Any (Maths) Teachers?

[a311]

My Mrs has been considering a career change which involves her becoming a teacher. There is a local scheme which pays a wage while you train ~20k and would be qualified within a year but with no guaranteed position at the end.

My worry is that like with most things the grass isn't necessarily greener. I know a couple of teachers and while they enjoy their jobs the bureaucracy seems to be increasing and there's a requirement to do a lot of work outside of the core hours-lessons plans, marking etc? A couple of ex teachers I know have gotten out of education completely for a supposed 'easier life' which I guess means fixed hours less BS.

At the moment she's very well paid (~60K) but really isn't enjoying her role and it's starting to get her down. Money isn't everything though and we could afford the salary drop and if the worst come to the worse she would be able to go back into her current sector relatively easily.

I hoping to use some connections to get her some work experience or at least talk to some existing Maths teachers to get a feel for what the job is actually like. Something I could never do and have respect for those who do, my faith in the public school system isn't great as many of the local schools that were classed as very good schools have really gone down the pan.

Any advice I can pass on appreciated.

[a311]

jkh112 said:

Mrs JKH has been a teacher for the past 20 years. I showed her your post and she cannot understand why anyone would give up such a salary to be a teacher unless they are sure teaching is their vocation. The hours of marking and lesson preparation are out of balance with teacher's salaries and although the long holidays are welcome she does not feel they are adequate compensation.
In summary she said 'don't do it' but then added 'however I love my job'.

Thanks, this is the kind of response I've got from teachers I know! I do quite a bit with local schools 'trying' to get kids interested in Science and Engineering, some in works time some in my own. It's a nice side line to my day job, generally the kids want to be there so are compliant. Once however we turned up at a school with a few activities and it turned out we basically had ALL the bad kids who weren't allowed to go on the end of year school trip and were treat as a free resource to look after these little bds for the day-I wanted to strangle several of them.......

Whilst money isn't everything it helps. My preferred plan for both of us is to pay the mortgage off ASAP which would be around 5 years then we can both be a bit more liberal with our career choices.

[a311]

Thanks for all those who've replied, I also think she's mental She's effectively went from went into a management roll in a different area where there's little direction or support. I've suggested if she's that unhappy she considers going back to the job she much preferred (but again ste management). Drop in salary but not that much.

I might like to be a circus juggler, an astronaut, etc etc but as I've never worked in these areas it would be a gamble to leave my current profession. I guess like a lot of people there are times where I get hacked off with my job, but except my lot and that I get a very good salary and a good work life balance. Her school of thought is that she can't imagine spending the next 20 odd years in her current field, so if she goes for it and can't get a job at the end of it or after a while doesn't enjoy it she can always go back.........

It's messing with my long term plans too, we have 5 years left on the mortgage and at that point could either look at reducing our hours or planning for a very comfortable and early retirement.

[a311]

Thanks for all the replies. Must say I didn't realise there was a level of dislike for the profession.

She's going to submit an application then see what happens. When it comes to the crunch can then decide what she wants to do and if she can live with the salary drop. In that time I hope she gets a bit more settled in her current role.

[a311]

Bit of an update. The Mrs has pursued this and been offered a role. I’ve struggled to be supportive (at all) as on top of some other more personal issues the response on here and from teachers I know has been pretty negative. Some going so far to say that it’s nearly ruined relationships.

It’s the cause of much friction at the moment!