Forum menu
Ming t m put all the negatives into one short sentence very well, but as a Primary Head they are half the challenge. Good schools are a very positive place to work despite the pressures. The hardest part is seeing some of the very sad lives our young people have to live with. As funding changes I am concerned that some school staff will spend more and more time dealing with these issues than 'teaching'... But the best schools will deploy staff in a response to this. Specialist roles are now not just found in secondary schools, maybe a Primary could look to reinvigorate their curriculum with a History ( or other area) specialist teacher.
You could also look at other routes in to the profession: as mentioned work as a TA for a year. I have just employed a TA who retrained as a GTP. She is fantastic.
Get into a school, then a different one and then another. See if you like it then DO IT!
Yes and no, this was the answer I would get when I asked teachers about the profession where I worked.
I've just started a PGCE after working in a DT department for 3 years, I really enjoyed working with the children and in the classroom, it can be great fun if you are in an area that you are passionate about and the ideas that would come out of the children were inspiring. As for the holidays, boy do you need them, anyone that moans about how long and often teachers holidays are has probably never worked with children in that way, it's full on under pressure all day, you need to be on your toes and on top of things, perform everyday and get the best exam results you can at the end of the year.
As mentioned get into schools to get experience but not just in the classroom find out about lesson plans, schemes of work, H&S issues, school policy's etc., coming from a practical subject the amount of paperwork, information, assignments, reading lists and lectures that have been thrown at me in my first week is very daunting and the terminology used will have you reading everything 2 or 3 times trying to work out what the hell they are on about! I have a headache just thinking about it now. I'm 44 and it's hard to adjust to studying and the resulting change in lifestyle, it's 10 years since I was in that environment, so the sooner you do it the better!