Thinking about retraining to become a teacher

Alleycat

I currently work 20 hours per week (though on maternity leave at the moment) and have a 5 year old and 13 week old. We have been told that redundancies are on the cards so it has got me thinking about my ongoing career. I work in housing advice and with all the budget cuts it would be very difficult to find another job in this field that pays as well as my current job.

I have always wanted to be a teacher and have considered training on many occasions but the time has never been right. However with possibly facing losing my job it has got me thinking again.

I would like to teach KS1 (reception or yr 1 I think) and think I would be pretty good at it. The only worries I have are about the hours.

Could any teachers on here with children tell me how you find it? I love being able to drop off and pick up DD at least part of the week and enjoy the social aspect of chatting with other parents in the playground. If I were working full time I would miss out on this and would struggle to arrange as many playdates as my DD currently has.

Would it be possible to work job share? What sort of hours do you work and how to you manage childcare?

Any advice/opinions/experience would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Pee

Just a thought, but the current cuts with the public sector means that it might be harder to get a job teaching in future.

Alleycat

Yes, that is something I had thought of as well! I had been told about the redundancies and had started thinking about retraining only a couple of days before the emergency budget was called. Talk about timing!

clairehi

Im not a teacher myself but several of the classes at our primary school are taught by pairs of "job share " teachers and it seems to work ok (as long as the teachers have a similar style and can hand-over effectively).
the school seems quite happy to take on part time staff, in fact one of my neighbours works as a p/t teacher, having started off just doing supply work there.

counsellorneil

I'm not a teacher but my wife is and has been for just over 10 years now. She now teaches year 6. Started out at reception but have moved through the school at the "request" of the three heads she has worked with. I think it unlikely you'd be able to stay permanently in reception or year 1 but you may enjoy teaching other years as you gain more experience, that though may depend on the school you work in.

I'm sure you know that the apparently low hours of employment are not the reality. My wife is in school often by 08:00 each day and doesn't leave until 5 most days. Perhaps that is just her way of working, but I think there is a great deal to be done outside of the class room. Lesson plans, meeting parents, after school clubs, etc all take extra time. The holidays are also taken up by school work,. Yes, the summer break is great but don't expect to have the whole summer time to relax.

This all may sound harsh. I don't want to put you off, but the reality for our family is not the cushy number that teaching is often portrayed as being - far from it.

From talking to my wife to get on a teaching course you often have to have been seen to have some experience. Your hours are obviously limited but volunteering in school to help out can be seen as an advantage. Suggest if you are serious to approach the local teacher colleges and ask them for their entrance requirements. It may not just be academic qualifications that get you in.

Person_one

I should warn you that a friend of mine did a 4 year primary teaching degree and it took about 3 years after graduating for her to find a permanent teaching job. Lots of the people she graduated with are still doing supply or temporary work.

So that's an awful long time spent retraining and then no certainty afterwards!

I don't think the 4 year course is the only way to qualify but its the most specialised and includes a lot of placements so probably gives the best chance of finding a post afterwards.

Pee

With regard to the hours involved in being a teacher, you are quite right that it is not 9 til 3.30 and there is some work that needs to be done in the school after hours - such as putting work up on walls - however lots of the marking and report writing can be done from home so sure you will be working, but hopefully able to supervise your own children doing their homework at the same time.

It is also true that there is work needing to be done in the holidays, but this can be very flexible compared to other jobs.

Kate78

The employment situation depends on where you live. But it does seem to be harder for primary teachers to get work than secondary, especially if re-location is impractical for you.

There are job share/part time options out there. Also short term contracts/sickness/maternity leave cover and the like (since primary school teachers *tend* to be female there's always someone off on maternity).

You can do the four year B.ed or the one year PGCE if you already have a degree. Both of these give you Qualified Teacher Status which is what you need to teach in schools.

Bear in mind also that you don't just train for one year group (although you can specialise) so although you may start out teaching Reception, your Head can always decide to move you to a different age group the next year, so you could end up with juniors, or, joy of joy, year 6.

The out of hours work can be a bit of a bind, although you don't have so much in the way of marking for the younger kids, there are still reports and various paperwork tasks to be done.

I am a former secondary school teacher - love teaching but hate school - and the progeny of two primary teachers.

More info: https://www.tda.gov.uk

danielle1977

Person_one wrote: »

I should warn you that a friend of mine did a 4 year primary teaching degree and it took about 3 years after graduating for her to find a permanent teaching job. Lots of the people she graduated with are still doing supply or temporary work.

So that's an awful long time spent retraining and then no certainty afterwards!

I don't think the 4 year course is the only way to qualify but its the most specialised and includes a lot of placements so probably gives the best chance of finding a post afterwards.

Maybe its the person-not the lack of jobs-I know a few people that have just finished-2 have permanent fulltime jobs in september

teacherandmum

Well my name gives me away - i'm a teacher (class of 25 year 1 and 2) and a mum (3yo and 33 weeks pregnant).

I work full time and i intend to go back full time after my maternity leave ends next september.

Firstly training. Do you have a degree? are you planning to do the 3 or 4 year teaching degree course or the PGCE for 12 months if you already have a degree. Teacher training is tough and you would also have to think about childcare options when you are trianing too. For example when i trained on the PGCE option, it was 9am -6pm of lectures, workshops etc every day and then twice in the year we went out to school placements. Check with the provider you are thinking of going with, where their school placements take place. It could be miles from where you live and where you are training.

So job shares. as i said i work full time as i had my request for 4 days a week turned down due to financial implications for the school. we do have a job share in nursery/reception where one teacher works mon and tues and then the other for the rest of the week. They are never in school together so correspondance is usually done through phome calls or leaving notes. They do share the timetable teaching specific subjects each so there is no huge overlap. if you job share you have to be very firm on yourself not to 'catch up ' on work on a day you are not employed. I know our job share teachers may do their planning, write reports in times that they are not officially working.

Right my day at the moment looks like this. Please be aware that DD comes to school with me (when she used to go to nursery i'd have to drop her off before school). ALSO my husband works away from home mon-fri so it's just me at home in the week so all the things you see and what I do!

6.50 - get me and DD up, washed and dressed
Breakfasts
7.50 -8am leave the house (usually a mess!) and drive to school. we live rurally so school is 25 miles away.
8.30 - arrive at school and prepare resources, check e-mails, prepare assembly etc
8.40 - children start arriving but i can carry on with prep as they play unless parents want to talk/discuss something
9am - school day starts
I do 4 break duties a week. I always take my morning break but tend to work thru my afternoon break. The kids have 1hr for lucnh. I spend half hour of that working and half hour having my own lunch.
3.30 - kids go home. i collect DD from her classroom

4pm - leave school. Can be 5.30pm on staff meeting night (DD at grans) Before i was pregnant i was expected to do a club one noght a week until half 4 (DD in after school club)
4.30pm - get home and the usual tea, bung the washing in, play with the DD, tidy up from the morning and wash breakfast dishes!!
7pm - bath and bed the DD
7.30pm - half hour of putting washing out, ironing, wash tea dishes, water garden etc
8pm - get down to school work for an hour, more at critical times like report writing, assessment times, lead up to xmas etc.

i try not to work on the weekend but i have been teaching for 12 years and can sort of get by if needed. If you are new to the job you may need to work a few hours at the weekend to get by as well

When this next one comes we will have to leave the house about 15 mins or more earlier to drop it off and nursery (opens at 8.15am, place already booked!) and pick him/her up before coming home, closes at 5.30pm).

starting salaries are good for teachers IMO. Nursery will cost £30 a day when the baby goes. My authority offer a salary sacrifice scheme.
There are good perks to being a teacher, like the holidays! but remember that you would also be required to go INSET days when DD isn't in school so you'd also need child care for her for those days.

sorry if it's a long post. i just wanted to write it all down for you! Check out the TES website forums as a i think there's one called thinking about teaching????

Good luck!

pattycake

My daughter is a secondary school teacher and it certainly is not a 9 to 3 job with loads of holidays. She leaves her daughter with me at 7.30 am and it can often be after 5.30pm when she collects her.

She then has work to do in the evening and at the week-end. She also often goes into school during the holidays to do jobs she just has not had time for during the term.

She hardly ever gets a full lunch break as kids come to speak to her.

She is permanently exhausted. Teaching is no easy option.

I also seem to remember that after her degree (3years) and her PGCE (1year), when she was a NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) she had to teach full time for a year before she was fully qualified.

My respect for the teaching profession is really high when I see what my daughter and her husband who is an assistant head have to do.