Teaching - is it a good job?

HRV

As others have said if you really want to teach go for it- but don't do it to fit round your kids. I think the flexibility and workload varies massively depending on the school, age and type of school.

It's massively rewarding and this is reward in itself but you must also be ready for the lows as others have described.

I currently don't have my own children (but do have 2 young step kids who we have in the week) but I leave my haouse at 7.20am and return at between 5 and 6. I live 10 mins from my school.

It's worth looking into job availability in your area as this varies as well and if you have kids you won't have so much flexibility.

Hope this helps
Good luck

VK-2008

you could job share if that suits?

depending on where you stay some places are finding it hard to get jobs

up in scotland where i am there are like no jobs

Newly_retired

I taught for 40 years which included some gaps - now retired. Agree with almost all posters so far.
Not always so easy to fit in with your own children and trying to do so can hold your career back at some stages.
Exhausting especially in first year/ at end of terms/ at exam marking or report writing time / during week of special event eg school play.
Can be very frustrating and very rewarding. Never enough hours in the day. Too much bureaucracy, too many pointless demands.
Some wonderful kids, some horrendous. Impossible / supportive parents. Delight in being able to use your subject and seeing pupils enjoy it too. Great feeling when they thank you, when they do well thanks to your hard work and perseverance.
Endless taunts from other people about short days ( 9-3 - oh no, more like 8 - 6 and then more hours in the evening and weekends)
and long holidays. We used to spend the first week of the summer sorting out at school and home and unwinding, take two weeks holiday, plus another week to see relatives, and three weeks preparation for the next term.

Try to visit some schools, talk to others, find out what the job involves and if there are likely to be any vacancies in your area.

kernewek

I've been teaching for 7 years now. I'm lucky I work in a good school with generally, very good students. I really enjoyed it at first, but unfortunately am now wondering what I am doing. There are so many new government initiatives coming out. I seem to spend all my time dealing with IEPs (SEN stuff) Data entry, and carrying out pointless surveys as opposed to actually teaching. When you do come to teaching you have AFL, APP, PLTS, and whatever other silly acronyms the government invent you end up with a lesson that is something similar to a channel 5 real life documentary, ie. about 5 seconds of meaningful content.

Owain_Moneysaver

Possibly teaching in the independent sector is different? Or would the buildings be older and the parents even more pushy?

MichelleM

Have you considered the GTP? Its like on the job training and you get paid for it! (Not a lot but more than PGCE!)

I teach English in secondary comp with 1600 inner city kids from all walks of life and countries!

Pros- I love my job. It challenges me mentally, I love learning from the kids, I love the banter and humour, I love the naughty ones that you win over eventually, I LOVE being a form tutor, I love making schemes of work- its my hobby! I love that fact that each day is different. I love the friends Ive made (teachers and ex pupils). I love the extra curricular stuff you can choose to do. The school trips! There is so much! And, of course, the financial security.

Cons- Pressure- from teachers and parents at times. Frustration when you know others arent doing their job properly. Tiredness- I dont teach anything important during the last week of each term- the students just switch off when they know theyve got a break coming up. Having extra responsibilties will cause you a lot more stress so think carefully if you go for promotion- is it worth the money?

I have only ever had one problem with a student and he was making subtle racist remarks, he was a crafty student so it was difficult to report him. In the end I kept a diary and handed it when I thought I had enough evidence. When he was excluded I had an applause from the rest of the class as it had been going on for years. And would you know... since that point he befriended me and ended up with two B grades after trying hard in class. We still talk now even though he left 3 years ago.

During your first 2 years of teaching you WILL be spendng a lot of time creating resources. If youre organised enough you will get to the point where planning a lesson is reading your plan, possibly some photocopying and the odd tweaking if you have students who need extra support. Thats when you can really enjoy it. And thats when you can go home half an hour after the students have go home- not at 6pm!

And finally- if youre in a [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] school who arent supporting you, tell your LEA and do something about it! A bad school can cause trainees to fail and give up on teaching as they think its normal when its not!

BTW, please dont make any comments about my spellings, punct or grammar!

alm721

Just to echo what others have said. It appears to fit around family life but don't be under any illusion. I frequently leave work at the end of the day to rush home, cook tea, put kids to bed, tidy up etc and then sit down to several hours of planning, marking etc. Hubby moans constantly that I'm always working and other people will make constant cracks about what an easy life it is and how you only work 9-3 which is sooooo untrue it's unreal. Holidays are a massive plus as long as you don't want to take a large family abroad as costs are high.
I love my job in many ways but have now gone part time to 3 days a week as I just cannot jusitify giving all my time to other peoples kids and being too knackered to spend quality time with my own. I have taught full time with kids but honestly feel that I end up being neither a good teacher nor a good mother and it's not in my nature to be happy with that so for me part time was the answer.
It is a very rewarding job but not as family friendly as would appear.

yummymummy79

I will be starting the PGCE in 2 weeks and am prepared for a lot of work, but in a way I'm looking forward to it having not done anything for the last 4 months! You can do it part time where I am (Lincoln), it starts in the April rather than the Sept and you can do it in 4,5 or 6 terms. I did look into it as an option, I think it's 1 day in uni, 1 day in school and the rest of the week off in the early stages. You still have to do the 6 and 8 week placements full time though so I decided I'd rather just knuckle down and get it done full time.

I have a 6 year old son who lives with me for half the week whose dad and new gf are very helpful and accommodating so hopefully it should all work OK with getting him and picking him up from school, with a bit of breakfast club and help from his nan thrown in too. Ideally I'll be looking for a part time job at the end of it, I was looking on the council website throughout last year and there were quite a few PT jobs around so hoping it'll work out OK.

My plan B if I don't actually like working in a primary school would be something like college/uni/adult ed teaching if I can switch over OK, or maybe some kind of tutoring.

paulrn_2

Not sure about what sort of a job it is, it would not be for me I hate kids !!! but 75% of my daughters class who qualified this year cannot get a teaching job.

Curlywurli

I only work part time since having my children and I honestly don't know how my friends who have two areas of responsibility and teach full time actually have a home life as well.