Did I miss something?

stetho

There seems to be a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum so I thought I'd ask this question here. Firstly, I'd like to point out that I'm just asking now. I've already turned down the places offered to me because I just couldn't get a straight answer!

I'm 38 years old and have two Bachelors degrees, one in Maths and one in Computing. I've been working in IT for nearly 20 years and have done a lot of different jobs in that time from helpdesk work to software development.

I got made redundant in August 2006, February 2008 and March this year. After all these redundancies I spent a lot longer than I would have liked looking for a job. In total, the three redundancies have left me out of work for 14 months. In this time I've practically decimated my savings supporting my family which includes a 7 month old, a 3 year old and a 10 year old.

I've been thinking about a career change for a number of years in to teaching. I decided after this last redundancy to act on this and applied to a number of universities to do a PGCE. I received offers of a place from almost all of the Unis I applied to and I was over the moon. However, I then started to look in to how I was going to support my family while I studied full time and I found that it's impossible.

At the moment, being unemployed, I'm receiving a couple of benefits and tax credits. If I become a full time student I lose ALL these benefits.

Don't get me wrong - I don't want to be unemployed. Since I was made redundant I've applied for 1,558 jobs (as of today) and have had 19 interviews. I've been turned down for every single one for the same reason - "You're too senior. We worry that you'll just leave when the market picks up again." It's a fair comment but also b******t.

My wife could return to work but - no offence to her - she doesn't have a high salary potential. Aside from the fact that we don't want to put a 7 month old child in to child care 5 days a week, the benefits we'd receive if I returned to full time eduction would pretty much, give or take a few pounds, leave her working to pay for child care, rent and council tax. Even if she was lucky and got a well paid job in her field (she does a specialist form of counseling - well paid jobs don't exist and a change in career would require training and wouldn't help) we wouldn't be much better off.

Basically my observation is this. We'd obviously be in the best position if I got a job. However, we're in a better position with me being unemployed and receiving benefits than we would be if I went in to full time education and trained for a job that is apparently screaming out for new teachers. The grants, loans and bursaries available to me in a year - after paying fees - don't cover a years rent. Any of these items (except the student loan) is seen as income and would immediately stop my entitlement to benefits.

There clearly isn't a shortage of IT people with my skills or I'd have a job by now. But there isn't enough support for a married man with kids, two relevant degrees AND twenty years experience (something most graduates don't have) to train for a job where there is a shortage.

As I said, I've given up on this plan now and have gone back to full time job hunting (interview on Friday!) but does anyone know for certain what the actual position is here? Is teaching a career only open to recent graduates and people with enough money to support themselves? (Might explain the shortage...)

Thanks for any feedback

Steve

Belisarius

Why not just do the PGCE part-time? I am under the impression that you can claim certain benefits as a part-time student, especially if you have dependent children. I was actually told this by a benefits officer the other day ... I am having some financial problems & am a student, and was told I would be able to claim council tax and housing benefit if I switched to part-time. They were surprisingly helpful. Have you thought about just going down to the benefits office & talking this situation through with them?

The_One_Who

Teaching is definitely not a career only open to recent graduates. In fact, your experience can bring a lot to a classroom, arguable a lot more than someone who has yet to really live in 'the real world'.

Voyager2002

Contact a local school and ask about forms of school-based training. There are all manner of schemes available.

maturelearner

If your wife is not working then you ARE entitled to Child Tax Credit as a mature student which is possibly as much as £90 a week unless you have over £16,000 in savings. This is NOT Child Benefit so I'd estimate this could be as much as £150 per week for your offspring.

Your wife would get 25% reduction on council tax bill if your a f-t student.
If you rent she may also be entitled to claim housing benefit if the tenancy is in her name. I'm still checking on joint tenancies myself.

There is also a student grant applied for via student loans which is means tested and know of a fellow mature student who receives this.
It's very difficult to find out student finance from the outside and I'm so fortunate my Access Level 3 course had a 3 month (1hr per week session) on the subject.

Plus your wife can keep any exsisting income/benefit in her name.

Good Luck.

LeeSouthEast

Why not:

Wife go back to work (and earn tax credits).
You stay at home with child (and get benefits).
Study part time to do teaching?

Keep benefits, up the household income, and the potential to move on to your next dream job when the time comes.

MrsManda

Funding for PGCE/ITT are completely different from other post-grad courses, especially if you want to teach maths, physics or chemistry.
You get full student finance plus other funding and bursaries. See the below links from direct.gov
I.T.T. Extra help
I.T.T. funding

what amazes me is why you didn't think of this prior to applying or speaking to the universities which offered you a place to discuss funding prior to turning them down thus wasting your time and theirs.

stetho

MrsManda wrote: »

what amazes me is why you didn't think of this prior to applying or speaking to the universities which offered you a place to discuss funding prior to turning them down thus wasting your time and theirs.

Look, I know it's very difficult to read my entire post before commenting on it. It's very long and you probably just wanted to get straight down to the insults without bothering with petty stuff like details.

I spoke to a number of people - student loans company, DWP, Finance offices of the Universities I applied to, local council - they all gave me different answers. Not one of them gave me the same answer and a few of them, Student Loans most notably, gave me information that lead me to believe that I would be able to support my family with the financial support available.

The maximum PGCE bursary was already factored in to my calculations and still doesn't cover the rent and council tax. A 25% discount on my council tax won't make much of a difference - when I was working my council tax was the equivalent to 7 weeks take home salary. Not because I live in a big house but because my local council are greedy B******.

Studying part time while returning to work isn't going to happen. In the current financial climate, employers aren't going to employ people who need to regularly take time off to attend a school because they're training for another job. Studying part time while the wife returns to work isn't going to work for the reasons outlined in my original post and because you need to attend school for experience. So then my wife has to take time off to look after the kids while I attend school - again, no employer is going to buy that in this climate.

And the part time option takes 2 or 3 times longer than full time. My goal is to get back in to employment, not spend another 3 years out!

And you need to check (Belisarius) as part time students still aren't entitled to anything other than a student finance loan. Anything else - maintenance grant, bursaries, ALF and so on - is seen as income and immediately stops your entitlement to benefits.

MrsManda

stetho wrote: »

Look, I know it's very difficult to read my entire post before commenting on it. It's very long and you probably just wanted to get straight down to the insults without bothering with petty stuff like details.
And you need to check (Belisarius) as part time students still aren't entitled to anything other than a student finance loan. Anything else - maintenance grant, bursaries, ALF and so on - is seen as income and immediately stops your entitlement to benefits.

I'm sorry you think I was insulting you, that wasn't my intention. However the fact is you did apply to do a PGCE prior to discovering about funding then turning the offers down which does seem to have been a waste of your time and of others.
The rest of my post was however entirely relevant as it linked you to places where you could get details of funding. You could get upto:
£4950 - loan
£2906 - grant
£1508 - Parent Learning Allowance
£2642 - Adult Dependant Grant

Thats a funding package of £12,000
on top of that you can get 85% of childcare costs in the form of a grant which would allow your wife to also work.
On top of this you could get child tax credit, along with other benefits dependant on personal circumstances. PLA & childcare grants don't count as income when applying for benefits. All this information is available at the links I gave you and if you are serious about doing a PGCE you could post on the DFW and see if they can help you budget on that amount.

redpete

There are direct routes into teaching without waiting for PGCE. A quick google comes up with Graduate Teacher Programme through which you are employed by a school and receive training whilst employed. Have you looked at these?

The TDA looks a good start, also includes advice on funding etc.

Belisarius

stetho wrote: »

And you need to check (Belisarius) as part time students still aren't entitled to anything other than a student finance loan. Anything else - maintenance grant, bursaries, ALF and so on - is seen as income and immediately stops your entitlement to benefits.

Yes, I know. I don't have any income of any kind from any source, hence I'm entitled to benefits if I switch to a part-time status.