feedback into account.

Then you'll teach it,

Then the teacher will meet with you to give feedback on how it went and what you can do to improve next time.

So you will need to meet teachers very frequently which means you need to stay after school to do this.

The planning and essays can mostly be done after your kids are in bed, but leaving at 3:15 with the students will not be achievable.

Thank you to those of you that told me about the structure and timings, I feel much more informed now! It was comforting to hear what the PGCE entails and that some of you didn't find it too challenging as a mature student! Actually it sounds okay the work, it seems that there is just a lot of it ! It's good to know school holidays were fine as that would be huge for my family. I will ask my partner to pick up our son some days and then it seems he will have to go into aftercare for some days also. I'm hoping on uni days i can drop him off. I've found that there is an open evening for teaching at the university next week so I can go talk to them about it and decide also between the physics and physics with maths course as I applied to both. Thanks so much again for your replies they helped a lot!

OP the PGCE is one thing (and varies as these replies show) but once you are teaching secondary you will need full childcare for every day you work. I used to get in to school by 7.30am every day just to set up. Just to be aware – the training is a year but the teaching is hopefully for a lot longer. Best of luck – we really need maths and physics teachers – but pls go into this eyes open.

The ECT years are harder than the training years. Seriously you will be working many hours - including weekends to get everything done

From Reading other posts it seems like people start their days at 8am and finish at 5/6pm

Yes, pretty much everyone is in by 7.45 at my school-many are in well before.

What is even happening in the school placement once the kids go home

You seem surprised that you'd need to stay after the children have gone home. I think you need to get used to that being the time when your workload starts!