Work as a teacher: Why?

[Cyril Haearn]

Politicians bleat about 'education, education and education' but what is it like to be a teacher?

I went to a good high school, memories are of chaos, some teachers could not control the class, others were nasty

Must be hard to remember so many names, and teachers must know much more than their pupils so they can answer nearly all questions. Should teachers generally be older people, can one be mature enough at 23?

School was bad for me, got interested in learning many years later, I go to lots of talks, even delivered some training myself, to motivated adults

[Tangled Metal]

The answer is hell yeah!

A mate in a walking group went to oxford uni then went back for a teaching qualification then straight into teaching science in a school that was failing badly, iirc riots were recorded in the guardian online story about parent and pupil protests. So very difficult. After a couple of years promotion and change to new school as head of science. At most 3 years teaching. A natural and someone who knew teaching was going to be their career.

So simply put with good training with the right level of natural ability and character you get a good teacher straight out of university. With associated benefits to the kids they're teaching.

It is a very hard job though. I used to work with someone who left teaching at primary school due to a complete mental health breakdown. Primary school! A few years doing a low stress job that was way below his abilities he recovered enough to become a supply teacher. Less stress than a full time one but still hard. Afaik he's still doing it. Never came back to the company so assumed it went well.

[Oldjohnw]

My wife went from Oxford straight into teaching modern languages where she remained for 33 years, the last 25 in one school.

[pwa]

My wife has been teaching for about 30 years and judging by the enthusiastic greetings she gets when she meets former pupils in the street (often themselves now in their 40s) she does it well. She certainly puts a lot of work in. Contrary to what some people think, she gets to work by 7.45 and doesn't leave until about 5.30, and most evenings she puts in another stint between 7 and 9. Weekends usually see her doing a bit too. School holidays give some respite but even then she puts in whole days of prep work in readiness for the next term.

She does enjoy much of the teaching and she really cares about the kids, but she would not choose teaching as a career if she had her time again. In theory she has had wage rises but in reality her income has gone down in real terms since the financial crash. Like many teachers her position as Head of Department has been lost due to reorganisation, and effectively she has been demoted. She pays more towards her pension, which she will get later than she originally expected, and she expects to struggle with her income when she retires. Against this background, the school she works at is becoming more "understanding" with "difficult" pupils, making it hard to do any teaching at all in some classes. A few weeks ago she came home really upset after a group of lads had ganged up on her at lunchtime as she was attempting to supervise the detention of one of their mates. They humiliated her. The school's response? Totally inadequate. She can't wait to get out but is trapped by financial need. She has ensured that our own kids will not be going into teaching.

[Tangled Metal]

My friend was the offspring of two teachers. One became more of an academic/ adviser in the end I think and the other went part time early on. I think that was the story, a good few years back I got told that. Could say born and bred for teaching.

[NUKe]

Politicians bleat about 'education, education and education' but what is it like to be a teacher?

I went to a good high school, memories are of chaos, some teachers could not control the class, others were nasty

Must be hard to remember so many names, and teachers must know much more than their pupils so they can answer nearly all questions. Should teachers generally be older people, can one be mature enough at 23?

School was bad for me, got interested in learning many years later, I go to lots of talks, even delivered some training myself, to motivated adults

I think Although teaching has its problems, largely underfunding, it is much better, my kids are coming to the ends of there school careers and its not being all bad, despite the high school they went to being rated as needs improvement and special measures, the eldest got to Oxford, the middle one is hopping to go to UCL next year and the third is a bit less academic but has been well cared for.

The system has been much more inclusive since our days.

[Tangled Metal]

I think the standard of teaching and especially techniques are light years ahead of when I was at school (76 or 77 to 90). For a start no beatings in primary school for being bored stiff and daydreaming just to get through the day. I was in a very large class of mixed years with one teacher. I was advanced in ability but got taught at the level of the average ability for my age. That set me up for problems. I could read before starting school and was probably a year advanced in the first term for maths. Still remember the maths books with addition sums where each number was colour coded and the answer was effectively given with a coloured line where the answer would go (obviously you wrote the answer in your book not the text book). In spotted her colour coding straight away.

Of course now the teachers aren't gods. Back then any complaint got the teachers defensive. The parent and kid then gets a negative label through school. I'm not sure if it's gone the other way too much but as far as I'm concerned there's more inspiration coming out of teachers. From day one they're trying to create a nicer nice environment for kids so they want to learn. Certainly primary schools do.

[Oldjohnw]

I think Although teaching has its problems, largely underfunding, it is much better, my kids are coming to the ends of there school careers and its not being all bad, despite the high school they went to being rated as needs improvement and special measures, the eldest got to Oxford, the middle one is hopping to go to UCL next year and the third is a bit less academic but has been well cared for.

The system has been much more inclusive since our days.

Depends where you live.

[Carlton green]

I have some friends and relatives who either have or do work as teachers. Though not first class honours type folk they are able people who apply themselves to their job and (overall) seem to enjoy what they do, they all complain that the job has become unnecessarily burdensome and have a keen (but benign) eye towards pupil ‘management’ - a school that doesn’t is one to move on from, if and when you can.

The wages aren’t great - but many others do worse and have much less job security - and the career prospects are mixed. However, if you’re capable of doing the (longer than expected) hours in term time then you do get blocks of time back to yourself and they can help with family commitments or just allow you to have a month travelling around in say the USA or Asia. Typically other career paths do not allow such flexibility. As for the joys of working with children some people like children and some children are significantly more likeable than others.

The bottom line is that for some it can be a good career and it can be a good (and possibly helpful) part of a broader career. It all depends where you end up teaching, what the school’s ‘values’ are and whether you have an aptitude for the task.

Many who enter the profession haven’t the aptitude and they would be happier doing something else, many who enter the profession leave it and move on to other things but the teaching experience gained still has some value to them. I know of one young women who went to work at a crushingly difficult school with particularly chauvinistic boys who’s home culture suppressed women. The experience would have broken most of us but she managed to come through that torture and go on to a career in industry armed with the ability to deliver presentations to even the most hostile of audiences. So it’s a career path for some and a stepping stone of variable value for others.

[Cyril Haearn]

At my school one could learn French, German, Russian, Chinese
The language teachers were British
Can that be right, could they be good enough to teach us properly?
..
A teacher bleated:
'Trying to teach children to read seemed hopeless, one often thought it almost impossible
Then suddenly, all of them could read!'

[landsurfer]

Our friend qualified as a teacher, she taught in primary schools in Kent and Cornwall, she was a specialised Science teacher as well.
6 years later she sells tickets for Greater Western at Penzance station.
She's paid more and has not been threatened with a knife by any 10 year old girls ....

Work as a teacher: ............ WHY !!

Our friends daughter qualified as a teacher at Durham Uni ...... 4 years in the field and she now earns her living as a Sports Coach ....

mmmm ....

Our oldest girl, our pretty maid, 10, exhibits extreme violence and anger at school and at home ....school deals with it and helps calm her down, but actual help via CAMS or Early Intervention is non existent ..... We are all scared by her fears and behaviour .... wrapping her in love is not working ...

Teaching in the modern environment has become extended child care ..... respect to them all ......

[Carlton green]

Our friend qualified as a teacher, she taught in primary schools in Kent and Cornwall, she was a specialised Science teacher as well.
6 years later she sells tickets for Greater Western at Penzance station.
She's paid more and has not been threatened with a knife by any 10 year old girls ....

Work as a teacher: ............ WHY !!

Our friends daughter qualified as a teacher at Durham Uni ...... 4 years in the field and she now earns her living as a Sports Coach ....

mmmm ....

Our oldest girl, our pretty maid, 10, exhibits extreme violence and anger at school and at home ....school deals with it and helps calm her down, but actual help via CAMS or Early Intervention is non existent ..... We are all scared by her fears and behaviour .... wrapping her in love is not working ...

Teaching in the modern environment has become extended child care ..... respect to them all ......

Why work as a teacher? Well it seems to me that you’ve given a couple of good examples of how people gained interaction skills and a working life start point from which to move onto other things.ie. Teaching was a stepping stone to other career paths and everyone needs a first stepping stone.

Dealing with challenging behaviour from disturbed children must surely be an unexpected role for any mainstream teacher yet it is important. A friend works one to one with SEN pupils and - I was shocked when told - they can, and do, ‘kick-off’ in some pretty physical ways towards each other and sometimes staff too. I can but respect her and wish that society could manage such people and situations in a better way. I’m not sure that wrapping people in love works for all, well not fluffy love; perhaps I’m completely wrong but I believe that care and compassion is sometimes best delivered in a firm and directive way that ensures specific outcomes and the safety of all.

[merseymouth]

Morning all, Why would anyone want to take up teaching? Well, I'm glad that many people take up the challenge for the right reasons & are adaptable enough to view each pupil as someone to help reach their potential!
SWMBO was at the Chalk Face for nearly 42 years, JMI specialist. When she took training it wasn't a total graduate profession, which may be why she didn't go the pegs & holes route, certainly not one size fits all, which is as it is currently viewed. Sure there was a whole class lesson plan, but it was worked in a modular fashion with sub routines to help all abilities in the class.
She made all her own lesson plans, created all resources, no photo copy sheets retained for year after year, no modern cut & paste jobs.
After marriage I would come home from my work to get stuck in making the needed material, clear contact wrestling sessions, masses of work cards to be crafted. Very little of the resources employed were bought in ready made, this of course being pre-computer!
Even the so called long holidays were spent creating & crafting items to move the children forward in the learning process, no assumption that all children would soak up the lessons at the same rate, but always seeking to find the catalyst that worked in the individual case.
Even in retirement she finds satisfaction in meeting up with many of here former charges? Attending one of my medical outings yesterday, one of many, we found that the specialist Lung Clinic Practitioner was indeed one of her former pupils!
He spoke to SWMBO asking "Did you used to be a teacher?"! My surname triggered it, but the fact that he had a nice ginger beard fooled her, so no instant recognition. So her work with a young lad over 20 years ago has helped me in my health mission, I appreciate the outcome.
This is a quite common fact of life for me, even when I was being fitted with a spinal epidural device ahead of a major op I found that one of the staff was taught by SWMBO over 40 years ago!! One never forgets a good teacher or a bad one? I still recall the "Flog Em" merchants of over 60 years ago, indeed a while back whilst working in a basket weaving place I had "Scoff", the very Flog Em man, come in for some new lengths of osier for that very purpose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of our posters said that teaching was often a stepping stone on other career paths, true in my wife's case, she is now an unpaid medical appointments secretary, just dealing with the workload that I generate . IGICB MM

[gbnz]

Have to admit it'd be interesting to be a teacher and bring to various individuals there (sic) issues with spelling . Its (sic) not really approved off (sic) on the ctc forum

[Bonefishblues]

My wife retrained as a teacher via a one-year degree course c10 years ago. Sadly, apart from some initial supply work, our daughter's arrival, with attendant needs has meant that she has not been able to work since. If there was a better way to be able to combine the two on a flexible basis, she'd love to.