PGCE - Secondary

[RachCCE]

Hey Guys,

Bit of background, I'm 20 years industry experienced in mid to senior level business management. Jobs include:operations, projects, marketing etc. I did a degree later in life and graduated in 2022 in Business, Management & Leadership. Opportunity has arisen to do secondary PGCE in Business at a local MAT.

I'm currently working (following a year off mat leave) at a private sector SME as contracts and ops manager. I choose my own hours but the phone doesn't stop, as is the private sector. Clients will contact me anytime from 7am to 8pm. Most of the "work" can be done on the phone/laptop from anywhere but it is a constant contactable situation.

Prior to mat leave i worked at the local college in student recruitment, purely for the term time hours (and pension). Just done my first school holiday, two weeks, three kids (15,9,1) and not having term time has been HARD.

I'm not naive that teaching won't be hard work BUT with significant senior level jobs, sometimes 60 hours a week and the requirement to be almost constantly contactable I think I will manage.

Anyone out there who has come from industry, LATER IN LIFE, to go into secondary teaching? I'm looking for reasonable discussion around workload.

I don't need to hear you work from home and it's hell etc.... I'm well practised at long working hours, and effective time management. If anything I'm looking for the positive contributors to give me some real world pros and cons.

Thank you :)

I am about to leave teaching early at 55. No real financial plan as such. Single income. Will have to find admin work. . It should be getting easier on paper as many schools have, or are developing, a centralised bank of lessons. You should simply be able to make some tweaks for your groups and deliver. What you gain on this you are losing on the continuing indiscipline and in my experience senior management denial and less supportive parents. You are expected to get through as much curriculum as the local grammar school- yes it's always been the case but now the barriers or obstacles to achieving are even greater. I did not have children to contend with at home. The job is exhausting. As many of my colleagues have realised it is not family friendly. A PGCE in Business Studies means you will be reaching Key Stage 4 but you will probably be expected to teach another subject, e.g. computing. At my current school it could be any subject where there is a gap in staffing. . Think long and hard OP. I love the interaction with the pupils but the extra stuff, might be a shock to the system.

Caution needed being at placements near where you live OP. You could get a disgruntled pupil targeting you. This could be simply because you have given a detention for lack of homework. I know of colleagues who have had eggs thrown at their house. Preserve your anonymity.

I’m currently secondary HOD and don’t work anywhere near a 60 hour week.

Teaching attracts a lot of people with perfectionist tendencies, and there simply isn’t time for that

its an amazing job but to keep being in love with it you have to put boundaries in.

OP I would think very carefully if secondary teaching is right for you. Teenagers in the UK are appallingly rude and as a new teacher it can take a little while to get the hang of behaviour management. For a lot of kids, they will be openly hostile until they know that you aren't going anywhere. Even then, you will still face difficult classes and kids that just don't want to learn and will act up because they just can't be bothered. It's hard. As a new teacher (depending on the school) you are also likely to be given low ability classes where SEN needs are high and disruption can also be more of an issue too.

You also have to factor in that everyone is exhausted and working crazy hours, so there is often little support available. Again, this will really depend on the school you work at. Some are better than others.

Also re workload: I don't doubt that you are busy and having to juggle a range of tasks. But there is nothing that compares to the exhaustion of teaching, of being "on" in the classroom. Can you handle the stress of being at the front of the classroom all day (with very few breaks), and only being able to plan/mark/do admin once the teaching day is finished and you're completely wiped out? Because that's the reality of teaching at the moment. You work a really intense day, then, despite being utterly exhausted, you have to summon up the energy to do all the work that needs to be done when you're not teaching your lessons.

A lot of teachers suffer burnout for these reasons. How many people in your industry experience burnout and suffer mental health related issues related to the stress and pressure of the job?

Just something to think about. Although the holidays are great, for me, they don't even touch the sides (and I often have to complete work during them anyway).

OP I would think very carefully if secondary teaching is right for you. Teenagers in the UK are appallingly rude and as a new teacher it can take a little while to get the hang of behaviour management.

That's a bit of a sweeping statement! I've worked in a lot of schools. Yes, there are rude teenagers (and truly appalling, violent and nasty ones) but even in the London comps I worked in, the majority weren't rude. The OP has done voluntary work in PRUs, so I doubt she's got rose-tinted spectacles about teen behaviour.

Don't rule out RE as your second subject op. It's also in demand - can't get RE teachers in my area for love nor money.
It is a bit of a marmite subject for kids but when well taught it's brilliant, and it's becoming increasingly relevant in society. Our Muslim students are fantastic! Their lived faith is a visible reminder to others that RE is not just a theoretical subject. It's about exploring what real people believe . . .

This must be highly area dependent because RS is not a shortage subject. Business increasingly is becoming one.

In my school business teachers only teach business (with some occasional PSE). We actually have very few teachers who have to teach outside of specialism , apart from the usual drama teachers teaching English and Spanish teachers teaching a bit of French stuff.

True! Can you tell I'm not feeling overly positive about the profession.

The vast majority are indeed lovely - well mannered, hard working and respectful. But there are some who will bully, intimidate, argue, insult... the list goes on and it can really overshadow all of the good students who want to work and are capable of behaving respectfully. And it's certainly an issue.

I went (back) into teaching at 34 after having kids. It was much better 2nd time around, although I was working in a 6th form college. If you can afford part time, that makes it nicer - I was between 0.6 and 0.8. I left after 10 years for more money back in the private sector. If you can afford the pay cut and like working with kids, do it. Pension is good!

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-and-support/scholarships-and-bursaries?funding_widget%5Bsubject%5D=business_studies&button=#funding-widget

This site says there are no bursaries available for Business Studies.

I get it! I now work in a lovely girls' grammar school. I've been there 3 years and the first time a student was a bit rude to me was last week. I will stay there until I retire. I worked in a private girls' school for years too, which was lovely. I am done with fire-fighting behaviour and seeing it waste well-behaved students' time.

stick up for yourself

Just gong to point out that in a lot of schools at the moment due to bad management this will put a target on your back.

I am also going to say that I enjoyed teaching, some of the worst kids were the ones with the biggest break throughs.

But management makes all the difference.