Anyone trained to be a teacher in their 40s?

[EatYourFive]

Another day feeling fed up with work. My sector is very niche so considering other options..

My background is scientific and I've been educated to PhD level. Would I be crazy to consider retraining to become a secondary school physics or chemistry teacher? You always hear there is a huge shortage of teachers but obviously there's a reason so many are leaving the profession these days..

What are the reasons for considering? Are you able to commit to long hours?

It’s very hard work. It’s at least a 42 hour week if not more for some. I think it depends if you’re going into it with your eyes open to the reality of teaching. If you do decide to go for it, I would say you need to be in a good place mental health wise and be very resilient.

No, but I work in a school Science dept.
Recently we had a 40-something trainee. They got QTS and have gone back into Industry.

The first few years look incredibly hard. The more established teachers seem to have stuff under control, but if you listen to others on here the work load is high in term time. So, for example, the ECT had to take marking home, the others seem to get it done in an 8-5 day. I suspect all of them plan at home.

I wouldn't.

Are you considering it because you have a passion for education or because teaching a variant of what you do currently seemed the "obvious" way to transfer your existing skills to a different profession?

Worth reading Lucy Kellaway's latest book (former FT Journalist and co-founder of NowTeach).

It's clear from the book that she did not find it easy making the transition to teaching.

Our mid-40s industry retainer has just resigned to go back to industry after NQT year.

^retrainer

I think there's a good reason why a lot of 40 somethings who retrain to become a teacher end up leaving the profession fairly smartish.

Mainly because being bossed about by 25 yr olds who have literally never spent a day in the real world in their life (school, university, teaching training, teacher) and being forced to attend pointless meetings that easily could have been emails, are just too demoralising!

I actually think no one should be allowed to become a teacher until they've had a 'proper' job beforehand and they're at least 30, but that's a whole other discussion!

Thanks for the input.
I'm currently considering my options in case I wanted to retrain at something, not sure what..

Couple of friends have recently retrained and now work as secondary school teachers and they seem to rate it which made me think maybe it's not that bad... One is in her 30s and the other in her 40s, they don't teach science subjects though in case that makes any difference. My late dad also was a (very popular) teacher and I remember him putting in the hours when I was growing up, but I also remember doing lots of stuff with him during the summer holidays.

Are you good with technology? If you're interested in Ed tech or learning design, you could aim for a role in a university (or industry). I've interviewed many over the years - very few come from a scientific background. Many unis are behind when it comes to ensuring their resources are accessible. If you're ok with STEM notation or LaTeX then you can pick up the rest and could get a sought after niche role.

Yup. At 49. You need to be prepared to have almost no autonomy and be micromanaged on things that seem utterly irrelevant to children learning about your subject. That, plus the fact you have zero discretionary time basically between 8:30 and 4 pm every day (not what most professionals are used to).

I did (Economics). I've been teaching 11 years now. I've only taught in selective schools though.

I went in "unqualified" and trained on the job.

Schools vary hugely so you have to be prepared to kiss a few frogs before you find your Prince!

I would suggest you arrange to go and shadow a couple of science teachers, ideally in more than one school, and use a few days annual leave to get a feel for what the job is like - both by following them into classrooms and also by chatting to teachers actually doing the job.
My dh did this some years ago, when it looked like his Post doc funding wasn't being renewed, and he knew by about 11am on the first day that he just couldn't do it. The proportion of time spent doing stuff like dealing with back chat / making sure everyone has something to write with / managing behaviour....and then compiling pointless data for SMT, compared with actually imparting his knowledge of the subject was too depressing (and that was someone who already volunteered as a Youth worker at the time, so was used to teens and coaching / interacting / teaching skills). Oh, and this was a pretty good school.

It might be it is for you - but you will get a better feel for it with some experience.

Is she the one who keeps popping up on YouTube telling me that at 58 she realised she had nothing more to learn from journalism? I hate that advert.

Everyone I know in teaching past NQT is either working on an exit strategy or actively advises against going into the profession. The ones who are only just in the door tend to be a bit rose-tinted honeymoon period about it.

Not seen the advert - but almost certainly it is her.

Both my parents were teachers and advised me not to go into the profession - and that was in the early 90's - cannot imagine it has got any easier or better rewarded since then...