Dilemma

[Piixxiiee]

Honest opinions please.
A temporary teaching position has almost fallen into my lap unexpectedly. Initially part time. But now possibly full time.
Dilemma is should I go full time-

• we could do with the money
• youngest can do nursery fulltime.
• I've had the privilege of being involved in drop off/pick ups etc with kids up until now.

But

• this is the last few terms that I can take youngest out during day before he starts reception in September.
• fulltime means childminder every day as we have no family here. Dh could possibly do nursery drop. Friends could possibly pick up once or twice a week...
• I'm scared of the workload of school and kids!

Tell my honestly to get a grip and get on with it either way! What would you do or do you do?

Teaching is exhausting. I teach secondary and spending the day with teenagers is great. I enjoy it. But it's exhausting. The workload is horrendous. It's hard to leave early in exam season even if there are no meetings.

When my kids were little, I taught very part-time. No family support, but a hands-on husband when it came to childcare and housework because he worked shifts, so he was home some days.

I wouldn't have done it full-time because of the compromises I'd have to have made. If I needed the money badly enough, I'd have made it work, but part-time was enough for me. If you can manage on a p/t salary, I'd start with p/t. If it has to be f/t, get rock solid childcare sorted - depending on friends is stressful.

Don't do it. I did and dropped back to part time. Everyone at home was too unsettled and upset.

If you need the money, then you need the money.
You say 'almost fallen into your lap' so I'm going to infer this must be in a school you know, and presumably like. That is worth a lot.
Workload in teaching is ridiculous. It can be made "not quite so bad" or "impossible" depending on your HT / SMT. If this is a school you already know I'm going to presume you have an idea of that.

I think teaching FT with a family, or with any attempt to have a little bit of a life is very difficult but, it seems that the way to find out - for you - is to give it a go. Once you have a permanent position, you can always request PT hours further down the line.

I upped my days this year and I really regret it. Love my school and have great pupils, but I have no time to do anything other than work. I just finished a 12.5 hour day. I suppose it depends how disciplined you are, how much support there is at work (e.g. a bank of resources you can use or adapt), support at home (cleaner etc).

Thank you so much, it's a lot to think about. The school and headteacher are lovely, although definitely a challenging class. I'm thinking I might try to negotiate 3/4 days.

If it is Primary, I wouldn't do 4 days - you just end up doing all the work (from planning to report writing; from subject responsibility to assemblies and Christmas plays!), you will only lose 5 hours teaching but you'll lose 1/5th of your pay.
Do 3 days or full time. With 3 days, it is a more equal job share and you can split all the work more reasonably.

Yeah but with 3 days you still end up with more of the load. Ed psych reports, referrals etc, all fall on you.

Slightly, but I managed to protect the share of work better with a 3:2 ration, than people do with a 4:1. My experience of the person working 2 days is that their expectation is they share the planning, reports etc and even if they didn't, I would insist. Less realistic if only in for one day.

So 3 days teaching and 1/2 day ppa at home. On salary I left teaching on.

Three days part time is the best!

Sounds great! 0.5 PPA at hole sounds ideal. Hope it goes well.

Or even at home