Do I quit SCITT?

Hi all,

I’m having a mid-term existential crisis.

I’m 22 and starter my SCITT PGCE straight out of university, with little experience of full-time work. I have a young family (4 and 2 yo), and they are relying on me as the breadwinner.

However.. I am barely managing to cope, if at all and am seriously considering quitting now. The past term has involved 5.30 starts every day to be in school by 7.50 for the school day to begin at 8.15. My lesson plans are taking me 3 hours or more as I plan my explanations, delivery, tasks etc. If I leave school at 4.30, I’m home by 6 and after dinner and getting the kids to bed it’s 20:00 and I’m no longer able to concentrate on anything. I have a presentation due next Friday which I’ve barely had time to prepare for, and I’m worried I haven’t followed the brief, and I’m teaching 6 lessons next week. I’ve been feeling physically sick with worry and stress, and when it comes to sacrificing things from my schedule, I can’t help but put my health and family first, which leads me to worry more as I neglect the work..

I’m not sure if it’s the right time in my life to be doing my teacher training, but I don’t know how to approach my partner with this, as she’s been so supportive of me getting through uni and getting into the teacher training, she’ll resent me if I drop out of what was the end goal of the 4 years of stress. What do I do??

Hi,I am 21 and having the exact same problem!! Its kind of relieving to know i'm no the only one feeling physically sick everyday from the stress of a SCITT, and I don't even have children to support, so you've done really well to manage all of this so far!I've been feeling so lost not knowing what to do, but all i know is I'm not happy, and I'm so stressed and not sleeping, its taking me hours to plan lessons too and i have hardly had any time to look at my PGCE assignment. This has lead me to decide that I'm going to quit, its such a difficult decision I don't want to be seen as weak or failing and i don't want to let anyone down, but if i'm struggling now with 5 lessons a week then I think i'm only going to end up burning out or having a even bigger melt down when the work load doubles and triples!Everyone around me can see how stressed I am and I can see its worrying them, I'm sure your partner will be understanding and still support you and your decision, you are right to put your health first, you are much better help to your family if you're in a good place and happy! You've been to uni so you've got good qualifications I am sure you'll quickly find a job, even if its a temporary Christmas job at the moment while you decide what career path to take. Its such a difficult decision and its a horrible feeling not knowing what to do but if you're really not happy and have a constant sick feeling as i do, do whats best for you, because its best for your family for you to be happy and healthy, rather than making yourself ill carrying on. Just tell her how you feel, you've tried and pushed yourself through 7 weeks which although doesn't feel like much it is, and its an achievement to get that far, but its not a failure to realise its the wrong decision. Just look for your back up plan.I hope this helps a bit!

My goodness. That sounds horrendous. You raise a fair question about whether you should continue or quit. I have just done exactly what you have done only I did School Direct, but to all intents and purposes, it is the same thing. However, I wasn't spending 3 hours on a plan - why bother especially as it only takes 1 hour to deliver! And if you have 6 hours of lessons next week, after Christmas that will go to 11 lessons and in your final term, 15 lessons! Your first job will see 18-20 hours of teaching a week! You need to find a way to reduce your planning.

You also seem to be commuting a long way. I deliberately chose a school 15 minutes drive from home which meant I wasn't wasting loads of time travelling.

I admire you for what you are doing. At 22 there is no way I could have done teacher training. A bit of life experience may well be a better course of action before heading in to the brutal world of teaching.

Good luck!

Hi, I am in a very similar position to you all. I started my SCITT training in September and have spent the past month simply being criticised and spoken to like a child. I'm 30 years old and have not been spoken to in this way in a very long time. My department and mentor have not been supportive at all and it seems I'm expected to 'just know' what to do. At times I have gone to them to just ask a question and get told 'I'm sorry I really don't have time to chat'. I have been suffering from stress due to the workload which has landed me in and out of the doctors. I just can't bare to step foot back in that school as it just makes me feel miserable! I would go to the PCM but I feel like over the half term something just clicked and I no longer want to teach. I waited a long time for this opportunity but I feel like this placement has put me off completely. I am now thinking of what job prospects I have when I leave. If anyone has gone through something similar please advise.

That doesn’t sound good! Have you spoken to them to explain how you feel about how you’re being treated? If it’s affecting your health to that extent Im not surprised you’re questioning it. However, might it be worth fighting through till your next placement, seeking help where you can, seeing as the opportunity seems to have meant a lot? <- a question I’m asking myself as well...

I felt that dread of going back as well last night and this morning going back in, but when i actually got there I relaxed a little. Now, typing this at 20 to 6 on the bus home after a shocking lesson P1 (menstrual cycle first lesson back!) and meetings of just receiving criticism I’m questioning it again.

If I drove to school it would only take me 15 minutes too, but I don’t have a car so I rely on busses!

Lesson plans vary in the time it takes me, depending on how confident I am with the subject knowledge - I’m teaching secondary science and I’m from a Biology background so some of the physics and chemistry is really tricky for me to teach.

I tend to agree with you that perhaps a little more life experience before going into teaching might be th best idea - I can always go down the salaried school direct route later on after finding my feet in something slightly less full-on.

Thank you for you advice.

How are you getting on now?

The secondary science issue of teaching physics and chemistry is why I decided to go for a university based PGCE instead of a SCITT. The biology bursaries this year are huge, so could you reapply for a PGCE instead?

I think the travel time is the real issue, though. That's lots of dead time, which if it were more productive would reduce your stress. Can you drive? If so, I'd take the short term financial hit of buying a cheap run around (renault clio for <£1000 for example) and use that. I bet it will make everything so much easier.

Are you a lone parent?

In the end I did buy a car, which alleviated some of the stress and wasted time (although I missed the opportunity to read a book in the mornings!).

Eventually I decided teaching wasn’t for me, and left in early March. Since then I walked into a grad scheme and I’m not looking back!

Hi guys,
I know some of these posts are a couple months old, but i hope that either way you are doing well.
It's such a shame to hear these stories, especially with the lack of support from mentors.

I'm applying for SCITT to start in September. Just wondered if anyone could share any insight into what the PGCE assignments (on top of SCITT) entailed, as I'm wondering if i'll be able to cope with the workload.