Is it crazy to think about leaving kids to get a job?

dizzyrascal

It would be a real shame to waste your academic achievements on being a TA or a technician, especially as you have got a PGCE already. My understanding of becoming a teaching assistant is that you start on the lower grade until you have more experience (approx 15k income). By the time you have covered your rent and travel costs etc I don't think it would create enough income for you to be worth the effort and separation from your children. Also, most TA's are used in a primary school setting and not for A level students. The TA's that work in senior schools tend to work with special needs.
Have you signed up to any supply agencies locally or in the UK? If so what has their feedback been about jobs and their availability?
Can you do home tutoring for local 'O' & 'A' level students? Or be an associate tutor for the OU? These would mean you would mostly work from home.
The OU are always looking for tutors and it would not matter where you lived for most of the time. Tutorials tend to be once a month for most subjects so you might have to travel occasionally, but not often.
Is there any other form of e-tutoring you could do? Or work for a local college? Perhaps you should look at a portfolio career rather than a traditional job.
Sorry if you have already considered these options but I'm just writing as I think. Also, have you talked to the university where you studied your PGCE, either for careers advice or to ask if they have any useful contacts in local schools(they usually do). It might be worth talking to them and it can't do any harm.
Hope this helps

anxious_mum

I have been doing this for years, ever since my boys were 2 and 4 years old (they are now 16 and 18!). I work away in Europe most weeks, sometimes all week, sometimes Tues-Thurs. I have been divorced since they were really young, my mum has always been their main carer and it has worked perfectly.

Now they are a bit more grown up, if I'm home midweek they ask why I'm not away! Children very quickly adapt, especially when they have a solid homebase of father/grand-parents etc. I suspect it might be you who would struggle with the separation, I did at first, but the financial gains soon outweigh the emotional ones.

You have fantastic qualifications, don't let them go to waste.

SarEl

leftieM wrote: »

I'm considering applying for jobs in GB but this would mean leaving my children with my husband for a month or more at a time. He would effectively be a single parent. I'm wondering if any women have done this? I know it's more 'normal' for men to do it - my own father did it - but I haven't heard of any mums doing it.

If you leave the "N" out of the NI, my family did this for two centuries! My mother was left in Ireland when my Gran joined my grandfather a few years after he came. She lived with her grandmother until it was her turn to arrive! One way or another all my ancestors arrived from various parts of the globe by this means - or left by the same means again! My great-great grandmother did it from Italy - widowed young she left her children and went to Ireland! They followed her later. Lots of women have, and continue to do it because it is the best chance their families have. And if you can secure employment in teaching you can visit (much easier these days!) and then bring them over once you are settled. Men, women - it makes no diference. It's always been about who has the best chance of succeeding at establishing a better life. This time it happens to be you. Don't feel guilty - if it works out you, your husband and your children will be better off by far. And if it doesn't - well nothing has been lost.

Go for it.

leftieM

dizzyrascal wrote: »

It would be a real shame to waste your academic achievements on being a TA or a technician, especially as you have got a PGCE already. My understanding of becoming a teaching assistant is that you start on the lower grade until you have more experience (approx 15k income). By the time you have covered your rent and travel costs etc I don't think it would create enough income for you to be worth the effort and separation from your children. Also, most TA's are used in a primary school setting and not for A level students. The TA's that work in senior schools tend to work with special needs.
Have you signed up to any supply agencies locally or in the UK? If so what has their feedback been about jobs and their availability?
Can you do home tutoring for local 'O' & 'A' level students? Or be an associate tutor for the OU? These would mean you would mostly work from home.
The OU are always looking for tutors and it would not matter where you lived for most of the time. Tutorials tend to be once a month for most subjects so you might have to travel occasionally, but not often.
Is there any other form of e-tutoring you could do? Or work for a local college? Perhaps you should look at a portfolio career rather than a traditional job.
Sorry if you have already considered these options but I'm just writing as I think. Also, have you talked to the university where you studied your PGCE, either for careers advice or to ask if they have any useful contacts in local schools(they usually do). It might be worth talking to them and it can't do any harm.
Hope this helps

Thank you all.
I wouldn't go to England to work as a TA, just as a teacher. TA jobs are what I'm applying for here.
I'm trying to get some A-level and GCSE pupils to tutor and I have a few on the go but it's very irregular. In the past few years the students would have come weekly. Now they come fortnightly or less often, presumably because the parents don't have the means they once had. The A-level modules have just finished so I'll advertise again in a couple of weeks as that's when people realise they need help. At the moment I make between £30 and £60 a week (or nothing some weeks). I'd be thrilled if I could get 6 students a week.
I'll look into the other ideas too. Thanks.

eamon

There are many hundreds of men & women that do the Belfast - London (and many other English cities) shuttle every weekend. It is doable. Google can help with the sums and I sure there are many sites that can help with weekly lodgings in your city of choice. There was also a recent article in the Belfast Tele that mentioned that the various education boards were looking to offload "senior" teachers. If there is any mileage in that story your stay in England could be shorter than you envisaged.

lindsaygalaxy

Tbh, if u have just trained then you will be at the bottom of the pay scale, take off tax and ni, then cost of renting a room during the week and travel back to Ireland every weekend, I doubt you would get much put of it. I'm a teacher in the south, had to do supply and maternity cover for the first few years, supply can be hard to come by and very hard work at times, and maternity cover rarely covers the holidays as people come back at the start of them.

agrinnall

Although an earlier post mentioned supply the OP never has, and she has also never said she would return to NI every week, in the first post she says she would return once a month or less often. I think that means she would perhaps be looking to get a full time job, which with her qualifications in Chemistry I would hope she will be able to get.

Spirit_2

I did this for a secondment when my daughter was about 10. I commuted by plane weekly.

It made a change as for much of our married life it is Mr Spirit who travels for work.

It makes long term economic sense for you to give it a try. If it looks like you could put down roots here, once established could you all relocate to the UK?

dizzyrascal

I realise that the OP only has Newly Qualified Status so I'm not sure of the rules but could you consider being an external examiner for O's & A's. I would have thought your PhD would be useful here even though you don't have much teaching experience.
Also, again it is only part of a portfolio career but my local university uses research students and research grads to invigilate at exam time. I think the pay is quite good but it only covers 8 weeks work per year (2 x 4 weeks) (not sure if they use them for resits but that would be another 3 weeks work). Might be worth asking as the work is in term time so would fit in with your children and schools.
Just thinking out loud again.

leftieM

Just to clarify, I'm in my second year of teaching as I qualified in April 2010 (OU) so I'm not an NQT any more. I know I couldn't afford to come home every weekend on a teacher's salary so I reckon it could only be monthly at best. I am looking for something steady rather than supply work.
I've really appreciated the input here. It seems that it isn't a crazy notion and worth considering. I've spoken to my husband and, if nothing much has appeared this time next year, then we'll look at other options. As Eamon said, in NI they are paying off expensive teachers with enhanced reduncancy this year so if anyone retires, they will be able to replace them. The DofE here realises that there is a big build up of new teachers without work. I know I'm not alone and, at every interview, I meet people in the same boat as me. I met a guy at interview who had been teaching abroad in international schools for 20 years but struggled to get shortlisted because his experience wasn't relevant!