The Student Room Group

Teacher or Solicitor

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Reply 20
Original post by mgi
No. Avoid teaching! the workload and stress is ridiculous.


Have you taught before? Was it because of the school itself
Reply 21
Original post by yhuss98
Have you taught before? Was it because of the school itself

Yes, got a PGCE. There are so many challenges in any school. Not worth it in my opinion. I left teaching.
https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/8-teacher-challenges-2018/
Reply 22
Original post by mgi
Yes, got a PGCE. There are so many challenges in any school. Not worth it in my opinion. I left teaching.
https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/8-teacher-challenges-2018/

Pgce in what specifically?
Okay thank you for the advice, I dont know what to do now ahhhhhh everyone saying different things! Seems like you were in crappy unsupportive school though :frown:
My secondary skl teachers said they enjoyed it however because they were supported properly and could accommodate personal life within teaching
Knowing me, I’d probably end up in a draining school
Original post by yhuss98
Pgce in what specifically?
Okay thank you for the advice, I dont know what to do now ahhhhhh everyone saying different things! Seems like you were in crappy unsupportive school though :frown:
My secondary skl teachers said they enjoyed it however because they were supported properly and could accommodate personal life within teaching
Knowing me, I’d probably end up in a draining school

Do bear in mind that (outside of your PGCE year), the school you end up in will be a school you choose, to an extent.

If you're in a competitive subject (like PE), you'll have less of a choice. However if you're in a subject that's more in demand - and especially if you're willing to be flexible about moving to different areas - you can try to find a school that will suit you. It's very normal at interview to be not only trying to get the job, but also to be assessing whether this is the right place for you, and candidates can and do drop out midway through interviews because they realise it's simply not a school they want to work at. I asked questions about work-life balance and what support I would receive at interview.
Reply 24
Original post by bluebeetle
Do bear in mind that (outside of your PGCE year), the school you end up in will be a school you choose, to an extent.

If you're in a competitive subject (like PE), you'll have less of a choice. However if you're in a subject that's more in demand - and especially if you're willing to be flexible about moving to different areas - you can try to find a school that will suit you. It's very normal at interview to be not only trying to get the job, but also to be assessing whether this is the right place for you, and candidates can and do drop out midway through interviews because they realise it's simply not a school they want to work at. I asked questions about work-life balance and what support I would receive at interview.

Yeah but surely they would just sugar coat everything
Ideally i would teach my chosen subject working typically 7.30 to 5.30pm but obviously work longer hours when required
But Again, I think it is hugely dependent on the school and that will determine your experience
Tbh Idc if students would get rude to me or as such, I will support them, be strict and then ease them into if I feel like it is necessary
I will try my best in helping them but if they decide to disrespect me they can leave the class
At the end of the day I want a job, not to be doing work 24-7
Would u say It wll suit me?
Original post by yhuss98
Yeah but surely they would just sugar coat everything
Ideally i would teach my chosen subject working typically 7.30 to 5.30pm but obviously work longer hours when required
But Again, I think it is hugely dependent on the school and that will determine your experience
Tbh Idc if students would get rude to me or as such, I will support them, be strict and then ease them into if I feel like it is necessary
I will try my best in helping them but if they decide to disrespect me they can leave the class
At the end of the day I want a job, not to be doing work 24-7
Would u say It wll suit me?

There's a limit to how much schools can sugarcoat their answer. Any school could say "we care deeply about staff wellbeing and always try to keep that at the forefront of our practice", so that doesn't mean an awful lot. However, if they give solid guarantees, it's unlikely to be a lie. For example, some initiatives my school told me about at interview:

- emails are shut off during certain non-work hours to prevent staff feeling an obligation to answer work emails in their free time
- limit of one after-school meeting per week for non-TLR holders (i.e. regular teachers who don't have an extra role)
- homework completed via online system so staff do not need to spend ages marking it as it's done automatically
- no expectation for staff to mark student books
- no after-school meetings during week following exams (to allow time for marking)

These are things it's not so easy to just lie about. Also, you often get to meet the department on interview days, and get an idea then of what things are like. Schools also get somewhat of a 'reputation', and if you train close to where you end up working, you'll probably be able to ask around about what a school is like.

It's hard to tell if it's the job for you. What I can say is that I do have a life outside of school. To be honest, during my training year and the first few months of my NQT year, it did take over my life a bit and I had to cut back on some of my hobbies, but I feel like I also worked a lot more than other trainees because I was so concerned about getting myself into a position where I could get a job at a good school afterwards!
Reply 26
Original post by bluebeetle
There's a limit to how much schools can sugarcoat their answer. Any school could say "we care deeply about staff wellbeing and always try to keep that at the forefront of our practice", so that doesn't mean an awful lot. However, if they give solid guarantees, it's unlikely to be a lie. For example, some initiatives my school told me about at interview:

- emails are shut off during certain non-work hours to prevent staff feeling an obligation to answer work emails in their free time
- limit of one after-school meeting per week for non-TLR holders (i.e. regular teachers who don't have an extra role)
- homework completed via online system so staff do not need to spend ages marking it as it's done automatically
- no expectation for staff to mark student books
- no after-school meetings during week following exams (to allow time for marking)

These are things it's not so easy to just lie about. Also, you often get to meet the department on interview days, and get an idea then of what things are like. Schools also get somewhat of a 'reputation', and if you train close to where you end up working, you'll probably be able to ask around about what a school is like.

It's hard to tell if it's the job for you. What I can say is that I do have a life outside of school. To be honest, during my training year and the first few months of my NQT year, it did take over my life a bit and I had to cut back on some of my hobbies, but I feel like I also worked a lot more than other trainees because I was so concerned about getting myself into a position where I could get a job at a good school afterwards!

This is right! I love how the school you work at has many things in place to support staff. I respect that.
Thank you
I think I would make a great teacher and am prepared at the ripe age of 17 that the PGCE and NQT years will be the hardest, But I like to think I am good at managing myself and time.. so thats amazing.
As long as there are things in place, and that work-life balance is truly a thing then I’m happy
Do you work in an Academy or High school?
Original post by yhuss98
This is right! I love how the school you work at has many things in place to support staff. I respect that.
Thank you
I think I would make a great teacher and am prepared at the ripe age of 17 that the PGCE and NQT years will be the hardest, But I like to think I am good at managing myself and time.. so thats amazing.
As long as there are things in place, and that work-life balance is truly a thing then I’m happy
Do you work in an Academy or High school?

I work in an academy rather than a traditional state school, though I know people who work in state schools that also have a good focus on staff wellbeing, so I wouldn't say that's the deciding factor.
Reply 28
Original post by bluebeetle
I work in an academy rather than a traditional state school, though I know people who work in state schools that also have a good focus on staff wellbeing, so I wouldn't say that's the deciding factor.

Okay thank you so much for your help I’ll hope and look around for a good school when the time comes around thank you again!!!
Original post by yhuss98
Yeah if i Could Do that it would be great? But how many hours would you Have to work on a mon-thurs??

It would really depend on how big the school is, how many students you have, whether you have any/many free periods, how you use your lunch break (and how long it is), what subject you teach. It's very hard to say, but I would say you'd have to work through your free periods, as well as a good 3-4 hours extra, plus you would probably have to do SOME work on 'days off', but it would be little enough that you'd still be able to do things on that day (eg. editing a lesson plan or two in the morning, but being able to go out the rest of the day).
(Please keep in mind that I'm not a teacher yet, this is just based on what I've seen/heard during work experience).
Reply 30
Original post by yhuss98
Pgce in what specifically?
Okay thank you for the advice, I dont know what to do now ahhhhhh everyone saying different things! Seems like you were in crappy unsupportive school though :frown:
My secondary skl teachers said they enjoyed it however because they were supported properly and could accommodate personal life within teaching
Knowing me, I’d probably end up in a draining school


Science. But i suppose you have to go with your gut feeling of what you think will be the most rewarding for you personally. Teaching became far too stressful for me- and it wasn't because of the students!
Reply 31
Original post by remussjhj01
It would really depend on how big the school is, how many students you have, whether you have any/many free periods, how you use your lunch break (and how long it is), what subject you teach. It's very hard to say, but I would say you'd have to work through your free periods, as well as a good 3-4 hours extra, plus you would probably have to do SOME work on 'days off', but it would be little enough that you'd still be able to do things on that day (eg. editing a lesson plan or two in the morning, but being able to go out the rest of the day).
(Please keep in mind that I'm not a teacher yet, this is just based on what I've seen/heard during work experience).


That isn’t too bad right? What do you think?
Reply 32
Original post by mgi
Science. But i suppose you have to go with your gut feeling of what you think will be the most rewarding for you personally. Teaching became far too stressful for me- and it wasn't because of the students!


Why did u leave then? Lack of support, empowerment, poor leadership?
Reply 33
Original post by yhuss98
Why did u leave then? Lack of support, empowerment, poor leadership?

Yes, all of those plus the obvious preferential treatment that some people received and others didn't! And the pay for a 60+ hours week is ridiculously bad!
Reply 34
Original post by mgi
Yes, all of those plus the obvious preferential treatment that some people received and others didn't! And the pay for a 60+ hours week is ridiculously bad!


Do you think the new pay of £30k will rectify this?
Reply 35
Original post by yhuss98
Do you think the new pay of £30k will rectify this?

That means that you will probably take home about £400-£500 a week. That is about £100/day! for a 60 hour week. i.e 500/60= £8.33 per hour. Ridiculous! Not worth it in my view.
i know solicitors aged 25 -30 who are on 45k+ for a 40 hour week!
Reply 36
Original post by mgi
That means that you will probably take home about £400-£500 a week. That is about £100/day! for a 60 hour week. i.e 500/60= £8.33 per hour. Ridiculous! Not worth it in my view.
i know solicitors aged 25 -30 who are on 45k+ for a 40 hour week!

So would you be blaming a crappy school with no support or are school gonna be this hard and crappy? I’m sorry if u said this but did u teach primary or secondary
Original post by mgi
That means that you will probably take home about £400-£500 a week. That is about £100/day! for a 60 hour week. i.e 500/60= £8.33 per hour. Ridiculous! Not worth it in my view.
i know solicitors aged 25 -30 who are on 45k+ for a 40 hour week!

Not sure I'd agree with that maths.

Let's assume a 60 hour work week - which is quite high, a study I found said teachers in England average 49 hours, but let's assume this is for the NQT year when things are especially hectic. Teachers work 39 weeks a year, and although I know we often do work over the holidays, I'm going to let that be part of the 60 hours on average per working week, since I think 60 is a bit high, like I said.

So, take £30,000 and divide it by 39. That gives £770 per working week, or about £12.80 an hour. Still not loads, but not so ridiculous as £8.33.

Now, we can also factor in that the average salaried position in the UK gives approximately 33 days paid holiday. Let's be kind and round it up to 5 weeks. So let's say that 5 of those holiday weeks should be paid, so in essence, we consider teachers to be 'working' 44 weeks a year. That still gives £11.36 an hour, going by your 60 hour work week.

If we take the actual average working hours of a teacher in England according to this study I found, still allowing 5 weeks of 'paid' holiday, a salary of £30k means being paid £13.90 an hour.

On top of that, you have the rather good teacher pension and good job security even when the economy is struggling. I definitely think teachers are underpaid and especially teachers who have been in the job 10+ years get the short end of the stick with all these incentives for new teachers, but I don't think you can say there are no real financial incentives to go into teaching.

Of course, the £30k isn't meant to be coming into play until 2022 and as far as I know, there's no absolute guarantee it'll happen. But I feel it's important to give an accurate breakdown of the numbers.
Reply 38
Original post by bluebeetle
Not sure I'd agree with that maths.

Let's assume a 60 hour work week - which is quite high, a study I found said teachers in England average 49 hours, but let's assume this is for the NQT year when things are especially hectic. Teachers work 39 weeks a year, and although I know we often do work over the holidays, I'm going to let that be part of the 60 hours on average per working week, since I think 60 is a bit high, like I said.

So, take £30,000 and divide it by 39. That gives £770 per working week, or about £12.80 an hour. Still not loads, but not so ridiculous as £8.33.

Now, we can also factor in that the average salaried position in the UK gives approximately 33 days paid holiday. Let's be kind and round it up to 5 weeks. So let's say that 5 of those holiday weeks should be paid, so in essence, we consider teachers to be 'working' 44 weeks a year. That still gives £11.36 an hour, going by your 60 hour work week.

If we take the actual average working hours of a teacher in England according to this study I found, still allowing 5 weeks of 'paid' holiday, a salary of £30k means being paid £13.90 an hour.

On top of that, you have the rather good teacher pension and good job security even when the economy is struggling. I definitely think teachers are underpaid and especially teachers who have been in the job 10+ years get the short end of the stick with all these incentives for new teachers, but I don't think you can say there are no real financial incentives to go into teaching.

Of course, the £30k isn't meant to be coming into play until 2022 and as far as I know, there's no absolute guarantee it'll happen. But I feel it's important to give an accurate breakdown of the numbers.


My ultimate goal is to just reach the end of the teacher pay scale by the age of 30 (U3) if I enter the profession at 22.

And I wouldn’t enter the profession if it was 60 hours a week. I did ask mgi if the school they worked at played a determining factor or are schools like that?

Tbh, I dont know what to do, because if I do a Law degree, & I’d struggle to enter teaching as it isnt a core subject. I want to teach either English or Biology but I dont know if that would happen due to no SKE in Biology
Original post by yhuss98
My ultimate goal is to just reach the end of the teacher pay scale by the age of 30 (U3) if I enter the profession at 22.

And I wouldn’t enter the profession if it was 60 hours a week. I did ask mgi if the school they worked at played a determining factor or are schools like that?

Tbh, I dont know what to do, because if I do a Law degree, & I’d struggle to enter teaching as it isnt a core subject. I want to teach either English or Biology but I dont know if that would happen due to no SKE in Biology

My understanding from speaking to colleagues is that typically, if you stick to classroom teaching, you can expect to progress to the Upper Pay Scale (so U1) after about 7 years. However, this is just based on a one-off comment and I personally don't know much about the topic. If the pay is important to you, I strongly advise seeking advice on likely pay progression from forums that have a larger number of experienced teachers (TES would probably be good). TSR tends to be more populated by early career teachers, though I know there are more experienced teachers on here.

I can't speak for mgi's situation, I don't doubt that they're being honest though. I can say that personally, I do not work 60 hour weeks and I don't see the people around me (who are just classroom teachers) working 60 hour weeks. However, I do know some people who are at the same stage in their career as me who do work those sorts of long hours.

As I've mentioned before, since you're still in school, my best advice would be to take a degree in a subject that interests you and then see where things go from there. Even with a Law degree, you can get onto teacher training courses (can't remember if I mentioned, but there was somebody in my cohort who taught History with a Law degree, as well as somebody with a Psychology degree teaching English, etc.). It's likely that as you get older, your priorities will shift and what you look for in a job might change too. Since teacher training is something that can be picked up at any stage of your life really, I wouldn't stress about making an absolute decision now.

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