Questions about becoming an Art Teacher

Hi everyone,

So I’m planning on applying for a PGCE with QTS either through Newman University or the University of Wolverhampton to become a secondary school art teacher, I am excited but apprehensive because I’ve heard good things and bad.

I have two friends who have studied to become teachers one who is now a successful history teacher and another who is in the midst of her art teacher training at my old school, my friend who became a history teacher seemed very positive about the whole Experian’s offered me some very good teaching advice where as my art teacher friend is having a very bad time.

I naturally scoured the internet for references to other peoples experiences on an Art and Design PGCE and again the results are mixed. Many stress the details that there’s a great deal of disrespect towards Art teachers and that it’s a soul crushing job that pays pittance where as others will say they love it.

I’ve had some but no extensive experience in a school but it was very brief and it was a primary school, I love art and I always loved my art class at school and since those days I’ve been keen to teach my own art class, I consider myself to be very mild tempered, especially with kids, I’m not worried about naughty kids because I’m confident in my ability to build positive relationships with my students, I suppose my biggest fear is finding myself in a job that I end up hating, pursuing my passion and coming to despise it, feeling worthless and disrespected by my professional peers.

I know it’s bound to be a demanding course and job but I’m a little worried as to if I’m gonna be able to keep up with everything, I have virtually no social life as it is and if I end up losing what little I’ve got I may as well become a hermit 😅

I’d like to know about your experiences as art teachers or even on a PGCE how did you like it? How did you get on afterwards? Pros and cons etc or any encouraging tidbits.

Is it a fulfilling job?

Is the disrespect by other teachers as bad as they say?

Does it pay very well?

Is it *A lot * of work? Like “A LOT”?

What kind of personal life can I expect in this career? Am I going to be chained to my desk til I’m 65??or can I expect a moderate amount of free time where I can relax?

Thanks in advance guys!

Hey so I'm doing my undergrad in primary education BA then doing a primary Education PGCE. If you have experience within a primary school and love art i say try do a PGCE in primary Teaching. Because a lot of it is creativity and art. I mean in my primary school where i volunteered they had two teachers in one year. One who was a tad maths and English but more of the arts and things and then the ither who focused more on like science and more intense classroom activities. Therefore i say do the primary education PGCE because it takes a lot of patience working with teenagers. Primary school is better for teaching more enjoyable. In my opinion.

Regardless of what route you go down to train, teaching is tough. Im not going to sugarcoat it.

I did my PGCE last year and it was intense. There were definitely times where i struggled with having a healthy work-life balance. Plus, there is always something that needs to be done, the to-do list is never ending. That's the realities of it.

It's down to the individual. Do you think you like children and your subject enough to stay in the career? It's down to you whether you think it's worth it or not.

Hi,

First off, thank you for your blunt and honest reply, like most people I’ve met I suppose you could say I’ve never been very sure about what I wanted to do, I’ve always tried to make the most logical and sensible decisions for myself and my future art in itself is a competitive field and you’re doubted and doubtful of yourself on your ability to get a job right from the start.

I may be entirely wrong in my decision to become an art teacher, I might fold under the pressure of the PGCE or I might hate teaching all together those are certainly possibilities, ones I’ve been dreading becoming true in the back of my mind for over a year.

To answer your questions, I do like children and I feel as though I have a good, calm head and that I won’t lose my mind over annoying or disruptive teenagers.

I love my subject, I create art, view art and pursue my interest in historical and contemporary art frequently, I enjoy talking about the subject at length and I have been fortunate enough to have a really helpful teaching coach assigned to me to help me with my personal statements and we have talked at length about my expectations vs the reality of the job and I won’t lie, her strong confidence in me and her hugely positive reaction to my reasoning for teaching and my expectations etc are very encouraging (for what it’s worth).

My social life is virtually nonexistent for the most part, I’m very much a stay at home type of guy. I might go out with friends maybe once a month or so at most, after talking to my friends who are following the teaching route they have made it clear that the To-do list never ends and that sometimes you won’t get everything done. My concerns were mostly that I’d find myself without a minute to myself which is sounding like a strong possibility unless I stay on top of things.

Like you say it is down to the individual and I fully agree, I don’t think there is any way of truly knowing if teaching is for me until I get stuck in and get some proper experience in the field, I truly hope that teaching is for me, I will give it my best effort and that’s all I can do in the end.

Thank you again for your reply, all the best with your teaching

Hi,

First off, thank you for your blunt and honest reply, like most people I’ve met I suppose you could say I’ve never been very sure about what I wanted to do, I’ve always tried to make the most logical and sensible decisions for myself and my future art in itself is a competitive field and you’re doubted and doubtful of yourself on your ability to get a job right from the start.

I may be entirely wrong in my decision to become an art teacher, I might fold under the pressure of the PGCE or I might hate teaching all together those are certainly possibilities, ones I’ve been dreading becoming true in the back of my mind for over a year.

To answer your questions, I do like children and I feel as though I have a good, calm head and that I won’t lose my mind over annoying or disruptive teenagers.

I love my subject, I create art, view art and pursue my interest in historical and contemporary art frequently, I enjoy talking about the subject at length and I have been fortunate enough to have a really helpful teaching coach assigned to me to help me with my personal statements and we have talked at length about my expectations vs the reality of the job and I won’t lie, her strong confidence in me and her hugely positive reaction to my reasoning for teaching and my expectations etc are very encouraging (for what it’s worth).

My social life is virtually nonexistent for the most part, I’m very much a stay at home type of guy. I might go out with friends maybe once a month or so at most, after talking to my friends who are following the teaching route they have made it clear that the To-do list never ends and that sometimes you won’t get everything done. My concerns were mostly that I’d find myself without a minute to myself which is sounding like a strong possibility unless I stay on top of things.

Like you say it is down to the individual and I fully agree, I don’t think there is any way of truly knowing if teaching is for me until I get stuck in and get some proper experience in the field, I truly hope that teaching is for me, I will give it my best effort and that’s all I can do in the end.

Thank you again for your reply, all the best with your teaching

I was and know plenty of teachers.I taught junior school kids and loved my job.I really agree with the other poster who said if you love teaching and your subject you will be fine.It is really full on at first but you get used to it.In terms of respect it does indeed depend on the school and your own ability to discipline the class.If you do not like secondary school there are other options like FE or theraputic roles or indeed primary teaching but most teachers manage a reasonable work life balance after the first year and it is if nothing else a handy qualification to have.
Again the PGCE year is completely different to the actual job experience.

Unfortunately, a lot of people do go into teaching for the wrong reasons.

You really do need to love your subject and the children just as much, otherwise, it's incredibly unfair on them.

The best way is to gain some work experience in a school. Though i will say, work experience is VERY different to actual teaching placements.

Hi everyone,

So I’m planning on applying for a PGCE with QTS either through Newman University or the University of Wolverhampton to become a secondary school art teacher, I am excited but apprehensive because I’ve heard good things and bad.

I have two friends who have studied to become teachers one who is now a successful history teacher and another who is in the midst of her art teacher training at my old school, my friend who became a history teacher seemed very positive about the whole Experian’s offered me some very good teaching advice where as my art teacher friend is having a very bad time.

I naturally scoured the internet for references to other peoples experiences on an Art and Design PGCE and again the results are mixed. Many stress the details that there’s a great deal of disrespect towards Art teachers and that it’s a soul crushing job that pays pittance where as others will say they love it.

I’ve had some but no extensive experience in a school but it was very brief and it was a primary school, I love art and I always loved my art class at school and since those days I’ve been keen to teach my own art class, I consider myself to be very mild tempered, especially with kids, I’m not worried about naughty kids because I’m confident in my ability to build positive relationships with my students, I suppose my biggest fear is finding myself in a job that I end up hating, pursuing my passion and coming to despise it, feeling worthless and disrespected by my professional peers.

I know it’s bound to be a demanding course and job but I’m a little worried as to if I’m gonna be able to keep up with everything, I have virtually no social life as it is and if I end up losing what little I’ve got I may as well become a hermit 😅

I’d like to know about your experiences as art teachers or even on a PGCE how did you like it? How did you get on afterwards? Pros and cons etc or any encouraging tidbits.

Is it a fulfilling job?

Is the disrespect by other teachers as bad as they say?

Does it pay very well?

Is it *A lot * of work? Like “A LOT”?

What kind of personal life can I expect in this career? Am I going to be chained to my desk til I’m 65??or can I expect a moderate amount of free time where I can relax?

Thanks in advance guys!

Hi, I’m a 4th year student at Newman university and currently completing my Masters after previously studying BA Early Childhood Education and Care. If you have any questions about Newman feel free to ask

Hi @LotsaBadLuck,

Some great advice already, you may want to get an adviser at Get into Teaching they are all experienced teachers and will speak to you about what it is really like. You can just go here to register: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/. There are also some 'Day in the Life of a Teacher' stories on the site as well that you may find useful you can view them here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/my-story-into-teaching.

Hope that helps
Olivia