Advice about re-training as a teacher

[dayakie]

Hi all

First time posting!

I've recently found out I'm going to be made redundant from my current job. I've always wanted to be a primary teacher so am thinking of retraining.

I've got a couple of questions - I have a degree and am looking to join primary with a focus on English.

Fees - look to be around £9k - I presume that you take out a student loan to cover that?

Maintenance grants - I'm married with a child and have a house not with parents - would I be eligible for a grant?

Pay during training - how much does this tend to be?

Any advice or help would be really appreciated!

I got a salaried school direct placement without any school experience (I did two weeks unpaid at my DC’s school whilst going through the application process). As long as you can demonstrate passion and transferable skills you should be fine. It was the best decision I ever made! Teaching is far tougher than any job I’d done previously but incredibly rewarding. The trick is to find a school with supportive senior management, I can imagine that without them I would have found this much harder. I’m a few years into teaching now and wouldn’t change it for the world! I do miss the pay though...

Have you considered drama secondary teaching and you will then usually be able to also teach ks3 English. This will minimise the workload of English marking and will play to your strengths. Primary is much more work intensive and I found teaching the full spread of subjects a challenge I did not enjoy. I have taught in both primary and secondary and have been a member of slt, I now mentor trainees in secondary in English and Drama. You have a range of options. School Direct offers an unsalaried pathway which is a gradual build up of teaching hours, you can also do a salaried route and will have approx 40 to 60 % time table depending on the school. SCITT also offers a salaried route as does teach first which is a fast track to management programme. The first two years are the most challenging as everything in new and there is alot to learn and develop. The school you choose to work in will be key to your success and happiness as pp have said the SLT can make or break you.

What Bigbuttons said.

I don't understand - with all the issues of recruitment to the profession- why so many teachers try to put off entrants.

Because we know how much pressure primary teachers are under and how awful it is doing a primary PGCE?