My mums a teacher, my sister is studying teaching and I am planning on going back to uni in a couple of years time and doing my dip ed too. As a child it was great always having mum around before and after school and during the holidays - that is definitely the best advantage of the job.
But upon saying that there is still a lot of extra work to be done - your job doesnt stop at 3pm when the bell rings. So as long as you are aware of that and that there will be nights at home when you are doing marking and programming then yes it is a very family friendly job.
I love my job and wouldnt consider doing anything else. Having said that though, it can at times be a very trying job- there is much more to teaching than meets the eye and you need to be prepared for that too, like the others said, prep, programming and marking can be very time consuming. There are also all the extra things that you need to think about some days you are a nurse, social worker, councillor etc. I work in a pretty togh school, so I find dealing with some of the behaviours and other 'home' situations to be quite stressful at times, but not all schools are like that- however you really do need to be prepared for the ones that are.
As for family friendly, at this stage in my life, I honestly don't think working full time would be very family friendly, there is no way I could do a good job at school and a good job at home if I worked 5 days a week, but being the profession that it is, there are great options for part time work. The holidays and the hours are a definate advantage in terms of family life though.
For me the job satisfaction I get, and the knowledge that I am out there making a difference for our future generations is enough to drive me on, so even on the toughest days I still wouldnt choose to do anything else.
I don't know how you would go with 3 kids but ... I think JCU (Townsville) still offers a post grad bachelor of education that can be completed in 3 semesters (one semester being a summer semester between Dec and Feb and the other two being the standard semester 1 and semester 2). So other uni's may do it also. Contact hours for my Ed degree were 12 hours a week plus study time. The only thing that might kill you trying to look after small kids and do your degree would be the prac hours in school. They are full time hours for 4 to 6 weeks at a time starting at the beginning of the school year for Grad BEd students (starting after the summer semester).
It is a lot of after hours work, though I got around that by becoming a behaviour management specialist after my I had been teaching in the classroom for a couple of years. I still worked out of hours but it was different work - meeting with parents, psychologist and admin staff, going to meetings, writing individual education plans - that kind of thing which I found much more enjoyable than planning and marking. But then I loved behaviour management and found the whole job much more enjoyable than classroom teaching but I think it anything is enjoyable if you are passionate about it (much like parenting - not always easy but very enjoyable).
I love my job! I have found it endlessly tiring at times and also endlessly frustrating - mainly because of the red tape, meetings and politics which you get in any work environment but I have found it wonderful with the kids. I only work 2 days now, I am lucky enough to be a Performing Arts specialist, run my own program and basically have fun singing and dancing and ge paid. Holidays are great but the downside is there is alot of extra work like correcting work, reports, meetings, extra curricula stuff and the list goes on. Totally worth it though. Good luck - I would go for it! I am about to apply for my Masters of Education! Eeek.
Although I used to love my job, I just don't anymore. I still consider myself a dedicated teacher and do all that I have to, but think that I'm at a point in my life that I want something else. I must admit though that I went from high school, to uni for 4 years then straight into teaching. I've been teaching for 10 years.
Teaching involves lots of work. More if you are a perfectionist (eeek......I know as I was one once) As others have said it involves plenty of out of hours meetings, programing, marking, creating resources and organising materials for lessons. Report time (week 4-8 of term 2 and term 4) is hectic. Tack on parent interviews, information evenings, school performances etc. Sorry, I'm being somewhat negative. Personally I'd love to do midwifery too but the cost of retraining as a nurse and getting a serious pay cut is not attractive.
Saying that - it is very family friendly. Holidays with kids as well as weekends. It's very flexible in terms of how much you want to work as well. I'm a permanent teacher but on part time mat leave working 2 days per week. I can also work casually on my non working days as well.
I love teaching, it is a job that still delights me after many many years and I would never want to do anything else. I think it is something you need to be passionate about as it is a lot of outside school hours work and as someone else said there is so much more to it than just teaching.
I do it because I love it not because of the hours or the money but they do help.
Taking a pay cut to retrain as a midwife isnt really an issue as Dh earns enough that it doesnt factor in to day to day finances.
I realise there is more to being a teacher than just turning up to teach between 9-3. Im actually a huge lover of paperwork so I think marking, reports, lesson plans would be right up my alley. Either way nurse or teacher Im going to be busy and up to my ears in paperwork. Atleast as a teacher my extra hours of work can be done at home at reasonable hours, not at 3am in a hospital.
Ive still got some time to think on it but Im thinking more and more that teaching will be more beneficial than nursing. Thanks for the advice!
Freya - that is definitely true about the hours. Although there is all the extra stuff you can choose where you do it too. I know some teachers who love taking their stuff home and sitting in front of the tv while they correct or do planning. I don't get anything done at all with the kids around, and although my first class isn't until 9:30 I am at school at 7:30 on the days i work so I can do everything I need to do before they arrive, or I stay back as long as I can (usually til 5:30) to get it done so I don't have to take it home. Yes it is a long day but as you said it is all relative and it's not 3am and having to do things then. If you are super organised too it really helps!
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