In an ill-timed quirk of fate, my teaching certificate came today – one day after I accepted a non-teaching job.

The problem is this. If you did a PGCE and, like me, found it impossible to devote time to looking for a job in the spring when this September’s jobs were being advertised, then there are only dregs left in July when you finish the course. (It's not the same for BEds because they finish at Easter and hence can apply for jobs without the pressure of being in the most critical phase of their training.)

The entire UK education system shuts down for the summer and there are no jobs coming up at all. To get through the summer you must have nerves of steel (or have no financial worries) because, although supply teaching is supposedly an option, it’s impossible to guarantee that there will be supply vacancies in the first week of the new academic year. If you factor in bills to pay as well as food and petrol to buy then I could see no other option but to apply for non-teaching jobs. If I’d had a job lined up to start at the beginning of the new term then I could have managed to hang on but…

So now I have a teaching certificate which could turn out to be the biggest waste of effort, heartache and money I have ever spent. It is truly a bitter irony.