DD wants to be a teacher...

[greyjeanie]

I’m assuming it’s a shit idea.

DSIS is a teacher and she told DD that it’s really bloody hard and explained the cuts etc but DD is determined; she’s only in her second year at university but she really wants to do a conversion course (pgce?) after finishing her Spanish degree and teach MFL. She’s done Latin and French to GCSE and Spanish from KS3 to University and I’m sure she would be amazing but DSIS stresses that it really is challenging, with pressure from the government, SLT, parents etc and she tells us that to thrive in teaching now you have to be someone who won’t challenge injustice when it comes from management if you want to keep your job and well, DD is very strong minded and passionate about what she does.

Could some teachers here either ease my mind with giving us some positives of teaching or help me convince DD to not do it.

Also- I’m not whatsoever suggesting teaching is a shit job or whatever, I wholeheartedly think 99% of teachers are wonderful and I know I couldn’t do what my sister or any of you do, dealing with everything whilst being underfunded and not supported enough. I think you are awesome.

I think it depends very much on your school, and for some on your level of maturity. If I’d become a teacher on leaving uni, it would have been disastrous. But now at the grand age of mid thirties I am seriously considering it as a career change!

She needs work experience in different schools to see what it’s really like. And she should be bold when seeking it - I’d ask private schools, Michaela, local authority, academy chains, etc if I could spend a day or two with them.

My stepdaughter teaches and loves it. The pay is not bad, she gets long holidays and.the hours are much better than she.used to do working in a lab (or than i do in finance).

It is a tough profession but I think young people coming in don’t necessarily need to see it as a job for life. There are skills she will learn in teaching that will stand her in good stead across all professions should she struggle or need out for a whole host of reasons.

She will need a SKE in French to be realistic about work opportunities. I teach MFL but have worked supply for the last few years and believe me, I can pick and choose schools (this is not the same for other subjects on supply). And I pick and choose in a deprived area where teacher shortages are not as pronounced as they are in other areas.

It is a great profession and needs good entry level candidates to run with it for a few years. There are opportunities for the right people although increasingly, it involves stepping on the little people. There are good schools out there.

Good for her : the teaching profession really needs energetic and enthusiastic graduates who actively want to be teachers.

Although I whine sometimes, I always vowed I would never say anything negative about my job to any young person (including my own DCs) who expressed a desire to teach can't say DH would do the same!

I think a person's experience of teaching depends hugely on the school they work in. Schools that bow to parental pressure, have a strong culture of presenteeism (sp?), performance management issues, data problems, an unsupportive governing body, weak management or an inadequate behaviour policy will be much harder to work in than schools with a head who effectively deals with these issues.

It's hard to explain but I worked in a school with a really strong ethos of 'it's not my fault'. Every time a problem come up people were in such a hurry to cover their own backs and explain why it wasn't their fault that nothing ever got resolved. It was on paper a fantastic school with excellent resources and small class sizes but it wasn't a fun place to work because I felt like I was always having to defend myself.

Conversely I've worked in quite tough schools with poor data, no where near enough staff and not enough money. The head fostered a sort of 'we're all in this together' atmosphere and I loved it.

Donkey A mum with young children, a good job and who fancies teaching because they want the holidays and ‘family friendly’ hours so is thinking of training to be a primary teacher would get very different advice to a young person with no ties who desperately wants to train to teach and is thinking of an MFL PGCE.

We get a lot more mums asking for opinions about teacher training on here than students (for obvious reasons) which is why you might think ‘OMG don’t do it’ is the general advice.

Although I whine sometimes, I always vowed I would never say anything negative about my job to any young person (including my own DCs) who expressed a desire to teach can't say DH would do the same!
Do we have the same DH

I largely agree with you though. If I tend to vent then it's with other teachers and then I move on because I hate professional complainers.
If someone asks about teaching then I'll always give them a realistic overview so they go in with their eyes open having made an informed decision, but always share the many good things.

noblegiraffe makes an excellent point. Of course, the holidays are excellent and more than the huge majority of jobs. However, mothers I work with can find the evening and weekend commitments in particular (such as planning, marking, parents' evenings) problematic, depending on circumstances, because not all required tasks can usually be completed in the hours of the "working day".

This isn't unique to teaching, but perhaps of relevance to your daughter.

She should try it out and see for herself.

I think as an MFL teacher she might well find there is an expectation to teach some French however.

There are an increasing number of MFL teachers who only teach one language , so I don't think that's a barrier. Many state schools are, sadly, down to on language on offer anyway , which is usually French or sometimes Spanish.

At my school we have one teacher of French and German, one teacher of just French ( I think she can do Spanish at a basic level), one teacher of just German and three teachers of just Spanish!

This thread is very reassuring! Dd doing Alevels/Btec at the moment has been hell bent on primary teaching for years. She plans to do a specific early years course at uni. She has weekend work and also volunteers in a child settings and had done several stints of work experience in local schools of various sizes Any advice welcome.

clippityclop
I'm in secondary, but the impression I get is that primary workload is higher in some respects.
It's all anecdotal, but here are some differences I've noticed between my experiences (range of secondary schools) and friends/colleagues in primary:

Greater independence for students at secondary (eg. It's reasonable to get an hour silent working at secondary whereas LKS2 and under it's less likely)

It's more accepted that differentiation can be done via support and questions etc in secondary, whereas friends in primary seem to be expected to do 3 or 4 tiered tasks for every lesson for different tables

Marking load seems to be more flexible in secondary (e.g. 2 assessments a half term / one deep marked piece a cycle), whereas primary friends seem to have to mark maths/English daily.

Secondary seem to be more open to alternative models of feedback, whereas friends in primary have had to print off labels with objectives and highlight them in school colours, or write written comments to 5 year olds who can't read.

I know workload isn't a competition and both are tough in different ways, but I get the impression that primary workload tends to be higher (or at the very least seems to comprise of things that would put me off).

Of course, a primary teacher might look at secondary pastoral loads with a tricky form as being worse and more onerous than their daily marking, or might find the expectation of turning lots of a level essays round to be worse than planning tiered activities.

In terms of advice, it's a case of going in with her eyes open. Once on her training year, avoid getting drawn into the odd competitive world of who works most, whose mentor thinks they're outstanding after 10 minutes, moaning about placements etc. Mindset and approach makes a massive difference in your training year.
For her NQT year, try to get the best school she can, whilst being aware that best to work in doesn't always mean best Ofsted or highest results.

I'm going to assume as a second year MFL student that she is planning her third year abroad?

I am also going to assume (it's been over 10 years since I was at uni!) that she has the option to be a British Council Language assistant?

If so then I would strongly recommend this. She would have a chance to work in a school, teaching children and able to become friendly with / speak to fellow staff members. Of course a foreign school system and its issues are likely to be different but she will gain some insight. She would also be able to offer private tuition for extra experience and dosh.

The year abroad would also be a great time to pick up on a second MFL such as her French. She could do this through a uni (though it may be taught from Spanish!) or through self study.

Teaching is a tough profession but we still need good, passionate teachers; MFL is particularly sought after! Keep an open mind for now, she still has time to consider options beyond her final year.

DS is a teacher of MFL. He's in his 4th year of teaching and in the main he really enjoys it. He loves that every day is different but like most teachers finds the non teaching aspects of the job a pain.

He speaks Spanish, French and German and his PGCE was in Spanish and French but has actually taught hardly any French since qualifying. However, he did teach GCSE Latin last year. He received a bursary which is now considerably higher so there's nothing to loose if she finds its not for her.

I agree with others that it would be helpful for your DD to improve her French to give her access to the widest range of PGCE's and jobs after qualifying as even if you don't land up teaching the second language much or at all lots of jobs still ask for two.

Honestly I wouldn't recommend it. My own daughter became a teacher despite me explaining the challenges. She lasted three years and now does something else (for more money and fewer hours)

AFIAK whilst it's possible to find a job with only one language, it's much harder to find a PGCE/ITT course to take you whilst offering only one language- but you're usually offered an SKE in the other language to bring you up to speed.

Some unis will cater for one of spanish/french/german + any other MFL, though.

Tell her to qualify and move overseas. I was married with kids when I trained and we moved abroad with my husband’s job For several years and the young teachers I was working with were having the best time with a great salary and good work life balance. I was so envious of their lifestyle and would definitely recommend it to anyone under 30 with no kids...

If she has a passion for it, then she should do it.
she may well love it.
If ever there is a time to do it, it is when you are young, without family commitments (so have both more energy and more time) and when you also believe you can change the world (didn't we all when we were 20?).

If, 5 years down the line, she doesn't think she wants to stick it for another 45 years, then she can reassess then.

I'm a teacher but I'd prefer my kids to do something else. However, if they wanted to teach desperately I could live with that. It's only one year training on top of the degree and they don't have to teach forever.
Let her do it - she might love it.

Mind you, it shouldn’t be a case of ‘letting’ her do it. She must be 20 years old and will be making her own career decisions!