Leaving pharma for teaching, what is the workload really like?

[MammyofTwoB]

I'm thinking of leaving my job (lab analyst at a pharma company) to become a teacher. I've thought about it for a while and been researching the funding and courses etc. I think I'd like to do primary age, or potentially science at secondary. Just wanted some current insider perspective on if they enjoy it and if the workload is too much as I've been reading some older threads and seen stats of people working 50+ hour weeks and bringing lots of work home with them! I'm quite an organisation plan oriented person so dno if that would make a difference!

@IDontHateRainbows was there a claim that it was unique to teaching? It’s the experience of the previous poster who isn’t claiming it’s unique to teaching. It’s not unusual and the OP asked for people’s experiences.

Interested to know what your salary is. My dh isn't a teacher, has a 6 fig salary which is more than double my own but our workloads are similar.

Sadly, had to leave the profession (Primary) as I couldn’t cope with the 60 hour week, and being ill from exhaustion during the school holidays.

I would advise volunteering at a school first, before making a final decision.

All this tells us is that the op should think twice about becoming a teacher or doing the same job as your dh.

Why does any thread about teaching descend into "teaching isn't the only hard job out there". We know this. Op asked if the teaching workload was as bad as she had heard not if it was the worst of all jobs.

The schools I worked in were not toxic, they were a great team of people with varied skills, working together to achieve one goal. However, the goal is actually unachievable because the funding isn't there. Out of a class of 30 that I last worked with, there were 10 children, a third, that needed extra support for a variety of reasons and none of them qualified for extra funding.

There were children who would be violent towards other children and staff, children who had frequent toileting accidents, children who needed support to stay on task, children who would run out of the classroom and of course children who were just behind and needed extra help. (All of this in a Year 2 class, so 6/7 year olds). There were two adults to manage all of these needs. You are expected to manage OP, there is no excuse and very little support. You can plan the perfect lesson. Whether you get to deliver it is another matter.

Think about post 16- crying out for industry experts and I think the workload is nothing like what is described here. Plus if successful you can go straight in to funded teacher training.

I fully recommend teaching in FE. People forget about us when discussing education jobs. It's another option.

I’ve gone from primary teaching to pharma and it’s 100% easier. I also know someone else who went from pharma to teaching, did one year and went back to pharma again. She went into teaching to have more time with her children but found she had less time, despite the holidays.

I understand there’s a lot of cutbacks and redundancies at the moment though.

I think perhaps what I find is the difference between working in pharma (qa, but was previously in the lab) and primary teaching is that no one ever seems to think you’ve done a good job or appreciate your extra hours/hard work. If I have a busy week or month, my boss or team are thanked. When I was a teacher, you have good observations but that is the base level and there’s constant pressure to be better and do more in everything.

I would recommend trying to see if you can get out of the lab and into operations. It is nicer not being in a lab coat all day.

Ok but OP hasn't asked for advice about those workplaces. I'm sure if she asked about those she'd be warned they were toxic too. It's the most toxic environment I've ever worked in, and most of my friends I qualified with feel the same- and they came from varied careers.

Teacher of 7 years here.

If you can handle the following:

Pay that would make a medieval peasant squirm
Everything you do is wrong
If a student sexually harasses you, you WILL be blamed if you are an attractive young woman
All a student has to do is allege you made physical contact with them even if its not true it could end your career
Inversely, a student can physically attack or threaten you with no consequences

Then yeah, go for it.

I consider myself suited to the profession because I am incredibly emotionally resilient and in general a 'tough' person. That being said, I left because the pay did not provide an adequate standard of living and to ass insult to injury, my foreign holidays cost 3x what everyone else's costs.

I would stay put if I were you, Pharma sounds like good pay at least?

Yes , but to not enter teaching just cos 'toxic workplaces ' would be naive.

I wouldn’t touch primary teaching with a barge pole. It is a young person’s game now. I’ve just left after many years-I’m in my late forties and was the oldest person there.

Maybe give it a go if you like…

-working all hours
-being micromanaged by people much younger than you who really don’t have any skill
-being sent horrible emails by parents over your weekends
-being kicked, spat at, scratched and told to fuck off by students whose parents then blame you for the whole incident
-teaching classes with so many high need pupils in, you literally cannot meet their needs (no TA in most cases) but will be blamed when you don’t.
-refused by SLT to climb up the pay scale
-oh and being universally hated by the media for being a workshy part timer
who should have all their holidays removed so they can be like everyone else.

I would spend a week shadowing in a primary school and spend a couple of hours reading the posts on the ‘Exit the classroom, leave teaching and thrive’ Facebook page before making any decisions.

Don’t do it because you think you’re ‘organised and plan focused’ so it’ll be different for you (do you really think existing teachers aren’t?).

I would advise people not to enter any toxic workplace, including teaching.

@MammyofTwoB as someone who did the EXACT opposite I will say don’t do it!

Well I agree about construction, it is dangerous, long hours, stressful and not well (enough) paid. It has the highest suicide rate of any occupation.

The point is that none of the things people use as reasons not to do teaching are unique to teaching, or construction, or any other job.

The reality is if you want a reasonably well remunerated job you are likely to face all of the things that teachers face (minus the parents but no doubt with some other unpleasant factor in the mix).

@Redlocks30 I mean that's obviously not the ONLY reason I want to get into teaching and I'm not implying most teachers aren't..

I believe I am thoroughly put off now though tbh, not just from this thread, but others and Reddit posts too lol

@SlipperyLizard I worked in IT before being a teacher, and now afterwards. I was and am better paid in IT than in teaching, and I have/had about 10% of the workload. I don't have 6 weeks off over the summer, but I can choose when to have my holiday off and I don't spend any time on holiday thinking about work.

My workplace currently isn't perfect and neither was where I worked before, but the most toxic behaviour from colleagues I have ever experienced or witnessed in the workplace was when I was in teaching. Bullying to a criminal level, as in, the perpetrators were criminally charged with harassment, plus other lower level bullying from other staff. Incredible micro management and treating colleagues like children. Then there's the OFSTED madness, and the concept that you're only as competent as your last lesson observation, and Good is not actually good enough - everyone needs to be outstanding all the time.

Anyway, I'm sure construction is much much worse and teaching is a walk in the park in comparison. But the OP is asking about teaching!

You've been used to working independently in a lab with other adults I imagine. Teaching will be nothing like this and your sharing knowledge is a small part of it.

Depending which type of school (some hace bettef behaviourthan others), know that it will be all consuming and you will barely have a break.

If you're resilient, patient and prepared to for behaviour management, the same millions of questions about asking for a pen, what's the date, what are we doing when you've made it clear several times, then you will be ok!

It really is a pleasure helping students and so many are lovely, it's the challenging ones who will take up your time and patience.

As for marking, it can never be done within the work day so you need to do this at home and weekends.

If in a school where there is micro management, expect to be observed a lot, books scrutinised and data and class information checked. Yes you will feel like a child.

So much more to say but do seriously think about it. It's never been an easy job but since academy takeover management have become more like businesses. Xx

As someone who left teaching management for a job in the private sector working for a multinational, I can say my hours are now half, and my pay a good 50% more than my teaching days at the top of the pay scale after a decade in the classroom.

You'd be mad to do it.

It will ruin your life. Totally.

Nope, I know many people earning much more than teachers with a better work life balance and less toxicity. Me included. Also, I don't fantasise about dying on the way to work.

You're doing it for considerably more money though? I hope!

The op didn't ask how teaching compares to other jobs. I have only ever been a teacher so cannot possibly compare. I can tell you that the working conditions in teaching are horrendous.

Also, are you actually a teacher @SlipperyLizard because you speak very confidently about what a reasonable job it is?

Indeed, the intensity! Having to plan for 30 plus students to be aware of and incorporate needs, the sheer demands of that lesson dealing with behaviour, ongoing arguments, I don't have my book/pen, I need the toilet, those arriving late, those with toilet and time out passes, any who are in a bad mood and challenging. Then rinse and repeat 5 times a day with different classes, do break time duty, detentions or intervention at lunch, meeting after school.

Totally frazzled by time you get home to then start marking to get on top of keeping up with 12 classes in different coloured pens with full individual feedback.

If the holidays weren't there, no one could or would do this with 20 days off a year.

I actually earn a FT salary and work 195 days.

I get 31 days holiday and 8 days on bank holidays, plus I compress my hours so I work 8.25 hrs for 9 days and take every other Friday off.

So I get 65 days off. 31 of which I can take whenever I want. And they are actually OFF. No marking, no planning, no popping into work to sharpen pencils. Laptop off, phone off.