To Teach or Not To Teach

Urethra Franklin.

So I am a graduate of Biology currently working in industry. I am not happy where I am, and know this is not the career path I want to pursue further. I was certain for a long time I wanted to study medicine but now doubts are setting in and I am not sure. I am now considering teaching, however once again, doubts and unsure.

To be completely and brutally honest, the main reason why I like the sounds of teaching is the shorter hours and holidays. Shallow, I know. I am sure I would enjoy teaching to a certain degree, I was a lab assistant teacher for a year whilst in college. I only considered teaching after starting industry. I hate the lack of holidays (a few days at Christmas and the rest of your holiday allowance to be scattered throughout the year, partially depending on the company's whim when to close). I work a day shift which means rising at 5.45 am daily, and the nature of my work can be quite monotonous and boring. (Hence this is some of the doubts about pursuing medicine-anyone I know in medicine just talks about how awful it is, rare is a good word said about it, hence even more doubts)

I am just unsure, it sounds awful, but part of me feels like if I chose to teach its like "taking the easy way out". I know this is clouded by what I have heard so many other people say about teaching (people really seem to hate teachers!) Not only is it a tough job, but teachers are treated like crap quite a bit and disrespected loads, for e.g. people blame their failures on their teachers when in reality, there is only so much a teacher can do. Another aspect would be the futility of it all-when I was a lab teaching assistant I did everything in my power to ensure that my students could get the best grades possible. I went far above and beyond of what was expected of me, even writing additional notes in my own time and emailing them on, a lot of the students said they wanted this, but then they wouldn't even use of any of the information in their assignments (leading me to believe they didn't even read the notes I would spend hours making them). My students rarely if ever took any heed of me. There was one student and I knew she was really smart and had great aptitude for the module, what she wrote was excellent, her problem was laziness, she wouldn't even write the bare minimum or answer all of the parts of the assignment, she was a devil for writing on loose pages, and it was just so frustrating doing everything I could to will the students to do what was even the bare minimum, any they just blatantly ignore. (I know is what happens the majority of time in medicine anyways-the doctor advises the patient to change their lifestyle and 9/10 times the patient doesn't).

So teaching ehh, have at it or not?????

spurious

Not.
Don't worry about time off if you go into teaching, you will have years of it.
You would be mental to give up a job to go into it.

alroley

Teaching is definitely not the "easy way out". I am newly qualified and work a full timetable. Between all my classes, extracurricular things, S&S - I get to work by 8am and leave between 5 and 6. There are plenty of other teachers who are pulling the same hours. Oh and I don't get paid for any school holidays.

If your main reason is short hours and long holidays, teaching is not for you.

Noveight

Teaching is a nice number no doubt, but you still have to be in it for the love of it.

If holidays or a 4pm quit are your main motivations you'll be looking for an exit within 5 years I'd say.

Urethra Franklin.

Hi thanks for the responses so far.

Just to clarify the hours/holidays/etc is not the sole reason, but everyday when i am hitting snooze on that alarm clock, or arriving in my house door over 12 hours later, having more time off/shorter hours just seems extremely appealing :P

I was certain what I wanted to do for a while, and then that dream got crushed, and then I thought about medicine but doubts started to spring in my mind and now I just dont think I would be happy in any career. I only ended up in industry (I did not want to go into it at all when I graduated) was due to the insistence of my parent. I was happy to keep my minimum wage job full time while I figured things out.

As I said I don't think I will be happy in any career, just at the minute teaching appears to be the best of a bad bunch. I have some teaching experience and i didnt hate it, and I have trained ex colleagues in certain tasks and have been told I am very good at teaching.

amacca

Urethra Franklin. wrote: »

Hi thanks for the responses so far.

Just to clarify the hours/holidays/etc is not the sole reason, but everyday when i am hitting snooze on that alarm clock, or arriving in my house door over 12 hours later, having more time off/shorter hours just seems extremely appealing :P

I was certain what I wanted to do for a while, and then that dream got crushed, and then I thought about medicine but doubts started to spring in my mind and now I just dont think I would be happy in any career. I only ended up in industry (I did not want to go into it at all when I graduated) was due to the insistence of my parent. I was happy to keep my minimum wage job full time while I figured things out.

As I said I don't think I will be happy in any career, just at the minute teaching appears to be the best of a bad bunch. I have some teaching experience and i didnt hate it, and I have trained ex colleagues in certain tasks and have been told I am very good at teaching.

Teaching is not what it used to be.....its definitely in a time of change.....if the kind of stuff described in the first post (you working your ass off and students not bothering to do simple things or make and effort frustrate you then multiply that by up to 30 students 7/8 times a day + you are still at fault at the end of the day (including management and dept subtly shifting blame/responsibility on to you with the way the system is set up ..while simultaneously removing tools required to make it happen) .....now add in potentially much worse/more challenging behaviour, increasing administrative chase your tail box ticking/ass covering administrative horse****, more scrutiny/collaboration which takes up your time/falling standards of behaviour and I would argue falling academic standards to boot, much more hours than the contact hours with preparation, correction extracurricular (which at best you are nearly guilted into making for very full calendars during term time .... increasing difficulty getting a full time job on top of lower new entrant pay and more time/cost to qualify and consider your options carefully.

Having said that maybe it is for you despite what I and others have said. Ironically you really need to try these things out warts and all to know if they are for you and thats unlikely to happen. Sometimes as a teacher I used to long for a job where you were actually given the environment or tools to do it without constantly having to deal with unreasonable or challenging behaviour and being made feel like it was your fault....a task you could actually accomplish without abuse (I believe you could call it that in a way) whether complex or simple seemed preferable than dealing with a small cohort of complete and utter persistent assholes (for want of a better description) that had every right but zero responsibilities and precious little in the way of meaningful consequences for continuos disruption/wilful laziness etc

Have you considered looking into training adults for specific roles or becoming a trainer for a company? It might be something to look at, maybe a middle ground......

cmegzc

Not science, I'm English and history, so we are a very common breed but my experiences. I love teaching, I love working with young people - WHEN I'm teaching. I qualified 2014, working on temporary contracts for the past 4 years. I have no holiday pay, no job security and at the moment despite my experience I am a casual substitute. This means I go into a school in the morning, get handed a timetable for the day of (usually) subjects that are not mine and stand over students while they study/complete work left for them. Don't get me wrong, at times the job is easy, just sitting there watching the kids but 9/10 you have poor behaviour as you are not their usual teacher. You may also be in and out of schools so its hard to follow up on poor behaviour (give detentions, speak to year heads etc.). You do not have an opportunity to build a relationship with kids and one bad run in with a challenging student can make any class with them in the future a nightmare. Like I said,I LOVE teaching when I am actively teaching and the hopes that I will eventually get a full time contract on my own hours in an area I want to be in (I've worked in UK, Donegal, Dublin and other areas to get experience) is the only thing that has kept me going. I'm considering leaving the profession due to lack of contracts and security. Even teachers who work on their own hours for a year are obligated to reinterview for their own jobs. This creates more problems as some teachers lose their jobs and many times (people like me) go for interview with little chance of securing that position as there is a teacher already in the job. All of this can go on for years as I know teachers subbing for longer than me. If you're committed and really want to be a teacher then by all means go for it but be aware it will be a few years of uncertainty and confusion and feeling like **** and picking yourself back up. If you don't know and are considering it as 'an easy option' the holidays and being paid for them generally (unless you are insanely lucky) won't kick in for a couple of years. Otherwise it is minimum wage work or signing on during the summer for most teachers not in secure positions.

Mayberry

Hi

I read your post and just wanted to give add my thoughts.
I get the sense that you should change the company you work for rather than abandon industry altogether. You don't express a dislike for your job rather the conditions that come with it such as long hours and lack of holidays based on the whim of the company. On the same vein you don't express a great love or passion to do teaching either just that it may have better conditions(people have already advised you on the this in previous posts). Being a lab assistant and helping people out with notes that you kindly provided in your own time is a completely different ball game to teaching in a school. You would be dealing with classroom management, rarely but sometimes hostility from students, a heavy workload from spending hours preparing lessons and coming up with activities to marking course and homework. There is also heavy expectation that you will keep up to date with current teaching methods, involve yourself with the school life by doing extra curricular activities and deal with staffroom politics. Teaching is wonderful but I don't think you should chose it as it has better holidays. Those holidays are needed as when you are teaching it is all consuming and in you have little "free" time.

On the otherhand I certainly wouldn't want to put you off teaching if all that's holding you back is self doubt and lack of confidence. Go for it! If medicine is what you want to do.. Go for it! If you want to work in a minimum wage job.. Go for it! Life is way to short. You mention that you would probably be unhappy with any career and I think you should really deal with this issue first. Why do you feel that this is true? Are you being pushed by family members into what they deem "solid" careers? . My brother is a software engineer and doing really well for himself yet my grandparents can't understand with his brains why he didn't go into the bank! There is nothing wrong with being indecisive and pondering a career change. Have you considered other careers beyond medicine and teaching?

I hope this helps and really wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.

Blaizes

I don't know if it has already been mentioned but if you could get into a school for a couple of days during your own holidays and shadow a teacher and see what it is really like.You can hear this and that from people but you need to be in a real teaching environment .I don't know if this is possible for you to do, you'd probably need to be garda vetted at a minimum.And I wouldn't go to just one school, I'd go to a few different schools.Then you will get a truer picture of what teaching is about. Good luck whatever you decide.

AndrewJRenko

Are there any opportunities for instructor/tutor/trainer roles within your own industry?

Most industries have specialist trainers either as external contractors or maybe in an internal training or L&D section in large organisations.

mesagiulia3

Blaizes wrote: »

I don't know if it has already been mentioned but if you could get into a school for a couple of days during your own holidays and shadow a teacher and see what it is really like.You can hear this and that from people but you need to be in a real teaching environment .I don't know if this is possible for you to do, you'd probably need to be garda vetted at a minimum.And I wouldn't go to just one school, I'd go to a few different schools.Then you will get a truer picture of what teaching is about. Good luck whatever you decide.

This is a really good idea and quite easy to do. I shadowed a few different teachers over the course of a few days and to be honest, it turned me off my idea of taking up teacher-training. The amount of planning that goes into catering for all the special needs of the modern 'inclusive' classroom is very different than even 10 years ago. It was the only way I got a really good sense of whats involved. All the advice you may receive here or otherwise second hand is of little value.

evolving_doors

mesagiulia3 wrote: »

This is a really good idea and quite easy to do. I shadowed a few different teachers over the course of a few days and to be honest, it turned me off my idea of taking up teacher-training. The amount of planning that goes into catering for all the special needs of the modern 'inclusive' classroom is very different than even 10 years ago. It was the only way I got a really good sense of whats involved. All the advice you may receive here or otherwise second hand is of little value.

:pac: take a moment there before you die of irony.

Bananaleaf

I don't mean this in a snide way - it is a genuine request.

If you do decide to make the move to teaching, please return to this thread and update us.

Having worked with a number of people who made the move to teaching from industry, Im ashamed to say that it always amuses me when the realisation hits them that all the work (that happens outside of the 22 paid hours) doesn't just do itself.

Don't believe the hype.
Except the holidays bit. To be fair, they are great.

mesagiulia3

evolving_doors wrote: »

:pac: take a moment there before you die of irony.

Yes, I did realise this while typing but I guessed that most people would gather that I was suggesting to the OP that she informs herself from first hand experience rather than second hand account.

Blaizes

No harm done and on another note it was good you got a taster of teaching that helped you decide it wasn't for you.I really think anyone who is thinking of going teaching or embarking on any other job/ career really needs to get in there first and try it out first hand.Test the water and see what they think.

Urethra Franklin.

Hi All,

I was asked to return to this thread if I made a decision, I haven't. I was really comfortable with the idea of teaching, it made me happy, and whenever things go wrong at work, I think to myself, someday soon I'll be out of this place and happily standing in the front of a classroom.

So anyways, I applied to both teaching and Medicine. I sat the an exam to get into medicine, and I got a score that should get me onto a medical course. I enjoyed the challenge of getting into medicine, but in recent months I have grown further and further away from the idea, I feel like in my head it was never a reality. However when I got my score I was super excited, offers wont be out however until August.

Today I received word I was accepted into teaching. This didnt excite me at all. I just sat there, flat, when I read the email. Surely I should be excited? Maybe its because it would mean moving to Maynooth (I have no desire to live there, I would have loved to make UCD my number 1 choice but I knew I could never afford the rent so when I applied I put Maynooth as my first choice as its sort of near Dublin. Maybe this is why I am not jumping for joy, shallow I know). In my head teaching always seemed like the right fit for me. But after I got my offer, my head just feels empty. It doesn't feel right. It felt right, up until I seen I got the offer, now I don't know what to make of it all.

So anyways that my update for you all, more lost than ever I suppose.

EDIT: Just for clarification, I dont know which way I'll go yet. I am no closer to making a decision than I am to landing on the moon.

evolving_doors

The one that got away.

Good luck in the medicine thing.

Bananaleaf

Urethra Franklin. wrote: »

Hi All,

I was asked to return to this thread if I made a decision, I haven't. I was really comfortable with the idea of teaching, it made me happy, and whenever things go wrong at work, I think to myself, someday soon I'll be out of this place and happily standing in the front of a classroom.

So anyways, I applied to both teaching and Medicine. I sat the an exam to get into medicine, and I got a score that should get me onto a medical course. I enjoyed the challenge of getting into medicine, but in recent months I have grown further and further away from the idea, I feel like in my head it was never a reality. However when I got my score I was super excited, offers wont be out however until August.

Today I received word I was accepted into teaching. This didnt excite me at all. I just sat there, flat, when I read the email. Surely I should be excited? Maybe its because it would mean moving to Maynooth (I have no desire to live there, I would have loved to make UCD my number 1 choice but I knew I could never afford the rent so when I applied I put Maynooth as my first choice as its sort of near Dublin. Maybe this is why I am not jumping for joy, shallow I know). In my head teaching always seemed like the right fit for me. But after I got my offer, my head just feels empty. It doesn't feel right. It felt right, up until I seen I got the offer, now I don't know what to make of it all.

So anyways that my update for you all, more lost than ever I suppose.

Hi there

Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear you are having a tough time choosing careers. That can't be easy.

Congratulations on both getting into Medical school and getting accepted onto the PME course.

If you are near Maynooth you are not too far from me. If it were at all possible would you be willing to shadow a teacher for a couple of days? It might help you out? There would be a rake of forms you would have to fill out before they'd let you near the place, but I would be happy to have you shadow me. If you are interested send me a PM.

spurious

If you follow the Medicine path, might there be a route to incorporate teaching aptitude and skills later in your career?

Urethra Franklin.

Hi All,

I've come here to update once again. I was accepted to Medicine but I am going to send an email tomorrow turning down my place.

I have spoken to some friends about the issue and the fact that I am not jumping for joy of with pure enthusiasm to either option has suggested, for my friends at least, that I should wait another year and mull things over. This feels like the right decision but is also somewhat frustrating as I feel like I will ultimately end up in teaching. At the minute the main thing holding me back is fear. Teenagers can be awful, behavior has gotten rampantly bad in the past few decades according to a teacher I know. This person has warned their own child off of teaching, mostly because of the awfulness of teenagers behavior these days. Trying to control or discipline classroom sounds futile according to this person.

Someone also asked me if I was being pressured into either role because of my family. Yes. My dad has always come down hot and heavy trying to get me into teaching (literally since I was a small child) and the inner rebel in me also has made me turned off teaching because of this. He is tbh inherently sexist who thinks I am not capable of a "more stressful demanding career" (sure all that time off is great for rearing kids....only children I ever plan on having is cat babies, 20 to be exact :P ). I know I need to follow my own mind but going into teaching makes me feel like he's won. He literally laughed when I told him I was considering medicine and told me I wouldn't be able to handle it. I have friends who are female and now qualified doctors, and he thinks it's fine for them, but me personally, apparently not. He's basing this on the fact that in my final year of college I had some horrific mental health issues and tried to drop out (and in hind sight I really should have, all the professionals I was seeing also suggested this) he blamed this on my ability to get stressed during exams rather than the cascade of serious mental health problems I was going through at that time. It's a very frustrating place to be in.

I tried looking into adult ed teaching and I discussed it with 2 guidance counsellors, but jobs are even scarcer than in second level teaching apparently, particularly for my area (biology), and is more common for people with media, business, makeup, etc backgrounds.

I secured my teaching placement in an all boy school in a very rough area, and someone told me who had attended a similar school to let the students away messing half the time, but when the students cross a line that's when you challenge/get strict with them, this persons example of a crossed line....when a student attempts to throw a chair across the classroom at my face. I don't think I could deal with that. I'm a pushover, I'm afraid I would never be able to control a classroom. I am just very confused. If I do decide to follow teaching fees are to be paid by the end of this week. I'm bit of a hot mess atm trying to decide.

spurious

If you were my sister/daughter/friend, I would say stay away from teaching.

It sounds like teaching was not your idea. For that reason alone I would say no.

I suspect your placement, if it is in the sort of school I think, will put you off it for life. I spent my career in schools like the one you described. Yes, it's all very noble, trying to help etc., but in the end they chew you up and spit you out.

AJG

spurious wrote: »

If you were my sister/daughter/friend, I would say stay away from teaching.

It sounds like teaching was not your idea. For that reason alone I would say no.

I suspect your placement, if it is in the sort of school I think, will put you off it for life. I spent my career in schools like the one you described. Yes, it's all very noble, trying to help etc., but in the end they chew you up and spit you out.

The above x1000... it's simply not the job it used to be. You're either going to be years in the wilderness subbing or the paperwork/increasing non-contact time demands will take their toll. Also don't forget the kids as mentioned above...

Redser87

If you haven't turned down the medicine course yet, PM me. I have a family member who did GEM, it's not an easy course to get on to. I have some insight into how it works.