Leaving a professional job to start a career in teaching? is it worth it?

[Squidge2015]

Hello I am after honest opinion please on my situation.

I currently work as a professional (in nhs healthcare). I graduated in 2011. I work in my role's capacity for 3 days a week and 2 days a week I lecture at undergraduate level in the job in which I graduated.

Over time I have become very disillusioned with the job I originally graduated from. We are self employed and the government has refused to renegotiate our contract since 2006; this has resulted in a real pay cut of almost 25% for the last 10 years (professional fees, indemnity etc are around £7000 a year, fees for practicing around £7000 a year as well so I automatically lose £14,000 before I even begin)
The amount of professionals leaving the career is at an all time high, there are rising law suits due to the ease I suppose in which indemnity is settled and it is becoming very difficult to have any enthusiasm to work in this area. With being in the NHS, there are less of us year on year, putting huge pressures on those that remain. Patients are putting huge pressures on very little numbers of staff (a local NHS run area just got bought out privately last month and now 17,000 patients need to find a new NHS provider in an already understaffed area)

With that being said, I chose my hours. Part of the year I am term time only but have no marking or lesson planning at all. With regards to my daily job in community other than maintaining CPD I have no other commitments. Current hours are 10am-6:30pm Monday and Tuesday, 2pm-5pm thursday, 9am-5pm friday and 9am-1pm saturday.
However I am terribly bored. There is no career progression (we are all self employed) and I can't see myself doing this long term physically.

Since I teach at university level I was interested in looking into moving into teaching as a career - it would be biology. I started researching last year and I put some feelers out to the local schools and attended a few. A friend heads the science department in a secondary school and said it was hard but rewarding and having 5 years of teaching undergraduates advised I would probably be snapped up.

I applied for SCITT through UCAS and was offered a position immediately during interview at my first interview - all 3 places offered me interview. Teaching at the university has always been my favourite part of the week and I thoroughly the two days I have with my students and I suppose have a lot of enthusiasm to move

However, what concerns me is that I may be leaving one profession which has been eroded by governmental policies, leaving me unable to do my job adequately, to another in the same position. I would probably be leaving a higher wage (currently approximately £33,000 after tax and deductions etc) which doesn't concern me but would I have the same work life balance for my LO? Would the work load mean I see less of her?

I would like honest opinion for current science teachers at secondary level and if they would recommend entering this career.
(I am 30 now if that would make a difference?)

Thanks

*work-life balance

Don't write it off out of hand : these boards will always attract the 'no, don't do it' people. They may well be right. But with your relevant experience you might not start at the bottom of the payscale. Your hours at the moment are such that you could spend some time in a school and see what it's like. It's such a depressing thought that every teacher in front of my DCs is miserable : I know many mask it very well.

To me, the biggest issue isn't pay (but as an English teacher I don't have the feeling that I could be better paid elsewhere!) but lack of support from SLT , lack of progression unless your face fits and declining behaviour. Teachers at my school have been noticeably working longer hours in the last few years but not all by any means. I do perhaps a 40 hour week and occasional weekend work. In keep on top of my marking much more than I did years ago where there was no feedback culture as such so you could sit on marking for weeksmonths on end! The parents are very demanding these days, too :and that will be a new thing for you to grapple with , but I am sure you have dealt with very demanding people in your current job!!

Do you have supportive family nearby ? I never did and that increased my stress levels.My DH is also a teacher. Whilst that sounds ideal, it really isn't!

I really wanted to move into teaching as I feel I have a lot to offer.

what is it you think is required?

The ability to absorb personal insults at the rate of dozens per day without responding?

The ability to repel airborn objects coupled with the ability to see back in time to identify and punish the individual that threw them at you?

The ability to divine truth from lies, as half of what you are told in any incident you are dealing with will be lies, and it is up to you to magically know which

The ability to do that for around 10-12 incidents a day without interrupting the flow of your teaching

The ability to set targets based on inaccurate data and irrelevant formula

The ability to sit up all night filling in this data onto spread sheets, then copying it from one spread sheet to another in slightly different formats

The ability to explain to parents why this target is meaningful when you know it isn't, and also why they should completely disregard it.

The ability to squeeze 40 parental phone calls per week into the 5 minutes between meetings ending and the school being locked up

The ability to explain to your line manager why you have only rung home for 20 of the students you had in detention last week

The ability to explain to parent that there child's behaviour is unkind, selfish and bullying, without using the words unkind, selfish and bullying.

The ability to respond politely to the parents then demonstrating where the child has inherited this unkind, selfish and bullying behaviour from

The ability to dig deep into your own pocket to acquire necessary resources, and not cry when students immediately vandalise and trash them.

The ability to survive on nothing but packets of mars bars eaten on the way to and from school

The ability to hold wee in for 4-6 hours at a time

The ability to get up at 4.30 every morning to be on the first bus and in the door as soon as the cleaners unlock it.

The ability to conduct all your family relationships by text

The ability to turn around the most ridiculous parental email or phone message within 48 hours, Why haven't you found my son't PE kit yet being a typical one from this week ( he is 13, he left it on the bus, but chasing the bus company is my job for some reason)

The ability to teach, but not the subject you thought you were teaching, but something else, unrelated to your qualifications and experiences, but you have to teach it because that is how the timetable works.

O, and there is marking and planning every day too, say 4 hours or so, after all the admin, phone calls, dealing with incidents, data, targets, meetings, detentions, queries from managers, statements, etc.

And, on top of all that, there are the actual lessons.

Don't even think about it.

You will NEVER see your children.

I am in a better school now, but my last school was 100+ hours a week during term time, holidays never synched with my children's holidays, frequently out by s much as 2 weeks, I was working through the night several times a week, I was teaching subjects I had to learn the week before to keep ahead, I few of my pupils spoke English, many had criminal records for violence, half were stoned

( it is not possible to teach stoned pupils)

but the parents were stoned too, when you rang them up to complain

I was held accountable for any that did not achieve - statistics are everything, down to being told not accept a child with cancer into the sixth form because if she died it would impact the schools results.

It is a stupid idea to go into it.

I am happier right now in a better school, however I am also in a position to walk away the day the demands put on me are unreasonable, and I am retraining in my holidays to change career.

I think Camilla has a very good point with the amount of stupid things that get in the way of actually teaching

We find many of our trainees think that they can offer a lot to students and are very optimistic about the difference they can make.

Teenagers can be particularly self absorbed at this time. They are not always that fussed about what you have already done and your subject knowledge. There will be some that will be interested of course but by and large your attention will be drawn to those who don't really give a crap. You can go down a rabbit hole with students about why they persistently disrupt the learning of others. Which is all part of the job but then you realise you're not giving other groups of students your attention and they are far more deserving.

I teach Maths and over the past 10 years I have built up tried and tested resources (still always developing these). The first 3 Years were hard and my work life balance was tough. I now have two dc under 4 and I constantly feel I am not enough them or my classes.

You have to be very good at learning your limitations. That's the only way I've survived in Teaching this long - knowing that I'm doing my best for the students, but not to the highest standards I expected it is impossible.

Look I agree with much of what Camilla says. It made me laugh actually. But I’ve been teaching more than 22 years now in inner London state schools and I’m here to tell the tale. If you’re in a good school, and they do exist, you’ll be ok. You do need to be a certain personality type though: resilient, cynical but a believer, non perfectionist, able to shrug off criticism, kind, able to kick some backsides. No job like that is without huge challenges but the pension and holidays are good. There’ll be many pupils who don’t make it but many more who do. If you go in as maths, you can name your price. Easily start on 30k plus.

You most likely won’t start higher up the pay scale - Biology isn’t that short compared to other sciences and there are plenty of 21 year olds who have just qualified who will be far more likely to be offered the job (certainly over any one with teaching experience but also over anyone with life experience too) - there is no money in education, no different to the NHS. You’re frustrated by not being able to give suitable treatments - you won’t be able to give a suitable education to those who desperately need it either.

You also can't really name your price as a beginner. Pay scales were scrapped ages ago but most schools still adhere to a suggestion of them, and if they can pay you at the bottom they will. If you turn it down, someone else will take it!

Teaching is not very compatible with being a parent either, ironically.

Nobody in schools gives a shit what you did outside either. You could have been lecturing maths for years at a prestigious university and most schools wouldn't give a toss because you won't have dealt with hormonal Year 9 for a double on a Friday afternoon when it's windy outside.

Camila has it spot on. I've done teacher training and I ran for the hills. The kids won't care how much you have to offer or how educated you are. They won't care about your best intentions to change or improve their lives/future possibilities. They just want to fart about with their mates and moan about never needing to know anything of what you trying to teach.

You absolutely can start higher up the payscale in MFL , science and maths : these are shortage subjects. Most of our science department did not start at the bottom. And we still have payscales, too. However, salary matching is quite common.

I do wish teachers on MN wouldn't apply their experience in their one school outwards to apply to all schools!

I am finding some of the recent posts depressingly embittered.

With respect Piggy, I’m sure you’ve said that you’ve been in the same school for a long time? Forgive me if I’ve misremembered. Your experience in your school isn’t typical either.
It isn’t always the case that ‘science’ teachers start higher - it’s very dependent on the school and more importantly the science subject. Biology is not a shortage subject in the same way that Physics or Chemistry is. Headteachers will say that they want the best qualified but really they are mostly going for the cheapest. I’ve seen it with a lot of posts.

Teaching is fantastic in the right school. It’s miserable in many more.

Are you a dentist OP?

I'm not teacher or a dentist but I think anyone moving from a profession where they earn decent money and are self employed and in control of their own hours would be mad to leave that!

I have indeed Carrie but my role sees me working with people from a range of schools and DH is a teacher, too. I just wanted to say other schools are available, if you see what I mean. I agree some schools seem awful places to work. Mine is in many ways but I do find the apparent loathing of children themselves on this thread a bit crushing . They can be little shits, but surely no one goes into teaching not expecting that!

SLT, however, are fair game

I was thinking dentist as well until I read

When I worked as a SHO I never had this issue, however NHS in my current role I find the underfunding of the system means we aren't providing the best care we know the patients need

SHO= senior house officer, yes?

I think you would be mad to do this, OP. I suspect you would end up having to teach physics as well! If you want to put your child first, don’t do it.

I think you can be a SHO as a dentist tho can't you? E.g. if you go into hospital dentistry...?

Fuck that for a laugh op, either stay where you are or do something else.

I'm sure a dentist earns more than 33k

If you could teach science in a private school you'd probably be OK. But personally I'd stay where you are.

Nailsathome I have set you a pm.

I moved from the same profession (I think) as you into teaching, although I had to give up my previous career for health reasons.
I did a primary PGCE 4 years ago and have just left teaching forever on Thursday.
Really don't do it- it takes over your life and you won't have nearly as much time with your baby.

I can understand your reasons for wanting to leave your current profession, but I think you need to be much more creative in your career change searches. I'm saying this from bitter experience.

I used to be a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry - seriously cushy job in terms of hours (like yours), but I was bored out of my brains.

So, I went into teaching. About 5 years ago, after working in an awful school, 70 hours a week and being subjected to shocking work-place bullying, I decided to take a career break, and only then did I PROPERLY look at all the other career possibilities out there.

At the time I could have moved into:
sales/marketing in pharmaceuticals
medical information
patent lawyer
medical science liaison (or MSL)
clinical trials
(and loads more that I can't remember)

You are in a different field to me, so jobs you can move into will overlap with these, but there'll be others as well.

However, I'd been out of the pharmaceutical/research field for 10 years by that point, and I didn't have the recent experience to move into any of those jobs.

So, I am now back in teaching, much wiser, and I've now learned to deal with the bullies (lots of them in management in teaching), and I've learned to do the minimum work to get a lesson planned and cut corners with marking. I've also learned to ignore most stuff I've been told to do by management, because 95% of the time either no one checks it or it gets forgotten about anyway.

I've also taught myself a lot about discipline (they don't really give you any training on discipline on a PGCE), so I now find the kids a lot easier to deal with, although I still avoid applying to schools with known behaviours problems.

Camiila what a very sad but heartfelt and well written post. MNHQ should be sending it to the Education Secretary. The education system is a disaster.

I am Head of Science and I love my job (especially as I have another 3 weeks off). I did my PGCE when I was 30, having left a Blue Chip research job, and with two small children.

I work 40 hours a week and take nothing home (I might dabble in some emails, but that’s it). I get 19 weeks holiday a year. What’s not to like?

If you wanted to teach Biology, there would be an expectation that you would be able to teach KS3 (minimum) Physics and Chemistry as well.