PCGE with no intention of teaching ?

[Sofabitch]

Has anyone done the pcge with no intention of actually going into teaching?

I'm considering doing it. The bursary is pretty good and I could really do with a year to bump up my finances and repair my savings after 3 years of student finance before starting on the bottom rung of somewhere.

I figure it will look great on my CV regardless and has loads of great skills that I can take with me into my carer, plus I can get 60 credits at Masters level which saves a few thousand on the OU.

Is this an unworkable plan?

I mean there is a possibility I'll love it right ;-) but from everything I've read I'm not holding my breath.

I think i would enjoy it. But realistically don't think I could be a teacher in today's climate.

Who's should be whose! Whoops!

Which subject is offering a 25k bursary?! What about the tuition fees? You have to complete your nqt year within a certain amount of years (5 rings a bell but I could be wrong). I did a pgce about 7 years ago and I wish I hadn't as I'm now a teacher . Teaching is 5% teaching, 95% dealing with all the shit that come with teaching nowadays. Great expensive holidays though! I just think if you're not planning on being a teacher you'd be better off getting a job. I was often up until 1am filling in lesson plans, self review sheets all pointless shit.

Also, remember that unless you complete your nqt year after your pgce you won't actually be a qualified teacher.

I wouldn't actually tell anyone In real life that I didn't intend to teach.

Plus not letting young people down is pretty important to me. So I would most definitely take it very seriously.

No fees aren't paid out of the bursary.

We'd know that you didn't intend to teach because we usually help our PGCE students with their job applications and interviews, which start around February. It would be very hard to hide that you weren't actually applying for any jobs.

I assume you must a degree in a shortage subject like maths or physics to attract a bursery that is so high. Why don't you look at other employment options? Do a course in something you really want to do.

I started a PGCE with starry eyed idealism. I loved my subject, but I found that teaching wasn't for me. Even though I had excellent subject knowledge, I had the wrong personality type for teaching. I had a lovely mentor in my first school and I hope he forgives me for wasting his time. I dropped out half way through. I found all the lesson planning and assessment of me really stressful.

The world is your oyster. There are loads of careers out there. Training doesn't have to be full time either. Tell us what you would honestly like to do with your life. Maybe the power of mumsnet can tell you how to realise your dreams.

No no no! I have never worked so hard in my life as when I did a PGCE. And I've worked in jobs with hellish long hours. You are 'on stage' and with your 'customers' all day and have to do all that planning and evaluation in your own time. And a big chunk of the time is on placement. It's a very busy course.

And as PPs have said, if you can't be arsed that's children's education you're messing about with. And taking up the precious time of lovely people who will try very hard to help you pass. Don't even consider it. Get a job.

I think it's worse that you are even considering doing this in a shortage subject, I am guessing maths or physics. It's not just that you could be taking a place away from someone who actually wants to teach, but you will also be depriving pupils of a teacher in an area that is already suffering - you will be actively and deliberately contributing to the shortage.

I can say that actually, competition for these pics places is actually still tough.Not sure whether it's true of all ITT, but I know of one that tells it's applicants that the reason they only take 10 pgce students for a particular subject, is that it actually costs around £100 000 to train them. I am amazed that you are truly not worried about the morality of this.

I agree. As soon as you don't apply for jobs / want help with application letters in Feb it will be completely obvious that you don't intend to teach.

Taking up a training space that should go to someone committed to teaching is abhorrent, and your attitude in the last post that it's not wrong to take the funds just because you can, it's their fault for offering it, is absolutely disgusting.

Planning to basically live a lie for a year while numerous hard working and good people try to help you - how could you live with yourself?

Do you have any idea what you do want to do as a career? Why not focus your energy on achieving that?

Well I can see lots of moral reasons for not doing it, but practically speaking I don't see why not.

Yes, the PGCE year is hard, but it's not difficult 'academically' if that makes sense (assuming you have good subject knowledge of course.)

If I'm honest, I found the essays I was supposed to write for my PGCE loads easier than anything I did for my degree. In terms of difficulty, my finals year was way harder. And also my NQT year. That was my hardest year, but then we're all different.

The PGCE is tiring though. I was amazed how tired I was after a day's teaching.

One thing I would check is when you'd get paid. Are you tied in for x amount of time? Back in the day I got a 'golden hello' but only after a year's teaching - meaning you'd have to do your NQT year too. Obviously it's all changed now, but definitely check the details carefully.

Plenty of people don't apply for jobs in Feb - wait instead for the glut that appear after the cut-off in May, so it would not be remarkable.
Academically it is not onerous - it is a lot of work, but if you don't want to work as a teacher it is perfectly possible to do what is needed to get through the course.
The fees are currently 9k, which you could pay out of the bursary, but may instead be worth getting a loan which you will only pay back when your earnings get to a certain point.

Bursary gets paid in instalment thru the year - you can walk away a the end with no penalty - no 'golden handcuffs'.

There's always a glut of jobs in shortage subjects, that's why people are handed £25k to just train in them.

Our students usually have a job lined up well before May. If a student was passing up the opportunity to apply for great jobs all the time, it would certainly be a topic of discussion. From February students are always asked how the job hunting is going, and had they heard that x school were recruiting etc. Local heads/HODs also discuss this stuff - anyone got any good PGCE students they don't want?

Don't think you can get away with it.

If you have that sort of experience and a degree why not do teach first?

I did my PGCE with an intention of teaching, but then decided in my first post that it was not for me, and decided a third child was a graceful way to back out.

Having a coveted PGCE enabled me to re-enter the profession about 8 years and another couple of children later, when it was clear that I needed to make a contribution to the family finances.

I then did a couple of years of supply/maternity (which I highly valued) before securing a permanent job. I haven't looked back, and I love teaching now.

When I entered the profession, there was no NQT induction year required for QTS. I got my QTS with my PGCE. It is an incredibly valuable qualification.

I would say to the OP to think about doing your NQT year so that your qualification becomes permanent.

Your motives for doing a PGCE do seem cynical and I am not sure what robustness of character can see this through the PGCE year. I think you need to have a bit of hope, vision and aspiration. You are also working with young people and you need to "let your yes be yes". Some teachers are actors, but most have hearts on sleeves.

Some of this advice is really out of date!
The NQT year can be done at any time, there is no time limit now ( in Eng & Wales) so if the OP decided to do it later she could, although she has said she does not want to teach.
It is laughable to direly warn 'you couldn't get away with it' - people are really not so bothered about whether a trainee desperately gets on the chasing jobs bandwagon in Feb - I know many who waited till May to look and landed great jobs - just be vague, or too committed to getting your placement done well to fuss about with endless pages of online application forms.

But Mrsguy you've never been a teacher who has spent precious time and resources mentoring a trainee. The people who do care about this stuff.

If you don't mind being a parasitic leech, wasting the time of those that could be doing something more worth while than training someone who has no interest in taking it as career then go for it.

I wouldn't advocate looking for jobs in February. My PGCE training partner was the first of our cohort to get a job but it was incredibly awkward geographically for her. I held off and got a job in the second half of the summer term in the next town to me.

State school recruitment procedures are weird compared to other sectors. If you are offered a job, you are expected to accept on the same day. You can't weigh up options.

Do it if you want to. Just keep the fact that you don't actually want to teach to yourself.

There's easier ways to earn some cash!

Plus you'll have to pay the fees.

The fees are only 9k, and you don't have to pay upfront out of the (tax-free) bursary - can take out a loan to be paid back when you are earning more.
Is actually a way to get a free postgrad qualification for your CV and be paid for it - all other options require more academic work and will cost money rather than giving you money to live on.

"Just one crazy year"

Bahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!

I have never been so exhausted as I was doing my PGCE. It's never ending work. And I didn't get anywhere near that level of funding!

It's hideous. Unless you really want to do it, don't do it. I don't agree with taking a place up on a course when you have no intention of following it through. Seriously, think very hard about this before you do it.