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My girlfriend is going to train as a teacher, I thought about this at uni but never did in the end and have a different career, the thought is still there though and if I’m going to do it then it makes sense to train at the same time. I know there are a few teachers on here so I come seeking advice and answers to a few questions…

 

You get paid 195 days a year (including 5 in service days), I get paid for 220 days a year at the moment. That’s 5 weeks extra, realistically is this eroded with marking, prep, etc?

 

If you need a long weekend during term time, say a wedding in another country, are schools generally ok with taking a couple of days off?

 

How do you find the workload, constantly working late, weekend and holidays?

 

How do you find the Curriculum for Excellence, what difference has it made to your profession, particularly in secondary?

 

If you tick the ‘anywhere’ box for your probationary year do you get any refusal (ie I wouldn’t want to be sent to Aberdeen City but the middle of the Highlands would be fine)? Is it too much to assume that if a couple both went through teacher training together and both ticked that box they would get moved to the same authority/area?

 

Did you have a career before teaching, how did you find the transition, do you regret it?

 

In my day (school of 1800) we had principle teachers each for geography, history and modern studies, is the tendency to have 1 principal covering each of these nowadays?

 

When do most jobs go online and how acute is the teacher shortage these days? We’d be teaching Modern Studies and Art respectively.

 

I’d be taking a hit on money in the medium term, I’d be getting a bump in holidays, I like the idea of making a direct real difference to the lives of young people, but I’m naturally lazy and my current career accommodates this, albeit without great job satisfaction (I work in policy that improves the lives of young people, but I’m not delivering it on the ground). A pairing of 2 teachers sounds like a good quality of life, long holidays, decent salary to cost of living if you’re not in Edinburgh or Aberdeen and the chance to live anywhere in Scotland rather than being tied to Glasgow and Edinburgh as I am now.

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I've been thinking about this for a while, I'm at a career crossroads and always thought about teaching but not sure how my current qualifications fit in with it. I hold a B.Eng in an engineering discipline and an M.Sc in a business related one so possibly not traditional subjects that might translate. 

I emailed the Teaching Scotland website but unfortunately, unlike England, there appears to be no bursary to help with the financial implications of taking a year out.

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Always considered becoming a teacher later in my career purely for the summer holidays. I'm an engineer so figure I could just do the years teacher training and teach physics. Then again.. is it worth putting up with arsehole kids for less money just to get 7 weeks off in the summer? Maybe not.

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14 minutes ago, Lambie's Pigeon Feed said:

My girlfriend is going to train as a teacher, I thought about this at uni but never did in the end and have a different career, the thought is still there though and if I’m going to do it then it makes sense to train at the same time. I know there are a few teachers on here so I come seeking advice and answers to a few questions…

 

You get paid 195 days a year (including 5 in service days), I get paid for 220 days a year at the moment. That’s 5 weeks extra, realistically is this eroded with marking, prep, etc?

 

If you need a long weekend during term time, say a wedding in another country, are schools generally ok with taking a couple of days off?

 

How do you find the workload, constantly working late, weekend and holidays?

 

How do you find the Curriculum for Excellence, what difference has it made to your profession, particularly in secondary?

 

If you tick the ‘anywhere’ box for your probationary year do you get any refusal (ie I wouldn’t want to be sent to Aberdeen City but the middle of the Highlands would be fine)? Is it too much to assume that if a couple both went through teacher training together and both ticked that box they would get moved to the same authority/area?

 

Did you have a career before teaching, how did you find the transition, do you regret it?

 

In my day (school of 1800) we had principle teachers each for geography, history and modern studies, is the tendency to have 1 principal covering each of these nowadays?

 

When do most jobs go online and how acute is the teacher shortage these days? We’d be teaching Modern Studies and Art respectively.

 

I’d be taking a hit on money in the medium term, I’d be getting a bump in holidays, I like the idea of making a direct real difference to the lives of young people, but I’m naturally lazy and my current career accommodates this, albeit without great job satisfaction (I work in policy that improves the lives of young people, but I’m not delivering it on the ground). A pairing of 2 teachers sounds like a good quality of life, long holidays, decent salary to cost of living if you’re not in Edinburgh or Aberdeen and the chance to live anywhere in Scotland rather than being tied to Glasgow and Edinburgh as I am now.

Have you considered lecturing at college? Depending on your existing qualifications/experience you might be able to start straight away and do a teaching qualification while you work.

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19 minutes ago, Lambie's Pigeon Feed said:

My girlfriend is going to train as a teacher, I thought about this at uni but never did in the end and have a different career, the thought is still there though and if I’m going to do it then it makes sense to train at the same time. I know there are a few teachers on here so I come seeking advice and answers to a few questions…

 

You get paid 195 days a year (including 5 in service days), I get paid for 220 days a year at the moment. That’s 5 weeks extra, realistically is this eroded with marking, prep, etc?

 

If you need a long weekend during term time, say a wedding in another country, are schools generally ok with taking a couple of days off?

 

How do you find the workload, constantly working late, weekend and holidays?

 

How do you find the Curriculum for Excellence, what difference has it made to your profession, particularly in secondary?

 

If you tick the ‘anywhere’ box for your probationary year do you get any refusal (ie I wouldn’t want to be sent to Aberdeen City but the middle of the Highlands would be fine)? Is it too much to assume that if a couple both went through teacher training together and both ticked that box they would get moved to the same authority/area?

 

Did you have a career before teaching, how did you find the transition, do you regret it?

 

In my day (school of 1800) we had principle teachers each for geography, history and modern studies, is the tendency to have 1 principal covering each of these nowadays?

 

When do most jobs go online and how acute is the teacher shortage these days? We’d be teaching Modern Studies and Art respectively.

 

I’d be taking a hit on money in the medium term, I’d be getting a bump in holidays, I like the idea of making a direct real difference to the lives of young people, but I’m naturally lazy and my current career accommodates this, albeit without great job satisfaction (I work in policy that improves the lives of young people, but I’m not delivering it on the ground). A pairing of 2 teachers sounds like a good quality of life, long holidays, decent salary to cost of living if you’re not in Edinburgh or Aberdeen and the chance to live anywhere in Scotland rather than being tied to Glasgow and Edinburgh as I am now.

Mate, you need advice on how to post a letter - I'm not sure you can be trusted to teach our future generations anything.

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40 minutes ago, Lambie's Pigeon Feed said:

My girlfriend is going to train as a teacher, I thought about this at uni but never did in the end and have a different career, the thought is still there though and if I’m going to do it then it makes sense to train at the same time. I know there are a few teachers on here so I come seeking advice and answers to a few questions…

 

You get paid 195 days a year (including 5 in service days), I get paid for 220 days a year at the moment. That’s 5 weeks extra, realistically is this eroded with marking, prep, etc?

 

If you need a long weekend during term time, say a wedding in another country, are schools generally ok with taking a couple of days off?

 

How do you find the workload, constantly working late, weekend and holidays?

 

How do you find the Curriculum for Excellence, what difference has it made to your profession, particularly in secondary?

 

If you tick the ‘anywhere’ box for your probationary year do you get any refusal (ie I wouldn’t want to be sent to Aberdeen City but the middle of the Highlands would be fine)? Is it too much to assume that if a couple both went through teacher training together and both ticked that box they would get moved to the same authority/area?

 

Did you have a career before teaching, how did you find the transition, do you regret it?

 

In my day (school of 1800) we had principle teachers each for geography, history and modern studies, is the tendency to have 1 principal covering each of these nowadays?

 

When do most jobs go online and how acute is the teacher shortage these days? We’d be teaching Modern Studies and Art respectively.

 

I’d be taking a hit on money in the medium term, I’d be getting a bump in holidays, I like the idea of making a direct real difference to the lives of young people, but I’m naturally lazy and my current career accommodates this, albeit without great job satisfaction (I work in policy that improves the lives of young people, but I’m not delivering it on the ground). A pairing of 2 teachers sounds like a good quality of life, long holidays, decent salary to cost of living if you’re not in Edinburgh or Aberdeen and the chance to live anywhere in Scotland rather than being tied to Glasgow and Edinburgh as I am now.

I like this post because I can read it without my glasses on.

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I had always had the idea of going into teaching, then got lumbered with my Mrs who is a teacher and I can honestly say it has put me off for life. 

Holidays are great, but for the likes of the summer holiday, would say a good week and a half at least is used up planning for the new term. Also only one of her mates is a teacher, so a lot of the time in the holidays she is at home on her tod (or so she says). Obviously you won't have that issue.

Not allowed any extra days off, which is fair enough really, but makes it bit of a pain to arrange long weekends etc. 

Most nights she will come home around half 5ish and then work till about 8. A lot of marking and planning. 

The other thing that really gets to her is the lack of funding schools have, it is bloody criminal. They had five members of staff start an attachment course, but had to withdraw them as they couldn't budget it. 

Would stress this is down south and not in Scotland. 

A couple of her teaching friends are moving over to Dubai and Saudi Arabia to teach next year, so that is an option we are currently keeping an eye on.

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Would take into account that the vast majority of teachers that have been doing it for a while would all leave if they had the opportunity from my experience.  Also years of academia/dealing with kids and government bureaucracy seems to turn normal people into quite bitter/guarded individuals.

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I can tolerate my own kid in small doses but there's not enough money in the world that would get me to teach wee b*****ds. 

My mum and sis were both teachers. Would occasionally get my mum as a supply teacher, which was an odd dynamic. 

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35 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Anyone who is considering teaching needs their head examined.

FTFY. Kids are little c***s, all the money in the world wouldn't get me teaching them.

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2 hours ago, Lambie's Pigeon Feed said:

My girlfriend is going to train as a teacher, I thought about this at uni but never did in the end and have a different career, the thought is still there though and if I’m going to do it then it makes sense to train at the same time. I know there are a few teachers on here so I come seeking advice and answers to a few questions…

 

You get paid 195 days a year (including 5 in service days), I get paid for 220 days a year at the moment. That’s 5 weeks extra, realistically is this eroded with marking, prep, etc?

 

If you need a long weekend during term time, say a wedding in another country, are schools generally ok with taking a couple of days off?

 

How do you find the workload, constantly working late, weekend and holidays?

 

How do you find the Curriculum for Excellence, what difference has it made to your profession, particularly in secondary?

 

If you tick the ‘anywhere’ box for your probationary year do you get any refusal (ie I wouldn’t want to be sent to Aberdeen City but the middle of the Highlands would be fine)? Is it too much to assume that if a couple both went through teacher training together and both ticked that box they would get moved to the same authority/area?

 

Did you have a career before teaching, how did you find the transition, do you regret it?

 

In my day (school of 1800) we had principle teachers each for geography, history and modern studies, is the tendency to have 1 principal covering each of these nowadays?

 

When do most jobs go online and how acute is the teacher shortage these days? We’d be teaching Modern Studies and Art respectively.

 

I’d be taking a hit on money in the medium term, I’d be getting a bump in holidays, I like the idea of making a direct real difference to the lives of young people, but I’m naturally lazy and my current career accommodates this, albeit without great job satisfaction (I work in policy that improves the lives of young people, but I’m not delivering it on the ground). A pairing of 2 teachers sounds like a good quality of life, long holidays, decent salary to cost of living if you’re not in Edinburgh or Aberdeen and the chance to live anywhere in Scotland rather than being tied to Glasgow and Edinburgh as I am now.

Your time away from school can be taken up by marking (plus any tutoring you choose to do). Sadly, these days it's all about ticking boxes should HMIE come knocking. You're forced to do stuff that (IMO) is a waste of time and eats into the actual teaching time.

A day off for any wedding other than your own is ok. If it's longer than a day prepare for a possible knock-back.

Workload (plus the paper chase of discipinary matters, parental contact forms and AAAs) is pretty tiresome.

CfE has removed a whole level of external assessment (old General or Int 1) and it's leaving many a pupil with either nothing to do during exam leave or sitting a level they've no hope of passing. They're currently changing the rules about internal assessments and nobody has a clue what the outcome will be.

Don't tick "anywhere". Guy from Motherwell area got Dumfries and had to move his whole family for a year (although he joined teaching purely because industry laid him off and he had no clue what to do with himself).

Faculty heads are the new money saving thing now. The likes of Computing can be stuck in with Business or Maths.

Teacher shortage is critical. We had one external applicant for a promoted post in our department where previously we had five at least. There was no-one available to do supply for a long term illness in our department last term, meaning all of us merging classes, rotating the random cover teacher with whichever class had a test/revision lesson or using our free time to teach classes that weren't ours.

 

In short, become a teacher.

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I recently retired after 31 years in the classroom so I can give you a bit of perspective. I went back to college as a mature student at 25 so gave up my company car and a year's earnings to start on pretty much the same money.

I have to admit I went into it more for selfish reasons, i.e. The holidays and thinking it would be a good career for ME. Also this was in the 80s when the kids still had a bit of respect. My first year, we even had the belt before it was abolished :lol:

I found I actually liked working with the kids even though I had gone in for the 'wrong' reasons, otherwise I don't think I could have stuck it long. What struck me right away was the culture of poverty in schools compared to my private sector sales job. No carpets, always fighting for resources like pencils, sharpeners etc. This has improved a bit and so have the salaries. Days off are pretty much a no-no. Don't jump at 2 weeks in Tenerife for £200 if it means missing the first day of term.

In my previous job you got promoted on merit, or at least if the powers that be thought you were doing a good job. In teaching you had to formally apply and go through the interview process with a panel of 3.  I never got promoted in teaching as firstly, I quite liked the classroom where I was my own boss, and secondly I tried the process a couple of times but I thought the whole charade wasn't for me.

The implication of not being promoted is that, unless you absolutely love your job, you can go a bit stale by the time you've been there a while, and heard all the jokes countless times, and be too old to change careers, as I found out when I tried to get into programming a couple of times before the good pay settlements :lol:. You don't want to be there in your 50s, being older means the kids prejudge you which makes it harder, and a few of my colleagues had health problems by that time which means the kids just saw them as fair game. 

In my case I got pissed off when the kids started bringing phones in. The school was quite weak in dealing with it and I felt a loss of control. The kids were so resourceful which included girls hiding their phones in their cleavage etc, and even if you confiscated a phone they would quickly get the sim out and use somebody else's... btw the boys were much less bother and only used their phone as a watch.

In my final year I remember all the p7s coming up for a day visit. One wee lad was running along the corridor and a teacher put his hand up to stop him, and got a high five...

Ah well, sorry for the ramble but it's made me remember how lucky I am now :lol:

Edited by The Mantis
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1 hour ago, AyrshireTon said:

Your time away from school can be taken up by marking (plus any tutoring you choose to do). Sadly, these days it's all about ticking boxes should HMIE come knocking. You're forced to do stuff that (IMO) is a waste of time and eats into the actual teaching time.

A day off for any wedding other than your own is ok. If it's longer than a day prepare for a possible knock-back.

Workload (plus the paper chase of discipinary matters, parental contact forms and AAAs) is pretty tiresome.

CfE has removed a whole level of external assessment (old General or Int 1) and it's leaving many a pupil with either nothing to do during exam leave or sitting a level they've no hope of passing. They're currently changing the rules about internal assessments and nobody has a clue what the outcome will be.

Don't tick "anywhere". Guy from Motherwell area got Dumfries and had to move his whole family for a year (although he joined teaching purely because industry laid him off and he had no clue what to do with himself).

Faculty heads are the new money saving thing now. The likes of Computing can be stuck in with Business or Maths.

Teacher shortage is critical. We had one external applicant for a promoted post in our department where previously we had five at least. There was no-one available to do supply for a long term illness in our department last term, meaning all of us merging classes, rotating the random cover teacher with whichever class had a test/revision lesson or using our free time to teach classes that weren't ours.

 

In short, become a teacher.

He couldnt have commuted from Motherwell to Dumfries for a year? Its like an hour away

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Anyone who is considering teaching just because of the holidays needs their head examined.


I agree with this.

If you do indeed care about helping kids then it's something I'd recommend. I fucking love my job. But if you're heart isn't in it - give it a miss as it's just not worth the stress.

I'd say your communication skills have to be very good. If not, you're relying too much on a discipline system that will inevitably let you down. You have to be able to gain the trust and respect of most kids.

There's plenty of work out there - but it might take a bit longer to become permanent (as councils will do anything to avoid that).

Don't tick the box. I'd say just both go for the same councils and maybe ask for preferential treatment (although this could be unlikely). Whoever gets a permanent post first - that's where you move to.

Days off in term time are only for exceptional circumstances (moving house gets you a day). The rest is on head teacher discretion.

The workload is heavy in the first few years, and there's no real getting away from that. I reckon I did about 10-15 hours per week (outside of the school bells). So either stay late in school, go home and do some work, work at the weekends, or a combination of all three. It definitely eases though.

Cfe is a giant f**k up. Again, nowt can be done about it and it's very demoralising for the majority of teachers.

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I did the PGDE when I finished Uni at 23. I was planning on teaching secondary maths. My reasons for going that route at the time were that i wanted to make a difference to kids and have hunners of holidays.

I realised about half way through my first placement that it was a horrible career and that is because 90% of your colleagues are utter c***s. The absolute worst human beings the planet has to offer. The politics of inter department hatred and who can suck management's cocks the most was just not for me. Actually teaching the kids was excellent and that part of it was highly rewarding so if you can put up with all the other shit then go for it.

I finished my 3 placements then quit before I was dragged into it for life.

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