Is being a teacher so bad

[renniks]

I was considering getting onto the teaching path as a career choice. Primary school age not secondary. Is it as bad as it seems? I've just posted in AIBU for traffic and a lot of people there are saying it's harder work than people think (like me).

It's work and a lot of patience but I'm so determined to make something of my life I'm a little disappointed people haven't got many positive things to say about being a teacher.

Ok, I'll bite - callmeangelina merely asked if you had the relevant qualifications to get on the course, because previously you had mentioned some airy fairy literacy qualification which wouldn't have been relevant. It was a reasonable and relevant question.

Re your perception of 'critical' - er, get used to it! You will be critiqued on a regular basis from the second you begin training right up until you leave teaching altogether. I've been teaching for 26 years, am a member of SLT and an excellent teacher - but I am regularly critiqued. There is always something you could be doing better and you will always be learning. If you're not so keen on criticism, it might not be the role for you.

Just checked your OP, as you suggested - there is no mention of the qualifications you have. I can only reiterate that it was a very reasonable question to ask.

feenie , it's in OP's other thread...think she might have forgotten this!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3742409-becoming-a-teacher?msgid=91571465#91571465

She seems to have two GCSEs in Literacy which is interesting.

I've been sitting on hands too, but this one makes my teeth itch
oh and I must of missed out the Geography BTEC.

I reiterate - I never criticise grammar on here but you are asking us about being a Primary school teacher, so it is relevant.

As Feenie says - don't even think about becoming a teacher if you are sensitive to criticism. It really is only a place for people with the hide of a rhino these days.

Well said @Feenie. I had yet another lesson obs this week. I'm very experienced and the obs was (as usual) fine, but it is a constant round of being checked up on. Not sure that anyone (unless partner is a teacher) can realise how long the hours are until they actually do the job...

The plural of GCSE does not need an apostrophe.

As for ‘of’ 🙈

I love teaching KS3/4 English but it is hard work and requires really good subject knowledge.

Yes, you do need to be open to constructive criticism.

It is a lot of work but I really enjoy it and I feel like I learn a lot myself from doing it.

I only hope the OP doesn’t come back and say that because she ‘only’ wants to teach KS1, it’s irrelevant that her grasp of grammar and punctuation is so poor!

The OP took a pop at me for missing some information that wasn't even on this thread, but I have now gone and looked at her other thread.
Even more confused! English GCSE and two unspecified 'Literacy' qualifications that clearly didn't cover basic grammar.
But no A' Levels? That needs addressing before anything else.

MaybeDoctor - haha!

My salary for part time is more than I would get working a full time admin job or retail job around here which is why I stay. It’s also useful when we move again because DH is military as I can hopefully easily find a teaching job.

The job itself is...sometimes okay, sometimes awful, occasionally good. My current KS1 class are REALLY hard work. Last year I had such a lovely class. I don’t dread going to work but most of the time I don’t really enjoy it.

Not sure what else I would do really as an ex teacher that pays the same. What else can a PGCE open doors for?

I've got a Mocksted this week. Unfortunately, our head does not take Ofsted's view that they are totally fucking unnecessary.

English GCSE and two unspecified 'Literacy' qualifications that clearly didn't cover basic grammar.

Are there actually online GCSEs in Literacy?!

I don't wish to speculate but there was something a few years back ( I think OP put Literacy twice by mistake). I honestly can't remember what it was called but it was a basic skills qualification that was a GCSE equivalent (sort of thing Gove declared null and void for league tables). We entered students who were at risk of not getting a C for GCSE (often instead of Lit GCSE which is missing from the list) so they had a useful qualification for future employment. We taught it in in a few days with time off timetable and then they did some kind of exam. I think it was online. And, indeed, if they then succeeded in getting a C for GCSE English they had more than one GCSE English style qualification!

I have never done the Teaching literacy test but I believe it is similar.

We entered students who were at risk of not getting a C for GCSE

That has makes more sense than the narrative of top groups/G and T!

My DH trains B.Ed students. He says there are some (thankfully not many) who present as being barely numerate, despite Maths GCSE being a pre-requisite for the course.

There are many aspects of the Y6 curriculum which mirror the old Maths GCSE.

We entered students who were at risk of not getting a C for GCSE (often instead of Lit GCSE which is missing from the list) so they had a useful qualification for future employment. We taught it in in a few days with time off timetable and then they did some kind of exam.

Ah, that makes more sense. Maybe more like a CSE?

Just read the update, op. You need a crap load more qualifications. And it is have. Would HAVE. Could HAVE. Should HAVE. Fucking annoys me no end.

Various mainstream primary and secondary schools in my area are actively advertising for 'Unqualified Teachers'; this thread would suggest that they will find and appoint individuals who consider themselves suitable for these roles, despite very clear deficiencies in their basic literacy levels, not to mention their total lack of respect for training and mentoring systems.

I could weep for the children they will 'teach'.

Our education system is utterly broken.

I used to be on a Facebook group for aspiring teachers. So many applicants couldn’t write a coherent sentence and used “your” instead of “you’re” as well as “could of” and getting there/their/they’re utterly muddled.

I assisted with a TA interview process really and so many applicants could barely spell or use correct grammar. It was really depressing.

My current head is going down the route of advertising for graduate TAs/aspirant teachers now. Not sure if that will raise standards!

One of my previous headteachers asked TA candidates to sit a Year 6 SATS paper at interview, which was really rather sensible.