Daughter in Law wants Advice

In my day (not all that long ago) FE and Adult Ed were, broadly speaking, separate entities, with FE providing vocational courses (GNVQ, BTEC and the like) alongside the professional courses (marketing, HR management, accounting, teacher training and so on) - you will have worked out by now that my area was business studies. Adult Ed provided the non-vocational stuff (art, cookery, sports and fitness, swimming and so on). Then, as someone has already said, funding for the non-vocational courses which Adult Ed ran was severely curtailed and the cost of such courses became prohibitive to many people. The good thing that arose from that is the many 'private' classes that now exist, providing a good service and also a source of income to the instructors.

The bulk of day time students in FE colleges are aged 16-18 and if anyone thinks they are a doddle (or even a dawdle!) to teach they should try doing it! Many of these young people are there because they failed at school or because they cannot get jobs, and so 'unwilling' does not really cover their attitude. (Of course, there are plenty of lovely, willing ones who are there to gain a qualification to get them into a good job as well.)

Many of the professional courses run by FE colleges take place in the evening because those older students will be in day time employment. Therefore FE lecturers are usually timetabled to teach one or more evening classes as well as having a full day time timetable. In the good old days if you taught an evening class you got a half day off but that was scrapped years ago.

What I'm getting round to saying, is that FE teaching is not an easy option either. In fact, I think ALL teaching of ALL ages is a difficult and stressful job. Personally, I would prefer a group of 30 stroppy 16 year olds to 30 crying 5 year olds, but that's just me. Each to his own. And I agree that bad management can make a teacher's life hell but in the end we are on our own in the classroom and must develop strategies for coping.

In case you're thinking I did not enjoy my job - I did, I loved it, and would recommend anyone to go into FE teaching if they had the desire, but you do need a degree, a professional qualification (mine is obviously business studies) and a teaching qualification.

Must go now as I have to help DH move a lorry load of logs. Oh, those easy days when all I had to do was teach marketing to my 16 year old, hormonely challenged tutor group! (Oh dear, hormonely may be spelt wrong - get your red pens out, girls!)

Hi, Wilma! Nice to 'meet' a fellow FE lecturer. (Still love your name!)

Nice to meet you too! Just before I left, a new 'system' was introduced saying lecturers must spend 46% of their time on non-classroom work and that didn't mean prep time, marking, etc. It was all about getting cheap administration staff for the LEA and that was the last straw for me. I spent the next 5 years working in the private sector earning more money.

I recommend teaching mature students. I started with A-level Eng Lit evening classes, went on to part-time work with all sorts of day-release students and finally to full time FE. My last few years before retirement were mostly with Access students who had missed out on school qualifications, for various reasons, and wanted to get into University as mature students. Their enthusiasm was tremendous, their timekeeping not always perfect! I was also course tutor for 'taster courses' - students who wanted to find out what an Access course would be like. After I was made redundant I did an ESOL course and taught mainly refugees and asylum seekers for a couple of years.

Another possibility just struck me sadiesnan after reading all the above posts with possible alternatives.....would your DiL consider taking a post as a TA?

She won't earn as much (though TA level 3 can be quite well paid) but if she did this for a couple of years then she will still have the option to return to teaching if she feels ready. It will also give her an idea of which schools in her area are good at supporting teachers.

At a time when we need good teachers, it amazes me that she is receiving little help.

It takes time to establish yourself as credible with students and staff. She needs at times to work alongside an experienced member of staff to pick up the ' tricks of the trade.' Certainly next term should be easier.

I had no mentoring on 1970 and picked up skills by watching others. Things should be better than those days. Tell her to take all the good advice above and she should learn to enjoy the job....exciting but frustrating at the same time.

P.S. I do remember going on supply to a special school in the East End with a very difficult class. The teacher next door said she and her church had prayed for me the evening before!!!!!!! That surely helped!!!!!!

PPS why are my posts grey?

Grey, Lully? They look the same as all the others on my screen. I do wonder why some of us come up blue, though? Anyone know?

I'm seeing her tomorrow, I'll report back.

Name come up blue if that person has created a profile. Try clicking on a blue name.

And it will say

Profile page not available!!!?????

Profiles aren't accessible any more, Anya.

Well it used to when I first joined years ago.

Crossed posts Ana

Ought I to gave known this? [

There have been at least three threads on the subject - one of them is very current!

Oh!

Like much else in life they have obviously bi-passed me

A propos to nothing - except the last emoticon, I saw the Japenese Rugby Team in our little M&S food today. They're big -- buggers-- blokes and they took up a lot of room.

So is there any point in some of us being blue?

buggers

It looks quite pretty next to the pink?

It's lilac on my screen, not pink. But it does tone quite well with the blue...

There's your answer then Merlot - it's aesthetically pleasing.

I'm pale pink on the desktop site and fuchsia pink on the mobile site.

All the names appear to be blue on the mobile site!

Anya - Japanese rugby team? If they'd arrived in our very small local M and S food store there'd have been no room for anyone else - and they'd still be queueing at the till anyway!