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Re-training as a teacher ... frying pan to fire?

11 replies

74slackbladder · 24/02/2010 15:10

Currently on mat leave expecting dc2. Current job is a 4 day week, reasonably well paid, good company and benefits. Job itself dull (been doing it too long) and no prospects for development/promotion. Also job does involve travel so will become difficult with two DC in the equation.

Been thinking for some time about teaching. Looking at the GTP (Graduate Teaching Prog).
Any teachers out there who have gone into teaching for the 'benefits' as far as family life is concerned and then been disappointed ? Am I kidding myself that life will be any easier to juggle with two kids and a job ? Would love to hear anyone's experiences...

OP posts:
BigTillyMint · 24/02/2010 15:14

I have friends currently re-training to be teachers - it's hard work being a student teacher and being a teacher.

Don't go into it unless you truly want to be a teacher and have the balls to take what the course and job throw at you. It is a vocation, not an easy option

TweedyneeCole · 24/02/2010 15:17

I really wouldnt retrain as a teacher because of the perceived benefits. I would only do it if you have a passion for teaching and working with young people. The training is rigorous and difficult to juggle with young children (certainly do-able, but very tough). The hours aren't 9-3. You will need to be in early and stay later. You will almost certainly not be able to do school drops offs and pick ups for your own children unless they attend the school you work in. You will have work to take home most nights (marking, lesson planning etc). You won't necessarily get great long holidays.

Sorry to be the voice of doom and gloom. Teaching is a great profession if you are dedicated to it. But it is no easy ride.

74slackbladder · 24/02/2010 15:18

Thanks. well aware it wont be an 'easy option' but it's all relative where family life is concerned. My current job is so family un-friendly, I am trying to explore options that will work better for all of us.

OP posts:
TweedyneeCole · 24/02/2010 15:23

I didn't mean that to come across as patronising (sorry if it did), it's just that I think anyone viewing teaching as a more 'family-friendly' option might find the reality a huge shock. It is an incredibly demanding job and schools and colleges can be very target-driven, high pressure places. You also have to be ready and able to 'perform' every day. there is no hiding behind a desk if you are having a bad morning. If that sounds exciting to you, go for it. The one thing parents and more mature people have on their side (usually) is lots of patience and stamina!

74slackbladder · 24/02/2010 16:33

No, I take your point and I think. It's not a decision to be taken lightly by any means.
I have had some experience of teaching, during my degree years ago. That made me realise it was not for me at that time, but I always had the feeling I might come back to it once I had a bit more life behind me!

OP posts:
mamaduckbone · 24/02/2010 16:42

I agree with all of the above and won't repeat, but can give my personal experience if that helps - it certainly isn't a career to go into for the perceived benefits, but it is a fantastic job if you love it.

I'm a teacher on maternity leave after having ds2, but when I go back it will be full time. My dh is going to be a SAHD. This is for many reasons but one big one is that my job is considerably more family friendly than his - when I'm at work I can come home at 4pm a couple of nights a week and bring marking etc home to do when the dcs are in bed. I also have the school holidays to be a full time mum. He works full time at the moment and sees the dcs for maybe an hour a day tops.

Saying that, when training and in my first 2 or 3 years I worked 7.30am to 6pm and still did stacks in the evening - it's only now that I've been teaching for several years that I can manage less hours.

One point about the GTP - IME you do need to have had a fair amount of prior experience to train in this way, since you are expected to take classes almost from day 1, but then you say you have done some teaching...?

mamaduckbone · 24/02/2010 16:43

Good luck whatever you decide btw!

Ellokitty · 24/02/2010 19:42

Okay, the main negatives are that it is not very flexible. So you will have to be at school for the before school meeting - that usually means putting your child into a breakfast club and many schools expect you to stay around for at least a bit after school - to be on call if parents need to see you etc. You can't expect to run out of the door at 3pm. So you will probably need to have after school care, unless you are able to go secondary and work part time , but these hours are very rare and usually you have to prove your worth first before you get the cushy hours! (At least, that has always been my experience). Also, you are not entitled for paid time off if your child is sick. And as you haven't got any holidays you can use, if your child goes down with chicken pox and you need a week off for example, you will lose a week's pay!

Further, you are not entitled to any days off at all, so if your child has an assembly, sports day, nativity play, teacher training day and so on... you may be allowed to take that as time off unpaid, but don't even bank on that. If you do go into teaching don't expect to ever see your child in their school assembly or whatever. If you do, it'll be a bonus, but I wouldn't bank on it. Also, be aware that if you work in a different county or school your holidays might actually be different to your children's. I finish for summer two weeks earlier than my children, go back to work one week earlier and do not get as long for half terms. So I need to cover those times.

Also, you will be expected to go in for evenings when you are expected - open evenings, parents evenings and so on... you have to work around the school, and that's final really.

But, aside from that, you do get the school holidays, and you are able to take work home with you and do it in the evenings, to help fit around the children a bit more. I do most of my planning and marking at home.

I teach in a 6th form college, and now work mornings. I do condensed hours, so I don't get as many free periods as I should have - I do that work in the evenings. But it has taken me many years to get a timetable like that, and often I have had to work timetables that do not really suit me, but I have to fit my hours around the timetable. But, now I've been there a few years, I do get a bit of slack, and they let me have time off for nativity plays and the like, but I regularly do over and above the call of duty to earn that bit of slack. It usually takes a few years to build up that good will in my experience.

But, teaching is the best job in the world, and I am very lucky to have a job which I have been able to organise to maximise the time I spend with my children. For me, I have now got a timetable and job that works, but it has taken me quite a few years to get there. (And a couple of schools too - as some heads are far more flexible than others!!)

TheFirstLady · 24/02/2010 19:42

Depending on where you live it may be very difficult to get on a GTP. I am on the point of finishing my degree and have been turned down for PGCE this year - they are only interviewing those who have already got a 2.1 - and in our area the schools affiliated to the local GTP provider are not interested in people rocking up out of the blue looking for one of their places - you would need to be already working in the school to stand a chance. Other areas might be different of course and it does depend on how flexible you can be about your choice of provider.
Are you looking at primary or secondary?

Slambang · 24/02/2010 19:55

The others have said it all.

I left teaching precisely because it did not fit around having young children. In fact I left when ds started reception as I couldn't bear the thought of not waving him off and picking him up on his first days at school... or watching his first nativity...or being able to go to his new friends for tea and having them back to ours in return.

Holidays - yes, but remember you will be going in to school for some days to prepare your classroom (if you are primary) and there will be several evenings a term of parents meetings/concerts/etc

Go in to teaching becuase you are passionate about it and you feel like you could make a difference to 30 dcs lives every day (not including your own) but absolutely not because it will fit in with family life.

morleylass · 28/02/2010 20:21

Hi,
I'm not a teacher, but lots of my friends are as was my Dad and I have worked in a school, so I don't have first hand experience but I do see what goes on.

Working in a secondary school I saw that the teachers are all in early and they used to leave generally around 4 ish, so you wouldn't be able to do the school run, but unlike in many businesses you would be able to get home before 6 many nights. However many of the teachers worked part time (you may have to work FT for a while first) and so had days off like every other part time worker, so could do the school run on those days. They do also get the majority of the holidays which is considerably more than in commerce generally and the primary school teachers I know hardly go into school in the hols at all.
Admittedly, I think it would be hard to go to your dc school during the school day, but sickness etc is no different to any other job really. I don't get paid if my kids are sick, I either have to make up the hours or take it as leave. This then means I have less leave to take in the school holidays (which is limited anyway) so have to pay for childcare, or take unpaid leave. I don't actually see that this is any better or worse than being a teacher. In addition at least a teachers holidays mainly coincide with other schools. If there are other people off in my team during the school holidays then I can't have any time off.

I can see the benefits of being a teacher (as well as the work), but that still wouldn't make me want to do it as I think it is something you really have to want to do. However if you do fancy it then go for it, I'm sure in the long run you will be glad you did it.

MLx

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