Retraining as a teacher.

[WhiteCat1704]

I'm a qualified professional with years of experience in my industry. I have a job that pays well and, at the moment, is flexibile. Unfortunately my business is getting sold and there will be a round of voluntary redundancies. I'm considering taking it and training to be a chemistry teacher (worked as industrial chemist for several years and my diploma is over 50% chemistry).

The 26/28k tax free bursary makes retraining an attractive prospect.

I have a young child and if I stay in my industry and want to mantain my level of pay I will have to travel extensively. 10-15 weeks of travel within a year used to be my pre-child average.

I don't want to do that. My child will start school in couple of years and I want to be there. Prospect of long holidays at the same time as DC makes it very attractive too.

My question is..would you do it?
I would be looking at over 40% pay cut and that's really putting me off..On the other hand the salary would likely build up so it could be temporary..

I have read a range of opinions..some people say it's long hours and not a family friendly career but coming from a job where so much travel is required I find it hard to believe..

It's very common to have PE teachers teaching KS3 science as well.

I think their degrees are often in sports science. Head teachers see the word 'science' in the degree title, and hey presto! they're drafted in to teach science.

Physicists in teaching are as rare as rocking horse shite.

@WhiteCat1704

I was ripped in to for suggesting this last year.

Thus far I'm loving my science PGCE and finding it pretty much a breeze, enjoying it and getting good feedback so far.

The bursary made the risk of taking the leap worth it. And I think there are benefits.

PE teachers often teach Maths well. They often used to choose it as a second subject, not sure if that’s the case now.

You’ve done a term, Sofabitch, I’m very pleased you’re finding it a good experience. Are you intending to only teach one science of the three?
Have you found your experience in school supports or refutes what people are saying here?

@YoureAllABunchOfBastards and women are probably about 20% of physics teachers. Almost no hods are women in my area (1 head of physics that I know of in Yorkshire).

I wish our scarcity meant our teaching conditions were more favourable! I'd still be doing it if it weren't for all the evenings and weekends and intense unrealistic scrutiny/ undermining by parents! And by most accounts, I was a pretty decent teacher!

At least I've landed in a cushy civil service job (entry level with only a small pay cut and a chance for progression!).

I'm a trained biologist...but have taught more physics. Having to teach myself what the students need to know has been the most time consuming thing.

My experience has been that everyone has totally different experiences. Even on my course there is a large variance in how much people are enjoying the course or finding the workload.

Definetly long days teaching. But shorter than I was doing and no long commute..so I think overall less.

No, it's awful. I knew someone who came in from similar background to you, they dropped out. It's just crowd control really, subject knowledge is the lowest priority element of the job. I wouldn't do it especially if I had kids .

subject knowledge is the lowest priority element of the job. It really isn't. Maybe that's why our recent trainees have been so clueless, they actually think this.

'It's just crowd control really'
No it isn't

IT makes me sad that the Goverment thinks the answer is to fund enormous bursaries, all that will guarantee is people training, not actually teaching.

There are teachers who have left. What might have helped them to stay would be spending that money in schools, eg giving all secondary teachers an extra three frees a week to rake off some of the pressure of planning and marking in the evenings and weekends. Or funding decent SLT support to run detentions and deal with poor behaviour instead of leaving it to overworked class teachers.

And yy, don't ask who's teaching your child maths. Or physics. Or MFL. Or even history or English. I am not a selfish person but I am selfishly glad that my youngest child is in yr 11 and thus soon leaves the school system.

Sorry op, not sure if this helps. My actual advice to you us you need to understand you WOULD be asked to two hours all three sciences, very likely to KS4; and go into school to find out what it's like.

WTH? You would be asked to teach all three sciences is what I wanted to say!

I’m an RTQ and teach all three sciences plus KS3 Geography. (And obviously PSHE/Citizenship during a 20min form time )

I did a year at a private school teaching Biology (KS3-5) only and it simply did not work. I had so many single hr per week classes that my marking, parents eve, meetings, emails, etc were multiplied. This rotation to allow specialist teaching right down to KS3 was at a huge cost to relationships and continuity with my classes.

I’m back as a Science Teacher and my colleagues are;
1x Physicist,
1x Chemist,
4x Biologists,
2x Ex PE who adopted Biology as their specialism.

I'm surprised that the best part about the bursary hasn't even been mentioned yet. Getting the £26k bursary (or above) actually means you will be on more money training to become a teacher than you will be once you start teaching as a qualified professional. That was quite a nasty shock for a few new starters over the years. Schools cannot afford to give a hoot that you will take a significant drop in money.

Just another way those who are experienced are being kicked in the teeth.

I've been qualified in Biology for well over a decade. In this time, I've had to teach or temporarily cover a massive range of subjects, including English, Maths, Modern Foreign Languages, Citizenship, PE, D+T and Art.

I have never worked in a school where I only taught Biology, and more recently have had to teach both triple Chemistry and Physics on top.

The beauty about your teaching contract is that your head can have you teach ANY subject they like; indeed, many contracts don't even mention your specialism anymore and you will just be known as "classroom teacher". Likewise, most academy chain contracts now state you don't even have to stay employed at your school and could be asked to work at ANY school within the academy chain.

You need to accept the reality of teaching before you even contemplate training. Otherwise you will be one of those many, who, if they don't throw in the towel themselves, will be asked to leave pretty shortly after being qualified.

Just thought I'd add that you can claim student finance on top of the bursary ...full...plus childcare as the bursary doesn't count as income.

Getting the £26k bursary (or above) actually means you will be on more money training to become a teacher than you will be once you start teaching as a qualified professional.

I hadn’t thought about it like that! I bet that’s a shock to the bank balance once you qualify .

@physicskate can I ask how you got into the civil service? Was it the fast track scheme?

I applied for a job on the civil service jobs website, took some days tests, was offered an interview and then offered a conditional offer (subject to drb, oh, etc...). It has not been a quick process!!! Slowed down by the fact I'm now 31 weeks pregnant (applied before I got pregnant).

Thanks, I’ve encouraged other half to look into it

Whoops toddler on my lap so pressed the wrong button!

When he gets stressed at work I have encouraged him to look at civil service jobs as he is an all rounder in terms of his intelligence and would be an asset. I feel he is almost not reaching his potential teaching, he does love it although it can be very stressful!

@Piggywaspushed you got me in one!

OP I really don’t think teaching is for you. I qualified in 2013 and lasted 2 years before I threw in the towel.

I’m a qualified MFL teacher, my languages being French (main) and Spanish. In my first school I was expected to teach German - I didn’t even study German when I was in school! - so I imagine you’d fair a lot better teaching biology than I did teaching German.

In my second school, I was split between departments - MFL, Welsh and Humanities - and only 20% of my timetable was MFL.

Funding is so bad that lots of schools are forcing teachers with no subject knowledge to deliver lessons that they have no confidence in - add this to increasingly poor behaviour in classrooms, there’s no wonder there’s a retention crisis.

saturdaynightgin

Yes I think you are right and it's not for me after all.
I'm absolutely shocked you had to teach German without knowing the language..it's ridiculous..If a schools can't hire teachers with necessary knowledge and qualifications they shouldn't be offering those subjects...And if they can't operate due to shortages they need to close and kids will go to a school that can. I'm curious-what would have happened if you simply said "no"?

It's a supply&damand issue and they need to pay specialists more if they want them as staff and have reasonable expectations too..All of those teachers on this thread who think that it's ok to require non specialists to teach children subjects they are not comfortable with AND take responsibility for their results in those subjects AND work 50-60hours weeks for silly money are contributing to the problem. It's NORMAL to expect decent treatment at your workplace. It's not normal to expect new teachers to conform to a system that's so bad that nobody is happy with it.

I'm just going to go for redeployment at my company or a job at a different company without travel.