teaching social work or councilling?

[Mumoftwox]

I'm doing a general degree in integrated health and social care I'm in year 3 so need to make a decsision soon about what I want to choose I could do my 4th year in primary education social work or can change to councilling. I have heard alot of negatives towards teaching and social work does anyone have any advice? thanks

[ScabbyHorse]

My advice would be only do teaching if you are happy presenting to large groups of people who generally don't want to even be there. Counselling is usually 1:1 so completely different. But you would need to be able to communicate really well with people from all walks of life. To get an idea about social work I would volunteer in the community or try and shadow someone to see what it involves.

[ralphfromlordoftheflies]

Don't go into social work unless you are sure that it is the career that you really, really want. As you clearly aren't sure, I would advise against it. It's really challenging, and ironically not family friendly. Also, it would involve you taking a 2 years Masters Degree following your health and social care course.

[selfishcrab]

'Do you think so? Counselling jobs seem to go for about half the salary of a teacher, and that's if you can find a paid position.'

Lily, in my experience once you can find a paid position (which are like gold dust) the pay is good :) BUT that is with quiet a few years experience.
Pays about £25 - £30 ph paye not self employed where you can charge up to about £65 ph (none London based).

[Schuyler]

@Mumoftwox

I feel a bit sorry for you. I think there are definitely politer way of saying certain professions require a very good standard of English. Social work and teaching require an English test prior to being accepted onthe course. It would definitely be useful for you to research the full entry requirements for anything moving forward.

Do you have a careers advisor at university or a tutor is very experienced? I would also recommend some additional voluntary work to be sure what you want to do before you commit to something like teaching which is a very stressful profession, so you need to be sure it’s right for you. Same goes for social work and counselling too, actually.

You’re still young, you don’t have decide your entire career now if you’re not ready. Good luck.

[Piggywaspushed]

Epic fail

[Piggywaspushed]

yes, yes I do! [grin[

[Thistly]

Piggy do you mean assuming , not resuming? (Lighthearted)

[Piggywaspushed]

What teendescribes is more common these days TBH OP is overqualified for such a role compared to the pastoral support workers I have had working for me. She'd be snapped up . at least on paper resuming attitude is different IRL

[Thistly]

Hi Teen, yes I wondered if it was different in other schools. The people who deal with the pastoral side of things in a less senior capacity in our school are the receptionists. They are so lovely. I can’t imagine their job is commensurately paid though.

[TeenTimesTwo]

@Thistly What you wrote about pastoral care at your school is interesting. We have two types at our school. We do have the teachers - going from tutor groups to year progress leaders and a member of SLT. Obviously the tutor is the main contact as they see their pupils daily and can keep a general eye. But also in parallel we have, separate pastoral staff who are not teachers, who are there for the pupils with extra needs.

[whattodo2019]

All 3 sound like awful careers to me sadly. Poorly paid, over worked, under resourced ......
I would seriously think again

[Mumoftwox]

thankyou @IHeartKingThistle that was really nice to hear. I'm only 26 and feel like because I have had kids young there is so much pressure for me to "know what I want to do". I mean I have a rough idea, and have worked in a school so it's not just off the top of my head so heres hoping I figure something out lol. I get slated for trying and nothings good enough for some people on here. si understand I need to take criticism and brush up on my grammar which I will, but I was genuinely looking for advice that's all. Which you have gave me so thankyou for ensuring me everyone doesn't know what they are destined to do instantly lol.

[IHeartKingThistle]

I don't know OP. It sounds like you've worked bloody hard to get the qualifications you have already. I know that's not an easy route.

I also don't agree that you have to have 'something screaming inside you that you want to be a teacher'. I've been a teacher for 19 years. I did the PGCE (judge away!) because I had no fucking clue what to do after my English degree and at that time they were paying people to do the secondary English PGCE. No little voice screaming inside. I went into it wondering if I would like it or not.

I love it. It's not easy (at all) but I love it with all my heart and I know I'm good. I know I've helped thousands of kids. I can't imagine doing anything else. But lots of people on this thread would have told me not to apply because I wasn't passionate enough.

Just something worth thinking about!

But yeah, take on board all the other comments too. These are all difficult jobs and you do need to know the challenges ahead. And if that involves boning up on punctuation, so be it, surely?

Good luck x

[Namechangeforthiscancershit]

You can't see that you're being aggressive? I really can't imagine that you would get on with the self reflective stuff of social work or with how much criticism you'll face on daily basis. Plus it's a lot more study.

Same for teaching I guess, and you've got health issues that would make it even tougher.

Counselling I know nothing about. I know psychiatrists and psychologists but they have done a million years of training so not helpful.

I guess this degree will have been expensive so you need a decent wage. Hospital work is very physical and you've given up nursing anyway. Hospital admin work? There are loads of people on here who know all about that as a career.

[NovemberWitch]

Be a teacher and be undermined by parents, pupils, other members of staff and anyone visiting the school who will expect you to be competent.
Be a social worker and have to produce literate script that can be used as evidence in court, and have to mediate between complex relationships with patience and rationality.
Be a counsellor, but keep your own emotions and bias out of the sessions and prioritise the patient’s welfare.
Which do you think you’d be best at?

[hatgirl]

The random people of mumsnet might not know you but many of us have met students like you.

Confidence is an asset until it stops you listening to what other people are telling you.

[Mumoftwox]

I really cant win with whatever I say, my replies are hardly aggressive. I'm simply not allowing myself to be undermined by random people who dont know me on mums net lol.

[crazycatgal]

I also don't think that teaching is the job for you, your increasingly aggressive replies show that you're not the right kind of person. I'd just like to add that I am a teacher - since you seem to enjoy asking people who criticise you what their job is.

[MohairMenace]

Your current degree won’t qualify you for a career in social work OP but you could consider associated roles such as family support worker, social work assistant etc.

[PlasticBaby]

So rude. So grammatically incorrect. So lacking with ANY understanding a career path.

Totes real

[FabulouslyGlamorousFerret]

@Mumoftwox

Sorry, I don't mean to be unkind.

In my third year at university my assignments were really tough and my English had to be spot on. Good luck with the rest of the year and if you do decide to go into teaching, take any criticism surrounding your English on the chin. Take constructive criticism as a learning point ... you really don't want to be making grammatical or spelling errors when you mark work. parents will be all over it, believe me!!

[NovemberWitch]

There’s no point to this thread. Choose one career OP and go for it. Just don’t add a record for ABH if you disagree with interviewers or mentors.

[Thistly]

While I can see why teen times two idea of secondary pastoral work is attractive, I’m not sure it’s realistic.
The pastoral team in my dc school are senior teachers. So they have spent time teaching their subject, which they are degree qualified in before being promoted to working in the pastoral side of things because they are good at sorting interpersonal problems out. They also represent the school to the parents so school rely on them to be completely ‘on message’.

I think having a go at the op for her spelling, punctuation and grammar is an easy shortcut to criticising her for doing an open-ended course with no particular direction decided upon in advance. MN has a lot of people who only do things as part of a master plan. Pursuing an interest to see where it leads you can be looked down on.

[TheFatberg]

Also some of us probably do work with people and know that it isn't just about blindly encouraging everyone and ignoring areas they can improve upon.

I'm sure you do write better in a formal setting but you make some mistakes that aren't just about typing fast or relaxing standards for an internet forum. Those may stop you getting job interviews or attaining a high grade on your degree.

[IamHyouweegobshite]

@curly Thank you.