Sorry you are in this situation but it's not really much different in 'the real world' either. I think seeing your PhD like a job might help. As others have said, look for what you are entitled to re holidays and sick leave. you have been diagnosed as depressed so already you will probably be covered by the Equality Act, meaning your uni counsellors or disability support officer should be able to help you make 'reasonable adjustments' over duties with your supervisor regarding unrealistic workload. Whilst supervisor may not like this, it's better than you dropping out or having a breakdown. And btw disappointing supervisors is not the worst thing that can ever happen to you so don't worry about that. Some academics have never done anything outside of education, they went school, college, uni, work in uni so playgound mentality can follow! But you get this in work too, some people just never grown up.

Do you get stipend? If you do the first thing I expect your supervisor will point out is that you are also working and they will probably argue this is the point of stress that you on your own terms have taken on additional work. You might need to look into quitting this job.

Try and do practical things to reduce workload. It can be achieved. However, if you need to quit, just quit. Don't worry about what others will think, you're really only answerable to yourself. As for employers I'd be tempted to say you left for financial reasons because of the global recession and needed to work to earn rather than study but highlight the practical, employable skills you gained in your PhD time.

Good luck

Thanks Satchi. Absolutely can't wait, so excited. I've a first meeting this week for some summer prep reading :-) Hopefully I'll still be excited 3 years on ha ha.

Ah right, yes you're right probably not as well paid. I'm in the UK. We now have Advanced Skills Teachers. Our compulsory education is from 5-17yrs of age. Teaching itself here doesn't pay as well as other graduate jobs buut compulsory ed can often pay more than college/university. Hope someone else can give you more useful info. :-)

Mines Humanities/social science so no equipment needed, mainly reading and writing. This sounds promising then as I need to keep childcare costs down. Thanks

Phd'ers, how much time do you spend or are you expected to spend on your campus? I'm asking this as I start in Sept and need to arrange childcare. Is it expected you are on campus 9-5 each day in your first year or is it more felxible than this? I just wanted to sound out first before asking the Dept as I don't want them to think I can't make the commitment because of childcare, I can I just need to know how much childcare I need so I can balance phD life with my children (yes I know, for balance read ....cram everything in ha ha). Thanks in advance.

If it were me, in the chapter where you discuss theoretical perspectives I would compare and contrast the two approaches to the phenomenon, concluding with your reasoning for using the later. You shouldn't then need to look at your 'research' using the alternative description. I don't think it needs more than this so you won't have to look at 100 sources, just cite the main authors. Also, be mindful or wordcount as how much you write on the subject will depend on the word count for your dissesrtation. An MA taught dissertation for example is only 16K words so a paragraph or so will suffice, whereas MRes will be aput 40K dissertaion and may require a whole chapter. BUT..ask your tutor to be 100% sure. Good luck :-)

I don't know why the guilt. Treat it like a job. Unless you have done something to stuff things up, been rude or lazy no you shouldn't feel guilty.

I don't know where you got that from. Despite what a lot of teachers say, out of all the teaching sectors compulsory education is very comparatively well paid with more openings and good progression routes. Have you looked what AST teachers, head of departments and headteachers earn! Good luck

Anyone with QTLS from having a DTTLS are qualified to work in secondary school as of April 2012 are no longer required to do another PGCE. The issue with QTLS to get a job in secondary school is the relevant school experience (which you have) if you get your DTTLS and gain QTLS you can apply directly to schools as a qualified teacher, as long as you are part of the Institute for Learning (get membership online) and register your qualification with them as they hold the teaching register.

http://www.ifl.ac.uk/policy-and-campaigns/current-policy-priorities/qtls-and-qts

Hope this is good news :-)

woop woop, you deserve it :-)

No you don't. That's how some people get their PhD, PhD via publication. You have to have a degree and then a certain number of publications, although you still have to be registered with a University to get the PhD awarded so there is still some cost involved and I don't think you can get your PhD through the publication route through a university you are employed by? but I couild be wrong. Oxford University with the IfL are running CPD courses at the minute teaching education practitioners how to get published so publishing without a PhD looks like it's on the up.

Have you worked out your 'learning style' ? auditory, motor etc. Figuring out how 'YOU' learn and work best can be key to getting things done and how others work may not suit you. You can google learning styles to find various 'tests' for it.

I know for myself that I have a great short term memory so exams I cram for a few days before or on the day only and about an hour after the exam I've usually forgotton most of it.

I'm not a planner and when it comes to writing I can't do lists. I use a 'writing frame' for guidance e.g the main headings and subheadings that are expected in a dissertation and put the word count for eaach section to work to in bold. I then usually 'free write' about the topic before re-drafting/editing about 3 times. I write when I'm in the mood to write (sometimes I can be writing from sunrise until sunset), I don't write anything when I'm not in the mood, there's no point as I just frustrate myself.

I like hard copies of journal articles/reports kept in lever arch files. I write short notes on the front page of each artcle and lots of written notes on the article and highlighting as psychologically, hand written notes embedd info into your brain easier, especially if you have repeated what you have wrote about 3 times.

I'm a visual learner and I can remember information by thinking about what it looked like on the page so I will box off or underline the most important part of my written notes.

I've never missed a deadline and I finished my MA 8 months early whilst working full time hours with 2 pre-school children, with my 'haphazard' style, but it worked for me.

If you reallysit and think about how you learn and work you will know what suits you best.

Good luck

You can top up your degree to an honours through the Open University quite easily, at a cost but you can only count a certain number of credits from your degree towards it so in effect you will have to take more than the usual number of credits to get the honours. What class is your Masters? Funding is getting more and more competative. My course tutor says they won't even look at someone now without distinction in their Masters, including distinction for their dissertation (although I have heard of those with lower class degress and MA's gettig funding). What is your subject? I think some professional doctorates, i.e the Ed Doc have slightly lower academic entrance requirements (certinly the OU one does) as they take previous experience in hand.

Don't be disheartened by this or feel it is the supers fault. This is the norm for PhD and acutal job adverts. The days when you could just 'hand' a studentship or a job to an internal candidate or even 'friend' without advertising the position are long gone. It's a total pain I agree but employers are compelled by law to advertise positions externally (unless there are extereme circumstances) even though they know who is going to get it so it's as much as a bind for them to have to sit through interviews knowing they are not going to give you the job/studentship. I can't tell you the number of job interviews i've gone for where I've had to teach or do presentations and take holiday from work to attend to find out on the day they already had an 'internal' lined up. I worked for a holiday company whose interview strategy involved 3 days at the centre doing all sorts of team building stuff and yet we all knew who was getting the job before it was even advertised and these people turned up, at great cost and time to have 3 days wasted. God bless UK employment law for time wasting!

Thanks, good point about the tax threshold