O a scale of 1-10, how much do you hate your job?

[scifisam]

Hmm, until you shoot up the ladder and find yourself on £50,000+ a year for doing something very similar to the above. I'm fed up with meeting teachers who are barely older than me (under 30 anyway) who are earning four times my salary and live in swanky detached houses in Zone 2 (London). Yeah, they do work, but they also seem to spend most of their time in the pub; I don't see any of that 70-hours-a-week thing at all (my hours are way longer than theirs), and they're in a rubbish inner-London school too which would make you think they'd have a lot of work to do. You can't find any of them here during the holidays either, they've all jetted off to the sodding Bahamas.

I mean, just grit your teeth, stick it out and you'll be buying yourself a four-bedroom detached house and a new BMW in no time (I know a young teaching couple who are doing just that)...

£50k is more than the average Heateacher's salary and they certainly work long hours.

A swanky detached zone 2 house = about £850,000.

I think the hours do go down after the first year - to around 55-60 hours. But they never go down much.

Edit: I just looked it up, and to get £50k in Inner London you wouldn't have to be a Headteacher, but an Assistant Headteacher or in an equivalent post. There is no way in the world someone under 30 has that job. It is possible that they could be the HoD in a special needs school with lots of TLR payments and be on around £40k, but they really would deserve it - and there would be no way they'd be spending all their free time in the pub.

It's not quite like the programme Teachers.

 

[felixthecat]

THis is my chance to say my new job is the best one I ever had. I panicked like a good 'un when I realised my last job was definitely ending, but it was worth it to get this one. The hours are about as perfect as you can get (and I don't work friday afternoons) I don't have masses of paperwork, its a lovely atmosphere, my colleagues are great, theres endless tea on tap, i'm using skills I haven't used in years and the money is twice what I was earning before.

Its fab.

 

[jbob]

Sorry to hear about spanglechick's and the other teacher's experiences. I was going to go into teaching, but decided it might be prudent to get some classroom experience before I applied for the PGCE. Thank God I did! narrow escape there. Kids were vile (6th form okay, though), the pedagogy dry, uninteresting and formulaic, the management system bizarre, and most of all, the reams of mindless paperwork extraordinary. Luckily, the person I was shadowing showed me the real deal, rather than what she was probably meant to do!

And the money's not great; it's not a bad starting wage when you're first out of uni, but it quickly loses pace with other comparable industries once you've been in the profession for a few years.

(Spanglechick, have you considered international schools? They look like a good option, with of course, the opportunity to travel, good relocation packages, and seemingly less vulgar kids, etc.)

I'm now looking to move into academia. I work at a uni, like the atmosphere, love studying (starting MA in Sept), and am thankful I'm no longer in the corporate sector.

 

[Roadkill]

I love what I do, and I'm really interested in the project I work on at the moment. My colleagues are brilliant people and I work in a really nice environment. And there's always lots of tea and somewhere reasonably sheltered to go and have a fag.

On the other hand, I don't feel nearly as motivated or as on top of my game as I did with my PhD and the other work I did at the time, and I have to live somewhere I don't like much.

 

[wrysmile]

I had a really hard time in my last job and left it in less than three months. I'm so glad I did as my new job (six months in) is pretty fantastic. It's challenging and my colleagues are great. There's endless weird bureaucracy and officials who drive me bonkers, but mostly, it's a good place to be. And I'm paid well and not too far from home, either.

Sorry to hear you're still so unhappy, Spangles, do you you think you should stick it out another year and if it's still horrible, bite the bullet and retrain or go elsewhere? Could it be that your first year back in the industry is worse than subsequent years will be? On the bright side - at least you're supaluvvedup

 

[han]

Gosh - it really sounds like you need a change of career - OR - to work in a school where the kids are actually INTO what they're doing....and are supported by their parents.

Do you think you'd feel better about teaching in that sort of environment?

Or do you want to chuck it altogether?

I've got a mate who felt exactly the same as you a couple of years ago. She changed schools -and this transformed the way she felt about teaching. The new school she is in is one where there are far fewer social problems, parents are supportive, etc. etc.

I'm sure tough urban kids are the ones who need you most, but hell, your sanity and quality of life is more important!

 

[han]

Just to add - I'm lucky to work in a job that's pretty stress free, for a charity, with people I like. The content of the job (I.T.) doesn't fill me with passion by any means (though I AM passionate about what our charity does), but then no job is perfect....

I think a job that is both exciting, inspiring AND gives you energy/time to have a life outside it as well is very very rare - I think we on the whole have to choose between one or the other.

 

[Kripcat]

Don't contribute to Frictional Unemployment stay in your jobs!...

...also I want to quit.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

(Spanglechick, have you considered international schools? They look like a good option, with of course, the opportunity to travel, good relocation packages, and seemingly less vulgar kids, etc.)

Yes, I suggested this to SC a while ago. The salaries are bloody good (I live well on 700 quid a monht in China, the international teachers get about 2000-3000 quid a month, so you can save an absolute fortune). I'm surprised more pissed-off UK teachers don't look into it. Certainly my aim is to go back to Britain, do the PGCE and then come back out here to teach at one. Only wish I'd done it in the first place.

 

[jbob]

Yes, I suggested this to SC a while ago. The salaries are bloody good (I live well on 700 quid a monht in China, the international teachers get about 2000-3000 quid a month, so you can save an absolute fortune). I'm surprised more pissed-off UK teachers don't look into it. Certainly my aim is to go back to Britain, do the PGCE and then come back out here to teach at one. Only wish I'd done it in the first place.

It was my plan to do that once I'd done the PGCE. But as I say, my work experience completely put me off the idea. I know it's probably going to be difficult for you (impossible, maybe), but you should try to get some experience of working in schools over here before you take the plunge.

You may not want to risk that cushy little number you've got at the moment for a couple of years of hell But then, the longterm gain...

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Hmm, until you shoot up the ladder and find yourself on £50,000+ a year for doing something very similar to the above. I'm fed up with meeting teachers who are barely older than me (under 30 anyway) who are earning four times my salary and live in swanky detached houses in Zone 2 (London). Yeah, they do work, but they also seem to spend most of their time in the pub; I don't see any of that 70-hours-a-week thing at all (my hours are way longer than theirs), and they're in a rubbish inner-London school too which would make you think they'd have a lot of work to do. You can't find any of them here during the holidays either, they've all jetted off to the sodding Bahamas.

I mean, just grit your teeth, stick it out and you'll be buying yourself a four-bedroom detached house and a new BMW in no time (I know a young teaching couple who are doing just that)...

This sounds like something made up by the Daily Mail...

My mum, when she retired from full-time teaching in her early 50s in London, was on a whopping 1500 quid a month take home. My parents got lucky in their 20s that Hackney house prices back then were so cheap, but the idea that young teachers today can buy 4 bedroomed detached houses and BMWs is pure fantasi.

 

[jbob]

This sounds like something made up by the Daily Mail...

My mum, when she retired from full-time teaching in her early 50s in London, was on a whopping 1500 quid a month take home. My parents got lucky in their 20s that Hackney house prices back then were so cheap, but the idea that young teachers today can buy 4 bedroomed detached houses and BMWs is pure fantasi.

Pure bollocks, innit. Successful academics get up towards that level after about 10-15 years, maybe. I can't imagine many of them are living it up in central London in massive houses. Teachers, pah! Scifisam, got it right on that score.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

And even 50k a year isn't anywhere near enough to buy a 4 bedroomed detached place, anywhere in the capital. I would imagine you would need to be on 100k minimum for that...

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I love my job. The only thing I don't like is going to work in the winter in pitch dark, mainly because I have very poor sight in low light.

 

[scifisam]

Yes, I suggested this to SC a while ago. The salaries are bloody good (I live well on 700 quid a monht in China, the international teachers get about 2000-3000 quid a month, so you can save an absolute fortune). I'm surprised more pissed-off UK teachers don't look into it. Certainly my aim is to go back to Britain, do the PGCE and then come back out here to teach at one. Only wish I'd done it in the first place.

Bear in mind that for the PGCE to truly count, giving you Qualified Teacher Statues, you have to do the PGCE for a year and then work for a year afterwards, passing that year. It's like a two-year course where the second year is on the job.

I imagine it would be difficult for Spanglechick to give up her commitments here (BF, etc). It would be impossible for me, personally.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

I used to love my job. I hate it at the moment

 

[spanglechick]

Gosh - it really sounds like you need a change of career - OR - to work in a school where the kids are actually INTO what they're doing....and are supported by their parents.

Do you think you'd feel better about teaching in that sort of environment?

Or do you want to chuck it altogether?

I've got a mate who felt exactly the same as you a couple of years ago. She changed schools -and this transformed the way she felt about teaching. The new school she is in is one where there are far fewer social problems, parents are supportive, etc. etc.

I'm sure tough urban kids are the ones who need you most, but hell, your sanity and quality of life is more important!

han, my school is one of those nice schools, by and large. and i still hate it (largely cos it isn't really the kids that get me down - it's what teaching has become).

I have to leave this summer because i deffo want to teach drama from now on - so i'm also aware that another school might have more difficult kids.

The days when i might've considered working abroad are long gone. I have a life here, now. The idea of leaving my boyf is inconceiveable. But also I would hate to leave my family and friends.

 

[ovaltina]

You have my sympathies - I've just lost a whole weekend because I'm worried about a big bollocking on Monday. I think I might quit - I hate it and have done since I started in Sept. Six months isn't too bad is it?

 

[scifisam]

Qualified Teacher Statues,

Heh heh - you can tell I'm an English teacher

 

[mk12]

Oh man, anyone who's asked me about work in the last while will know how fucking miserable i am. I've got to find a new job for july anyway, but unless i start at the bottom of yet another career ladder (which i can't afford to do, i suspect), i'm stuck with teaching.

And yet, I sit in my car in the carpark at work in the morning and i can't face getting out of the car. I'm too miserable to stay past 5pm, or work at home (I get in at 7 - 7.30am) - so i'm falling further and further behind with my work - which produces a vicious circle. Every other day some new fucking initative / paperwork presents me with a couple more hours work - and since this fucking statistical analysis / accounting for every fucking second shite can't be left - the work that i do neglect is marking the kids' books and planning their lessons.

and then there's always the chance that the next school will be tougher.

anyway - misery loves company: how fucking desperate does your job make you feel?

6 weeks in the summer, 3 weeks over christmas, half terms, easter holidays...it's not all bad for teachers is it!

 

[spanglechick]

6 weeks in the summer, 3 weeks over christmas, half terms, easter holidays...it's not all bad for teachers is it!

do you actually know any teachers?

oh, and it's two weeks at christmas. to be spent marking the mock exams as well as all the other marking and planning that eats up the holidays.

 

[Iam]

I liked my job well enough. I'd just had enough of my boss and a twat of a colleague.

 

[mk12]

do you actually know any teachers?

oh, and it's two weeks at christmas. to be spent marking the mock exams as well as all the other marking and planning that eats up the holidays.

apart from mum and sister, no. Obviously there's stress involved in the job. But you have to admit teachers have it quite easy holiday-wise compared to other workers. Sitting at home in front of the television marking books isn't exactly hard, is it?

 

[spanglechick]

apart from mum and sister, no. Obviously there's stress involved in the job. But you have to admit teachers have it quite easy holiday-wise compared to other workers. Sitting at home in front of the television marking books isn't exactly hard, is it?

i've done both, and i would swap, if i could.

he first time i left teaching, i actually started my new job straight after the summer term (with training in the evenings during the last few weeks). around october i met some teacher friends who asked if i was tired o i hadn't had the holiday - i realised i wasn't, because i didn't need the holiday.

it might depend on the subject you teach, but as an english teacher, i have to concentrate on every letter the kids write. Then write something meaningful at the end of each piece of work. I just can't do that in front of the telly. Add to which the planning, number crunching, making differentiated resources, reporting the progress of various kids etc - and it's certainly work.

I'm genuine. Let me work 9-5.30 only, and have 4 weeks holiday a year. That would be by far preferable.

 

[scifisam]

6 weeks in the summer, 3 weeks over christmas, half terms, easter holidays...it's not all bad for teachers is it!

I think it's understandable that people quote the long holidays as a recompense for the long term-time hours (and so on), since they do sound wonderful. Thing is, I once worked out how many weeks of holiday the average teacher actually gets, after coursework marking and so on, and it's about 5 weeks. 5 weeks is not unusual in a lot of professional jobs I know of.

Marking is easier work than much of the role, but hey, don't most office jobs have some lighter work too?

Of course, holiday work does have the advantage of you being able to make your own hours, so it's not all bad (it fits better around childcare for that reason). So the holidays are a good thing - just not as good as they appear at first glance.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I get six weeks holiday, plus bank holidays, and I can choose when to take holiday in order, for example to avoid peak times (at least, I can now I don't have a school age child).

I certainly think that, holiday wise, I do better than teachers!

 

[aurora green]

God this thread's really depressing me.
I'm about to start my pgce in September. You've made me wonder if it's all worth it....
I'm a single parent with three kids, I can't for the life of me see how I'll fit in a seventy hour week.

 

[LDR]

yup - the money is pretty good (but the hours fucking suck)

You think? Most teachers I know are on around/under 30k which I think is shit for the hours and what they do. They deserve much more IMHO.

After seeing the hours, the problems and the wages teachers get; I know I couldn't do it.

 

[scifisam]

God this thread's really depressing me.
I'm about to start my pgce in September. You've made me wonder if it's all worth it....
I'm a single parent with three kids, I can't for the life of me see how I'll fit in a seventy hour week.

Well, there are a lot of upsides to the job as well, and no job's perfect.

However, having kids does make things more difficult, to say the least. I have only the one child myself, and she's at school. It's a bit frustrating when your own kid's being neglected because you're spending all your time with other people's children.

Make sure you have plenty of very early morning childcare available for when the placements start; one of mine was two hours from home and started at 8am It was a good placement, though.

 

[Biddlybee]

I guess 4/10 would be about right. The pay's pretty shit considering how long I've been here. I'm bored shitless most days and hardly use my brain at all - a monkey could do my job - but I'm going to college courtesy of them, the holiday and benefits are good, and the people I work with are ok. Still... think I need something a little more stimulating once my course is done.