Teaching - what are your views ?

[podkin]

I am thinking about retraining as a primary teacher as a short to medium term goal. What are your experiences of teaching ? Will it be worth it (and I am not really talking financially as I know the pay is pretty shit) ? Or is it all just paperwork these days ?

I take my hat off to anyone teaching cos I'm not prepared to do it anymore

It is a great job as long as you realise that the actual teaching only takes up about a quarter of your time. The rest is spent on preparation, marking, report writing, policing the playground, phoning parents, endless form filling (it needs, on average 11 forms filled out if you want to take a class off the premises), meetings with staff and parents, training (yes, we actually do something on those inset days), keeping up to date with the endless changes in legislation, dealing with social, emotional and behavioural problems, crowd control, long term and short term planning. You also need to realise that most of your class time will be spent in classroom management, not in actual teaching. You need to be prepared to not have a lunch break (I haven't had one for 7 years), to be at work by 7, leave around 5-6, work evenings, weekends and holidays.

And if you have considered all that and you're still up for it, can I suggest you approach your local school and ask to work shadow for a week.

Good luck.

As I love children and love making things with them, I am seriously considering becoming a teaching assistant at my local primary school in September. It will be such good fun!

I'm thinking about this too. I don't know why teachers get the impression that working in an office is easy. At the moment I have an office-based job, but work longer hours than the teachers on here have mentioned, sometimes have to work in the evenings and weekends too, have lots of responsibility and need to be incredibly organised and manage several projects at once, only get five weeks holiday a year and no pension, and don't get paid much more than teachers. Also, no option to work locally, so have to travel for two hours a day.

Ooh, I'd love to be a TA, love it! Just wouldn't earn as much as I do now and I can work from home as it is so couldn't be better (lucky cow, I know). Absolutely dying to be able to help in school come September when ds3 starts nursery though!!

I'm so dying to start helping out with the little ones!

I'm thrilled that you think so!

No it's not a compeition. What I was trying to say was that every job has its low points, it's not just teaching that is hard work, with long hours for poor pay. As far as I can see there are marvellous benefits to becoming a teacher that you just don't get in the private sector, but I'm not sure that all teachers appreciate that.

I don't teach anymore and wouldn't want to go back into it. Primary trained.

Not a well thought of profession any more. Pay awful, if you want promotion then it is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Depends where you live in the country and whether or not once you have trained you can actually get a job, or have to do supply which I have done in the past and is very distressing.

Only good thing is the holidays, but remember, most of this can be taken up with extra marking etc that you cant get done in PPA time.

Yeah, what's with all the sarcy posts then ?

Sarcy posts? Disgusting! I don't see what is wrong with admitting that you love children and want to help out in the classroom every now and then.

I've done both. I've had an "office" environment job with long hours, fair amount of commuting and substantial amount of working a weekends (part and parcel of my pr role). Yes, it could be pressured and tiring, much less holiday entitlement etc etc, but it was a walk in the park compared to teaching.

Must say I'm looking forward to embarking on my new career at the end of this year which is neither an "office" or classroom based job and is probably the thing I should have done after my degree 20 years ago. You live and learn .

eh ?

Podkin, just giving opinion of what it is like to actually teach, many teachers also go out on stress these days, although they are trying to clamp down on this.

It is rewarding but be warned alot of people think that teaching is an easy job, its not, I also have a husband that it is a teacher and many local friends who teach, and they are always tired, complaining of things happening in their schools.

otto - I would agree with you on one aspect which is the index linked pension - an increasing rarity for anyone. I doubt the public sector will be able to sustain it's commitment to paying out for it though and I'm sure it will become a thing of the past for teachers in the not too distant future.

Podkin, dunno about the sarcastic posts - I'm just being honest! If you really want to do it, then go for it! I would say, that if I was desperate, I could always find some supply work (I live in London) so I'm always employable which I should look on as a positive.

Puff didn't mean you - thanks for your comments. Sorry to hear you didn't have a positive experience though. Obviously I need to do a lot more research but it's useful to hear other peoples views - sarcy or not !

Lockets - if I do decide to go for it, will probably train in Brighton or somewhere nearby.

Thanks

Puff - the "soul destroying" comment so rings true for me. Those last 3 or 4 years of teaching completely finished me. I was a good teacher, I know that. I have reports that say so. I have OFSTED and LEA inspectors that have told me so several times. But by the end of it I was doing it like a robot, with no enthusiasm left. That last job sucked it out of me. I left before my health forced me to do so - it would have happened. I only have to re-read my posts in the education section on here from last year to see that I really was becoming quite depressed. So sad really thatit came to that. I used to love the job before.