Am I completely mad??!!

[Wannabeteacher]

I'm 46 and would like to retrain as an English teacher. All the research I have done about this leads me to conclude that I must be mad! Horror stories of workload, no life balance and so on abound...

Is it really that bad? And if it isn't so bad, please could you advise regarding subject enhancement - that will be my first step as my degree/masters are not in English. What did you do to ensure you had sufficient knowledge of English before commencing training?

Thanks in advance - feeling a bit deflated!

I don't really have anything to add in terms of how great it is to be an English teacher (best job in the world) or how tiring it can be, but in terms of subject enhancement, I did a 60 credit Open Uni module called Approaching Literature before starting my pgce and it's stood me in good stead. Maybe you could do something similar anyway if you're interested in Literature and try to get some days shadowing an English teacher before you make a decision?