The Student Room Group

Is being a secondary school teacher a good job?

Hello,
I am a year 1 BA German with film studies student ,who is considering to become a teacher after her degree. I am also considering to do a Psychology conversion course afterwards. Would you guys reccomend being a teacher? With just my degree I could teach German and Media/Film studies.
Is it worth it to become a teacher?
Original post by Sunnight
Hello,
I am a year 1 BA German with film studies student ,who is considering to become a teacher after her degree. I am also considering to do a Psychology conversion course afterwards. Would you guys reccomend being a teacher? With just my degree I could teach German and Media/Film studies.
Is it worth it to become a teacher?

I am also considering to do a Psychology conversion course afterwards
That's interesting. Why?
Do you intend to be a psychologist, mental health practitioner, some kind of therapist, etc? Why so?

Would you guys reccomend being a teacher?
Oh boy, where do I start with this one?

It's recommended if teaching is your passion. If you're not a die hard teacher, then I don't know.
There's a lot going against it as a profession, which is why you see a lot of teachers leaving the profession and doing other things instead. The conditions aren't nice, there's a lot to take on, and there are a lot of issues. However, if you're born to be a teacher and you can't see yourself doing anything else, then yeah I'd recommend it.

Teachers are currently in demand, so it's probably OK to get a job as a teacher in terms of competition.

Of course, you might want a second opinion from an actual teacher first.

With just my degree I could teach German and Media/Film studies.
At secondary schools and colleges, yeah. However, a degree + PGCE with QTS will allow you to more or less teach any subject you're competent in, from what I have heard. The PGCE will restrict you to the type of school or college that you can teach at though e.g. primary, secondary, further education.
Do note, an education related qualification of any kind without QTS won't let you teach professionally in schools (you might be able to get away with it at a college, but not the schools).

Is it worth it to become a teacher?
I really hate these questions. Worth it how? In what context? What's your criteria? What do you need from the job? This is so vague, and the answer depends so much on the individual i.e. you can't generalise an answer for the population when it's something so specific. It might not be worth it for me because I have specific needs from a vocation, but it might be perfect for the next person.
e.g. Yeah, it's worth isolating yourself from society and living by yourself for the next 10 years. How? Your needs and values can be completely different to mine.
Reply 2
Original post by Sunnight
Hello,
I am a year 1 BA German with film studies student ,who is considering to become a teacher after her degree. I am also considering to do a Psychology conversion course afterwards. Would you guys reccomend being a teacher? With just my degree I could teach German and Media/Film studies.
Is it worth it to become a teacher?


What do you like?
Do you like being a leader? Teamwork? Working with other people? Helping people? Intellectual challenge? Making a difference often at your own expense?

If the answer to these is yes, the yes, of course teaching is a good job. The only thing to bear in mind is that there are not that many German or Psychology posts that come up so you may end up teaching RE or PSHE on top of a bit of MFL depending on the school. But what I would say to someone who I guess is quite young - go and experience life. Life a little and come to teaching when you really know and have a bit of life experience. I often feel that those who go to school, go to university and then back to school, who have essentially only ever experienced education, are not well suited to advise students on life an beyond.
All I can say is money, yes.
Money vs work conditions and working hours (you’ll likely be doing 50+ hour working weeks with the standard being 37.5), no.

Not to mention the lip you’ll be given for following working protocols.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect teachers as I once tried my hand at being one 4 years ago and left the teaching course come Christmas (as did half the class), but in my honest opinion, it’s not worth the salary.
I’m earning SLIGHTLY less per year working in my original field (Biomedical Science) and when I complete my MSc, hope to exceed it, but wouldn’t go back to teaching, even if I was given a six figure salary…
Reply 4
Original post by MindMax2000
I am also considering to do a Psychology conversion course afterwards
That's interesting. Why?
Do you intend to be a psychologist, mental health practitioner, some kind of therapist, etc? Why so?

Would you guys reccomend being a teacher?
Oh boy, where do I start with this one?

It's recommended if teaching is your passion. If you're not a die hard teacher, then I don't know.
There's a lot going against it as a profession, which is why you see a lot of teachers leaving the profession and doing other things instead. The conditions aren't nice, there's a lot to take on, and there are a lot of issues. However, if you're born to be a teacher and you can't see yourself doing anything else, then yeah I'd recommend it.

Teachers are currently in demand, so it's probably OK to get a job as a teacher in terms of competition.

Of course, you might want a second opinion from an actual teacher first.

With just my degree I could teach German and Media/Film studies.
At secondary schools and colleges, yeah. However, a degree + PGCE with QTS will allow you to more or less teach any subject you're competent in, from what I have heard. The PGCE will restrict you to the type of school or college that you can teach at though e.g. primary, secondary, further education.
Do note, an education related qualification of any kind without QTS won't let you teach professionally in schools (you might be able to get away with it at a college, but not the schools).

Is it worth it to become a teacher?
I really hate these questions. Worth it how? In what context? What's your criteria? What do you need from the job? This is so vague, and the answer depends so much on the individual i.e. you can't generalise an answer for the population when it's something so specific. It might not be worth it for me because I have specific needs from a vocation, but it might be perfect for the next person.
e.g. Yeah, it's worth isolating yourself from society and living by yourself for the next 10 years. How? Your needs and values can be completely different to mine.

You can teach in private and international schools without QTS. It is applicable only to state-maintained schools

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