Disabled and wanting to get into teaching - can I? — Scope | Disability forum
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Disabled and wanting to get into teaching - can I?

Marie75
Marie75 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
edited April 2018 in Work and employment
I suffer really bad with depression panic attacks as i'm physically disabled too but I want to do some kind of teaching but don't know how or even if I can 

Comments

  • JennysDad
    JennysDad Community member Posts: 2,299 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @Marie75 and a warm welcome to the community. Glad to have you with us.
    I suspect you'd do well to talk to our employment advisor here, and you might like to click on that link and have a look at some of the conversations already taking place that might be of help to you. We will be getting back to you on this, however, so there's no great rush where we're concerned.
    Could you possibly tell us a little more about yourself? Do you have any particular qualifications that you are looking to use, or do you have any student type or age-group in mind?
    The more you can tell us about yourself, the more easily we may be able to find ways to help you - and, besides that - we'd really like to get to know you :smile:
    Very warmest best wishes to you,
    Richard
  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @Marie75
    As @JennysDad says, you might be helped by our Support to Work service, you can read more about it here.

    Let us know a little more and let's see if we can help :)
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • despondent
    despondent Community member Posts: 88 Connected
    This is what it is like to be a teacher:-

    You have to write lesson plans daily and differentiate the work you give the students three ways eg for the bottom group, middle group, and top group. You are also expected to stretch the gifted and talented. You have to then write on your next lesson plan what you could have done better, how you will stretch the students further. You have to mark their work every day and give them feedback. You have to assess them every half term and give them a level. if the students are on the same level or not moved up then you have to justify why this is the case. You have to write weekly and half termly plans, and reflect on them. You have to attend parents evening usually once a term. That day is very long and tiring, you usually get to school around 7am and the last parent slot is 7.50pm. You do not get paid for this, you are expected to come in same time the next day. Once a year you have to write a report on every child you teach. If it is secondary students it is usually 150 of them. if it is primary then it is 30 students and 10 subjects and write a comment on each subject about how the child has done, and give a level for each subject. You have to do wall displays in your classrooms and change them  each  half term. You  are expected to lead and deliver assemblies every half term. you have to plan school trips once a term and do a risk assessment report, which means you need to go  and see what dangers their might be for the students on the trip (this is done in your own time or planning and preparation time. You have to attend department meetings after school once a week. You also have to attend Professional Development courses at the school weekly. You have to be on playground duty twice a week, which usually results in not being able to set up for your next lesson and not having a break all morning or afternoon which is mentally very tiring. You have to phone parents about their children's behaviour daily and inform them if they are going to have detention. You have to meet up with parents of children you have concerns about regularly. You will be on a detention rota for after school perodically. You are expected to do an after school curricular subject.
    Schools have a budget, and every time a teacher is sick they have to pay dearly for a supply teacher, you are made to feel guilty about this. Teaching is very stressful, there is so much paperwork, from planning to marking, to assessment. You never can switch off, not even at the weekend. I am a teacher who suffers with depression and anxiety and can no longer teach. If after reading this you still want to be a teacher, then kudos to you.
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  • despondent
    despondent Community member Posts: 88 Connected
    edited April 2018
    People think a teacher's day is 9 to 3.30pm (I wish), and that we get 13 weeks holidays. You cannot plan, mark and assess within those hours, and like Victoriad said with all the overtime that teachers do, which is not reflected in their pay. Teaching is one of the only jobs I know where you are expected to work 60 hours but paid for half of that. As for the holidays, 5 days of them are given for professional development. All 10 public holidays occur during the remaining weeks. You are so exhausted that you cannot do much in the weeks off. The Summer half term is used up writing reports.
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  • Zaid_Alumni
    Zaid_Alumni Community member Posts: 66 Courageous
    Hi @Marie75 you can absolutely train to be a teacher! Teachers with disabilities make an important contribution to schools both in the classroom and in shaping the wider culture and ethos of the schools they work in. There are loads of different routes into teaching, it can be daunting but;

    There is lots of general info here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes

    And specific advice about getting into teaching with a disability here: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes

    Let us know if these are helpful!

    Zaid
    Scope Employment Advisor
    Phone: 0300 222 5742
    Email: supporttowork@scope.org.uk
    www.scope.org.uk/supporttowork

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  • Waylay
    Waylay Community member, Scope Member Posts: 973 Pioneering
    I was looking into going into teaching as well, as I'm a physicist, and they desperately need physics/maths teachers. I have chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and BPD. This was a long-term plan, as DWP f*ckery has made me far too ill to consider it ATM.

    I asked three people (acquaintances of acquaintances online) about their experience of teaching. All 3 said, essentially OHGODNORUNFORYOURLIFE. Apparently teaching these days is incredibly stressful, and a lot of teachers are developing mental health conditions as a result. Anyone with a pre-existing mental health condition (or 3) is pretty much guaranteed to have trouble. 

    I decided to stay away...
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  • Pippa_Alumni
    Pippa_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,793 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @Marie75, you may like to check out this recent guest blog by secondary school teacher @Ram!

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