LTO / Supply teaching is pretty easy IMO. Having experienced first hand, supply / LTO teachers coming into my class and basically doing nothing... I've had one who played "Flappy Bird" on his iPad for about a week whilst my teacher was home sick. Another who brought in his laptop and mucked around on there while just giving us busy work.

Good choice and I agree, it is a pretty easy job. You work 8 months of the year and once you've got some seniority, you'll be making an okay salary although you won't get rich. Plus, it's once you have a degree, its just a one year programme in most places and half that is taken up with photocopying for your sponsor teacher on your practicum. The hardest part is continually moaning about paperwork and having to occasionally account for your practice.

Thanks Oink

Be prepared to work hard then at uni and expect competition for jobs. I'm not sure what the deal is with Canada but in the UK it takes 3 years with a BA and then 1 year QTS (qualified teacher status). Expect a real variety of kids - the ones in private schools are just posh and obnoxious, schools in deprived areas- expect a random chair to be chucked at you periodically

Good luck with it!

Who are you calling a plain bastion?

Teaching is only easy if you don't do it well.

Supply teaching: no guaranteed income, no pension, no benefits.

Its a degree (which is usually four years unless you get your finger out and max out credits per term or do a defensible thesis as they can eat up lots of credits) then a one year teacher training/education with a heavy emphasis on student "teaching" which as I suggested earlier, often means photocopying or reading to the class while the teacher pops out for a fag.

To gozowhatsisnads, I'd try and concentrate on intermediate grades, you won't be babysitting like primary and unlike high school, you won't need to know much more content than what's contained in the average Christmas cracker.

I must tell my step-son this, obviously he has been doing everything wrong as he often works many hours in the evenings, after school and on weekends preparing lessons, marking, running after school activities etc., as a high school teacher. (As did my former husband) Dealing with obnoxious parents who threaten you when their kid isn't on the team, dealing with hormonal teenagers and out of control kids who threaten you, swear at you and disrupt the class (they don't care because all that happens is they get a reprimand and a suspension) hmmm yes, it's a really easy job... NOT.

Sigh... you really need to think before you make statements like that.

Ah, such cynicism. I'm not saying you're wrong of course.

Hmm, sounds like either a time management issue or lack on content knowledge. Even at the higher grades in high school one shouldn't have work much past 5pm and unless there's some sort of project fair, ever on weekends. And as for parents, its simple, insist on them making an appointment, preferably in school time and on your prep periods) so you make it as inconvenient for them as possible.

Almost appears that you should consider teaching in BC

No, neither of those suggestions. He runs several sports teams and is required to work after school ends.. because of that he has to do lesson plan creation and marking in the evenings. The weekends he often has to do practice or matches from time to time.

Parents attend the matches and practices - he has been physically threatened and harassed by parents when he has refused to allow someone to play due to their behaviour - it's not a case of appointments.

I guess it really depends on what you teach and where you teach.

Only towards the braying malcontented adults in the system. Teaching sixth graders Platonic political theory and rhetoric as a graduate student and them being excited by it, was a magnificent experience. Dodgeball was also fun.

I derive the same pleasure from boggling the minds of 3rd year undergraduates with a few simple parables about waves, particles, the uncertainty principle and such. It really is a pleasure to have reconfirmed, year after year, how moribund the Canadian education system has become.

I blame folk like you actually.

I taught in an American system. And in a system where we aligned competencies and core knowledge expectations with university faculty so no catch up was necessary when they attended HE, stopped most of their moaning.