Secondary teaching, pros and cons, advice?

I have been working in my current field for ~ 13 years. I work with seriously ill people in a very inflexible working environment.
I have been looking into converting my degree to cover secondary teaching - probably physics, general science and maths.
For the teachers on BB - what are the pros/cons and other hidden/lesser known sides to your profession? Is it hard to get permanent contracts for these subjects/areas?
Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
TIA

I don't have the time for a long reply at the moment as I am away from home. I am a secondary teacher - teaching maths but also qualified to teach science as well. There are a few differences in systems between the states, but if Vic is anything like NSW, they are crying out for science and maths teachers and being able to teach both makes you very employable. Hopefully I'll remember to come back to this once we are home.

BW

i'm bfing atm so my answer will be brief, sorry!

science/maths teachers can almost walk into jobs anywhere they want. the demand is huge!

pros- great hours, holidays, awesome maternity leave, some happy appreciative kind students

cons- huge responsibilities, huge workload, rude unmotivated students, demanding parents, office politics, large class-sizes, reports, marking, constantly changing curriculum standards, ....hhmmm how far do you want me to go really?????

I'm currently training as a Science teacher.

I have a degree in genetics (biology) and a secondary course in Chemistry, so I can teach that to beyond A-level now too.

The things I'm finding hard are:
- remembering the children are CHILDREN, even though they're 16. They don't behave like adults. Coming from working with and occasionally teaching adults, it's a shock that they don't shut up and you are told not to use manners with them.
- I have to teach physics. I haven't done physics for YEARS and am happy about that. But now I am wishing I did physics A-Level because having a GCSE grasp of stuff isn't good enough; I need to be a bloody genius. My mentor did A-level physics so I don't think she quite gets how stupid the subject is (even when I tell her I'm going to have difficulty teaching it).
- Mentoring. You are SUPPOSED to get feedback and help. My mentor is a lot more interested in her current AmDram production and complains I don't get work to her on time... well, I would if you were ever around! I'm going to start resorting to e-mail. And nag her to tell me how my lessons are going every time that she sees me, rather than saving it up for the end of the week.
- Personal issues. If you HATED school and had a crumby time there, going back to school and learning that apparently bullying isn't tolerated and that you're supposed to care about and look out for all these children... well, that didn't happen when I was at school! Gets me a little cross sometimes.

BUT I do love it. Just have to get through this year. Then it will all just slot into place - a bit like learning to drive!

Thanks for the replies!
I definitely have to just bite the bullet so to speak and make a decision! I would be aiming to study in 2011 so no need to rush things, lol.
I spend a good deal of my time teaching - from work experience to post grad learners and really enjoy it. Not sure how this would translate however.

LZ - I am a gun at radiation physics, the rest may be a steep learning curve for me also! I actually loved school (geek alert) - I was lucky to have some inspiring teachers and great experiences so perhaps I am putting too positive a spin on it? Good luck with your year ahead - bit of a juggle studying with a young child too!

Ginger - Can I ask for a bit of feedback re your cons - like marking/demanding parents etc. I would imagine that it all happens at once with marking/reports etc - how do you manage it? Also one of your pros was great hours - what hours are you at school and how much out of hours work do you do? Initially? Ongoing?

Thanks again!

Am just hijacking this thread to see the replies...:redface:...I too am thinking about going back and doing my dip-ed in secondary teaching in a couple of years. My mum is a primary school teacher already so am pretty much in the know about a lot of the pro's/con's but it is always interesting to see others opinions.:)