Quite Exciting...

[Farmer_Gyles]

good move zazen
i've applied for teacher training too - maths or ICT at 2ndary school - hoping to do SCITT - looks more relaxed than GTP ........

[zazen999]

FG - perhaps we can set up a support group next september....

[HayleyB]

SCITT, GTP when I was at school everything had names........

English - we'll all have to watch our typos now or we'll get Ds and Es

Good luck Zazen, I wish I was intellegent enough

[Irie Jan]

Go girl nice one I'm sure you wil make a raving success of it!

[zazen999]

English - we'll all have to watch our typos now or we'll get Ds and Es

Who me....???


Don't tell anyone, but I go into people's threads and correct their titles sometimes....

[HayleyB]

Zazen, go straight to the Norty Step...........

[janeyo]

I always wanted to be a teacher from the age of 3. I used to line my dolls up and have a little blackboard and teach them.

I became one and to be honest I didn't really like it. It's harder than you think, the kids these days do not want to be taught, the paperwork is immense and the hours are not as cushy as everyone thinks!

I even resigned from one job after having a chair thrown at me and being told by the head that it was my own fault for standing in the way of it!

Would I go and do it again if I had my time again - No Way.

I do teach evening classes now and they are lovely. But school kids are not pleasant any more.

Sorry, just my opinion!

[Glutton4...]

I had an inkling you were barking mad, you've now confirmed it lol .

But if that's what you really want to do, I wish you the best of luck with it all.

[zazen999]

I became one and to be honest I didn't really like it. It's harder than you think, the kids these days do not want to be taught, the paperwork is immense and the hours are not as cushy as everyone thinks!

I even resigned from one job after having a chair thrown at me and being told by the head that it was my own fault for standing in the way of it!

I've had the chair throwing thing and the ashtray flinging......having to manage grown men who didn't like being told what they had to do by a woman! The Ex-army guys were the most vocal and violent...

I've done some guest teaching - design technology - when they would get 'experts' into classes when I worked at the CITB. Although it was hard work - and on some days I did have to go and lie down in a dark room [we taught groups of kids in a airport hangar at Duxford and had 1600 through in 2 days]...I still enjoyed it. And I'm quite good at paperwork. I was a senior manager at a huge training provider 2 years ago and know the centre management side of it....and the funding and box ticking - etc etc.

No job is perfect...and you haven't put me off yet.

Nice try though!!

[allotmentlady]

Good luck hunnyxxxx U can do it

[GardeningMike]

Hi Zazen,

May I put a slightly different perspective on things, having been where you are now and having trained to be a primary teacher 10 years ago at the age of 42, giving up a career in horticultural research/lecturing. I also trained with several other mature students on my 1 year PGCE course.

Teaching is a respectable & noble profession, and as a teacher you are up there with the doctors and lawyers. However you need to be aware of what you are letting yourself in for. Teaching (the good bit) is one thing, endless paperwork for accountability is another.

I am not sure what form of training you want to do, GTP, PGCE or BEd degree.Whichever route you take it will be tough. I can only speak with personal experience though for the 1 year PGCE. Be warned, it will test your relationship with your partner as it is extremely demanding and the rest of your life will go on hold during that year, rest assured. I remember adding up the total number of words for the endless string of PGCE assignments and counted 27,000 (more than my doctoral thesis 15 years previously). In fact I found my PGCE more challenging than anything I have ever done before. It is very intense.

But when you have trained it doesn't stop there. As a full time teacher you will probably teach around 25 hours/week. However with the compulsory admin work this will bump up to an average of 53 hours (primary sch) or 52 hours (secondary sch) a week. However when I had a permanent teaching job, myself, and many colleagues, would do closer to 60. I, like many colleagues I trained with 10 yrs ago have become disillusioned with the endless rounds of usefless government/LEA initiatives that have just added to administrative workload and sapping ones creative energies for the teaching part of the job.

When you reach this point (and the chances are that you will!) there is still a way out but continue teaching. Become a supply teacher, unless you decide to join the 50% who quit the profession within 5 years of training. I left a permanent teaching job 2 years ago to do supply work and haven't looked back since then. I still really enjoy my teaching, I don't take admin work or any other pressures home and am able to have a healthy work/life balance with family/friends - my working (full-time) week is now around 25 hours and I am paid the same wage as when I worked my butt off doing 60 per week!

Hope this helps...

[zazen999]

Thanks Mike.

To be honest, 70-80 hour weeks were the norm when working on site [before the WTD]...and I've worked for the CITB.......in a senior managerial position - so I know Red Tape...some of their procedures hadn't changed since their inception in the 60s [true].

But, supply teaching sounds like you get all the bonuses without the hassle...my ultimate aim would be teaching older kids not primary...so I'll bear it in mind. Thanks for the heads up.

[Flummery]

Who me....???


Don't tell anyone, but I go into people's threads and correct their titles sometimes....

We notice, you know!

[zazen999]

We notice, you know!

*sniggers......

[Rhona]

Oh wow! Thats fantastic news, and dead exciting!

I've always had a long-held dream of being an English Literature teacher, but since my BiL has just started doing that very job, I realise that I'm probably not cut out for it (besides having pursued an entirely different career!) By the way, he teaches at a slightly 'challenging' school here in Sheffield and still loves it, even with all the stress etc.

Brilliant. Keep us up to date!