Your experience of becoming a secondary teacher after a PhD.

I have a PhD in the biological sciences and worked as a postdoc before going on a long career break after having children. I am eager to enter the workforce now and I am looking into teaching as a profession. I absolutely loved teaching undergraduates and graduate students during my time in research. Recently, I had a great time volunteering in a primary school, and I also really enjoy tutoring A-level biology students. I have not been able to get experience in a secondary school despite contacting several; I am waiting to hear back for the DfE school experience request. I am thinking about applying for a PGCE, School direct QTS, or the new teaching apprentiship route to QTS to teach Biology at secondary school. However, some of the stories I have come across on The Student Room about being placed in inadequately performing schools, poor mentorship, extreme behaviour management issues, poor school leadership, as well as the overwhelming workload for teachers from lesson planning, marking and adminstrative work, has got me questioning my choices. Although I have done plenty of marking and make my own resources for lessons, I have never done formal lesson plans. I have been lucky enough to have only taught well-behaved students and whilst I am prepared to tackle behavioural issues, I am not sure if I would survive if I was thrown in the deep end.

Could any of you share your experiences of going into teaching after a PhD? How did you find state school vs state grammar vs independent? Are you spending most of your evenings/weekends with lesson planning and marking? Have any of the schools you have worked for implemented strategies to reduce workload e.g. centralised lesson planning, automated question and marking software, AI generated lesson plans?

I am in a similar position as OP and also contacted some schools directly asking if I could tag along with one of their biology teachers. Never heard from one of them (a grammar school close to where I live) despite sending a follow-up email. The other school (a private school a little further away but still within commutable distance) sent me a generic rejection saying they focus on the placement students they currently have...

I am still exploring before I make the commitment to doing a PGCE (which would be my preference over just the teaching qualification), considering I am in my mid/late 30's and I want to be confident PGCE is the right choice for me. I enjoyed the teaching I have done at undergraduate level and I think I have a lot to offer, but no one seems to want to invest even a little bit... I find that disappointing as there supposedly is a recruitment and retention crisis. Why would local schools not be keen to invest a little in a potential future employee who is settled in the area?

I am going to sign up for classroom experience through the Government service but the schools I've found for secondary aren't particularly in my area. But I guess it's ok to drive further for just one/a few days of classroom experience, but it makes me wonder whether there are going to be any placements near me that I could commute to as often as required for a placement (which I imagine is most days of the week).

Sorry OP, I can't answer your question, but I am keen to read everyone else's experiences and thoughts! Thanks for starting this post.

I am a current university student, but had been taught by two chemistry teachers that had a PhD at A Level.
First one had been teaching for 20 years, and loves it. He was my favourite teacher.

Second one was a person who just started teaching. He taught post grad students and enjoyed it. This was when I was in year 12. He liked teaching our age group (year 12 and 13’s). But the younger years at our school… They were loud, disrespectful, not listening when told, disruptive. I remember waiting for our session with him, we could hear him shouting at the year 10’s who were not doing work. He sort of lost his passion for teaching, and I can see why. He now has a job at Rolls Royce.

With teaching, you need to be patient and strong enough to deal with students that simply do not care, and put in the effort to make them care. That would be the most fulfilling part. Underperforming schools is where teaching would make the most impact - as making students who struggle with their subjects improve is better than helping students who will do well due to their hard work.