Being A Teacher

Hi, I teach primary school part time at the minute as full time was too much for me.

I would say that you can be autistic and teach, but it may be the case that you need to put your own personal strategies in place to help with the day to day overstimulation/burn out. But like others have said, you may find it easier working with certain ages over others. Are you training to be a teacher at the moment?

I have taught for over 20 years. I taught some extra-curricular classes before that, but it was getting the Tesol certificate, along with having a first degree, that changed my life at midlife.

I've been to companies and taught Business English, but also worked at at schools, and am working at one at the moment. The children are all very aware of such things as dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism, were so at the last school I worked at, from 2013-2017. Two girls I teach have had the Diagnosis, for me they are great to teach, as they are also the most hard-working, and actually ask me things if they don't understand something. Each has rows upon rows of top marks. 

Whether not you can do it, teach, probably depends on what your sensitivities are, sometimes the things to watch are office politics in the staffroom. One thing I found really difficult when I first came especially, was that everyone spoke English with me because I wasn't expected to know the language - for some reason I found this hugely embarrassing  and it left me feeling really exposed. I tell people know that needing someone to interpret every little thing for me, like 'she needs to go to the toilet' can leave you feeling like two years old, that is something that can be understood. This year, the complicated marking system really confused me, and some classes used this to call my marks into question - often, the laziest ones, Interestingly, or the ones who are jumping off the walls and can't keep still. 

One class once quipped when miming activities to elicit vocabulary shouted out 'autistic,' but whether or not that was about their anxieties or they really think I am, I'm not sure. My foreign-ness is already something that seems to fascinate a lot of kids from other classes, and I get a lot of daft questions and laborious English greetings. 

Thank you for your replies. I just joined this platform yesterday. :-)

Thank you for your replies. I just joined this platform yesterday. :-)

I think it depends what sort of teaching you are doing and how much is expected of you in your role. I have been working in teaching for 10 years, however I have always been a Cover Supervisor or Cover Teacher as I cant cope with the planning, marking and paperwork required of "full" teachers. I tried being a full teacher at the start of this year in a role an agency put me in and I broke down within 2 weeks and had to quit. 

As other people on here have said, it also depends on the age group you teach. It might be worth experimenting with different age groups to see what you find easiest. 

The most important thing I would say is that you are not overreacting to being burned out and numb. The most important thing you can do is listen to what your gut instinct is telling you and what you know is best for you to look after yourself

So in answer to your question I would say yes autistic people definetly can be teachers but you shouldnt force yourself to do something thats burning you out just cos you feel like you should do it 

There are some school teachers on this forum who might be more use than me, but phew!  I could never do it, not with kids!

I spent many years training adults and loved it.  9 to 5 job, for starters.  No one was expecting me to work until stupid o'clock at home.  Also with training, you learn the course once and then adapt to your group.  You aren't preping afresh every two minutes.

I have QTLS status with my post-16 PGCE and am qualified to teach in schools - yeah, I tried that once.  Never again!   A classroom full of chaotic kids was just tooooooooo much information to process.  I can't track every tiny nuance of their behaviour, and navigate around my dyslexia and concentrate on the lesson plan. 

Then there are the sensory issues etc in schools.  God!  The bells!  The bells! and task switch every 50 minutes.  And the stink of the dinner hall.  No thanks!  I was a nervous wreck by the end of the day.

I am considering going back to teaching grown ups though.

If you are feeling burnt out, you're not over re-acting.  As a society we are burning out our neurotypical teachers, never mind our autistic ones - which is a crying shame as I think autistic kids could do with more autistic teachers.  They get where they are coming from. 

Hi Elizabeth,

I've recently been diagnosed with ASD and ADHD, yet I've been teaching English as a Foreign Language in the UK and abroad for over 10 years. To be honest, I now understand why a lot of things have caused me stress, like a heavy timetable. On the other hand, I've realised that I'm comfortable in the classroom because I can "act'. You might want to consider teaching older students because I find children too much. I now work at a uni, so they're all over 18 and often over 21. The timetabling suits me better, plus I work from home a lot. If you've got any questions, just ask