Teaching as a new career

[BooseysMom]

Originally posted this on the Work page and was advised to move it to the staff room...
Can anyone please help set my mind at rest a little please? My DH has had a rough time career wise. He was made medically redundant from a physically exhausting job and decided he wants to teach. He has been accepted on a uni course and has started studying. The worry is that i read a thread recently where there were 26 pages of 95% negative comments about teaching and that there is a massive burn-out rate and therefore shortage of teachers esp in IT, maths and science. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves. This is basically DH's only chance to get himself a proper career. He already has the degree and is studying computer science to teach at secondary level and he gets a full bursary.
He has the makings of a great teacher. Can anyone say anything positive about teaching or is it all just doom and gloom?
Thanks x

I have been a teacher for 24 years, abroad and here in FE. It's tough and has got tougher. The teaching, like others have said, is brilliant, the best bit, it's the rest of it that is hard. Like I said on the other thread, you've got to be passionate about your subject and your students.
And btw the pay in FE is shockingly poor.

It's a great job (25 years + in primary). You have to be v organised and a fast, decisive worker to get a good work life balance. I dont like the term 'thick skinned' personally as it sounds like you are insensitive. I do think of myself as having very strong boundaries though: I can't fix all society's problems and I wont be made to feel guilty about that. Nor can I make up for the fact that other services are struggling (CAMHS etc). I do my best each day but that's all I can do and I wont compromise my own DC right to an attentive, present parent when I'm at home.

I have just given up teaching after 30 years. I'm 60 and feel I simply don't have the energy to do it any more. Many of my friends who are similar ages are also giving up, so there's an increasing lack of experienced teachers, who, in the past, could have helped and encouraged the inexperienced staff. It's also become over examined, which is not making the teaching any better, just causing the teachers tremendous stress, and leading to a huge exit from the profession. I would not encourage anyone to go into teaching at the moment, and I say that with huge sorrow, as I used to love it.

I worry about his motivation being that he likes teaching his own son, and the uncle whose experience may well be decades out of date.
It’s not much of a base to found a new, challenging career on.
Fingers crossed, but he needs more first-hand experience with real teenagers.

I did a PDGE Primary 3 years ago aged 41 with 4 DC it was hard work. NQT year was also very hard, got a new HT half way through who took a dislike to me and a mentor who threw me under a bus. Anyway last year I went part time 3 days a week which definitely helped with work life balance. I moved schools too and have ended up working in a small school with children with severe SEN I’m loving it so far and am going to do 4 days a week this coming year.

It’s a lot less money for a lot more work than my previous career but I work close to home and get school holidays with my DC. I adore the kids I work with as well.

This might sound mean but rose-tinted thoughts of gently teaching robotics to your own offspring are not a good foundation for the rigours of the National Curriculum and Year 9 on a Friday. The good thing about choosing Comp Sci is the utter desperation schools have about finding a teacher of it. It's not hobby robotics though, that's for sure.
Eyes wide open... As wide open as they'll go. It's shock time when you start and as a PP said, behaviour is everything!

the reason he wants to be a teacher is that we've got a young son and he loves teaching him robotics etc. Also his uncle inspired him

I’m wondering 1:1 ‘lightbulb’ moments with close members of your own family will lead to unrealistic expeditions! 32 thirteen year olds on a Friday afternoon will be very different.

I love teaching! Primary teaching that is. I’m coming up to eight years of still no permanent job. I’m sick of supplywork and short term contracts. I’m seriously thinking of doing something else because I’m sick of the constant rejection and having interviews when they already have someone in place, e.g. had an interview just before the holidays. The deputy head who already worked at the school got the job for a three day week post. A pointless waste of my time, raising my hopes yet again. Sorry for the rant, I’m just so fed up of it all.

Thanks to everyone for replying. Yes it does sound rather lame the way i put it ..teaching robotics to his son and being inspired by his uncle. In his application he said it's the eureka moments that make him smile and somehow he passed his interview panel on the third application and was accepted so they are either desperate or could see potential in him. He really wants to teach and he is aware of the challenges as i've been reading these threads to him for ages!

Which course is he doing where he’s already training now? (In the summer holidays?) Is it Teach First? If so, he might find himself ‘thrown in the deep end’ somewhat.

Teaching is brilliant. The crap that goes alongside it sucks (data, target setting, reporting etc)

@MsJaneAusten.. he looked at Teachfirst but they don't do computer science. He's doing a PGCE in it

A pgce that has already started? I thought they didn’t start until September? That’s good though - generally lots of support on a Pgce.

A PGCE is definitely the right decision 😊 as long as he's prepared to work really, really hard in the first couple of years he'll be fine- and to not be put off if his placement schools are too challenging. After the first couple of years he just needs to find the right school to work in. I've worked in schools where I was up working at 3.30 every morning, not getting home until 7 and then working more after dinner. I now work somewhere where I rock up at 8, leave at 5 at the latest and never have to work evenings, weekends or holidays. It ALL comes down to which school he works at in my opinion.

Oh, and I LOVE my job- teaching is absolutely wonderful and I love going to work- you just have to stick it out for the first few tough years when you're building up resources and then be careful about where to work.

I enjoy it but I enjoy it less than I did when I started 15 years ago- the workload around the teaching was much more achievable then as in you had busy times of the year such as reports, coursework deadlines and so on, but these were balanced by times where 'all' you had to do was plan, teach and do a bit of tick/flick marking. Now you could fill every waking minute doing something and still never clear the to do list but if he's good at prioritising and managing his time he'll be ok. I assume he's medically retired for something physical?

I mentor our science pgces and plenty go on to do well and stay in the job, the ones that tend to get disenchanted and drop out are the ones that are subject first so if your DP is motivated by wanting to work with young people above anting to advance his subject he wil be on the right track. It's a good time to come into teaching as he will probably be able to be quite choosy about where he works once qualified, some schools are vile mainly because of poor leadership but there are plenty out there that are good places to work.

And teenagers are brilliant to work with most of the time. I wouldn't cope with the workload or the 'youngness' of primary and other posters have explained why FE is cack, the salaries are an absolute joke compared with workload. As long as you remember that the people in front of you are teenagers, and don't take bad lessons personally (everyone has them!!) things eventually get better until you're established and then it becomes enjoyable watching them develop from shy yr7 into young adults in yr11.

I work in FE.

I cannot stress how much easier it is than secondary or primary.

I get all my prep and marking done in work hours. I take no work home with me.

I get paid £36k PA and 12 weeks holiday.

I am an awesome teacher I don't mind saying. I'm super organised and all my lessons have been prepped and honed by us as a staff team over the years so they are a joy to deliver.

I would really recommend FE to any teachers struggling out there - it anyone newly considering teaching as a career.

I disagree that it's hard to ever clear the to do list in teaching as a whole- certainly that doesn't apply to my school. For instance with marking I've actually found it's got 100 times better (I'm also in science). No coursework (as mentioned), and our departmental policy is that we don't even have to touch books, we literally just mark tests then make sure students have an effective feedback sheet stuck in following the test, that they fill out (with guidance). It ALL comes down to flexibility of SLT and how good your HoD is in my opinion.

I find it possible to clear the imposed to do list at my school other than at pinch points, but there's always things on my personal to do list that I want to do (e.g. do a course on an area of pedagogy, experiment with a technique I've seen online, trial a new approach to honework, not death by displays etc) and I've accepted I can't do them all.
It's quite a nice position to be in.

It's not been possible in other places I've worked.

@bumblingalonghappily that's good that your school has enabled much better work-life balance, we are getting there slowly but still have a restrictive marking policy. Once that goes I'm sure things will improve. I can get the essentials done but it's the longer term stuff that sits on the to do forever, I think 'oh I must find a better practical/demo/resource for xyz but only really get that done in gained time, which I haven't had the joy of this year with going on maternity 😂

Coursework going has made a huge difference but til recently we were filling that time with more mock exams including rhe 'walking talking' ones....

@Heyha yes I'm incredibly lucky 😊 in our gained time we were given 0 extra work to do. I'm very aware that many schools aren't like mine sadly and the the work life balance can be horrendous- I just think it's a shame when most of the posts on these threads are negative when I love teaching as a career.

I do agree that the personal to do list in teaching can go on forever! I'm a bit of a perfectionist as well so I could spend all evening planning and looking at cpd resources if I wanted to!

To the OP- just make sure when your DH is applying for jobs that he asks about staff turnover at interview- and make sure he realises that just because a school is outstanding that doesn't necessarily make it a fabulous place to work. But mostly tell him that teaching can be a wonderful profession 😊😊

boomshakalak I would love to know where you teach!!!! I've worked in FE (ESOL / EFL ) for 15 years - I'm also a pretty good teacher too and have a great department but a full time post where I work is around £25,000 - £26,000 a year.

For instance with marking I've actually found it's got 100 times better (I'm also in science). No coursework (as mentioned), and our departmental policy is that we don't even have to touch books, we literally just mark tests

You don’t touch their books? So are they not looked at or marked at all then, let alone regularly? Is that really a good thing?

@fedup21 are you a teacher, and if so, in which department? No we don't have to look at their books- ofsted says we don't need to either, as long as we follow our own departmental policy then we're fine. If we want to then we of course can, but having rules on how often a few teacher should mark students books has never been a good thing in my opinion- it barely has any impact on the student's attainment and is a HUGE burden on the teacher. In subjects such as English it may be different- but not in science. Ofsted has recognised that marking books has very little impact in comparison to planning good lessons, differentiating for different abilities etc and so has sensibly said that teachers don't need to do it.

We never get parents complaining either as they know that the quality of teaching is very high in our department, we get excellent results and teachers are much, much happier. I worked in another 'outstanding' school where I was expected to 'mark' by books for every class every two weeks- this meant getting up at 3-3.30am every single work day for weeks on end and still not getting it done, and most of the time it meant just 'ticking and flicking ' pages for the sake of covering my own back.

Sometimes I will set lengthier pieces of homework that I will provide written feedback on, but ONLY if I know it will actually benefit the students and won't impact the planning for my other classes.

@fedup21 In addition, if you read ofsted's most recent report, they state that they are actively looking to see that schools have thought about reducing teacher workload when they inspect them. If you're interested in some arguments against heavy marking policies, this article is interesting www.thisisbalance.co.uk/blog/2019/2/25/ofsted-myth-busting-marking

I think students like to see you've read their work and it takes time to break the view that marking = good and not doing written marking = bad.

I spend a huge amount of time explaining feedback to my classes and the importance of self/peer assessment. Doing self/peer assessment can be really ineffective if students don't understand the point of it then it's a waste of time. Equally staff using these low marking techniques ineffectively is also a waste of time.

Teaching them how to self/peer assess against examples, with whole class feedback, modelled live marking of some pieces for the class, direct instruction to correct misconceptions based on what I've read, extension material delivered (e.g. if you considered this then maybe think about this) etc is much better in terms of impact and turn around than me marking 31 homeworks in detail.

I teach English so marking is always heavy and I'm not a fan of not marking anything, but a sensible school would create a sensible policy for basics and let staff decide to make the best decisions for the tasks they're setting.