The Working Girl Diaries is a new series where we unlock the doors to the diverse and dynamic worlds of women navigating careers and finances. See this as your personal backstage pass to the lives of modern-day women from different walks of life.
Just like Single Girl Diaries, this series aims to provide unfiltered and authentic insights into the lives of working women everywhere. The aim is to dismantle gatekeeping, putting all women in a place where they are informed and prepared for the career journeys they desire to embark on. It is also to help break the stigma and taboo that surrounds money talk.
This month, Simbiat Makinde, a preschool teacher, takes us through her journey in the education industry. She recounts how she balances working as a teacher with her part-time polytechnic course and a homemade products business. She talks about how she got into teaching, her passion for helping little children, how little she’s paid, her relationship with money, and a lot more.
Occupation: Preschool teacher
Industry: Education
Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 28
Location: Ibadan, Nigeria
Salary: N40,000 from teaching,
Average Income (Per Month): N80,000
Debt: None ( I cleared them all last month)
Current Savings Amount: N23,000
My Working Life
My name is Simbiat Makinde. I am 28 years old, and I am a preschool teacher. I have been teaching for the past four years and have worked at four different schools. I’m currently running a part-time program in Office Technology and Management at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, where I live. It’s part-time because I’m the one responsible for my tuition now, and I’m also a teacher, so in order not to neglect other parts of my life, I have to study at this pace.
I started teaching because I’ve always loved working with little children, and I just decided to pursue it. Though the passion was very much there, I still had to go for training courses. I enrolled in a six-month training in continuing professional development (CPD) in order to obtain a preschool certificate. I also went for a Jolly phonics training program, which focuses on teaching children from 0 to 4 years old how to read and write.
For my side hustle, I make and sell homemade products such as toilet wash, liquid soap, and Izal disinfectant.
Outside teaching, studying and business, I like swimming and making new friends who can match my energy.
My Money Life
Every month, I make about N80,000 or more. My job as a preschool teacher pays me N40,000 per month, but my side hustle pays about that same amount, too, which makes N80,000. My side hustle is the main reason I can afford to teach and school simultaneously. In a month, I spend up to N60,000 on expenses. My salary, sadly, can’t cover that amount, and it manages to cover only the bare necessities like transportation, feeding, and toiletries. If I have any other bills, I pay them with what I get from my business.
My relationship with money isn’t very good. I pay for everything myself, and my income barely covers it all. Fortunately, I’m in no debt as of right now.
I try to save, but I don’t have a fixed savings amount. Right now, I have about N23,000 in my savings bank account. Because of my small salary, I’ve learnt to cut costs and avoid unnecessary expenses.
The Life of a Preschool Teacher
I wake up early in the morning, so I have time to prepare. I do my morning daily routine, and then I set off for work. When I get to class, I start preparing for what we’ll be doing that day and do some activities like classroom decoration. When we begin class, I introduce activities like painting and potty training and teach the children to introduce themselves confidently.
After that, depending on our schedule, I go over what subjects we’ll be learning that day. As the main teacher, I take these subjects: numeracy, which involves number work; literacy, which involves sounds and diction; and KUW( Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding), which helps the children learn more about and understand the world.
When class ends, I see the kids off and prepare the classroom for the next day. Then, I move on to either studying or working on my business.
The Journey to Teaching
The first time I decided to go into teaching was when I listened to a particular programme that talked about “ What you can do and what you can do best”. It got me thinking. I already love working with little children, so why couldn’t I just start from that and become a great teacher? So, I decided to go into teaching. At my first school, which was in Lagos, I had it easy. I was 24 at the time, and I hadn’t done any educational courses, but my school proprietress was able to lead me through. In my first term, I made a lot of mistakes, but by the second term, I was able to learn from these mistakes and do better. At this school, I was paid 20k per month, but after three months, it increased to 30k because of my stellar performance.
To become even better, I started watching videos online on caring for toddlers. I learnt how to cut shapes to assist in teaching the kids shapes and colours. I got advice from more experienced teachers and went for training programs. From these programs, I was able to learn about Maria Montessori and her fantastic teaching method.
The Montessori method of teaching goes beyond chalkboards. It helps children assimilate well through practical and play-away methods that go beyond just writing on a board. When I learnt of it, I started thinking that if we use the Montessori style, the children will be able to understand things better, as most schools just use the primary method of writing and saying to teach their pupils. Montessori involves showing them the concepts rather than just saying them.
So, at my first school, I spent about two years there learning and growing. From there, I left to teach in another school in Lagos. There, we had no issues, and I was able to practice the Montessori style. This school was small, and I earned 25k. I took the job to see if I could perform well in smaller schools and discovered that I could.
Although I liked working there, it wasn’t an easy time for me. The salary wasn’t enough; feeding was hard, and transportation was difficult. I also had to learn very quickly how to balance school and work as I was missing classes a lot. My housing situation was complicated, and I had to look for an apartment, so I had to add another side hustle to my plate, so I began selling thrift.
From there, it was time to do my IT, so I moved from Lagos to Ibadan. At Ibadan, I got my third teaching job, and it was to teach a nursery one class. I was apprehensive at first, but I decided to take the job to see how I could perform there, too. It was stressful taking a nursery class for the first time as it’s more advanced than a preschool class which I was used to. So I learned more about it, and it helped
. The job was fulfilling, but it was really stressful as the commute was demanding, so I had to go. From there, I moved down to Sango, where I got my fourth job, which is where I am now.
My desire is to open my own preschool in the future. However, to do that, I have to gather more experience and gain certification. So next year, after I’m done with this course at the polytechnic, I’m leaving this job so I can enrol for my PGD to study early childhood education.
I’d also love to broaden my horizons by working in the big schools in Lagos, where I can learn more and expose my mind to different teaching and learning styles.
What Do You Like And Hate Most About Teaching?
What I love most about teaching is the children. I love working with little children. I enjoy being with them and learning from them. They amaze me. Even though I’m the teacher, the children give me the opportunity to learn and relearn things.
One thing I hate, however, is the fact that most schools don’t practice the Montessori style, and it’s caused some issues between me and the management. At the first school I worked at, the proprietress gave me time and room to explore and display whatever I had for the children. I was able to work with teaching styles that helped the children learn better. There are things these kids are supposed to learn which aren’t a part of the traditional scheme and those are the things I want to teach. Most schools don’t allow teachers to do that.
All they prefer is for the children to write and read things that they’ve not fully understood. When you then want to introduce better teaching styles, they begin to feel threatened and act like you want to take over their business. It’s never about the business for me. All I want is to help the children learn.
As I said, at the first school where I taught, I was allowed free rein to do whatever I wanted as long as it improved the children. I taught the things I thought were necessary to help the students, and it promoted the growth of the school. The school I’m working at currently doesn’t allow that. They feel like I want to outshine them and take all the glory.
Read Also: 10 Things You Can Relate To If You’ve Ever Worked A 9-5 Job
Another thing I hate is when schools pair me with other classes and add to my workload. For example, I tell them I want a particular class, but at the end of the day, they’ll pair me with two classes for me to teach because they want to save money. I’ve experienced this a lot, and it’s very annoying as it adds to my stress levels.
Advice for Aspiring Women Teachers
In Nigeria, they don’t pay teachers well, so if you’re an aspiring teacher, you have to accept things as they are. You also have to bear in mind that as a teacher, it’s not about the money. It’s about passion.
If you want to be a teacher, you have to be passionate about the job. If you’re not, you’ll get tired and hurt the children. Teaching is a job that requires happiness and dedication, so you have to be happy first to be a teacher. You can’t give out what you don’t have.
Another thing I’d like to say is to gain as much knowledge as you can. Go for different training programs, build your career, learn about the different teaching styles and choose what works best for you. No knowledge is ever wasted.
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