Advice please! Dh thinking about teaching

[Mummyoflittledragon]

After a very successful 20 year career dh is wanting to change direction.

He is thinking about teaching. He’s French. But I’ve said that’s a non starter. Is that correct?

He has a degree plus a masters in econometrics (maths and economics). So I’m saying School in maths or university French and economics.

I saw a few months ago that people with a successful managerial career (he’s senior management) can do some kind of fast track training for teaching but can’t see anything about it online. Can anyone tell me anything about this please?

Btw he taught maths in France in secondary only for 6 months during his last year of uni. You could do it as a supply once you had a masters so I’m assuming he’d be ok to teach it in the U.K.

They’ll take anyone who’ll teach maths. Has he ever set foot in a British school to observe how different it is to the French system?

Thx for responding. Not in maths. He was a French assistant in a School many many moons ago so I figure that doesn’t count! I know it’s different as some of his methodology is back to front when teaching dd (yr5).

He could also teach economics. Wasn’t thinking straight. Been a whirlwind day.

Tell him to get into a school and see a full school day to see what it is really like.

When did he want to start training?

angel
Work circumstances have changed so he needs another job ASAP. He has in the past expressed an interest in teaching. But French. And I’m saying no go. Obviously he needs a big think. He shouldn’t go into teaching lightly. I think that would be a good idea.

Why are you so against him teaching French? There are very good bursaries for MFL trainees at the moment.

How old is he now? So many teachers leave in their 50s (if not well before then) because it becomes too much. So many places want you to leave then, too, and want to replace you with cheaper teachers (22 years old, lower in the salary scale.)

I wouldn't do it if I were him.

I’m not. I have read it’s more difficult to get a job in just French and no other language. That’s why. His German is not where near good enough to teach.

Hollowtalk
He’s 50. My friend is an nqt at 46.

I would imagine he would get on a training scheme for this September if he wanted to teach maths.The bursary for maths is more than first few year teachings. I don’t know about mfl.

I worked with a French teacher as in she was French and taught French but she found the expectations and behaviour very different and even after several years she found it challenging.

How many jobs there are depends on which are of the country you are in.

I wouldn’t contemplate suggesting teaching to anyone unless and until they had spent some time in classrooms seeing how things work, a sense of the pressures etc. Of course it depends on your finances to some extent I guess. Would you be able to manage without his salary for a time? He might be able to get some experience as a teaching assistant, but the pay is not good.

The training is a big commitment and I think he should have some idea of what it entails before committing.

Tbh, I think he's probably got a romantic idea of what's involved in teaching. Perhaps he should pose the question on the TES website - he'll get some honest answers there.

If he did his PGCE is secondary maths I think he'd get the full bursary as it's one of the shortage subjects! Plus he'd be very employable as he could also teach French and economics.

As PP have said he will be in high demand as a trainee maths teacher. I would train in maths for the bursary - there will be nothing stopping him teaching economics and other subjexts later.

There isn't a 'fast track' for career changers (I was one) - all routes to QTS take at least one year in training (School Direct Non-Salaried/Salaried and PGCE take one academic year, TeachFirst takes two I believe). But he could apply for a job as an unqualified teacher/cover supervisor if he wanted to.

If he is applying for a PGCE or SchoolDirect place he will need at least 5 days recent work experience in a secondary school - just enough time to squeeze it in if he wanted to apply for September 2018 intake.

Good luck to him!

Teach First still takes 1 year to QTS bit their programme is a 2 year PGDE now.

If you scroll through the staffroom board you will find some thread asking if it is that bad in teaching and shall I become a teacher which he may like to read. Maybe watch some of those ‘Education Essex’ style programmes too.

I do wonder if he has a bit of a romantic notion of teaching too. It was very different in france! Thanks for the advice. Yes we could do without his salary for a while but I’m chronically ill and can’t work so we’d rsther not - it’s risky if things go wrong to spend savings.

I thought of maths precisely because of the bursary. I hadn't thought of him teaching the other subjects as well - I suppose it could be alongside.

I’ll get him to scroll through threads.

As for the training time. I saw something on sky news about people who’d had successful careers training in a very short period. Perhaps it was a trial though.

We are in a good location for jobs thankfully.

I think that was Teach First, OP.

I stand corrected! For maths (not my subject) there is an accelerated course taking two terms, rather than three.

getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes/accelerated-courses

It doesn't seem much of an advantage to me but it does exist. Lots of useful information on the Get Into Teaching website.

It might be worth it if he were to teach a shortage subject, but given his age... many schools are full of nqt teachers.

My first instinct is to advise against this - many colleagues who have joined the teaching profession after a career change have found it extremely tough (pressure, huge amounts of work, little to no thanks, no time to spend with family, holidays used to catch up with work etc) and the training year itself is very difficult - a high proportion of trainees drop out. I also wouldn’t advise any fast track maths courses - you may be able to get a job after completing one but you probably wouldn’t be a great teacher as you’d have little training and experience. This would then make your job difficult as you may not pass observations etc and then be under even more pressure with more regular checks. For the hours you have to work the pay is also not worth it at the beginning and again is why many of my colleagues who join from other careers leave the profession within a few years. Teaching is extremely hard work physically and mentally. If your DH is deadset on it he must spend some time in a British classroom ASAP and talk to other teachers to get a realistic idea of what it would be like. Additionally I do not know any MFL teachers who only speak one language, at my school you’d be expected to be able to teach a minimum of 2

Thanks for your input. I will give the information to dh. He says right now he really wants something different from his current career and this is going back to something he knows he can do and something we’ve both done albeit not in a British state School. He’s been put through an awful time at work.

I see what you are saying about schools wanting nqt’s To get to the sort of salary he’s used to, he would be looking at headship, which takes time and at his age idk if that’s something realistic or he would even want. I know my friend has flown through her SCITT year. She’s changed careers as her line of work was dead is the water. She’s loving it but I’m gobsmacked at all the scrutiny, testing, paperwork etc.

I’ll get him to talk to my friend. She can show him the level of paperwork and discuss stress levels with him.

Maybe he just needs to find a different company to work for in his current field. Idk. He’s very demoralised.

I takes a LONG time to get up to headship, especially in secondary! I think the youngest are maybe early 30s? So at the earliest, it would take maybe 10 years.

He reminds me of me a bit when I decided to go into teaching. hated my job, completely demoralised, latched onto the idea of teaching, without really testing out other options.

I was actually offered a sideways move by my company at the time (the company I worked for was great, but the team I was in was awful and the actual work i was doing wasn't me at all). In hindsight, I should at least have tried it out for a year or two - I reckon I would have enjoyed it, and I didn't realise it would have opened lots of other opportunities. However, I was young, idealistic, and was desperate to get away and do something completely different, and had all these idealised notions of 'giving something back' and 'helping people'.

Being older and wiser, I now realise that is all a load of shite and a job's a job. I also didn't realise that once in teaching, it's very, very difficult to get out. I decided to leave teaching a couple of years ago, applied for about 100 jobs and didn't even get a reply (and I'm a scientist, with computer programming skills).

I've now accepted the fact that I'm stuck in teaching. I'm changing my mindset to accept that, rather than fighting to get out.

I really think he needs to look at sideways moves, or the same job with a different company. The organisation you work for makes a massive difference to how you perceive any job.

Honestly, OP, if he's demoralised the very last job he should have is teaching! Has he not read about teachers leaving in droves?

Article in The Independent: "Teachers are leaving the profession in their droves – and little wonder. Who would want to be one in modern Britain?"

Article in The Guardian: "Analysis of official figures shows 27,500 teachers who trained between 2011 and 2015 had already left job by last year"

AngryExTeacher blog

BBC article: "More than 50% of teachers in England 'plan to quit in next two years'"

castap
I’m sorry to hear that. That sounds really tough. I think you are probably right. Dh loved the teaching with little admin and scrutiny. I loved tefl.

HollowTalk
I’ve read things like this before. Heard things. Thanks. I’ll read the articles with dh later.