The Student Room Group

Honest opinion on a Primary Education degree?

Hiya,

I’m thinking of studying Primary Education (5-11) at Sheffield Hallam Uni in September.

I’ve seen lots of Tiktok’s recently saying the course is extremely demanding and has made people drop out of uni completely. This has definitely made me question my course decision, and have recently looked at switching to a Speech and Language Therapy course as a backup.

Would love to have some honest opinions from trainee teachers to dispel/ confirm any rumours. Thank you!
Reply 1
Original post by fayebarnard06
Hiya,
I’m thinking of studying Primary Education (5-11) at Sheffield Hallam Uni in September.
I’ve seen lots of Tiktok’s recently saying the course is extremely demanding and has made people drop out of uni completely. This has definitely made me question my course decision, and have recently looked at switching to a Speech and Language Therapy course as a backup.
Would love to have some honest opinions from trainee teachers to dispel/ confirm any rumours. Thank you!

It is hard work. Education is hard and people who work in education work hard.

My only caveat is I do have a slight problem with people who go to school, then go to university, then go back into school as a teacher. They have absolutely no real-world experience and I can't help but feel they make poorer teachers for it. They are also more likely to drop out because they don't understand how the other side isn't greener.

When you graduate, you are staring at a working life of 50ish years. You have plenty of time to become a teacher at any time in that career. I did it at 40. Best decision I made but I couldn't have handled it aged 23.
Reply 2
Original post by hotpud
It is hard work. Education is hard and people who work in education work hard.
My only caveat is I do have a slight problem with people who go to school, then go to university, then go back into school as a teacher. They have absolutely no real-world experience and I can't help but feel they make poorer teachers for it. They are also more likely to drop out because they don't understand how the other side isn't greener.
When you graduate, you are staring at a working life of 50ish years. You have plenty of time to become a teacher at any time in that career. I did it at 40. Best decision I made but I couldn't have handled it aged 23.

I wholeheartedly agree with Hotpud here. I'm also a mature teacher—I'm 39 and about to go into my second ECT year. I bring so much of my life and experience into my job that I can make it relatable to the students, and I feel I have a richer subject knowledge because of it.

My favourite complaint from a younger teacher has been how their school expects teachers to walk around the classroom for the whole hour (secondary English) circulating the students - it's "not fair" and "against human rights" to make someone stand for that long. I teach Food tech, so I never sit down while teaching, and I spent most of my pre-teaching career in the hospitality industry...not uncommon to go 7-8 hours without sitting down at McDonalds 😜

Also, coming from someone who did their undergraduate and went straight into a PGCE - teaching courses are much more full-on than a standard undergraduate course. For my BSc, I would have so much free time I didn't know what to do with it (it was meant for personal study), and it was laid back, only having to be in lectures/seminars for a couple of hours a day. My PGCE was a shock as it was placement 4 full days a week and uni 1 day - it is a full-time role in the sense that you're expected to do full-time PLUS assignments on top. So, my UG I could do assignments in my downtime, PGCE has them being done in your "free time".

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