As a lawyer/teacher couple my girlfriend and I are always debating who has the toughest job.
Harriet is a typical City lawyer – she gained top grades at A Level and graduated with a law degree from a leading university. In stark contrast I studied humanities at a former poly and then went on to do the PGCE (the one-year teaching qualification) in Wales.
But contrary to popular belief I like most of my colleagues went into teaching to do something positive and not because we couldn’t get into more glamorous professions. Harriet on the other hand pursued a City career because that’s what all her friends were doing and of course for the money (those are her words and not mine!).
I also love my job even though the bureaucracy can sometimes be a little bit tiring whereas Harriet positively hates her job and spends most of her spare time plotting her exit from the profession. But that’s where it stops – the plotting never turns into anything more than pipe dreams.
Harriet has dreamt up numerous ideas, which include launching a horse riding centre for disabled children, even though she can’t ride herself, but the one that keeps cropping up is teaching. My girlfriend thinks that given her stellar academic background she could teach with her eyes shut so welcomed the Government’s plan to enable the most able candidates (like herself) to complete the PGCE in just six months.
I think fast tracking people with industrial experience into teaching after six months of training is seriously flawed. Although I accept that UK schools would benefit from a fresh injection of high calibre candidates, to think that you can make the switch from boardroom to classroom in such a short period is plain stupid. In fact the phrase out of the frying pan and into the fire springs to mind.
There’s no denying that some lawyers will make excellent teachers as they have plenty of transferable skills such as the ability to work under pressure. But delivering a lesson to 30 hormonal teenagers is much tougher than managing the expectations of even the most demanding client. For lawyers the client is king while in a school environment it’s the pupils who wear the crown. That calls for a teacher to take on numerous roles including that of role model, diplomat, policeman, social worker, confidant and indeed magician.
It’s like spinning 30 plates, each a different size, at different levels and speeds for 50 minutes five or six times a day. That is a talent that even the most able candidates will struggle to master in six months. So if like Harriet you think teaching is an easy escape route then think again.
The author of this article teaches at a state comprehensive in Kent.
I agree
I think it’s ridiculous that City types will get special treatment on this. I heard on the news that the government is looking at offering these people special recruitment advice to get them back into work as quickly as possible. what about all the people in the lower parts of society that have also been made redundant? there’s no word of a special scheme to help former woollies workers back into work is there?
I’ve no doubt many former lawyers could make very good teachers but the fact is teaching requires very different skills to lawyering so they need to train just like everyone else. Fast tracking them through is an insult to all the people that have worked hard to gain their teacher training positions, especially when the former lawyers, who might just be choosing teaching because they can’t think of anything else, will finish their training early and will be able to have the pick of the jobs.
Lawyers aren’t intellectually superior
Why do lawyer’s always think they’re brighter than everyone else? Just because someone went to a top uni doesn’t mean they will be good at everything – to be a good teacher you need more than just good grades.
Moan moan moan
Marjorie, the point is that “City Types” usually function at a far more complex level than the average Job Centre employee. They need special provisions to help them find new employment (and have paid for it in spades through their taxes). Woolies employees, while loveable, are not trained for anything and do not need specialist assistance. We can buy our shopping from machines now; the same is not true of bespoke legal advice.
I agree, though, that good lawyers do not necessarily make good teachers.
Re: Fast track?
I find this no different than someone who has done a non-law degree opting to becoming a lawyer by doing the GDL/CPE. The GDL/CPE is usually a one year course (full-time), and some lawyers and law-graduates may feel insulted that a 3 year law degree can be cramped into a year course. Yet many of those on these conversion courses turn out to be great lawyers. So only time will tell whether this scheme will be successfuly or not.
Intellectually superior?
A spokesman for University said: “We are extremely disappointed and upset that a colleague has chosen to raise issues that were settled with his consent some years ago. If he continues to have issues with the management of examinations, he ought to raise them internally.”
trainee
Clearly there is a cost implication as well though as non-law students need the GDL fees to be paid in addition to the LPC.
i myself am a current gradute of a law degree.. i have always had the prospectus of going into teaching (and due to the current economic climate) and though it may not be easy i can agree that some may see it as a easy escape route from law but at the same time this arguement can be seen as a double edged sword reason bieng that those who also pursue the legal profession spend a lot of time and a LOT of money for something that they may not be able to go into later on thus in return they want security with a profession just like anyone else that they have pursude
I think your comments about a “former Poly in Wales” do both yourself and the University of Glamorgan a disservice. Incorporation took place 20 years ago. The teachers are just as good (or bad) as the U of G as any other UK university. The only difference is reputation. this results in so called “high flyers” applying to Oxbridge type colleges.
I am a lawyer and a law teacher. Having done a PGCE at Cardiff University, and having been teaching for 10 years, I consider teaching (a level) to be very tough. Not only do you need to have an expert subject knowledge but you also have to be extremely creative in devising teaching materials.
Get rid of your inferiority complex and stop putting your girlfriend on a stupid pedestal. She is just a lawyer, like you.