Retrain as primary school teacher, or secondary science teacher?

[Lizzypet]

I am a healthcare worker considering whether to retrain as a teacher. I have A levels in Biology, Chemistry & Physics and a healthcare degree. I would probably choose Biology if I were to teach science. I feel I would prefer Primary teaching (I find it easier to interact with primary ages, but this may be because my children are that age) and I would love to feel I'm 'making a difference' in the early years but realise this is probably naive.. Would love to hear pros and cons of both please.

I'm secondary science, I didn't have any experience with younger children when I trained. I like the relationships you build with the students, the jokes, I feel I can be myself a bit more. When I teach younger years I have to put on much more of a 'show' as it's more removed from my normal (sarcastic) personality! I mainly teach A level at the moment.
Since my own children have started school I have been into their primary and it's a totally different world! I love it, it feels happy, and they really know the children and care for them- I can see the attraction of it now!

Why not approach schools to do some visits to help you decide? I am hosting some potential trainees for next year for a few days next week so it should be doable

Go into both schools and shadow for a few days.

Having trained in both I find secondary easier to just focus on one subject... I didn't really think when I trained in Primary that I would have to teach Maths, Science, PE, Art - all subjects I feel really unconfident in! Now I just teach secondary English and it's much easier for me. I can often reuse lesson ideas across different year groups. I also find behaviour MUCH easier to manage in Secondary and enjoy the relationships with the kids.

For anyone considering a career change though I would 100% make sure you have had some school experience to help you decide - could you afford to work as a TA or cover supervisor for a year?

Workload in primary is higher. I love teaching secondary, teaching a wide range of ages gives you variety and if you have a nightmare class, they're gone in 50 minutes! With your qualifications in science you would have the pick of jobs as a science teacher. You really need to shadow in both settings to see what works for you.

Yes also agree with the PP - if you have a nightmare class in primary you are stuck with them all day all year 😂

Thank you to everyone who has commented. Some good points that I hadn't considered! A levels were.. some years ago.. so I'd have to refresh my knowledge to teach sciences, but I think I'd have much more to learn to teach primary.

I’d go for secondary (i didn’t but was wavering myself) because there are more tutoring opportunities if you decide to leave, more independent schools and generally more work that isn’t classroom based.

But I wasn’t looking that far ahead when I trained!

From what I've heard from Primary teachers, I agree the workload is definitely higher than Secindary. In Secondary Science in most schools now the marking isn't really that bad, feedback is now more streamlined and the days of heaps of individual comments in books (or any comments even) are gone, so there's more time to focus on really impactful feedback. It seems like Primary teachers spend their whole lives marking! About half my lessons are repeats, so that cuts down on work quite a bit, whereas you can't do that in Primary unless you're a specialist without their own class, which I gather is quite rare. TLRs are also more abundant in secondary, so if you want progression, in Science at least it's relatively easy. In Primary you're more likely to need to lead a subject for no extra money than you are to get paid for it, whereas that wouldn't happen in secondary. You're also much more likely to be able to progress onto the UPS pay scale in Secondary, particularly in the current climate, you can ask for the moon on a stick and schools will try and give it to you. There's an absolutely massive shortage of applicants for posts, I don't think people appreciate quite how bad the shortage of Science teachers is. Many schools have had adverts out for years without being able to recruit even a single new Science Teacher, so when people leave it's a catastrophe. I'm not exaggerating, that's the reality. The flip side is you don't really want to train in those conditions, as support can be very limited. My advice is if you do decide to train as a Secondary Science teacher, choose a school direct route where you have some control over the school you're placed in. Some schools based training providers work with a relatively small pool of schools, so you're more likely to be placed in a good one than not. If you can get a job at good school, where the Science department aren't all made up of unqualified teachers and supply teachers, as School Direct salaried trainee, that's even better. I definitely would not choose a university based PGCE, it's the luck of the draw where you end up training with those unfortunately, and the odds are usually not in your favour. You could easily end up in a school where as the trainee after a few weeks you've been there longer than most of the Science Department, and with a mammoth commute to boot. There are good schools out there though, plenty in fact, and as a Science Teacher you'd have the absolute pick of them for your first job. You may as well do what you can to make sure you train in one too.