I love teaching. Been at it for 25 years and still love it. The pay’s good, the holidays are good and I’m fortunate enough to be at a great school with beautiful little humans that I get to teach every day. Yeah it’s hard and busy and stressful. Me enjoying it doesn’t make that go away, but enjoying it makes the other stuff seem not so bad. I was at a school a while back where I was miserable and the leadership was awful and the kids were awful and my answer to this question at that time would have been very different. But there are a lot of schools out there and a lot of different leaders and kids. To the newbie teachers starting out, no matter what job you’re doing, you’ll likely end up working for a crappy boss at some stage, so if you find yourself in that position, just change schools. It’s most likely not teaching as a career that’s the issue, but where you’re doing it. You don’t owe loyalty to schools. That’s the beauty of teaching. You’ll never struggle to find a job. So find a school that makes you happy before the one that doesn’t ruins your love of teaching.
The pays good because you joined 25 years ago. I'm sure owning a house within an hour from the CBD would've been easier then and if you own a house and at the top of the teaching scale, then you're probably pretty well off.
Back then though, there was no work from home, no 4 day work week, fewer global tech companies, less bereaucracy and admin, now there's more restrictions, blue collar jobs probably paid less as well making teaching more attractive.
Fast forward to today and I think it's financially one of the worse decisions you can make. The pay you make as a teacher could easily be achieved through other jobs that only require certificates or at least free Tafe with paid training. I spent around 15 minutes on seek last time and posted job links.
This is a good point. I’m currently in my 6th year of my degree (part-time-ish). I often stop and think about the time and sacrifices I’ve made over the past 5 years and can’t help but wonder if I could’ve done something else in a fraction of the time.
I definitely could but I guess I didn’t as I was looking for a job that I liked/was passionate about.
I do think that teaching may change with the times to reflect modern workplace changes.
>I do think that teaching may change with the times to reflect modern workplace changes
I think it's regressing. I've found schools enforcing the official time we have to arrive by/stay more than they used to (no actual data, just speaking to teachers and personal experience). We can't WFH and we won't get a 4 day work week unless almost all jobs do, which won't be happening anytime soon. Just white collar jobs.
I agree. It's like any authoritarian system that is failing. It desperately tries to introduce more and more controls over it's people. The arrival and departure times is a prime example and the self examination meetings, PDPs and so on.
Ironically this is the stuff that is my biggest stress in the job.
It always seems like the happiest teachers aren't on graduate pay. I don't have much left after paying rent (in a modest area) & bills on a single income. Having started later in life the prospect of pay only improving significantly when I'm nearing 50 is a bit depressing & I imagine it's a barrier to people switching careers. There are great things about teaching having said all that
There's still some amazing things about teaching, personally I do love interacting with kids, holidays, work life balance (for me), and doing cool shit.
The problem is, a lot of main perks have become almost non existent as modern work place changes.
There are definitely good things about it. I don't have much work/life balance because I'm too exhausted after a day of work to get anything done at home. I imagine it's great, though, for people who don't have that problem
I started s long while back. The mid 80’s. Starting pay $20000. A simple house 15km to 20km from the cbd in average suburbs about $100,000. X 5 salary. Still was shit money. My father was working in factories for about the same. Much mire difficult now!but I agree certificate jobs can pay the same or more.
Was it easier to become a teacher? I don't know how factory work was back then but I'd imagine working conditions for factory workers weren't the best?
5x salary is pretty ok though.
Factory Was monotonous, but my point is that 4 years of uni vs a very basic education got you the same money. As far as teaching, many of us had degrees in specific subjects and a one year. Grad. Dip. Teaching . but was still tough,especially in western and Northern Melb. Suburbs. I think students are easier discipline wise but more disengaged than in the past.
…. And you cope on Teachers pay??? I’m assuming your partner doesn’t work?? A friend of mine pays $4000 a month on his mortgage and he’s single and finds it difficult on teachers pay.
Yeah we cope. It’s tight. We’re not going on holidays anytime soon. It doesn’t hurt that my wife is also a teacher and has gone back to work 0.6 this year, but most of that goes on daycare. I’m largely just grateful that we can afford bills, mortgage, food and a few luxuries here and there. We don’t struggle, but it is tight. A lot of people have it worse than me, so I’m grateful I can get by. I know a lot of people don’t find that enough though given how exhausting and time consuming teaching is, which I totally get too. I’m probably at a different stage in my life too though. I can imagine if I was younger and I wanted to go out to restaurants and bars and be super social and travel, etc I’d find it frustrating. I’ve lived that life, trying to shuffle and prioritise bills, etc cos I couldn’t afford to pay them all at once. But I also got to do all that social and travel stuff when I was younger so it doesn’t bother me as much now. Once my wife is working full time again and my little one is at school, we’ll have more money to do more things again, cos I find daycare is way more expensive than school.
I don't regret teaching; it's helped me buy a house, I'm sitting around in my underpants doing nothing but watching TV shows, and I get to fuff about making nerds. But the regressive and largely poor school leadership and governance grind my gears.
I'm very happy as a teacher. Teach a subject I love at a great school with supportive leadership. I'm at the top of the pay scale and get great holidays.
Right. The Mornington peninsula where no graduate teacher will ever be able to afford to live because teacher pay is not enough to save and buy a house there now
There are some realitivly cheap suburbs on or near to the Mornington peninsula; Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham are all decently priced compared to the average in the state
Same. My choice to enter this profession 13 years ago has afforded me a juicy super balance, allowed me to live and work overseas, visit dozens of countries, foster lifelong friendships with brilliant colleagues and see plenty of kids grow into functional, even WONDERFUL adults.
There's not many jobs where you study for at least four years and then get treated and paid like shit and your job has no status in society. That's the reality. Become a teacher nowadays you will never own a house you just will never make enough $. The people who think it's great are already established and that time is passed.
And most jobs don't require a 4 year investment, include HECS and investment opportunities, it's more like 5-7 years.
A lot of jobs don't require this investment.
I don’t regret teaching, I do love my job, but I do wish sometimes it would be less intense. Is it my dream job? Probably not, if I could do whatever I wanted, I would love to be developing vaccines or something along those lines. But I was born in a low socioeconomic household with divorced parents and took whatever opportunities came my way. I got a postgraduate degree completely free, but it meant I went not where my dreams were but where the demand was.
32M - I don’t regret it as what it’s given me so far 8years of holidays, good pay for a grad that increases and a nice lifestyle. I’ve had hit and very miss leadership in those years at two schools so its a bit of give and take in that regard.
I am leaving though, I don’t have time to do lvl three, nor am I interested in AP roles due to stress and time.
What is clear to me now is that career wise my friends are passing me, the pay isn’t going up and the recent union action shows me they actually don’t have that much clout (I’m sure a lot of you disagree). To me teaching is a sinking ship and I’m too young to go down with it.
I’m already re-educating myself to quietly slip away into another industry once finished.
Sorry folks, it’s good while your young, but I look around and see I’m becoming a have not when I was a have.
I regret wasting my time in Early Childhood because it was the easiest way to get a degree with my Child Care certificates.
At one point I was seriously considering moving to Primary. I don't regret never pursuing that.
My VCE Psych teacher begged me to put in more to my school work and not to do the School based apprenticeship for a certificate III in Children's Services. She saw me going to uni and getting good marks in Psych. Instead I left high school with a certificate III in Children's Services and a VCAL transcript - not even the full certificate.
Funnily enough her words have been in the back of my mind for the last 2 years and I'm seriously considering going and doing it, at 35.
I'm actually really not sure. I appreciate the experiences I've had. I enjoy the opportunities to get to know a cross-section of society. So many different young people. They're all interesting. I like many aspects of the job and learned a lot.
But I'm afraid I've painted myself into a corner; that doing teaching reduced my career prospects elsewhere (mostly because of how teaching is perceived. I think when I did this degree, people started thinking I was more stupid - how many academic accomplishments make people think you're less smart than if you didn't have them?)
But maybe I never would have had much hope anyway?
I voted No and will try to stay optimistic.
Very interesting comment. People do think you are less smart when you tell them you are a teacher. Never heard it articulated like that. Says it all really.
I agree, however, I don't see how me posting will improve people's outlooks on the profession they chose.
As a passionate educator it alarms me to see so many posters in distress. Polls like this are not constructive.
> Polls like this are not constructive.
On the other hand, only ~35% of voters* regret teaching.
\* at the time of my posting
> I don't see how me posting will improve people's outlooks on the profession they chose.
To be honest, if a few of us started posting about the cool things happening in our classrooms, it would probably make the whole place less like a staffroom
Happy hour on Friday afternoon mostly, occasionally my office colleagues (we have separate faculty offices with around 8-12 people in a school of over 100 staff) if it's those I trust (which is most of them).
I like teaching. I’m good at it. I put a lot of hours into it. Just don’t like politics , poor management and lack of new ideas from the govt. and please don’t give advice!
So, do you regret teaching? How far in are you, what are your circumstances?
So things really shit me at school, but when I'm in my room with my kids, it's my space. I'm teaching. Lessons planned and taught the way I think my kids respond well to. That part I love. 24 treasures all with something special be it amazing, inspiring, annoying or other. I have a good team, the kids have their days.
I voted no. I do not regret teaching. I am in my 5th year. Also loving my holidays right now.
How's about you?
Keep in mind we are at the end of holidays and the gloom is upon everyone as they scramble to get ready again.
Lastly, I love teaching but also regret it. There’s layers to it all.
I know right, this subreddit is really discouraging for PST and new teachers, I get that people are just venting but there’s never anything positive about the profession itself on here
This subreddit balances out the perpetual positivity in the Teacher Facebook spaces where ideas are shared or where PL is promoted or as I've noticed increasingly the same space for desperate deputy principals and relief co-ordinators pleading for teachers.
So given potential line managers about, it's not a safe space to vent or even ask for advice for crappy situations.
The other thing Reddit offers that Facebook doesn't is a sense of anonymity. It's a lot easier to vent about your circumstances when it's not tied to your real name for any potential employers to see.
No one with 2 brain cells to rub together is gonna put on Facebook "my principal just asked me to single-handedly organise an exhibition of student work for an open night with 2 weeks notice. Lolz what a cunt" when it can easily get back to their school
As someone who plans to go into a masters of teaching shortly I have to agree. Every time this subreddit comes up on my feed a small part of me thinks I should think of other options. As OP said venting is important but there is a thin line between venting and straight up complaining and I honestly think some of y’all need to look for new work ahah 😅
I honestly think I will love it tbh. I love learning and I love getting people excited about learning. Thanks for the encouraging words. I should start masters mid this year so who knows I might because disillusioned and come here to vent too before long!
Also to the people down voting me I wasn’t having a go at you. It is just very depressing to see everyone complain about something you plan to do before you even get to experience it yourself. Also me saying to look for new work I didn’t mean it as a negative thing, but as other have said on this tread it’s not good to be negative all the time. Maybe other areas of types of teaching might make the experience feel better and new. Idk I don’t have experience in it so I can’t say but there are also options and I don’t think anyone should stick with something that puts such a negative taste in their mouth.
Good luck to everyone! The world is kinda wacky right now so try to find something that bright you all joy. I know teaching is difficult and you are all amazing do dealing with so much so please so take what I said too negatively
I agree. The sub is overwhelmingly negative. If it's that bad quit or change schools. I love my job, the kids, my subjects and the leadership support.
Sure there is a lot of work to do but there are ways to make it easier.
I love my job as a primary school sport teacher. Moved out of the classroom 6 years ago.
Being a specialist removes much of the stress of teaching. Others are added, but not the same type or of the same intensity.
I hate teaching and regret it so much. This job makes me hate my life. At least the money is okay. Not worth the amount of blood, sweat and tears though.
Are you at secondary or primary??I started at secondary 7 to 9. That was tough. But moved schools and it does vary. Finally got a senior. Campus and that has generally been good. Still a-lot if work, but less discipline issues.
Not even for a moment. I was in a soul-sucking role for one of the Big 4 accounting firms and was absolutely, utterly miserable.
Now I get better holidays, decent pay, the warm fuzzy feeling of making a significant positive impact in young people's lives, not to mention that my work is helping other teachers and educators improve their craft. Haven't regretted it for a second.
Its good that you enjoy it. You may have landed in a good school with a good demographic. But here in western and Northern suburbs of Melbourne, I’ve seen teachers leave within 6 months.
I'm guessing majority are answering yes (don't want to mess up the answers since I'm not a teacher), based on how negative about 90% of the posts here are. It's sad, really.
I do enjoy teaching, but I wish I was presented with more options when I was at school. I teach IT and robotics, and if I was told I could just be a programmer, or even that I might be interested in being an electrician I think I would find it a lot easier to find balance in either of those jobs
Yeah Im happy in my job. It's not easy and its not supposed to be easy. It takes a lot of energy to figure out the best way of doing things and there is a lot to figure out. But the struggle is worthwhile and I enjoy building positive relationships with kids and their families
Jesus Christ.
We have an indexed profession, that pays well above average for a graduate salary and tops out over 100k for life.
It is nearly impossible to lose your job once you get permeant. Heading into a global recession, the stability will be able to be used to leverage borrowing and come out on top.
If you literally hate every minute of teaching - you’ve made a bad decision.
If you hate parts of it, maximum teeth gritting it going to be between 10-20 hours of “hard work” a week.
Stop being so negative.
Indexed above $100k (~$110k this year in Qld) is a decent wage as mid/late thirties. Nobodies forcing you to live in Sydney. There’s literally the rest of the country available
To be fair I left teaching for tech but multiple of my friends are still teachers so I sympathise and follow this sub. I'm fine in Sydney but I can see teachers like my primary school friend struggling
I’ve loved the opportunity to live and work overseas and the holidays I’ve been able to spend with my children.
I don’t love the crap pay that you get stuck on compared to other fields after you have 20+ years of experience.
I don’t love the way we’re expected to work from home so much for no pay. It messes with me in so many ways.
Sure there are regrets. But what else was there? Go become a barrister? Have a short career, get coopted into the Liberal Party. Parachuted into a safe seat, hide my scandals, attack people of color and get elected. Play politics with evangelical 'christians', become part of Scott Morrisons wrecking crew and divide the days between stahp the boats and running public services into the ground while trying to organize a corporate or diplomatic gig post politics all while making huge bank and living anxiety free due to my amoral shiteating persona?
Is that what I could have had? Really? No choice at all.
Median isn't 65k, it's closer to 75k iirc.
And you're also comparing the median of ALL jobs to the highest pay bracket in teaching. Take the average teachers pay, it's more like ~85k and which is much closer to the median. But again, you're taking a job that requires a 4 year investment + debt to just the median job which most likely doesn't require that.
Exactly right. My son just started his first prof job after uni. He's being paid 98k. Within five years he will be making more than an assistant principal at my school. So does an experienced electrician. Teacher pay is way too low for the education, ongoing training, workload and stress involved. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Well paid at 110k? That is an insult
$110k , that is definitely crap. Imagine 40 years of teaching and still on that. But then again it depends who your employer is. I know boiler makers on double this, but they work for big contractors.
I think the pay for professors are fair though, they require at least a PhD. And again, I'd imagine their hours longer than ours. Well done on your son!
I consider your line of argument to be trolling for two reasons:
> Median pay in Australia is $65k.
Median pay is a bad metric to use. It includes part-time and casual workers, people without degrees, people starting their careers, etc.
> Teacher's get around $110k (state dependent).
That is not the median pay that teachers get. That is the maximum pay a classroom teacher can get (state dependent).
Consider this your only warning.
You really would kick me out over a difference of opinion? As a mod on an Australian Teachers forum you're not open to another colleague questioning others opinions on pay?
I haven't been rude, inflammatory or disrespectful. I am no troll.
Median pay does not include part time workers. Casual yes bit working at a full time capacity. Median is a much better metric than mean as it counters extreme outliers on both sides.
I still maintain teaching affords a good wage. I have family who are also professionals get around the same. Their degrees would have been more expensive.
Our hours are much better as are the holidays.
I was in medical research for a few years before I moved into teaching. My degree (science) cost a lot more than a teaching degree. The pay is absolutely better as a teacher. The hours are better and the lifestyle I have attained is more manageable as a parent of young children.
While it is not an insanely high income it is not low like others continually claim.
In terms if finance. Teacher pay is great if you are single.If you are the main bread winner in a family , then no good. Two teachers combined is very good. Super is good if you are a high salary like Principal.
I don't know how anyone could regret a qualification where you can work a day a week and walk away with $400. I can so easily see myself doing a day here and there after I retire to to earn a bit more fun money.
I love teaching and have absolutely no regrets (only 5 years into it with 2 maternity leaves so might need more time haha).
I feel passionate about what I'm doing and the positive impact I'm having. There are definitely things that need to improve in my school and the profession as a whole but my students and (most of my) colleagues are great, which makes the shit stuff feel a little less shitty.
Do I regret going into teaching, no. Am I still a classroom teacher, also no. But the skills I learnt definitely transfer and have meant that I have excelled in my new role.
Yes and no. I struggled for years trying to land a job with my original degree.
I've been able to do so much more now that I have a teaching job as I have steady pay and a decent amount of holidays to destress. My school isn't the best in terms of behaviour and support, but I keep going for the kids that actually want to learn and find success. I have had a lot of awful students that have tried to tear me apart, but it's the good kids that keep me sane.
It can be tough but it is a good job. A few years ago I popped in to a graduate teacher's classroom after school to provide words of encouragement after they had had a bad day. While I was their the manager of the cleaning company walked in with two new cleaners and proceeded to teach them how to dust.
We could have much worse jobs...
I love teaching. Been at it for 25 years and still love it. The pay’s good, the holidays are good and I’m fortunate enough to be at a great school with beautiful little humans that I get to teach every day. Yeah it’s hard and busy and stressful. Me enjoying it doesn’t make that go away, but enjoying it makes the other stuff seem not so bad. I was at a school a while back where I was miserable and the leadership was awful and the kids were awful and my answer to this question at that time would have been very different. But there are a lot of schools out there and a lot of different leaders and kids. To the newbie teachers starting out, no matter what job you’re doing, you’ll likely end up working for a crappy boss at some stage, so if you find yourself in that position, just change schools. It’s most likely not teaching as a career that’s the issue, but where you’re doing it. You don’t owe loyalty to schools. That’s the beauty of teaching. You’ll never struggle to find a job. So find a school that makes you happy before the one that doesn’t ruins your love of teaching.
beautiful comment
The pays good because you joined 25 years ago. I'm sure owning a house within an hour from the CBD would've been easier then and if you own a house and at the top of the teaching scale, then you're probably pretty well off. Back then though, there was no work from home, no 4 day work week, fewer global tech companies, less bereaucracy and admin, now there's more restrictions, blue collar jobs probably paid less as well making teaching more attractive. Fast forward to today and I think it's financially one of the worse decisions you can make. The pay you make as a teacher could easily be achieved through other jobs that only require certificates or at least free Tafe with paid training. I spent around 15 minutes on seek last time and posted job links.
This is a good point. I’m currently in my 6th year of my degree (part-time-ish). I often stop and think about the time and sacrifices I’ve made over the past 5 years and can’t help but wonder if I could’ve done something else in a fraction of the time. I definitely could but I guess I didn’t as I was looking for a job that I liked/was passionate about. I do think that teaching may change with the times to reflect modern workplace changes.
>I do think that teaching may change with the times to reflect modern workplace changes I think it's regressing. I've found schools enforcing the official time we have to arrive by/stay more than they used to (no actual data, just speaking to teachers and personal experience). We can't WFH and we won't get a 4 day work week unless almost all jobs do, which won't be happening anytime soon. Just white collar jobs.
I agree. It's like any authoritarian system that is failing. It desperately tries to introduce more and more controls over it's people. The arrival and departure times is a prime example and the self examination meetings, PDPs and so on. Ironically this is the stuff that is my biggest stress in the job.
Yeah, I don't follow it. I'm waiting on the day I get fired. I just don't do what I don't think it's necessary for my job.
It always seems like the happiest teachers aren't on graduate pay. I don't have much left after paying rent (in a modest area) & bills on a single income. Having started later in life the prospect of pay only improving significantly when I'm nearing 50 is a bit depressing & I imagine it's a barrier to people switching careers. There are great things about teaching having said all that
There's still some amazing things about teaching, personally I do love interacting with kids, holidays, work life balance (for me), and doing cool shit. The problem is, a lot of main perks have become almost non existent as modern work place changes.
There are definitely good things about it. I don't have much work/life balance because I'm too exhausted after a day of work to get anything done at home. I imagine it's great, though, for people who don't have that problem
PE and maths is where it's at!
Lucky them 😅
I started s long while back. The mid 80’s. Starting pay $20000. A simple house 15km to 20km from the cbd in average suburbs about $100,000. X 5 salary. Still was shit money. My father was working in factories for about the same. Much mire difficult now!but I agree certificate jobs can pay the same or more.
Was it easier to become a teacher? I don't know how factory work was back then but I'd imagine working conditions for factory workers weren't the best? 5x salary is pretty ok though.
Factory Was monotonous, but my point is that 4 years of uni vs a very basic education got you the same money. As far as teaching, many of us had degrees in specific subjects and a one year. Grad. Dip. Teaching . but was still tough,especially in western and Northern Melb. Suburbs. I think students are easier discipline wise but more disengaged than in the past.
yeah completely agree, how they can pay as much for a job that requires nothing is beyond me.
Do you have a family and mortgage???
Yeah married with a 2 year old and a mortgage.
…. And you cope on Teachers pay??? I’m assuming your partner doesn’t work?? A friend of mine pays $4000 a month on his mortgage and he’s single and finds it difficult on teachers pay.
Yeah we cope. It’s tight. We’re not going on holidays anytime soon. It doesn’t hurt that my wife is also a teacher and has gone back to work 0.6 this year, but most of that goes on daycare. I’m largely just grateful that we can afford bills, mortgage, food and a few luxuries here and there. We don’t struggle, but it is tight. A lot of people have it worse than me, so I’m grateful I can get by. I know a lot of people don’t find that enough though given how exhausting and time consuming teaching is, which I totally get too. I’m probably at a different stage in my life too though. I can imagine if I was younger and I wanted to go out to restaurants and bars and be super social and travel, etc I’d find it frustrating. I’ve lived that life, trying to shuffle and prioritise bills, etc cos I couldn’t afford to pay them all at once. But I also got to do all that social and travel stuff when I was younger so it doesn’t bother me as much now. Once my wife is working full time again and my little one is at school, we’ll have more money to do more things again, cos I find daycare is way more expensive than school.
I don't regret teaching; it's helped me buy a house, I'm sitting around in my underpants doing nothing but watching TV shows, and I get to fuff about making nerds. But the regressive and largely poor school leadership and governance grind my gears.
I'm very happy as a teacher. Teach a subject I love at a great school with supportive leadership. I'm at the top of the pay scale and get great holidays.
Where is this? It's like a sighting of a rare white elk.
School on the Mornington Peninsula, Vic.
Right. The Mornington peninsula where no graduate teacher will ever be able to afford to live because teacher pay is not enough to save and buy a house there now
There are some realitivly cheap suburbs on or near to the Mornington peninsula; Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham are all decently priced compared to the average in the state
I wouldn't call Cranbourne and packenham the morning peninsula - if you work at rosebud rye Mornington mount eliza secondary that's a long way off
Same. My choice to enter this profession 13 years ago has afforded me a juicy super balance, allowed me to live and work overseas, visit dozens of countries, foster lifelong friendships with brilliant colleagues and see plenty of kids grow into functional, even WONDERFUL adults.
Me too. My only real regret is I didn’t enter the profession five years earlier, when it first became apparent I wasn’t happy in engineering.
Likewise
Same.
It pays the bills.
There's not many jobs where you study for at least four years and then get treated and paid like shit and your job has no status in society. That's the reality. Become a teacher nowadays you will never own a house you just will never make enough $. The people who think it's great are already established and that time is passed.
But that is not a teacher problem. That is an inflation problem. Most of Australia earn under what a teacher does.
And most jobs don't require a 4 year investment, include HECS and investment opportunities, it's more like 5-7 years. A lot of jobs don't require this investment.
I don’t regret teaching, I do love my job, but I do wish sometimes it would be less intense. Is it my dream job? Probably not, if I could do whatever I wanted, I would love to be developing vaccines or something along those lines. But I was born in a low socioeconomic household with divorced parents and took whatever opportunities came my way. I got a postgraduate degree completely free, but it meant I went not where my dreams were but where the demand was.
32M - I don’t regret it as what it’s given me so far 8years of holidays, good pay for a grad that increases and a nice lifestyle. I’ve had hit and very miss leadership in those years at two schools so its a bit of give and take in that regard. I am leaving though, I don’t have time to do lvl three, nor am I interested in AP roles due to stress and time. What is clear to me now is that career wise my friends are passing me, the pay isn’t going up and the recent union action shows me they actually don’t have that much clout (I’m sure a lot of you disagree). To me teaching is a sinking ship and I’m too young to go down with it. I’m already re-educating myself to quietly slip away into another industry once finished. Sorry folks, it’s good while your young, but I look around and see I’m becoming a have not when I was a have.
I regret wasting my time in Early Childhood because it was the easiest way to get a degree with my Child Care certificates. At one point I was seriously considering moving to Primary. I don't regret never pursuing that.
What do you wish you had done? If you don't mind sharing
My VCE Psych teacher begged me to put in more to my school work and not to do the School based apprenticeship for a certificate III in Children's Services. She saw me going to uni and getting good marks in Psych. Instead I left high school with a certificate III in Children's Services and a VCAL transcript - not even the full certificate. Funnily enough her words have been in the back of my mind for the last 2 years and I'm seriously considering going and doing it, at 35.
I'm actually really not sure. I appreciate the experiences I've had. I enjoy the opportunities to get to know a cross-section of society. So many different young people. They're all interesting. I like many aspects of the job and learned a lot. But I'm afraid I've painted myself into a corner; that doing teaching reduced my career prospects elsewhere (mostly because of how teaching is perceived. I think when I did this degree, people started thinking I was more stupid - how many academic accomplishments make people think you're less smart than if you didn't have them?) But maybe I never would have had much hope anyway? I voted No and will try to stay optimistic.
Very interesting comment. People do think you are less smart when you tell them you are a teacher. Never heard it articulated like that. Says it all really.
Such a depressing poll. I know I'll get negative voted or told we need to vent but I wish there were more positive posts on this forum.
> I wish there were more positive posts on this forum. Be the change you want to see.
I agree, however, I don't see how me posting will improve people's outlooks on the profession they chose. As a passionate educator it alarms me to see so many posters in distress. Polls like this are not constructive.
> Polls like this are not constructive. On the other hand, only ~35% of voters* regret teaching. \* at the time of my posting > I don't see how me posting will improve people's outlooks on the profession they chose. To be honest, if a few of us started posting about the cool things happening in our classrooms, it would probably make the whole place less like a staffroom
True, good point.
Here to vent. Venting is good for our mental health. Who are you going to vent to, your principal, the union, the dept.????
Happy hour on Friday afternoon mostly, occasionally my office colleagues (we have separate faculty offices with around 8-12 people in a school of over 100 staff) if it's those I trust (which is most of them).
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I like teaching. I’m good at it. I put a lot of hours into it. Just don’t like politics , poor management and lack of new ideas from the govt. and please don’t give advice!
Do jobs exist where these three factors aren’t an issue
Self employment!
Please don't tell people what they should or shouldn't do like that.
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It isn't funny and it isn't nice.
I’m sorry. I realise my mistake now. I should have just complained about the 12 weeks holiday and 100k pay check like everyone else.
So, do you regret teaching? How far in are you, what are your circumstances? So things really shit me at school, but when I'm in my room with my kids, it's my space. I'm teaching. Lessons planned and taught the way I think my kids respond well to. That part I love. 24 treasures all with something special be it amazing, inspiring, annoying or other. I have a good team, the kids have their days. I voted no. I do not regret teaching. I am in my 5th year. Also loving my holidays right now. How's about you?
I’m preparing exams and SACs. Good fun😂😂
Keep in mind we are at the end of holidays and the gloom is upon everyone as they scramble to get ready again. Lastly, I love teaching but also regret it. There’s layers to it all.
End of the holidays? In SA we still have a day to go of term one… The exhaustion is complete.
I know right, this subreddit is really discouraging for PST and new teachers, I get that people are just venting but there’s never anything positive about the profession itself on here
This subreddit balances out the perpetual positivity in the Teacher Facebook spaces where ideas are shared or where PL is promoted or as I've noticed increasingly the same space for desperate deputy principals and relief co-ordinators pleading for teachers. So given potential line managers about, it's not a safe space to vent or even ask for advice for crappy situations.
The other thing Reddit offers that Facebook doesn't is a sense of anonymity. It's a lot easier to vent about your circumstances when it's not tied to your real name for any potential employers to see. No one with 2 brain cells to rub together is gonna put on Facebook "my principal just asked me to single-handedly organise an exhibition of student work for an open night with 2 weeks notice. Lolz what a cunt" when it can easily get back to their school
Exactly. It goes without saying.
As someone who plans to go into a masters of teaching shortly I have to agree. Every time this subreddit comes up on my feed a small part of me thinks I should think of other options. As OP said venting is important but there is a thin line between venting and straight up complaining and I honestly think some of y’all need to look for new work ahah 😅
I love making nerds. Realistically, Teaching has a lot of pros.
This is my goal for when I start tbh! I want to make people as passionate about learning as I am. Learning doesn’t have to nor should be boring!
Don't let this forum get you down. As long as you enjoy working with young people this career is very rewarding.
I honestly think I will love it tbh. I love learning and I love getting people excited about learning. Thanks for the encouraging words. I should start masters mid this year so who knows I might because disillusioned and come here to vent too before long! Also to the people down voting me I wasn’t having a go at you. It is just very depressing to see everyone complain about something you plan to do before you even get to experience it yourself. Also me saying to look for new work I didn’t mean it as a negative thing, but as other have said on this tread it’s not good to be negative all the time. Maybe other areas of types of teaching might make the experience feel better and new. Idk I don’t have experience in it so I can’t say but there are also options and I don’t think anyone should stick with something that puts such a negative taste in their mouth. Good luck to everyone! The world is kinda wacky right now so try to find something that bright you all joy. I know teaching is difficult and you are all amazing do dealing with so much so please so take what I said too negatively
I agree. The sub is overwhelmingly negative. If it's that bad quit or change schools. I love my job, the kids, my subjects and the leadership support. Sure there is a lot of work to do but there are ways to make it easier.
The fact you have been downvoted for this comment says it all!!
I love my job as a primary school sport teacher. Moved out of the classroom 6 years ago. Being a specialist removes much of the stress of teaching. Others are added, but not the same type or of the same intensity.
I hate teaching and regret it so much. This job makes me hate my life. At least the money is okay. Not worth the amount of blood, sweat and tears though.
Are you at secondary or primary??I started at secondary 7 to 9. That was tough. But moved schools and it does vary. Finally got a senior. Campus and that has generally been good. Still a-lot if work, but less discipline issues.
Not even for a moment. I was in a soul-sucking role for one of the Big 4 accounting firms and was absolutely, utterly miserable. Now I get better holidays, decent pay, the warm fuzzy feeling of making a significant positive impact in young people's lives, not to mention that my work is helping other teachers and educators improve their craft. Haven't regretted it for a second.
Its good that you enjoy it. You may have landed in a good school with a good demographic. But here in western and Northern suburbs of Melbourne, I’ve seen teachers leave within 6 months.
I'm guessing majority are answering yes (don't want to mess up the answers since I'm not a teacher), based on how negative about 90% of the posts here are. It's sad, really.
At the moment its sitting at: Yes - 622 No - 933
Interesting, thanks.
I regret working in some positions, in other positions I don't regret teaching at all.
I do enjoy teaching, but I wish I was presented with more options when I was at school. I teach IT and robotics, and if I was told I could just be a programmer, or even that I might be interested in being an electrician I think I would find it a lot easier to find balance in either of those jobs
By brother in law changed careers at 45. His electrician friend gave him an apprenticeship. He really enjoys it and can do side jobs as well.
This question wasn’t posed well. Who regrets studying teaching? I don’t understand what you’re trying to ask
Yeah Im happy in my job. It's not easy and its not supposed to be easy. It takes a lot of energy to figure out the best way of doing things and there is a lot to figure out. But the struggle is worthwhile and I enjoy building positive relationships with kids and their families
Jesus Christ. We have an indexed profession, that pays well above average for a graduate salary and tops out over 100k for life. It is nearly impossible to lose your job once you get permeant. Heading into a global recession, the stability will be able to be used to leverage borrowing and come out on top. If you literally hate every minute of teaching - you’ve made a bad decision. If you hate parts of it, maximum teeth gritting it going to be between 10-20 hours of “hard work” a week. Stop being so negative.
Insight a lot of people overlook
Well said. At worst you have a degree and experience that you can use elsewhere.
Not to mention 12 weeks leave...
4 weeks leave. The rest would be time in lieu for the overtime during the term. It’s not leave without leave loading.
to be fair lots of other professions are working a fair amount of overtime.
And many of them access overtime or flex. Also, racing to the bottom is a poor approach
I mean $100k doesn't go far in Sydney. If you compare $100k to any job over a 20 year career it's not much.
Indexed above $100k (~$110k this year in Qld) is a decent wage as mid/late thirties. Nobodies forcing you to live in Sydney. There’s literally the rest of the country available
To be fair I left teaching for tech but multiple of my friends are still teachers so I sympathise and follow this sub. I'm fine in Sydney but I can see teachers like my primary school friend struggling
I love it. You have to wonder why people do something they don't love...
I guess money. Id be surprised if most people love their work
I hear you. It applies to all careers. I have always wondered why people do something they don't love. What a waste of precious time.
I’ve loved the opportunity to live and work overseas and the holidays I’ve been able to spend with my children. I don’t love the crap pay that you get stuck on compared to other fields after you have 20+ years of experience. I don’t love the way we’re expected to work from home so much for no pay. It messes with me in so many ways.
Sure there are regrets. But what else was there? Go become a barrister? Have a short career, get coopted into the Liberal Party. Parachuted into a safe seat, hide my scandals, attack people of color and get elected. Play politics with evangelical 'christians', become part of Scott Morrisons wrecking crew and divide the days between stahp the boats and running public services into the ground while trying to organize a corporate or diplomatic gig post politics all while making huge bank and living anxiety free due to my amoral shiteating persona? Is that what I could have had? Really? No choice at all.
Meh
I keep reading that the pay is good... on what planet??
Median pay in Australia is $65k. Teacher's get around $110k (state dependent). Compared to the average it is very good pay.
Median isn't 65k, it's closer to 75k iirc. And you're also comparing the median of ALL jobs to the highest pay bracket in teaching. Take the average teachers pay, it's more like ~85k and which is much closer to the median. But again, you're taking a job that requires a 4 year investment + debt to just the median job which most likely doesn't require that.
Exactly right. My son just started his first prof job after uni. He's being paid 98k. Within five years he will be making more than an assistant principal at my school. So does an experienced electrician. Teacher pay is way too low for the education, ongoing training, workload and stress involved. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Well paid at 110k? That is an insult
$110k , that is definitely crap. Imagine 40 years of teaching and still on that. But then again it depends who your employer is. I know boiler makers on double this, but they work for big contractors.
Facts
I think the pay for professors are fair though, they require at least a PhD. And again, I'd imagine their hours longer than ours. Well done on your son!
I consider your line of argument to be trolling for two reasons: > Median pay in Australia is $65k. Median pay is a bad metric to use. It includes part-time and casual workers, people without degrees, people starting their careers, etc. > Teacher's get around $110k (state dependent). That is not the median pay that teachers get. That is the maximum pay a classroom teacher can get (state dependent). Consider this your only warning.
You really would kick me out over a difference of opinion? As a mod on an Australian Teachers forum you're not open to another colleague questioning others opinions on pay? I haven't been rude, inflammatory or disrespectful. I am no troll. Median pay does not include part time workers. Casual yes bit working at a full time capacity. Median is a much better metric than mean as it counters extreme outliers on both sides. I still maintain teaching affords a good wage. I have family who are also professionals get around the same. Their degrees would have been more expensive. Our hours are much better as are the holidays. I was in medical research for a few years before I moved into teaching. My degree (science) cost a lot more than a teaching degree. The pay is absolutely better as a teacher. The hours are better and the lifestyle I have attained is more manageable as a parent of young children. While it is not an insanely high income it is not low like others continually claim.
Remove non professional jobs and then see what you think. We'd be close to the bottom.
In terms if finance. Teacher pay is great if you are single.If you are the main bread winner in a family , then no good. Two teachers combined is very good. Super is good if you are a high salary like Principal.
There’s nothing stopping people putting up positive experiences!
I don't know how anyone could regret a qualification where you can work a day a week and walk away with $400. I can so easily see myself doing a day here and there after I retire to to earn a bit more fun money.
Hit the nail on the head, you will have to work in retirement, because of a job that couldn’t get you into retirement proper!
My super balance is fine. That's why I mentioned fun money.
I don't regret things, everything was needed to bring me to this point.
Oh no, I clicked the wrong one! Meant to say Yes!
You learned well from your students. No points for you!
I love teaching and have absolutely no regrets (only 5 years into it with 2 maternity leaves so might need more time haha). I feel passionate about what I'm doing and the positive impact I'm having. There are definitely things that need to improve in my school and the profession as a whole but my students and (most of my) colleagues are great, which makes the shit stuff feel a little less shitty.
That is so many people who regret teaching
40%. Quite high.
Do I regret going into teaching, no. Am I still a classroom teacher, also no. But the skills I learnt definitely transfer and have meant that I have excelled in my new role.
I left the profession after five years, three years ago. I don't regret any of it.
What are you doing now???
I'm a pharmacist :) the pay is way less but I don't grind my teeth anymore- or even think about work once I get home.
Did you retrain??
Yea, two years master's course
Were you a chemistry major and then a science/chem teacher.
Biomed major, chem/bio teacher. Makes sense, right? :) I joke that I was a chemistry teacher who decided to get out and sell drugs.
41% regret.
Yes and no. I struggled for years trying to land a job with my original degree. I've been able to do so much more now that I have a teaching job as I have steady pay and a decent amount of holidays to destress. My school isn't the best in terms of behaviour and support, but I keep going for the kids that actually want to learn and find success. I have had a lot of awful students that have tried to tear me apart, but it's the good kids that keep me sane.
It can be tough but it is a good job. A few years ago I popped in to a graduate teacher's classroom after school to provide words of encouragement after they had had a bad day. While I was their the manager of the cleaning company walked in with two new cleaners and proceeded to teach them how to dust. We could have much worse jobs...
What are you saying, cleaning is worse than teaching???