40 yr old thinking of converting to teaching

Cleite

Hello all,

Unfortunately, I can imagine already the numerous disheartening responses I'm going to get to this post, but here goes anyway. Apologies in advance for the length of this post - I'm trying to give as clear a picture as possible.

I'm a 40yr old woman currently living in France. I have a newborn baby and a French partner who has limited English. He has a pension of about €1000 per month and a full-time job paying a little over minimum wage. I, on the other hand, have had ever-diminishing returns on a business I started a few years ago which is suffering the effects of the downturn.

I have never been happy in France (here four years), and my partner is completely up for going to live in Ireland. In looking at various different job options which would fit best with our situation, teaching comes up again and again. I have a BA (2.2) in French and Irish, an NUI HDip in Applied Communications, HDips from a private college in PR and in Event Management and 15 years experience working in broadcast journalism and public relations. I have a very high standard of both Irish and French - I worked exclusively through Irish for 8 years, and have 'lived' exclusively through French for the past 4 years.

Before embarking on my career in journalism/PR, I spent a year subbing in both primary and post-primary schools. I loved both - to the point of considering changing tack and doing what was then a two-year conversion course for primary teaching. At the time though, I just couldn't afford it.

So, to get to the nub of my question... Clearly, as a family, we can't afford to come home to live on €1,000 a month, although we would have enough in savings to buy a small house. If I were to do a correspondance course with Hibernia in order to get my qualifications either for primary or post-primary teaching, what, realistically, are my chances of getting enough work to support a family...?
How long, realistically, would it take me to get a permanent post? Would my standard of French and Irish put me at the head of the pack, or would a teacher with less fluency but more experience have the edge? Do teachers working through Irish still get paid a higher rate? Can anyone give me an idea of what subbing rates are currently and how much work is really out there? Is there any difference in employment prospects between primary and post-primary? Lastly, how are the correspondance courses from Hibernia viewed by employers?

I'll leave it at that for the moment and hope that someone will be good enough to reply.

Miss Lockhart

Cleite wrote: »

Hello all,

If I were to do a correspondance course with Hibernia in order to get my qualifications either for primary or post-primary teaching, what, realistically, are my chances of getting enough work to support a family...?

How would you do the teaching practice if you can't come to Ireland? Only the theoretical side of the PDE is by distance learning.

Cleite

Of course I would be coming to Ireland to do the teaching practice. That would be included in our budget for the course.

TheBody

You could consider the part time dip in DCU. Classes are on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Think principals prefer this one to the Hibernia one.

Cleite

Thanks for your reply TheBody, but unless they do Webinars, that course would be impossible for me to attend as i couldn't come back from France every week to attend.

Miss Lockhart

That's good - if you can afford to move over for 15 - 21 weeks (broken into blocks) then you can do the Hibernia one.

The DCU one would require being in Ireland for two years for teaching practice.

From a second-level point of view you would have very good subjects - particularly Irish.

However, the reality is that you could very easily spend five years on bits of contracts and hours with no holiday pay after qualifying - earning something like €15000 a year. This is the norm for those who are lucky to pick up any hours at all.

Cleite

Thanks Miss Lockhart. That's pretty much what I had thought re the slim pickings for work :-( And then if I did ever get a permanent post, I think it's now a starting salary of €27k in post-primary, is that right? is it the same in primary? Or less? I know there used to be a whole system of 'add-ons' - if you had honours, if you teach through Irish etc, which bring the basic wage up - are they all gone? And do you think that my experience/fluency would give me any kind of an edge?

Miss Lockhart

All teachers are on the same common scale. Here:

http://www.asti.ie/pay-and-conditions/pay/salary-scale/salary-scale-for-teachers-appointed-after-january-2011/

There are no extra allowances for new entrants anymore so NQTs start on €27,814 if they have full hours and a contract covering holidays. That is very unlikely.

I think your fluency would be a definite advantage over other relatively inexperienced teachers but maybe not so much over a very experienced teacher.

doc_17

All allowances for extras are halted at the minute for newly qualified teachers. Some may be reinstated but others won't. Subbing is about €35 per hour but it's tough going. Most likely you would start out working maternity covers but if if you were prepared to give grinds in the evenings you have very good in demand subjects for that.

Cleite

All just about as depressing as i was expecting then... What a bloody miserable situation.

byhookorbycrook

Sorry the news isn't better but with the post grads etc there is a huge oversupply of primary teachers. Jobs have also been lost through cutbacks in resource/special needs and of course modern languages .It doesn't look like getting any better any time soon,I know many experienced teachers who are living week to week and in some cases day to day with a bit of subbing.:(

dambarude

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

It doesn't look like getting any better any time soon,I know many experienced teachers who are living week to week and in some cases day to day with a bit of subbing.:(

If anything it's going to get worse, going by the weekend papers at any rate. An increase in the pupil teacher ration is on the cards in Budget 2013.

drvantramp

Good answers above, it is not a pretty picture.

Bit puzzled - what is so wrong with France? Many would love a house swap!
There must be something with your strong experience - PR/journalism/translation, perhaps different region in France?

professore

Surely she would be snapped up by the many secondary gaelscoileanna out there? Can't imagine there are many teachers with the level of Irish necessary?

bdoo

I know that we have a new teacher of French for this sept. NQT but has had plenty of work experience in France which obviously stood to them.

The job is about 15 hours. The school is good. There are good news stories too but we rarely hear them. I think OP has made up her mind about leaving France so any talk of her being silly etc is not helpful to her.

The hours problem is a real one but if you want to teach then all you can do is take the chance. There is still a good grinds market so you may be able to supplement your income that way.

If you were on half hours and your husband on min wage you would probably qualify for family income supplement and a medical card which would help take the financial pressure off.

If I had a choice (Not that i'm in a position to be choosing) between a young NQT with college French and a mature NQT with experience of the language I'd go for experience. That's before you even get near the Gaeilge. If you can afford it I'd go for it.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Seanchai

1) You're only 40. That is young, the new 30. Retirement age is currently 68. By the time you retire it will probably be at least 70. In other words, you have at least 30 years of your working life left. The joy!

2) Irish is a very good subject. This is particularly so because with the growth of gaelscoileanna, there is a growth in gaelcholáistí. Last week, a further three were authorised by the DoE: Dundrum, Balbriggan, Carrigiline for the next three years. There are still problems with this Fine Gael-Labour government in the sense that the state is not meeting the demand, for example there is a serious problem in north Kildare which, despite having several gaelscoileanna and public support, has still no gaelcholáiste. I'm teaching in an English language school but my aim is to move to a gaelcholáiste. It will make a world of difference teaching kids whose parents are more enlightened about the language and more motivated for their kids education generally.

My only concern about Irish is that there will not be enough qualified teachers to meet the demand in gaelcholáistí. I am personally concerned about that. One thing is certain: with gaelcholáistí and English-language schools, there will be demand for somebody qualified in Irish.

3) If you can manage the financial burden, I would say that with those subjects, go for it. I qualified in 2010, with some €20,000 in debt (which was genuinely a source of stress to me), and I was only registered for a single subject with the Teaching Council/TC. Still, I taught in two schools in the year after my PGDE school, both of which I had 22 hours per week. I also spent some two months unemployed between each school. Since I've qualified, I've sent out hundreds upon hundreds of applications, and only had a few interviews. Much of this is my own fault: because of the subjects I chose for my degree, I only had a single "real" subject to teach. Rather than sit there whining about not having a job I felt I had to return to college at night and get the necessary 54 degree credits in a second real subject. Last year was a tough year energywise and financially as I was down to 13 hours work. However, I didn't mind as I was doing my degree in Irish at night and that kept my faith in the future strong. This year I've my 2nd written contract in the same school, but this time it's for 22 hours. Returning to college at night and adding a subject to my degree is entirely the reason why I have those 22 hours. The financial and time sacrifices have been worth it.


4) When it comes to teaching, ignore the stress bunnies and drama queens. They are invariably devoid of perspective on teaching as a long-term career. As a case in point, the absolutely subjective nonsense about the "pressure" of the PGDE/PDE year would scare most people. I didn't find the year bad, although had I listened to many people I would never have even done it. Things are bad, and considerably worse at the moment (emphasis added; a review of allowances is ongoing) for entrants like yourself who do not currently have those allowances. However, like so much else things are not as bad as people make out. Subject wise, you are in a much better position than I was starting out. To give some perspective, the birth rate in Ireland is the highest in Europe, kids need to be educated, and that's unlike to change any time soon. When you do qualify with your PDE, keep knocking at doors, take all substitution work you can get and keep applying for jobs and something will turn up.

derb12

Seanchai wrote: »

As a case in point, the absolutely subjective nonsense about the "pressure" of the PGDE/PDE year would scare most people. I didn't find the year bad, although had I listened to many people I would never have even done it.

Couldn't agree more. I did the HDip as it was called then in UCD where all the lecturers constantly banged on about the unique stresses of this difficult year. A load of rubbish as far I was concerned - more like an excuse for them to justify the high fees (which btw you might not have factored in - about 6K when I did it - you get some back in taxes, but still a significant outlay).
Good luck with your decision!

linguist

Hi,

I’ll limit my response to post-primary which is what I’m qualified to comment on. Those who’ve already replied have covered a lot of ground which I won’t go back over.

I’m sorry to read of your personal circumstances and before I start, please understand that I’m being blunt on a couple of issues to help you come to the most informed decision possible.

You say that you have a 2.2 degree. Despite the difficulties in securing employment, the fact is that the academic qualifications of people entering teaching have never been higher. If you were applying straight out of your BA, your chances of getting into teaching with that result would be small. Your other experience is not relevant to teaching. A prospective employer wants to know whether you can teach the course or not - and work with young people. The whole thrust of what the Teaching Council has been trying to do and tightening up on qualification requirements in particular is to ensure that teaching attracts people who are qualified and motivated to teach.

With regard to having lived in France, I cannot assess what that has done for your French. I imagine that you now have excellent oral skills. However so do all native speakers and there are good reasons why we don’t let them loose on our students. Many ‘educated’ French native speakers have dire written French as can easily be seen if you ever take a look at the comments posted on major websites (Le Monde etc…) The State Examinations Commission is unforgiving regarding the types of errors native speakers make and rightly so. What matters is your formal qualifications in French, your vocabulary, your understanding of grammar and crucially your ability to externalise that knowledge and teach it to children.

Finally, you say that you have never been happy in France. It is impossible to separate the language from the society and culture. The syllabus requires you to pass on an appreciation of French language and culture as well as a good knowledge of France (and other French speaking countries) to the students. You are basically required to be a cheerleader for your subject in a country where increasing numbers of kids trot out the same, jaded overheard stereotypes about the French being arrogant etc… If you don’t really like France, can a principal expect you to enthuse his/her students? Enthusiasm is a vital part of being a teacher.

I know this might leave me looking like a bit of an ogre...I'm not, trust me. It's just that teaching is not something you can easily fall back on when other things haven't worked out. As you know, it isn't easy to get established and the academic standards are actually very high.

bdoo

linguist wrote: »

You say that you have a 2.2 degree. Despite the difficulties in securing employment, the fact is that the academic qualifications of people entering teaching have never been higher. If you were applying straight out of your BA, your chances of getting into teaching with that result would be small. Your other experience is not relevant to teaching. A prospective employer wants to know whether you can teach the course or not - and work with young people. The whole thrust of what the Teaching Council has been trying to do and tightening up on qualification requirements in particular is to ensure that teaching attracts people who are qualified and motivated to teach.

.

I cant agree with you there linguist. Her experience could be very relevant and as i said earlier my school has hired an nqt in similar circumstances which is proof that she would not be dismissed out of hand.

I do agree that native french speakers dont automatically make good teachers. I have worked with 4 - dire is not the word for 3 of them.

A 2.2 degree is not a bad degree. 20 years ago honours degrees were like hens teeth. Everyone has a masters now and think they're more entitled to a job. Our new teacher is replacing one of these - a disaster of a teacher.

It can go either way with anyone regardless of qualifications. The smugness and sense of entitlement that the masters crowd have astounds me.

derb12

Also, does anyone know if the department still award increments for industry experience like they used to. I worked in IT for 10 years and started 5 years up the scale (so point 8, given that everyone used to start on point 3) as recognition of my non-teaching experience. Might be worth looking into.

chprt

random question


but whats was your husbands pension earned for...




thanks paddy

Mighty_Mouse

Why secondary school?

You skills are more practical and maybe more suited to higher education:

http://www.cdvec.ie/Programmes/Further-Education.aspx

Cleite

Thank you all for giving such detailed responses both in posts and in PMs. Overall, I'm actually pleasantly surprised and I will definitely be looking more into the Hibernia course. As I think I made clear in my original post, I am already aware that it's probably the worst possible time to be considering going into teaching - I suppose I was really trying to find out if there was any hope at all for someone in my situation... I know it's not an easy time to start, but then, when I left school in 1989, it wasn't easy either, and between one thing and another I cobbled a career together.

The fact is, I am not forgetting that I would be starting out all over again, so I wouldn't expect to waltz into a permanent pensionable job, in the school of my choice, with students who beam up at me every morning, 'ar bís' to start learning It's unfortunate that I didn't make the 'right' choice when I left college, but then surely schools are better with a good mix of teaching staff? i.e. a mix of 'career' teachers, and those who have had experience of other working environments before converting to teaching...

That said, I get the feeling from certain posts both here and elsewhere that some teachers are a little... resentful maybe? of people like me who change careers 'when all else has failed'... If only life was so simple - that we all made exactly the right choices that fit our lives from beginning to end, without ever having to take changing family, financial or geographical considerations into account. For the sceptics, let me reassure you, I don't think that anyone who considers embarking on a teaching career in their 40's is naive enough to think that it's the 'easy' option. If anything, I think many people in this situation may very well have put off a 'calling' to teach, precisely because they understand how arduous a job it can be. And yes, let's call a spade a spade, at 23 I had no conception of how difficult it would be to reconcile being a devoted mother with a full-time job... I'm sorry if that irks some of you, but the fact is that apart from teaching and lower-grade civil/public servant jobs, there are very few full-time jobs out there which can accommodate the needs of a parent who wants to be truly present in their child's life. Yes, of course, a teacher must first and foremost want to teach, but as with any job, all aspects need to be taken into consideration and it is simply disingenuous to ignore the clear advantages of a teacher's holidays when trying to balance work and family life.

As stated in my original post, I loved teaching when I subbed for a year both in primary and post-primary, which is why all things considered, I believe it would be a job that I would be happy in. I love connecting with students, and working to find ways to do so. Without being boastful, the truth is that the standard of my Irish and French, both oral, aural and written, is better than many teachers I have dealt with during my previous career, so I do not fear for the quality of the knowledge I have to impart. As for being a 'cheerleader' for France and the French... sincerely without wishing to be rude, that particular post struck me as practically Orwellian... Of course any teacher has to try to drum up enthusiasm for their particular subject, but to infer that one must only refer to positive aspects of a particular society or culture is simply frightening :eek:

That said, for the curious amongst you, there are many reasons why I am not happy to live in France. Most of them have nothing whatsoever to do with France or the French and everything to do with the fact that I love Ireland, the Irish language, culture, music, scenery, and most of all, the Irish themselves. It's easy to lose sight of sitting at home in the drizzle and the unrelenting economic doom and gloom, but you would have to visit many many places before you would find a country to match Ireland for a nation of such warm, witty, and predominantly kind people. I know things are bad, but spare a thought for those of us who want nothing more than to come home... Our parents are aging, and missing out on all the joy of seeing their grandchildren grow up. We ourselves have no family support systems to lean on when times are hard. Depending on where you have emigrated to, there may not be an Irish network, and therefore no Irish friends to have a laugh with. Etc. etc. etc. Yes things are bad. But at least you're at home.

Now where did I put my ruby slippers?;)

seavill

Cleite wrote: »

That said, I get the feeling from certain posts both here and elsewhere that some teachers are a little... resentful maybe? of people like me who change careers 'when all else has failed'... If only life was so simple - that we all made exactly the right choices that fit our lives from beginning to end, without ever having to take changing family, financial or geographical considerations into account. For the sceptics, let me reassure you, I don't think that anyone who considers embarking on a teaching career in their 40's is naive enough to think that it's the 'easy' option. If anything, I think many people in this situation may very well have put off a 'calling' to teach, precisely because they understand how arduous a job it can be. And yes, let's call a spade a spade, at 23 I had no conception of how difficult it would be to reconcile being a devoted mother with a full-time job... I'm sorry if that irks some of you, but the fact is that apart from teaching and lower-grade civil/public servant jobs, there are very few full-time jobs out there which can accommodate the needs of a parent who wants to be truly present in their child's life. Yes, of course, a teacher must first and foremost want to teach, but as with any job, all aspects need to be taken into consideration and it is simply disingenuous to ignore the clear advantages of a teacher's holidays when trying to balance work and family life.

We are not resentful of people who have come from other careers that have wanted to teach maybe all their life but for various reasons it did not work out.
We are resentful of the people who come on this site week in week out (not talking about you) who actually have no experience in teaching, and would never in their lives have ever considered it only now they have no other job and sure its grand nice handy job to fall into that anyone can do, with great holidays and great pay and pension. This is where teachers are resentful more so than your situation, however I would be careful making comments like that you can very easily get peoples back up even with the best of intentions.

In relation to the part about being present in your child's life I agree and disagree with what you are saying. Yes the holidays afford you a huge amount of time to spend with you kids, however during the school term you will find that you have a lot less time than many other parents in other jobs. It is probably one of the few jobs out there where you the adult get homework. I know there are teachers out there who choose not to but lets all be honest there these people are not doing their jobs properly. I would have probably on a quiet night at least 1 1/2 hours of work to do and I'm not an English teacher thank God. Each Sunday I spend probably 5 hours getting my week sorted and finishing corrections. This is one aspect I think you have overlooked going by your post, however as you pointed out the holidays do afford you extra time in that respect.

One final thing is that yes you can be lucky and find a job, you can be unlucky and go a long time with nothing or bits and pieces. Your experience will help you, having your family and being restricted in how much you may be able to move around may be a draw back. One aspect that is truly important is that you must consider that if you are lucky and find employment you may spend the next 4 or 5 years getting paid only 33 weeks a year. Plan ahead in respect to this.

People who comment here may sound resentful, however some of it is coming from the harsh reality of working in the education sector today. People are speaking from their own experience. Speaking to someone recently who just finished their PDE, or whatever its called this week, their entire class of approx 40, not one has managed to get called for an interview yet. When people say this here it is not to put you off or to sound glum for the sake of it, it is just what people experience day in day out. Yes there are the success stories but from personal experience the unsuccessful stories outweigh them by 3 to 1 at least.

Hopefully everything will work out and best of luck with it but just listen to everyone's experiences and take it all on board, don't just dismiss it as people being negative for the sake of it or being as you said resentful.

Mardy Bum

bdoo wrote: »

I cant agree with you there linguist. Her experience could be very relevant and as i said earlier my school has hired an nqt in similar circumstances which is proof that she would not be dismissed out of hand.

I do agree that native french speakers dont automatically make good teachers. I have worked with 4 - dire is not the word for 3 of them.

A 2.2 degree is not a bad degree. 20 years ago honours degrees were like hens teeth. Everyone has a masters now and think they're more entitled to a job. Our new teacher is replacing one of these - a disaster of a teacher.

It can go either way with anyone regardless of qualifications. The smugness and sense of entitlement that the masters crowd have astounds me.

I think that may be more of a reflection on yourself. A masters degree in a humanities subject especially, is far superior to a BA. In saying this the only thing this means is that a person is much more specialised in their subject and it does not imply a superior ability to convey knowledge in a simplified manner for teenager. However in saying this also if there are two similar candidates for a job both with a similar mark in their teaching practice from their dip but one only has a BA and the other an MA, the masters student will be a much better candidate for the job and by all accounts of the labour market currently this is the situation.

Cleite

I hear what you're saying Seavill, but it's hard to address the issue without someone getting touchy :rolleyes: Truth be told, maybe I'm overlooking something, but my understanding was that teachers didn't actually teach 40 hours a week, specifically in order to have the time to prepare classes and correct homework. I know that many teachers take on extra duties, but maybe I'm missing something else. That said, like many in the private sector, I have never, and I really mean never had a job that was only 40 hours a week... In every job that I have had, bar one, I was on call 24/7, and at least once a week had to work late, weekends, travel away from home etc. etc. I know that that's not the case for everybody in the private sector, but there are more people in that situation than maybe you would think. And even more so now I presume, with employers who know that they can ask pretty much anything of employees who are terrified of losing their jobs.

seavill

Cleite wrote: »

I hear what you're saying Seavill, but it's hard to address the issue without someone getting touchy :rolleyes: Truth be told, maybe I'm overlooking something, but my understanding was that teachers didn't actually teach 40 hours a week, specifically in order to have the time to prepare classes and correct homework. I know that many teachers take on extra duties, but maybe I'm missing something else. That said, like many in the private sector, I have never, and I really mean never had a job that was only 40 hours a week... In every job that I have had, bar one, I was on call 24/7, and at least once a week had to work late, weekends, travel away from home etc. etc. I know that that's not the case for everybody in the private sector, but there are more people in that situation than maybe you would think. And even more so now I presume, with employers who know that they can ask pretty much anything of employees who are terrified of losing their jobs.

Yes I understand that is the case in many jobs but my point is that most of those jobs you know what you are signing up for in terms of hours to work times of day etc. My point is that people who think that a teachers job finishes at 3.45 when the bell goes are seriously misguided.

In relation to hours teaching. On full hours you are teaching 22 hours obviously far less than the 40 hours a week, however the point missed by most is its generally over 40 hours added up. I never and I mean never get time to do any correcting in school time. I can only speak from my experience as I am a woodwork teacher but even finding time to cut timber is difficult. I generally only get a chance to do this after school. Rarely do I sit down for full 40 mins for break time also.
On a Monday last year I had 5 classes, started at 9.30 finished at 3.45, leaving plenty free time in between you would think, however on a Tuesday I had 9 periods out of 9, Wednesday 8 and Thursday 8 with 1st class free wed. and thu.
I used my free time on Monday to get some timber cut for the week but as you can imagine with 7 practical groups to cater for each week this was not sufficient time.
Photocopying takes time, meeting with principal, VP, parents, students, other teachers. Filling out forms, reports, order forms, dealing with discipline issues, organising school match, tidying room (for some reason the woodwork room is out of bounds for the clearners:rolleyes:). A lot and I mean a lot of time is spent meeting with other teachers about some of their students with a problem some of yours the same, planning meetings etc. Plus the amount of little bits and pieces of jobs that have to be done, like fixing tools, machines, computers in your rooms, printers, getting lists from office etc. etc. etc.
Everything I have mentioned there are daily and weekly activities. Now the fact that I only have really my lunch break on Tue, Wed and Thu, to fit in these activities you can see how easily time will be taken up. 40 mins is a very short free period when you take into account going places to meet or find these people takes time, cleaning up at the end of a lesson may only be 5 mins, getting you stuff ready for next lesson might be 10, thats 15 mins gone out of your free 40.
Bare in mind I have not even mentioned preparing resources such as worksheets, etc. correcting exams, homework or actually planning of individual lessons or schemes. All of this is more than a 15 min activity, especially as I mentioned I do not have free classes 3 days a week to do any of this. All this I find is either an after school activity or a weekend activity.
In terms of homework exams etc. you will generally have 8 or 9 class groups that you will give homework to nearly every night, you may not collect copies every day but twice a week min. and when you take into account Assessment for learning correcting techniques it is far more than just a tick the page activity these days. Even a short test in class with 24-34 students will take at least a half an hour only spending 1 min on each test which is highly unlikely.
All this I have mentioned above is outside the 22 hours and believe me far outside the 40 hours also.
Now before anyone starts attacking me for saying oh poor us teachers working extra hours, this is not what I am saying i am just answering your question above in relation to not working 40 hours a week.

whiteandlight

May I make one suggestion to you. You mentioned that you spent time subbing before embarking on your career in journalism. The teaching profession has changed dramatically in the last ten years in everything from the type of teaching right down to the general attitude to education. Before forking out a ton of money to Hibernia it would really be a good idea to try and sub in a school in Ireland even if only for a week to make sure that the way you felt years ago about it is still there today

Cleite

Seavill - fair point, well made. I genuinely appreciate the insight and the time you are taking to share it.

Musicmental - very very very good idea. Will do before making a final decision, no question.

byhookorbycrook

Musicmental, think you mean volunteer?Unqualified people are not supposed to sub, esp with some many highly qualified teachers just living on a day here or there. I'm sure if the OP does qualify at great expense in time and money, she wouldn't like to see someone waltz in for a week's work, just to see if she liked it or not.

whiteandlight

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Musicmental, think you mean volunteer?Unqualified people are not supposed to sub, esp with some many highly qualified teachers just living on a day here or there. I'm sure if the OP does qualify at great expense in time and money, she wouldn't like to see someone waltz in for a week's work, just to see if she liked it or not.

Whatever way she can get in, though there is supposed to be a change this September the reality is there are unqualified subs doing work in the school-ours had one last year which us part timers were not happy about tbh. It was more concern that she has been out of the school system for a long time