Working in Education - pros and cons....

[tkb01]

Hi

 

I've recently moved back to the UK after a few years in Oz where I was responsible the ICT for a large non-profit association. I've just started looking for work here and see a few jobs in schools and universities coming up. I've never worked in the education field before, so wondered if it's something to look at or avoid! Previous experience has ranged from large corporate organisations to a small private engineering company, and the previously mentioned NFP.

 

I guess one of my main questions is, do you have a huge amount of interaction with the students, or is it mostly supporting the staff and systems?

 

Many thanks

[dry]

All education jobs I've had, it's probably been a 75/25 split between supporting staff & maintaining systems vs interaction with students. Interaction with students isn't a problem and you'll probably find many students more tech-literate than the staff you're supporting.

 

I like how every day is different in education. Often you'll be working in a small team which means you can get your hands dirty with a wide range of tech. The not-so-good news is you'll be lucky to find a school without tightening budgets which often results in not being able to do quite as many upgrades/refreshes as you'd like/need to do.

 

Universities are a different beast. The uni that I received a job offer from had a very large IT dept, with 350+ people on the service desk. It appeared very tiered and not something I was overly keen on- going in as a level 1/2 tech. I didn't like the idea of working within a very strict remit and passing jobs up the chain. If I start working on something, I like to see it through to completion and put my name on it. I suppose it depends on the individual though.

Edited April 22, 2016 by dry

[tkb01]

Thanks dry, a good insight I prefer working in a small team and being 'hands on' - might investigate it a bit further.......

[elsiegee40]

Hi

I guess one of my main questions is, do you have a huge amount of interaction with the students, or is it mostly supporting the staff and systems?

 

Many thanks

It so much depends on the school and, to some extent, the person.

 

The students are the responsibility of the teachers day in day out and usually classroom problems are channelled through the teacher.

 

However, you get out what you put in, so if you get involved with school productions, or Duke of Edinburgh's Award, or IT Leaders, or driving the minibus, or being the school crossing patrol, or... (ad nauseam) then you get to know the students much better and, in my opinion, it's much more rewarding than just sticking to your job description.

[bobsmith]

The one thing you certainly can't avoid when working in schools is the kids themselves, if you aren't comfortable around 1000+ hooligans (students?) then don't work in the schools sector.

 

The holidays are nice though

[tkb01]

Thanks for the further info elsiegee and bob

[mikeprice]

IMO it very much depends on the type of school and the people and what they think is normal- you need to know what they expect before you take the job. A SECONDARY school I had a contract in a couple of years ago had only 1 technician - the Network Manager - and he was expected to get trolleys of iPads to classrooms on time whenever they were booked - as well had managing the network - in other schools this would be unthinkable.

 

Also they will expect that all sorts of things are 'normal' which you may not - a quick look around the threads here will show school staff can be a breed apart - and some teachers are - how can i put it - difficult (??)

 

But overall I have worked in both and I love working in schools

[MkII]

I'd much rather be in control of a smaller environment than a small cog in a larger one. I guess it depends on your personality and what you want out of a job.

[enjay]

PRO

 

You are responsible for /involved in a broad range of systems and technologies, as you would probably be expected to be at least conversant in all systems in the school, not just responsible for one system/server

 

Each day will include a lot of different jobs and no two days are the same. Today, I have cleared a paper jam in a printer (normally done by my technician, but he was elsewhere), fixed a problem on an interactive whiteboard (again, normally my technician), had a meeting with some staff about a cross-curricular film-making project, reviewed a staff survey on the uptake of BYOD, reviewed supplier proposals for a new managed print system, worked on a change of ISP, and started a draft budget proposal for 2016/17. And that was just today!

 

Working alongside teachers of all subjects, you are likely to see a wider range of personalities than you would if you worked for (and forgive the sweeping generalisations) an accountancy or marketing company.

 

Probably given more responsibility than you would in a larger team or a corporate structure.

 

Probably given more freedom and autonomy on how you spend your time (this could be one for the con list, of course, depending on how well motivated and self-disciplined you are!)

 

 

CON

 

Budgets are small and getting smaller, but that is probably the case for a lot of corporates too.

 

Social interaction might be limited, depending on the school. In some schools, staff tend to stay within their own teams so people in a small team (whether that is IT Support or a small subject area) can be isolated. This is a school-by-school thing though.

 

Time pressures can be greater in education. If a computer in an office isn't working, the user can probably do something else for 10 minutes. If a teacher's PC goes down mid lesson, they need it up and running again immediately. This isn't necessarily a con, but is something you need to be mindful of if considering working in education.

 

Salaries are lower than those which could be earned with the same qualifications in industry.

 

 

I'm sure there are many more for both lists, but that will do for starters...

Edited April 22, 2016 by enjay

[Danp]

Pros - free lunch!

[enjay]

Pros - free lunch!

 

Have you told the taxman about that?

[Norphy]

Pros - free lunch!

 

I've been working in education for almost 15 years. Free lunches have never been a benefit. The closest I've got was in one school where you were allowed to push in front of the students in the canteen.

[elsiegee40]

Have you told the taxman about that?

 

Free lunches are considered free if you are working while eating them. As long as you eat with the kids in the canteen you can be deemed to be supervising.

 

Back on topic: Free lunches are only a pro if your school cook is any good!

Edited April 22, 2016 by elsiegee40

[enjay]

Back on topic: Free lunches are only a pro if your school cook is any good!

Very true, although I've found the standards of "school dinners" today to be miles beyond the meals from my childhood school which were "what can we fry and serve with chips?" main followed by "unidentifiable with custard" for pudding.

 

My primary school had a dessert which I remember to this day that wasn't quite mousse and wasn't quite custard - the only definite characteristic was its colour, and as such it was just known as "pink"...

[Danp]

Free lunches are considered free if you are working while eating them. As long as you eat with the kids in the canteen you can be deemed to be supervising.

 

Back on topic: Free lunches are only a pro if your school cook is any good!

 

Our team is very good. Full 3 course lunch, only pity was the fire alarm went off during my pudding, meant I had to get a fresh one when we came back in...

[hardtailstar]

In my experience:

 

Old job(s) - Single tech working in three primary schools:

 

The teachers tend to come straight from university and so haven't had much experience of the world outside apart from some bar work. They tended to act a lot like naughty children.

However I did work with a few teachers that did have common sense and would be understanding.

The children in the school were good fun to work with. I didn't do any clubs etc so only had the interaction of changing passwords or repairing class laptops sent to me via children.

Across the three schools were different degrees of wanting things fixed yesterday to being ok with it being fixed the next time I was in.

 

Current Job - Tech in a Secondary school

 

Large range of how teachers act from childish to mature adults.

The interaction with students is a lot more than primary school but they tend to generally be ok to talk to but you do get some argumentative students.

 

 

All schools are different and as such may have completely different scenarios.

 

Good luck on the job hunt!

[gady]

School lunches are OK, overcooked sweetcorn and under cooked broccoli isn't great though...

[DalekSec]

Pros: Free Lunch, Get hands on with lots of different types of IT, Free access to Gym and Swimming pool (not that I use either) and a lovely working environment.

Cons: Time off in term time is hard to get off (cant take a week off in term time), can't think of anything else as I love my job currently!

[enjay]

Cons: Time off in term time is hard to get off (cant take a week off in term time), can't think of anything else as I love my job currently!

My last school, I wasn't allowed any time off during term at all. Current place, I can so long as my technician is in school.

[tkb01]

Many thanks for all the responses, certainly plenty of food for thought and good pros and cons - not sure which category the school lunches would fall in to though

 

PRO

 

You are responsible for /involved in a broad range of systems and technologies, as you would probably be expected to be at least conversant in all systems in the school, not just responsible for one system/server

 

Each day will include a lot of different jobs and no two days are the same. Today, I have cleared a paper jam in a printer (normally done by my technician, but he was elsewhere), fixed a problem on an interactive whiteboard (again, normally my technician), had a meeting with some staff about a cross-curricular film-making project, reviewed a staff survey on the uptake of BYOD, reviewed supplier proposals for a new managed print system, worked on a change of ISP, and started a draft budget proposal for 2016/17. And that was just today!

 

Working alongside teachers of all subjects, you are likely to see a wider range of personalities than you would if you worked for (and forgive the sweeping generalisations) an accountancy or marketing company.

 

Probably given more responsibility than you would in a larger team or a corporate structure.

 

Probably given more freedom and autonomy on how you spend your time (this could be one for the con list, of course, depending on how well motivated and self-disciplined you are!)

 

That pretty much describes my last job in a NFP!

[Joanne]

I've worked in secondary and primary and private sector with some school involvement.

 

My experiences:

 

- Jobs tend to be safer, although times of late, this may not be the case for much longer.

- Pension schemes in public sector are better (although not for me as I am classed as 'Part time').

- Job is varied and you need a wealth of skills - even in primary!

- If you find the right school you can actually enjoy going to work. It took me 10 years to find the right place, but I am happy here.

 

- Children can be a bit of a pain, but generally interactions with them are minimal.

- You do end up doing mundane things like plugging things in for people and wheeling trolleys, but with the correct staff training, this can be reduced!!

- Not much room for progression within smaller environments. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be an IT Tech for LYFE... unless I can convince a Network Manager title , when I worked in secondary I was bottom of the pile of 3. The NM there was only a few years older than me and comfortable, so chances of promotion were incredibly slim.

 

Issues I had with private... one place paid me peanuts, the other place paid me a great wage. Again it does depend on the company. One was a bigger firm and they didn't seem to care as much for their employees wellbeing as the smaller family run firm I also worked for... however smaller firms have their drawbacks in that they treated me like 'one of the family' which also included shouting at me over the phone because there was a misunderstanding with a customer.

 

It's so hard because they are all different. I never thought for a second that a job in a primary school would be so good, because I previously worked in about 5 of them a week and I didn't enjoy it.

 

Just apply for some and see what happens. If you don't like it, just move on!

[mthomas08]

Hi

I guess one of my main questions is, do you have a huge amount of interaction with the students, or is it mostly supporting the staff and systems?

 

Think it's been covered but offering my penny.

 

We see a lot of Students in/out our door but primarily because of the BYOD Scheme which is being cancelled, so we should see a cut down.

 

Generally interact with kids/staff often either way though.

 

It's all School based, some Schools will basically expect you to be the IT Techies and nothing more. While other Schools will expect you to be "Dogs Bodies", Admin work, caretaking, cleaning and Teaching Assistant but again that is depending on the School.

 

Personally I'd like us to be doing more Staff Training, keeping Staff more and more in the loop (which we do well BTW), generally working with Departments instead of seeing them when they have dire please fix yesterday problems.

[Nixon77]

About to move into private after many years in education, bricking it to be honest.

[Joanne]

About to move into private after many years in education, bricking it to be honest.

 

It comes with many benefits so don't sweat it.

 

(quietly doesn't mention the drawbacks!!)