Have I lost my mind? Training to be a teacher?

[Trooperslane]

Hi all secondary teachers - after a bit of advice.

I'm just about to go back to work post mat leave and I've had a lot of time to think about what I do.

(I'm in business and I hate it)

I've always had a thing in the back of my head about teaching English and history at secondary.

I have those subjects at A level and my degree is in English Lit.

Can I ask if you think aibu?

Am I crazy to think that this is a good idea? Wrong side of 40 and on a good salary.

What is the job market like for this subject?

Tia

Yes. I'm getting quite a bit of assistance with costs though.

As long as you're absolutely sure, spent quite a bit of time around primary teachers etc. Its not something I'd want to do full time when im near retirement and job market is competitive.

Totally sure, I've wanted to do this since I was young but only now got the chance

Excellent :) I'm sure you'll do a lot better entering training with a bit if life experience than someone entering at 18 :)

Enjoy it!

Ah thanks!!

I retrained as a teacher when I was nearly 40 and had a baby (my first/only) who arrived just over a month after I completed my GTP. I teach Humanities/Social Science subjects. Things that helped me:

I started as an unqualified teacher so I had time to see if it was for me before committing to training
I have a supportive DH who did all the food shopping and cooking while I was training and we have a cleaner
I have had to complete a number of other challenges in previous careers involving collecting heaps of paperwork against the clock - teacher training was worse, but not that much worse
I teach mostly sixth form and KS3 in a superselective grammar, so my marking workload is not too bad and behaviour management is not a big issue (I did notice the contrast in my placement school).
Our SLT are good and when I have asked for help and resources, I have received them.
My sixth form subject is a niche one and other specialists are very generous in sharing their knowledge and resources (I find most teachers are)
Even given that, I did have to work 7 days a week throughout the majority of my pregnancy and was stressed at times, but now I only need to work 5.5 days plus 4 evenings to keep things ticking over (that's on a 0.8 timetable though).
It has helped massively that Dd is easygoing and loves her childcare arrangements. I could never keep up if I only had term-time childcare though.

I don't know if this is any help, but for me it has been a positive experience (I don't feel I have any less energy than 20 years ago, however).

A friend who is a similar age and a single parent of a KS1 child has had a positive experience too of entering teaching, but we both feel the pay is low for the workload, compared to our previous careers.