Hi all!
Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.
My name is Mona, age 35, and I registered because I'm interested in a career in podiatry.
I was previously a teacher, but government budget cuts have led to redundancy and huge competition for jobs. I've been out of full-time work for over two years now and the prospects don't look good. I currently scrape by working two days a week as a supply teacher, and I'm on a 3 year waiting list to get a full time position at my school (no guarantees though). I keep applying for jobs at other schools but they're getting ten times the number of applicants they'd usually get for each position! Plus the pupil behaviour is getting worse, the hours in teaching are getting longer and the workloads are getting heavier (my full-time colleagues work up to 12 hours a day) - so I think it might be quite a good time to opt out!
So I'm considering a career change. The key issue for me is to choose something where I can get the necessary qualifications without forking out a fortune - I have very little money and I can't get a student loan because I already had one for my previous degree. I like helping people, I like interacting with people in my job and not sitting at a desk all day, and ideally I'd like a bit of flexibility in hours.
A friend of a friend is a podiatrist, and she suggested it might suit me as it's a caring, people-centred profession with good prospects and I'd (hopefully) get a bursary and fees paid. Also she said there's a shortage of podiatrists so I shouldn't find it difficult to get a job, and self-employment would meet my need for flexible working. I'm getting married in 2014 and hope to have a family before too long, and I could do self-employed podiatry work which fits around childcare arrangements.
So I have several questions which I'm hoping you can answer:
-How competitive is it to get onto a podiatry degree course, and what are my chances of getting a bursary and fees paid?
-What are the hours like on a podiatry degree course? Could I still work part time to pay the bills?
-What's the employment situation like? Is there a shortage of podiatrists? Can I be reasonably certain of getting a job if I do the degree?
-The starting wage for a podiatrist (around £21k I think?) is quite low compared to what I'd get as a teacher (if I could get a job!). So I'd want to consider self employment, both for flexibility and for the opportunity of higher earnings. What level of income would it be reasonable to expect as a self-employed podiatrist, when starting out and after a couple of years?
Thanks :)
Loading...
- Similar Threads - Advice please Podiatry
-
- Replies:
- 0
- Views:
- 6,218
-
- Replies:
- 30
- Views:
- 33,189
-
- Replies:
- 3
- Views:
- 1,527
-
- Replies:
- 3
- Views:
- 3,783
-
- Replies:
- 0
- Views:
- 1,064
-
- Replies:
- 0
- Views:
- 4,673
-
- Replies:
- 3
- Views:
- 3,961