Blue_ the School Teacher - dilemma

Originally Posted by andyb

I don't know you at all but you don't seem the kind of person who would put up with that without lamping the parent

Yes, I get agitated by stupidity/ignorance, but apart from when I was at primary school and I had to defend myself once from the school bully , I've never hit anyone in my life! I am not really the violent sort! Actually seeing people using violence as a mode of communication just makes me pity them and makes me angry in a different way!!

Originally Posted by ArtyLady

Sorry if youve already said - but what did you used to do before?

I have been asked in the past on here, I have never said as it was never overly relevant and with good reasons that will hopefully be quite apparent right now ...

Ok, so I suppose there isn't really much harm in saying what I do/did now (bearing in mind as of ~ 15:30 tomorrow, I no longer do it/work there and I am not going to give anything directly away as I can't/wont!! ).

Ok with a very broad brush (again for good reason) .. for the last decade I am/was a professional scientist in one of the leading blue chip military defence company's. Again, nice broad brush/big handfulls - as a scientist I basically worked with other scientists and did military research into collective artificial inelegance for military applications.

As we all know, military funding is drying up all the time, as a consequence as is the interesting work ... I get bored real easy, so a few steps between i.e. me putting in for redundancy and here we are with me looking for a new career!!

So now you (and anyone that reads this) know/s ... and I don't care if you think it is BS , as if anything there are advantages to that!

I think it is safe to say that not many people would have guessed what I did for a living (again in some ways that was possibly a good thing and shows diligence on my part! ).

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

Ok with a very broad brush (again for good reason) .. for the last decade I am/was a professional scientist in one of the leading blue chip military defence company's. Again, nice broad brush/big handfulls - as a scientist I basically worked with other scientists and did military research into collective artificial inelegance for military applications.

So, basically, you're like the guy that made Data in Star Trek!! God, didn't know we were using androids!!

Good day org,

Here is what i know.

I'm in my 4th year of secondary teaching in an inner city north east secondary school with approx 2200 kids in it. The training situation as it stands is very lucrative for secondary. You get a £9k tax free bursary and some LEA's even pay the fees. You can also get a £4k loan if you need it.

Now if you can teach a true shortage like Science, Maths etc then you would get a job up north easy ( a 3 bed hoose where i live is £150k or so) you will also get a 2.5k golden hello after a year.

Our pay goes from approx 20 - 30k (6 years) then you go through threshold and go from 32 - 35K (additional 3 years). If you want to teach in scotland however as mentioned before you must train there as they have a different qualification. Also if you want to be a head ours currently gets just over 110k.

I noticed you were interested in primary but if you train secondary you can easily swap and teach primary (doesn't work the other way though). If you are a man you are more likely to get a primary job as there a very few male primary teachers.

Finally the holidays. It's a common misconception we never work but i challenge anyone on here to work with 250 kids a week and not need a break after 6 weeks. As far as i'm concerned only the 6 week holiday is a real one the others are barely long enough to unwind.

So there you go, hope this helps. If you need to know owt else just ask.

[Lissa]

Blue, if you really want to teach.................go for it.

My son graduated with a degree in Sport Science two years ago, and has a very well paid job, but he is giving all that up in September to do this at Reading

http://www.reading.ac.uk/education/p...econdaryPE.asp

He wants to teach. He wants to get kids motivated to lead more active lives and not just be couch potatoes. No, it's not an academic subject, but physical fitness is important too, isn't it?

For what it's worth, having read a lot of your slightly off-the-wall stuff, I think you might be just what kids need!

You'll never really know how you'll handle/enjoy it unless you actually do it.

If someone had asked me three years ago if I thought I could handle living pretty much hand to mouth and dealing with being on crutches all the time I'd have said "Hell no!".
I like my security, occasional perks and freedom to just buy something I like on a whim, the knowledge my bills are all paid and the rest of my money is mine to do with as I please... the thought of running my own business scared the carp outta me.

As for being a crippo - I was very much a physically active person and so any sort of physical confinement would have driven me near to insanity than I already am with boredom.

I look back on the last three years (and forwards too) and can honestly say that being a crippo, losing my job and being forced to find a way to pay the bills (own business) has been one of the most liberating experiences in my life. Go figure.

Asking for advice is great, but at the end of the day - you have to try for yourself or never really know... and you might find you surprising yourself with the changes in your life.

With the money thing, think of it this way; with your previous, well-paying job, you've been able to afford certain luxuries (like several bikes!) and I assume things like nice TV's and furnishings and stuff. Well, you've got all that now, and as long as you feel happy with everything and nothing breaks and you don''t plan on buying anything for a few years, then 20k per year isnt too bad to live off. It'll pay the bills, rent/morgage and food, pay for petrol and stuff. Ok, yea you'll have to maybe save some money aside for some more trackdays and everything, but its not so bad.

Out of mine and maria;s combined students loans (came to about 12k per year for two years), we afforded rent (£69 each p/w), food (about £50 p/w shop) and utility bills; we managed to survive. On top of that, because we put spare money aside, we afforded things like going out, taking trips to brighton on the train (ruddy expensive!), and we even managed to keep enough aside so that I could do my bike training, fail one test, and pass the next one, and then get me an SV, insure it, tax it, fix it up, topbox-ify it.

If you're carefull with your money, and buy FIRST what you need and THEN what you want, you'll live well off £14.5k, and do good out of 20.

Matt

P.S. I like the catch-all term "scientist". I'm a scientist too (nearly, 5 weeks, woo!)

Ok boys and girls! Today we shall be learning about where Blue_ has got to with his teaching career ...

Before you can start any official teacher training, you need to have spent ~2 weeks in the back of a classroom as an observer. I guess so you get an idea of what it is like and if it is for you etc.

So, I have arranged to go and see a local primary school on Monday, I'll fill in the paperwork so they can do background checks to check I am not a kiddy-fiddler . This takes ~48hrs and then I can start. So giving it a bit of leway and assuming the clearance comes through in time, we have agreed next Friday as my first day in the classroom.

[Lissa]

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

Ok boys and girls! To day we shall be learning about where Blue_ has got to with his teaching career ...

Beforeyou can start any official teacher training, you need to spend ~2 weeks in the back of a classroom as an observer. I guess so you get an idea of what it is like and if it is for you etc.

So, I have arranged to go and see a local primary school on Monday, I'll fill in the paperwork so they can do background checks to check I am not a kiddy-fiddler . This takes ~48hrs and then I can start. So giving it a bit of leway and assuming the clearance comes through in time, we have agreed next Friday as my first day in the classroom.

Nice one!

Good on you!

TBH Blue I didn't think you'd do it. Well done. I hope it goes well

Originally Posted by Lissa

Nice one!

Good on you!

Originally Posted by Ed

TBH Blue I didn't think you'd do it. Well done. I hope it goes well

It has got to the stage where there is no point doing any more hypothesising, doing the classroom visit should sort it one way or another ...

In some respects I hope I hate it as it will stop any further deliberation over the pay stuff as it then obviously a non-starter!!