Any older teachers out there!?

[Covgal83]

Hi!
I'm 41. I work PT (as I have primary aged kids) at a split site secondary school (a day at work generally is 10,000 steps: we don't have our own classrooms and oftentimes have to change site (0.5miles) multiple times a day. We carry a lot. Staff often fall over/down/up. I love the place. This is my 4th school so I vaguely remember having my own classroom. A break time etc).

Anyway I think I probably need to eventually up my hours to FT (or close to). But I absolutely don't know how I'd do this job at 55... 65...? Even if I moved schools.

Anyone out there teaching FT (and I mean teaching, not SLT: no intention to leave the classroom) as they approach state retirement age and able to offer their insights? I don't know anyone in my school/socially from any other despite having taught for 20 years still going strong past their mid 50s!

Thanks! Insights and advice welcome!

Hi
I'm 55 on Friday. Been teaching full.time for 26 years (primary) and need to teach for 5 more to get the pension I need.

I feel the job gets more difficult each year. I feel there are too many younger teachers who love doing extra work for free (they'll learn). Trouble is thet set expectations that oldies like me find difficult to match.

I have no insights or advice. Just to say, I sympathise with you and feel the next 5 years will be tough- brutal in fact.

@Hateam I find the opposite. It's the young ones who absolutely won't work for free!

I'm 55, been teaching 28 years. Went to 0.8 in December. I'm in primary. I'm going to retire in another 2 years, I have no desire to teach any longer. I'm going to get a part time job doing something else to top up my pension.

Im class sharing this year with a lovely 28year old who's been teaching for 4 years. She does far too much work.

Once she has kids I think she will realise that you just cannot do it all without suffering massive burnout.

I do loads extra: I think lots of PTers do and it doesn't help as it piles on expectations for our FT colleagues who simply cannot.

Anyone still living it post 55...? I feel like I might need to spend the next ten years transitioning/training to be able to do something else for age 55-67.

It's a really sad state of affairs that the job is now too hard for people to do until retirement. It used to be people would worry about the massive age gap between teens and 'senior' teachers. Now it's whether it's actually physically possible!

Feel like the few responses I am getting - and the many I'm not - kind of answers my question!

In my idea world, I'd retrain as an EP. I'd be able to manage to do the conversion to psych part time over 2 years, but don't know what chance I'd stand of getting funded to do the doctorate in my mid 40s. Everyone I've spoken to says they prefer to find people at the start of their career!

Just thinking aloud really! Sorry. But any experiences and thoughts really welcome. I love working with teenagers - just not convinced I'll be able to in my current role through to retirement. And I will need to work well into my 60s.

Good luck!

Hello @Covgal83 I will be 60 in Sept. I went full time in 2015. Actually, I find it easier to be ft as part time - which I did for 12 years is working ft for pt money because you have to squish more into your day and do more at home. You don't have those little bits of time like before school, break, lunch to get stuff done like meetings and phone calls. I do spend my life exhausted but I an a SENCO in charge of a department which is now too small for the amount of need. Our needs are more complex and we regularly are dealing with more weeping kids or meltdowns or shutdowns. I am seeing my time left in numbers of terms - 3 left. I may go very part time if I can or just do a bit of supply. Part time work also screws up your pension. If you can afford it, start paying extra into your tps.

@Pippatpip thank you!
Yes. I am looking at my pension and beginning to worry. At the moment, with youngish kids, it sort of gives me a bit of flexibility to get to events etc. I do realise I must look longer term though.

Helpful to hear from you! Thank you!

Hello I made it to 58 as a reception class teacher ,a job I still love . I started teaching in 1989 and will, retire this summer. I did the SLT thing earlier in my career before children .Going part-time was a necessity due to a large young family. Training as a SPLD teacher / assessor helped justify my UPS3. Staying in the classroom was a choice and one I thought I could sustain with a better work life balance. I have been lucky though that my pension is mostly final salary / pensionable age 60 so taking it a little early became irresistible.
If I did it all again I would be looking into buying additional pension if at all financially possible .When I had children part-time teachers were automatically opted out of tps which was unhelpful!

Hi, I am 59 and teach full time in year 1. I do find I have to work harder at being patient with the children and with some colleagues! Since Covid I have scaled down on doing things in the evenings- I used to do an activity most nights, as I get more tired. I will be retiring at the end of next year when I am 60.

Thank you - really interesting to hear the last two posters who are planning on retiring at 60. And looking into buying more pension (think that's the wording you used) will go on my to do list.

I have been thinking about training to be an assessor / specialist in dyslexia or autism. That's another thing for me to look into.

It's a shame: I had such an annoying admin and data stressy PPA and lunch today and then really enjoyed my lessons this afternoon - feels so silly that teaching has become as stressful as it has.

I’m only 47 so can’t really comment on how it is for older people. However, the thought I have is that it is great to be able to include 10,000 steps as part of the working day. I feel that often people’s fitness goes because they stop doing things. I acknowledge that it might feel harder, but I work out at HIIT with people who are 60 and so it is possible to keep going physically. What I am trying to say is don’t let that thought put you off, and maybe make it a positive.

When I worked in Year R I did 15,000 steps a day, now reduced to 8- 10, 000 since working in Year 1! I am also determined not to be one of those teachers who can’t sit on the floor with the children, because of struggling to get up afterwards. It is a good part of the job that keeps us on the move and active!

I am 60 and retrained from another career aged 53. I love the steps! Am very active and can’t imagine wanting to retire any time soon.
Teach secondary and a variety of subjects-I really think the combination of physical activity and new mental challenges are the way to be, not fixated on ‘aging’ or considering themselves elderly at 55.
I teach in an independent school so longer days than state and lots of extra demands from parents and have to move between classrooms. Behaviour is considerably worse than before Covid, but I have good behaviour management skills so that side of it is not stressful. I love being around young people -much less stressful than my previous career in business.

Done lots of different things during my 40 year career in education. At 60 I was working as supply in a large school, moving classroom every lesson. I felt exhausted, dragging my resources, rushing up and down stairs in crowded noisy corridors. As well as the huffing and puffing, I was constantly late for my classes- so had the added issue of settling the children who had been waiting down.
I hated not having one classroom, or even two- I had 14 different classrooms and nine different groups, 7 of them shared. It’s what made me leave in the end. Tutor one to one now!