PGCE, what to expect.

[CandiedPeach]

I haven’t finished my degree yet. But I’m thinking of going into primary teaching. Will be volunteering at a school one day a week from September, so hoping that helps me decide if it’s right for me or not.

But I’ve heard a few horror stories about the PGCE year (and teaching too to be fair). I’ve got a young dd and currently work part time around uni.
I’m trying to prepare financially if I won’t be able to work part time and I guess decide if it’s going to be possible for me.

So from teachers who’ve done it fairly recently or know those doing it. Is there any chance of working part time while doing it? What hours are you realistically in school for? And what hours are you working on things out of school? How much of the holidays are taken up with work?
Also any general advice about the process. How soon you teach a class, how much support you get from teachers/school, what’s expected of you?

I know there will be a lot of variables and I’m in no way expecting a 9-3:30 role 😂. But I thought other teachers are the best people to ask. My bf is a secondary teacher, but I think that’s different. He said he did manage working part time alongside his (no dc though) and he did some tutoring as well. But he also stayed at school very late somedays and he had some free periods through the day so could get work done then.

Thanks in advance and feel free to tell me if I’m absolutely crazy even considering it!

There is absolutely no chance of working part time and doing the PGCE with kids.

The uni sections tend to be 9-5ish. Placements firstly depend on how far away your school is and what the class teacher works. I would expect you to be in 8am-4pm at the very very least, potentially more.

The problem with the PGCE is that things need to be written up to the most minute details. You'll likely be continuing for another 3 hours at home- it's difficult planning lessons from the start. The big difference from secondary is that they're one trick ponies and you'll be trying to cover everything.

Holidays will be taken up with essay work and recovering from the sheer exhaustion. You will also catch at least one cold that will floor you.

Good students can take the class pretty much straight away, others take longer. Support, again, depends on the school but you'll be doing it for real in a year so it's got to come down to you at the end of the day.

HTH.

I used to carry on with my part time job from my degree. It was doing timetabling for a medium size company of a few hundreds staff so I could sit at home and did it. It was very flexible as I could do it whenever I liked as long as I submit it every two weeks. Don’t think I could have coped with regular shift work.

Everybody I know who's done a PGCE has found it an utterly time-sapping nightmare. As in TOTALLY draining.

I did a part-time flexible PGCE, but that was well over 10 years ago, and it was secondary. Not many universities did them, and I don't know if they're still available. I'm in a secondary shortage subject as well, so it could be that they were only offered for shortage subjects?

However, it might be worth contacting any of the universities that you're thinking about doing the PGCE at, or looking on their websites. I still did the placements full-time though, and you CANNOT have another part-time job if you do the placements full-time!

I used to be a Teacher and completed my PGCE in 2008. Be prepared to give your family and social life up for a year until you're done. The course is easy but the placements are horrendous and utterly, utterly draining and all consuming. I was in my 20s when I completed the course but it took a massive toll on me in terms of my health. No way would you be able to fit in any kind of PT work. If you do, your organisation and stamina levels must be on another level. Also, make sure your childcare arrangements are a hundred million percent watertight- you do not need any extra stress whilst tackling the already stressful PGCE.

Primary school teaching is extremely time consuming. Forget any idea of having all the school holidays free for your own children. Forget picking them up from school, having a lovely family tea, long lazy bath time and stories before bed. Think about trying to do everything at breakneck speed so that you can carry on with all your planning, prep and marking. Laminating becomes your new hobby. Pinterest your new social media friend. Glue sticks your new obsession!
It's hard hard hard work! But I love it 😍

Thank you for the responses! I’m pretty organised, that’s why I’m looking into things now so I can be prepared. I should be fine to not work, although I love my part time job. Dd goes to her dads eow so I’m hoping I could do loads that weekend but then spend my weekend with dd. Hopefully by the time I’m ready to start it, dd’s dad will be able to have her at least one night a week possibly two. I do have good support from family though so childcare’s not a problem, I just don’t like asking too much.

Dd, sleeps really well too. If that continues (fingers crossed) I’ll hopefully get lots done on a evening. At the moment that’s when I do most of my uni work.