Should I continue with my BA Primary Education with QTS course?

[DaisyWhite2002]

Hello everybody,

I am currently in the first semester of a BA Primary Education with QTS course, which I moderately enjoy but find challenging due to a demanding four-hour daily commute (I don’t want to live in accommodation) that I will need to continue until at least March. That’s when I start my placement, which will be local. To be completely honest, I am scared of going into my placement due to the behaviour issues I have been hearing about in the recent years.

While teaching offers a stable and defined career path, I am unsure if it is my true passion and worry about the stress of upcoming placements. If I were to leave the course, I would face potential financial consequences, including a student loan overpayment, but could instead pursue a local admin job (I have prior experience) while studying part-time for a degree in Law or Business Management through Open University. This path would provide greater flexibility, work-life balance, and broader career options, such as roles in HR or management, though it lacks the job security and clear trajectory of teaching.

I am torn between staying in my current course and pushing through the commute or starting fresh with a more flexible but uncertain path.

My question is, what would you do and why?Would you say I should stick with my current course or change careers as soon as possible?

Has you had any experience of working with children or in schools?

Teaching isn't an easy job, you need to really love and want to be a teacher. From one holiday to the next the job will consume your life.

I would say keep going, do your first placement and then decide. You will know whether it's for you or not.

Another option could be to switch degrees to a subject course and then do a PGCE later?

My daughter got into her 3rd year and after two placements dropped the QTS. She just has an education degree and moved onto a Masters. the QTS is only for schools in England.

In my dd's primary Ed cohort, about a third dropped the QTS and just treated it as a degree.I think you should at least try the placements or you won't know.