Teacher thinking about work in England

JayBee88

Hey guys first post here looking for some advice from teachers or anyone for that matter. I'm an nqt since 2012 struggling to find work at home, a few subbing days here and there but not enough to keep me sane.
I'm seriously thinking about looking for work in England as a few friends have walked straight into jobs. The only thing is I have a young family at home and find it very to imagine life without them. My partner doesn't want me to go and won't move as she the manager of a restaurant. Is there anyone here with a family at home but live and work in England? Is it possible to even do this and still save money??
I'd have no problem coming home once a fortnight but would it worked over a year or so as I just want to get the dip done!!
Any advice will be hugely appreciated!!
Thanks

gaiscioch

JayBee88 wrote: »

I'm an nqt since 2012 struggling to find work at home, a few subbing days here and there but not enough to keep me sane.
I'm seriously thinking about looking for work in England as a few friends have walked straight into jobs. The only thing is I have a young family at home and find it very to imagine life without them. My partner doesn't want me to go and won't move as she the manager of a restaurant. Is there anyone here with a family at home but live and work in England? Is it possible to even do this and still save money??
I'd have no problem coming home once a fortnight but would it worked over a year or so as I just want to get the dip done!!
Any advice will be hugely appreciated!!
Thanks

Serious question: Has any Irish teacher not walked into a job in England? (recruited by a private company which is well paid for recruiting underpaid Irish teachers)

The reason they're desperate for teachers there is because the conditions of employment in England are repellent to anybody who has experience of conditions in the Irish system. Even without experience of the Irish system an enormous 50% of newly qualified teachers quit the profession in England within five years of qualifying.

While it may be a great experience, I'd make sure I have good subjects first before deciding to go to England with the intention of coming home. If you only have one subject, or two bad subjects, you're going to encounter the same problem in Ireland when you come back - even with that experience. Be clear about that. If your subjects are your weak point, you'll need to bite the bullet and go back at night and get the required credits in another subject asap (which means applying around this time of year).

If, however, you had two good subjects and were a single person, experience of teaching in England would be better than sitting at home in Ireland. However, it will be really hard on your partner left behind and you won't be earning anything worth talking about over there to compensate for the lost time. Those years with your family won't come back. When I was in your situation I decided against England. Instead I regularly called around to all principals in my area and made them aware I was available at short notice. In fact, they let each other know/reminded each other about my presence also as they used to ring me up saying another principal recommended me. An awful lot depends on when you call around to them. From cold calling I was getting a fair few hours even before I did the dip. You should be better placed. You make your own luck, as they say. You could also register on the subs panel for the VECs - I still get calls from them seeing if I'm available at short notice. You could also sign up for the ASTIs subs list. If you decide to stay in Ireland, make sure you're getting everything you're entitled to from the state and claim all tax refunds, credits etc. If, for instance, you're entitled to a medical card etc that will save you a lot of money and reduce your financial burden somewhat.

Take a long hard, dispassionate look at the finances of teaching in England. How much, realistically, will you come home with after flights, accommodation and living expenses there? After allowances, social welfare and subbing, what can you get here? Could you do extra work in your area outside of teaching just to keep your fingers in as many pies as possible? It all adds up and you won't miss these years with your kids.

JayBee88

You make several good points, thanks so much!! And for the huge detail you put in! I'm a primary teacher so that's as far as that goes but England is my very last option that I suppose I'd need to be desperate to do.
My son is my life and I don't want to miss anything!!
I suppose if widened my search to Dublin ( I'm in cork) the commute home wouldn't be as bad.
Thanks again!

Afroshack

JayBee88 wrote: »

You make several good points, thanks so much!! And for the huge detail you put in! I'm a primary teacher so that's as far as that goes but England is my very last option that I suppose I'd need to be desperate to do.
My son is my life and I don't want to miss anything!!
I suppose if widened my search to Dublin ( I'm in cork) the commute home wouldn't be as bad.
Thanks again!

I think you'd be making life really tough for yourself if you came to the UK. A lot of the Irish teachers I know here aren't that happy and are planning on returning home in the future due to the workload, pressures, low pay and missing their families. The fact that you have a young son means you'd just be miserable over here! I'd honestly forget about teaching and get a bar/retail job to tide you over for a few months - enjoy being in your son's life and look for work again maybe next year.

HazDanz

Well I have been a Primary teacher in Scotland the past two years so can give a little feedback.

The Scottish curriculum is different to the rest of the UK but in terms of workload I believe it is pretty similar.Basically if you want to teach in the UK you have to be prepared to sacrifice a good chunk of time to the work that is expected.

The paperwork is a massive thing. I have found this to be the killer as everything is expected to be documented - it is a no stone unturned attitude which frankly is ridiculous at times as it saps away from you the opportunities that really you should have to plan engaging lessons for the kids.

Discipline of children and parent attitude is too varied to really comment on.

I think I am a hard working teacher - I put in on average 12 hours per day once you break down teaching time/paperwork/marking/planning/meetings. However this is the norm here so it's up to you really if you fancy putting in that amount of work.

Teach2014

Its handy if you want to get your induction year done to go with an agency as they'll sort you out with a guarantee of work/contract with a school..I worked in Bristol independently and through an agency and I loved it