Considering Teaching

[randomsabreuse]

Am in my 30s, ex city lawyer, have child. Husband's job not flexible - medical type job.

Teaching just won't work will it...

If it would am I stuffed on subject - degree is Law / French.

A-Levels French Maths Physics - definitely an all rounder at school.

Hated the idea at school but then I was in love with the city lifestyle, jetsetting doing massively deals. Reality kicked in when I realised that the super deals changed nothing but who owed what to which mega bank so I left...

Teaching has been niggling at me as a possibility on and off since I started spending more time around children - couple of stints working around schools.

Not sure if I'd be better suited to primary or secondary - suspect primary might suit - possibly as a maths specialist with the ability to offer french? Or secondary French or I read something about a subject top up and do science/maths.

Can't see it being realistic without local family support which isn't possible.

Talk me out of it or into it - either is fine

Thanks in advance

I also have a degree in Law and French and trained in my 30s, I had 2 small children. I have been teaching secondary French up to A-level for a few years now and love it. It's so demanding but rewarding. I would suggest that you spend time in schools to see the reality before you take it any further though. There is no flexibility but the holidays fit in (mostly) with my children's school holidays which is good and teaching with my own children is getting so much easier as they get older. Good luck if you go for it

So my big issue is that I will be illness cover - DH really can't take time off - and if ill himself will tend to struggle on regardless as it's such a nightmare to sort.

Will have to investigate emergency childcare for "ill" children as part of my feasibility study!

Glad that just 1 language is enough! That was my major worry..

How old is your child? It won't just be emergency child care you'll need if they can't take care of themselves before and after school...

Nurseries work longer hours than schools in our area. Realistically I won't be starting before she's 4 and could sort childminders/afterschool club once she starts.

DH could do drop offs and there's the ability to swap late nights barring disasters (3 hour + rescue being one of them). Most of his work is 9-5 with predictable (and swappable) evenings and weekends.

Equally could put it on back burner until she's 10 or so and make a serious attempt at wfh proofreading which is my other option.

Financially me working is not essential but we can't afford a substantial loss. I would prefer to work if we can at least break even though - most of my volunteering options are stymied by the cost of childcare sadly.

The first question is, do you really want to be a teacher? I mean, regardless of any other things that might get in the way. You really have to want to teach or you are wasting your time. It is bloody hard work and really eats into your work life balance.
The second question is, can you do it? If you really want to teach then if your dd is going to school, its just a question of after school care or before school. Teaching is inflexible. If your child is ill you will be required to make other arrangements after the first day where i come from or it will be at the discretion of the headteacher.
I am a teacher. I currently have a student who is struggling. She thought teaching was easy and is shocked literally at the amount of work, planning prep that you have to do. For that reason, get yourself volunteering in a classroom. She had never set foot in one. That way, you will see what it is 'really' like and take it from there. Only you can decide primary or secondary. I am a primary teacher so cant comment on secondary.

I don't know if I want to be a teacher - after all I thought I wanted to be an international lawyer and that turned out so well... so I don't trust my judgement on what I want to do. I was also adamant I didn't want children... so I've changed since then, grown up a lot and probably know myself better. At this point all I can reasonably say is I am interested.

Obviously I can't make this decision without work experience and voluntary work but realistically if it's not logistically possible there's no point wasting everyone's time with the work experience!

How realistic would being say 30 minutes late if it took time (1st day of illness) for an agency nanny to travel to my house?

Workload is less of an issue than the dreaded v+d/ needing to be first point of contact if she's taken ill most of the time. City law was 60+ hour weeks which wasn't actually the issue...

Worth waiting until I know if she's accident prone or gets every bug going? I'm certainly not planning to apply tomorrow with no experience - been there wasted years of my life!

My situation was very similar to yours in that my husband's job is not at all flexible - in fact he is away a lot - and we don't live near family members who could help. It is difficult but in genuine emergencies there is some leeway. I had made a few other mum friends from school before I re-trained and we helped each other out a lot. I suppose it depends on the school but management in my school are good, I very rarely miss school but when I have had to they haven't made a big deal out of it.

I've always been a (French and German) teacher. I might try and persuade you out of it (because of all the crappy things about the job) but I can't say that child care or illness has ever particularly been a problem. I've worked in lots of schools and they've all been pretty accommodating tbh.

I'll happily go into more detail about why I'd rather chop my own arm off than go into teaching in the current climate though, if you really do want to be dissuaded. As someone on another similar thread said "Going into teaching at the moment would be like watching hundreds of people fleeing a burning building, then walking into it".

In teaching you will be working 60+ hours a week. A good chunk of this time will be on pointless crap.

What makes you think you would like teaching?

I am a single parent, went into teaching 4 years ago. I manage and have very limited support.

It is a thankless job. You are never quite good enough. The to do list never ends. Ever. You are responsible for children not hitting their target grades, even when everyone knows there isn't a hope in hell. You don't sleep for 6 months of the year on the run up to exams. You can be managed out in a blink of an eye. You are frequently spoken to like you're a 3 year old by SLT who no longer teach/only teach classes with a dead cert of gaining 100% A*. I will do 5 years but if I can find a job before then, I will be off like a shot.

The incentives for training in language teaching are high. The new MFL GCSE is very hard and target grades are not getting any lower. I don't recommend it.

As a primary teacher with a young child I'd say don't do it. I'm going back 3 days but will assess at the end of the year whether this is feasible long term. In primary many school mark 60+ books a night, after any meetings and setting up for the next day - that's if you can fit all your planning and assessment into your 10% ppa slot. More paperwork for paper works sake on top of that. During term time 7.30-6.00 days at work then at least an hour at home are the norm - more in busy times. When working full time I always worked a few hours on a Sunday too. Holidays asked lovely but it's not a family frirndly job.
The pay for the work is not worth it - I could earn a lot more for my qualifications if I'd done the same number of years/put the hours in in industry for example. Pay progression is getting harder as the money is just not there so hoops getting smaller.

One language will not be enough now - especially if French. Spanish or Mandarin might be enough on their own, as are in the ascendancy - most jobs advertised are Spanish or Spanish with French.

Thanks guys. I think you've confirmed that now is definitely not a good time. Will keep teaching as a possibility if the country sorts itself out so there are sensible goal posts - and consider volunteering once DD is at school/ gets her free hours at nursery. Will also give me a chance to see if she's prone to getting all the bugs in the world or flinging herself over in the playground - making any work out of the home impractical...

Think I'm leaning down the primary route if it happens - which should make the work experience side of things marginally easier to sort.

Pay progession seems to be non existent in all the professions at the moment!

I think I would like teaching because it is real world, children as a group/individuals are fascinating (did some sports coaching in the past, done far more refereeing all ages) and I want to do something where I can see the direct results of what I'm doing.

But would prefer to wait for the government to stop spraying petrol on the burning building before going in!

Place marking as it's something I'm considering too.