Hello ladies.
I am just after opinions on returning to study. Im nearly 32 and i have literally put everyone before myself . I have been in hospitality since I've been old enough to work and ive had enough.
I have always wanted to be a police officer and i applied and got past first screening and now im like is this what i really want? My partner is in the job and my primary age son has been diagnosed as intellectually disabled so we are looking at NDIS minefields. I recently spent the day with my childs class and I loved it. I mean really enjoyed it.
My question is has anyone gone and became a teacher after 30? My partner thinks a teacher aide job would be the same but im not sure if its going to fulfill me. Did you study online and who with? Did they offer support? I started many years ago on open uni and gave up because the support wasn't there.
4 Replies
Maybe try being a teacher aide and take it from there? You will still get the feel of the room and an idea of what teachers really put into it as well as working with the kids. You have to have a teacher aide certificate (or it is diploma now?) which you can get through Tafe and cross credit to teaching might be available if thats what you decide you want to to.
My suggestion - is it the teaching that you liked? Or the children side of it?
What excites you about teaching?
What excites you about policing?
Can you combine the two down the track...? Teach policing? Or teach children safety danger etc as a police officer.
Policing can open avenues with extra study ((like a teaching adult cert 4 )) can lead you into teaching self defence training, teaching safety online, teaching with brave Hearts etc. there’s many avenues to explore, and in my opinion, policing is a more steady career choice as currently there are more teachers than positions available in Nsw.
I'm 34, about to go into my final year of a teaching degree. I have also been in hospitality since I was 15. The joys of that is you can find plenty of work that suits the uni times. I also have 2 kids that are 5 and 1. I deferred for a year to have my second. So I do full time uni, work weekends and have two kids. It's bloody hard but I know it will be worth it.
There is alot of people my age doing the course.
There is also a lot of people working as an integration aide whilst studying.
It's busy, hectic but so so worth it. If it's what you want go for it. Age won't matter one bit!! Good luck!!
If you’re looking for something more challenging and rewarding, can I suggest that you look into studying speech pathology, occupational therapy, social work or psychology. As you mentioned, ndis will be rolled out fully across Australia by next year, so that means more funding for more people, but therapists are thin on the ground, particularly in rural and remote areas. And the added bonus is what you learn you can apply to your own child