To become a teacher?

[RudyCJ]

Hi - I’m approaching 40, my youngest starts primary school next autumn and I haven’t worked in 7 years. I’m seriously considering retraining as a teacher. Has anyone else trained “late” in life? Is it worth it in terms of it’s fulfilment and career happiness?
For context I have a university degree, corporate work experience and I wouldn’t be getting into it for the money.
Really looking for anyone who has some words of wisdom! Thanks

Seriously, don’t do it! Everyone I know is looking to get out.

Don't do it. Despite being rewarding on occasions, it's very stressful and you won't have time for anything else in your life. Most teachers I know want to get out. It's highly stressful.

I trained when I was over 40 and have now completed nearly 20 years, retiring next year! I have loved all of it BUT it is incredibly hard work, very demanding and you have to accept that whatever you do will never be enough!
You really need to get some experience in a school, whether primary or secondary , and try to find out what it is REALLY like before giving it a go!

If you're not earning at the moment, you can presumably afford to start off by getting a TA job - then you'll see the reality of working in schools, as well as getting valuable work experience.

Another - don't do it!

You absolutely need a year (or more) of work experience in school to help you make up your mind. TA or cover supervisor

I trained at 40 and love it, but it took me a while to find a school where I fitted.
What subject would you choose?

I don't see why.

I have a lot of family and friends who are or were teachers. Their experiences vary hugely.

Someone could spend a year at school A, enjoy it, decide to train and then get a job at school B and hate it. Or school A could put them off for life while they might have loved school B. The quality of the leadership team has a big impact I think.

For what it's worth, my daughter is in her second year of teaching (secondary). She absolutely loves it and is very happy at her school. It sounds extremely well managed and very supportive of its staff.

However, I also know teachers who are unhappy and very critical of the way their schools are managed!

So long as you don't mind not being present for your own children's sports days, celebration assemblies, school plays, drop offs and pick ups etc etc.....?

I would also do some research into the job market in your area first. It took me 5 years to get a permanent job because in my area, the job market for teachers is so competitive and there are few jobs despite the national shortage. Oh, and schools in my area are closing due to low birth years meaning an excess of schools places and not enough children to fill them so redundancy is rife in my area too.

It is a lovely career but it is certainly hard work. I found the balance for me with raising my family is working 2 days a week with a DH that is very understanding with a very flexible job to do drop offs etc. I do feel that sometimes I give more of me to my pupils than my own children because the workload even on 2 days a week is ridiculous and the expectations and lack of trust in the profession is intense. I trained in my 30s before having children, I don't think I'd have done it if I had children first.

Good luck in your decision!

I trained at 40 and am still around some 13 years later. It’s a tough gig and I wouldn’t still be doing it if I hadn’t fallen on my feet in an independent. You really need to spend some time in a school - sign up with supply agencies as a TA or cover supervisor? Or just volunteer to do reading if it is primary you are interested in. As so many have said above, seemingly everyone is looking to get out right now and unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to get any better. You don’t know till you try!

Your comment about missing my own kids events is something I hadn’t considered - so thank you for adding that, it’s such a great point.

Thank you to everyone for their responses. The lack of flexibility is a major point and I’ve always been proud of the fact I am able to do pick up/help with PTA/attend everything. I’m thinking it isn’t for me!! I appreciate all the comments

Hi OP

It seems you have made up your mind but yeah one thing is certain: in teaching you will never have flexibility as you will need to put the students and their learning first.
There are always meetings CPLD, department meetings which you need to attend after the school day.
You will need full time childcare from 8 am till 5 pm everyday mininum with no flexible arrangements on the day you work.
In this day and age it is not a family friendly career

Not a Teacher, but my two daughters are one of them thinks its the best job in the world the other one is in despair and wants out unless she can get a job in an Independent.

The one who loves it teaches English in a girls grammar the one who loathes it teaches Science in a deprived Comprehensive with a SLT that believes any problems are down to the teachers and not the pupils fault. This daughter thinks is because some of them are 'shit scared' of some of the parents who can be quite intimidating if their children have in their eyes been disrespected !

I guess it depends on the school the kids and the ethos of the school. The Grammar school teaching daughter for instance has only given one detention in five years and the classes especially from year 10 on-wards are taught in a University type way. The Comprehensive teaching daughter by comparison never has a minute to herself. She has been frightened sometimes when asking bottom set year 9 to undertake even simple experiments in particular two boys who have a habit of waving around Bunsen Burners.

I retrained at 44.

It makes a massive difference which school you'll end up teaching at.

I hate it. I dont see my children much in term time.

Teaching is not a family friendly job during term time. There is no flexibility and your own children will come second to workload and also you need to consider the inability to take time off. Sorry but I would not recommend it to anyone anymore, especially parents.

Op, don’t let posts like this put you off. I was terrified upon starting teacher training having read all of the awful stories online. However, I really enjoy my career.
As someone who has worked in the corporate world, you most likely have the skills for rapid career progression. As SLT in a secondary school, you could be earning £65,000* in a few years - using your skills from your previous career.

So long as you don't mind not being present for your own children's sports days, celebration assemblies, school plays, drop offs and pick ups etc etc.....? I do think schools vary hugely with this. Our head supports staff swapping lessons and covering each other so that events like this can be attended. Also, how many women in the corporate world were regularly missing work to attend assemblies and to do pick ups?

OP, it hugely depends on what age range you teach, and what type of school you teach in. Primary teachers have more intense days than secondary as they have much more contact time with the kids. Primary teachers also have to be jacks of all trades in a way secondary teachers don't. Secondary teachers have much more in depth planning and marking to do, though, so while we have less face-to-face time with students, we probably spend more time behind the scenes preparing for lessons and marking work.

For me, it's a great job. I teach a core subject in an independent secondary school. I really enjoy teaching my classes and have a good work-life balance. I have small classes of well behaved, sweet kids who I adore, plenty of free periods, lovely colleagues and work 8.30-4.45 every day. I very rarely take work home and will do a maximum of a couple of hours at home per week. I also get 15 weeks' holiday a year, including a full 8 weeks off in the summer. I am paid £60k for the privilege of all of this. If I were in a state school, I would be on £20k less, have enormous classes, and probably be working until 10pm every night, which is why I no longer work in state education.

The key to making teaching work is to find the right school and stay there. You also have to accept that the first few years are really bloody hard, but once you've got 5 years' experience under your belt, if you're any good, you will find it all so much easier.

All this being said, it's still only worth doing if you love it. Teaching really is a vocation, not a job. And no, there's not much flexibility, but again, that depends on the school. In my current school, the Head absolutely would allow us to go early to see a child's play or something like that. I think now with the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, some more enlightened Heads are waking up to the reality that showing a little humanity helps keep teachers in post.

Thanks for this, this is lovely to hear.
Given my lack of patience with my Reception aged child and the phonics/reading I think secondary school teaching seems better suited!

I am training later in life - do look into Now Teach which can give you lots of support -

i tried really hard to talk my friend out of it. She has ignored me and just retrained in her early 40s with 2 young kids. She has fallen on her feet with a nice school and planning in place and a good peer class to work with but even so I think she is very shocked by the job.

I think she may wish she had listened to me! But you won’t know uNtil you try. I would get some experience in a school for a bit and watch the teachers.

Surveys suggest primary teachers spend more time on planning than their secondary colleagues.

I worked in a corporate role for years before teaching. I had heard that teaching was stressful etc. before entering it, but I had wanted to be a teacher since I was a child, really enjoyed working with young people (even the difficult ones) and loved my subject, so I assumed I would be okay.

8 years in, I am starting to apply for jobs in my old field. Teaching as I had imagined it would have been a wonderful job, but the reality is far different from what I think anyone outside the profession realises it is. The job I had wanted to do so badly doesn't exist. So I really would get a job as a TA (even part-time), ideally in a few different school, to see what the reality is like.

Don't do it.

There's a reason why there's a retention and recruitment crisis.

Also, don't assume that if you can handle TA role, it reflects what you'd face as a teacher. They are not the same job/workload and it's not a good comparison.

I have gone back to teach one day a week to help a local comprehensive because my husband is Head of Dept and they cannot find teachers. It is a nightmare, the students, post-COVID are totally out of control. The only option offered is to send them out of the classroom to 're-set' - this means they miss learning, fall further behind and when they come back into the classroom the behaviour is worse than ever. The main job site Tes.com has over 11,500 vacancies - almost 1,000 jobs for English teachers and the same for Maths. The school I teach in cannot afford Tes.com and uses Indeed.co.uk - Indeed has 19,777 jobs for the search term 'teacher in the UK'. Independent schools are nothing like state schools, they have small classes, respectful students, discipline, and real consequences for bad behaviour. When I taught in a small independent school I actually looked forward to going to work!