Teachers pay and conditions

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silverysea
Posts: 1105
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:32 pm

Teachers pay and conditions

Post by silverysea »

My dd1 is interested in teaching now, especially primary.

Meanwhile teachers regularly strike and it sounds like a horrible job to me.

Should I try to dissuade her?

On the other hand, all professions are expected to work more than their contracted hours IME, especially in early years.

I think she would be a great teacher but don't want her to get stuck on a one-way street to burnout and demoralisation.
MamaBear
Posts: 574
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:17 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by MamaBear »

According to the BBC 50% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years. Having said that(!) it is a very satisfying job.
Your dd needs to weigh up the pros and cons.

PROS:


Actually helping someone learn!
Making a difference
Frequent holidays
Creating amazing lesson plans that the children enjoy
Sharing your enthusiasm for the subjects you love

CONS:

Exhausting (especially in NQT year)
Ofsted
Overbearing pushy parents
Aggressive behaviour from the kids can be stressful.
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by yoyo123 »

I think she should go for it.

Thinking of the teachers I work with (primary), they may be tired and feel stressed, but every one of them says that they love their job.

She is the only person who can make the decision.
silverysea
Posts: 1105
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:32 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by silverysea »

She will definitely be making the final decision but she is only in year 9 so I think I can show her options now, she still listens to my opinion. I haven't formed one on teaching except that I myself couldn't do it now in my 50's with dodgy health even if I had been doing it all along. I'm ok so far in my academic/routine uni job, never did large-scale teaching. Most of my female university classmates are school teachers, not in England though-all with families.

I briefly saw an article yesterday about middle aged women being edged out, and can't cope with menopausal symptoms in the classroom! Jeez.
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by KB »

No doubt it is hard work and training and first couple of years are very tough but most get through.
For good teachers they will get choice of jobs/locations and there is flexibility of when you do the hours beyond the school day.
My experience is that primary can be more exhausting than secondary so certainly wouldn't narrow down at this stage, especially if has any gift for shortage subjects.
As far as gsce options go as long as you have the basics ( inc sciences anf mfl)there shouldn't be any issues anyway.

Would be interesting to see the profiles of the early leavers - are they good ones taking up more fruitful employment elsewhere or those who thought it would be easy option/ had few other options and just can't hack it! Or women who actually are taking a career break to have children and end up coming back to teach later? ( just my random musings)
wonderwoman
Posts: 511
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by wonderwoman »

It's a great job - we need more bright, enthusiastic students coming into teaching.
I have done a lot of work with students over a number of years and I may have been unlucky, but many of the more recent students training to do primary that I have supervised have struggled. Their academic background simply hasn't been good enough. I think that some leave teaching for that reason.

It's a very hard job - not for the faint hearted. I come from a long line of teachers, but none of my children are interested, although they would be good. They have done the research and can earn far more doing something else and they see how many hours I work.

I have recently moved from primary to secondary - even though I am teaching challenging pupils it is far easier, less stressful, I enjoy the classroom environment just as much as primary and I have far less work to do outside school. Something to consider there.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by Guest55 »

My experience is that primary can be more exhausting than secondary
Disagree totally - FAR more marking and pressure of 'high stake' exams.

Marking at A level takes ages and there is no TA to help.
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by yoyo123 »

each year group had its swings and roundabouts and we all have government hurdles to climb eg the phonics check in year 1 , especially with children who may not even speak English. The marking in the lower classes is not as much, but the school day is full on, 30 pairs of hands tapping you and demanding attention immediately.
I am KS2 trained and I find Reception exhausting, the record keeping is phenomenal everything. Has to be backed up bŷ photographic evidence and the children have to be observed and a writte transcript of their play or answers to questions kept. a Ta is not such a luxury whe you have 30 children shouting out at once!


I think it maintain be a good idea for all teachers to see what the others have to do. I have only worked with R to year 7 and the spread is huge.
magwich2
Posts: 866
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:33 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by magwich2 »

Don't know what happened to 40 desks in orderly rows with a blackboard at the front and a nice middle class teacher who speaks the Queen's english in charge. Oh wait- whoops I do. You have to pay £7k per annum for that nowadays at your local private school. Or, you could always go to Africa or India for the same thing. Why is this country going to h*ll in a handcart so quickly?
wonderwoman
Posts: 511
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07 pm

Re: Teachers pay and conditions

Post by wonderwoman »

yoyo123 wrote:each year group had its swings and roundabouts
Quite right and some people are more suited to different year groups. I have taught every year group at primary, including nursery - which I was awful at. It takes a very special person to teach nursery classes.
KB wrote:My experience is that primary can be more exhausting than secondary
I think the key words are 'My experience'. This is my experience too, but no one is saying marking A level work isn't exhausting and time consuming too.

When I taught foundation and KS1 the planning took ages and I was exhausted at the end of the day - young pupils are very demanding of your attention, but of course the marking didn't take long and I used to mark with the pupils. KS2 pupils are more independent, but create more marking and for the school SATs in Y6 are pretty high pressure. Tiring in a different way. I moved to secondary because I prefer teaching older pupils and as a result, in my experience, I find it less stressful and I'm definitely doing less hours at home even though I have increased my hours at work.

Anyone considering teaching as a career should get themselves into as many different schools as they can across a wide range of ages.
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