NationStates Jolt Archive

Hey guys!

I'm about to start 6th form, and I was interested in a career in teaching. Are there any teachers here? What sort of a job is it? Good? Bad? And what kind of qualifications do I need to get started? Cheers :p

I would enjoy it a whole lot more if I was teaching people who actually enjoyed the material (or was involved early enough to have a prayer of influencing that).

thats one of the dilemnas i have as well lol. do you have to choose whether you teach primary or secondary education? or does the qualification let you teach both? I never could work it out :p

I rather enjoy teaching, though there are times when strangling the lot of them sounds wonderful. ;)

I don't know the details. I don't have any sort of certification, and I'm not from the U.K. I'm just a graduate student, and I teach lower level undergraduate classes. The students are great, but there's a never-ending influx of administrative work: giving people permission to take the class, dealing with people who have to (or just do) miss exams or quizzes, telling people that extra credit won't be given just because they asked, GRADING, etc.

Hey guys!

I'm about to start 6th form, and I was interested in a career in teaching. Are there any teachers here? What sort of a job is it? Good? Bad? And what kind of qualifications do I need to get started? Cheers :p

Not a teacher, but my brother is, and I've heard a good bit of positives and negatives from him. Does he love his job? Yup. Is it sometimes a pain in the neck? Yup.

One thing he said stuck with me though - he'd never make it as a teacher except for the fact that he teaches physics, which is an elective course. The only students he gets are the ones that want to be there. He said that he'd never be a teacher in a class that was mandatory...

One of my friends teaches Science (up to UK year 11, I think), and from what she says it seems about the hardest job in the world...

Say goodbye to any semblance of a social life until you've got the first year or so's lesson planning done and dusted. I think she likes it more than any other job she's had, though ;)

Incidentally, I think she's completely mad. But what do I know?

I teach English in a secondary school in New York City. As with any job, there are positive aspects and negative aspects to it, so really, there are three things you should consider before deciding on whether you want to give it a go.

1) Do you love learning and are you enthusiastic about your subject?

2) Are you, in fact, the sort of person who feels comfortable with groups, and are you good at explaining yourself? If you demonstrate something to another person, are they likely to grasp it?

3) Are you good at management? Are you fairly well organized in terms of time management, breaking things up into logical order, and being able to deal with the frequent interruptions in your plans and a fair amount of stress?

If you can answer yes to these, then teaching can be a rewarding and exciting job. You do need good management skills, you do need to be comfortable speaking in a group (but public speaking courses of course can take care of much of this), you do need to prioritize what's most important and what can be put off or dropped... and you do need to be able to think on your feet and go with whatever unexpected 'blessings' come into your life. I had several jobs before I became a teacher (receptionist at a tax accountant's at tax season -- fun.... cashier at a major department store... editorial assistant at a small textbook publishing house in Manhattan... assistant and desktop publisher at a Sixth Avenue media corporation in Manhattan) but none of them were as challenging, rewarding, and dare I say it? fun as what I'm doing now. Your students can be brilliant, funny, talented, enthusiastic people. Your colleagues and your department chair can be supportive, lovely, funny people. Your students' parents (if we're talking about pre-uni) can be the most supportive people and help you. There will be those who thank you, sincerely, for what you've done to help their child bloom. And, you may be surprised to find that the child who required your attention and patience most -- the one who makes you want to tear your hair out at the roots -- is the one who will surprise you by telling you at the end of the year (or sometimes on a visit after they've left) how much of a difference you made to them.

Then there's the downside. There is paperwork that is never ending. There are those who believe they need not do the work everyone else is doing, and that deadlines are merely a suggestion. There are those who feel 'extra credit' is a right, and a pass for not having done their work. There are those who will be disruptive as they've no interest in education and are only there because they have to be. There will be administrators who will suggest the most idiotic things on the planet. Some of your colleagues will be utter poison. Some of the parents will blame you for all their child's failings -- educational, social and emotional. Sadly, there are plenty who will disrespect you and sneer at you for choosing this career (as if being an educator is what you do when you're not fit for anything else) and well meaning folks who will tell you, "But why teaching? You could make so much more of yourself!"

On the bad days, it seems like it would be a relief if the world comes to an end. On the good days, you'll feel like you won a million.

If I haven't discouraged you yet, feel free to ask whatever you need. :)



As for the qualifications -- I think I posted the ones you would find most useful as a human. Educationally, I don't know -- for me, in New York, I needed only a BA in English to start; however, there are exams to take and pass and a requirement that one must take a MA or MS as well to retain the job. In NY, you have five years to complete the MS or lose your position.

:D Fortunately, that's a worry I no longer have.

cheers :D no you haven't put me off lol. is a BA a batchelor of education thingummy? I'm ok at speaking in public, and (apparently :p) I can explain things rather well... dunno which subject I wanna teach tho lol. maybe english... but most of the english teachers i've had i've despised so... lol

I've got two years to decide still, so no rush :D

cheers :D no you haven't put me off lol. is a BA a batchelor of education thingummy? I'm ok at speaking in public, and (apparently :p) I can explain things rather well... dunno which subject I wanna teach tho lol. maybe english... but most of the english teachers i've had i've despised so... lol

I've got two years to decide still, so no rush :D

No, actually my bachelor's was simply in English Literature. When I took my masters', I took it in Secondary Education: English. I suppose I could also have taken it in English, but the educational theory is useful -- though I daresay you'll toss about half what they tell you about how to teach and find what works best for you.

Oddly enough, it's the extremely good teachers and extremely bad ones I had who shaped my teaching style -- the extremely good ones I use as my "mentors" (now how would Ms. SuchAndSo handle this situation) and the bad ones are my, "Oh HELL NO, I will NEVER do that to a student!!!!" examples. ;)

I was also doomed from the start -- dragged into this profession kicking and screaming. Both my parents are retired teachers, and therefore most of their friends are also teachers -- I was surrounded by pedagogues from the cradle!

Oh, qualifications; my friend (being in the UK I think it'd be relevant) got a Biology BSc before doing the teacher-training qualification thing.

What's the best thing about teaching ?
the retirement pension !

What's the best thing about teaching ?
the retirement pension !

Exactly the sort of feeling someone who shouldn't be a teacher would have. ;) Seriously, you'll never grow rich at this -- you should want to do it for other reasons than that.

you'll never grow rich at this

WHAT?!?! ah screw it then ;)

lol j/k. My mates think I'd be good at it, which helps a bit.

It's either this or being a politician :D :p

Exactly the sort of feeling someone who shouldn't be a teacher would have. ;) Seriously, you'll never grow rich at this -- you should want to do it for other reasons than that.

Not rich, no, but in the UK working in the public sector (so including most teaching jobs) is one of the few ways of getting a decent pension.

Not rich, no, but in the UK working in the public sector (so including most teaching jobs) is one of the few ways of getting a decent pension.

;) Same here... and you can get a similar if not better pension being a 'sanitation engineer'. You certainly get better starting pay. I don't want to empty people's trash for a living, though.

Teachin pay isn't that bad. One of my CC teacher from the previous two years got accepted at Harrow, and by all accounts, whilst living on site with meals provided, he will be earning a fair bit.

I might be tempted to follow him into teaching, if only doing Latin and Classics.