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Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

1 2

Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

The staffroom

Leaving teaching after nqt year what could I do?

39 replies

21pc · 28/01/2015 20:16

I'm considering leaving teaching after my NQT year but will be part way through my masters so don't want to embark on another career straight away, but do something else for a year

What could I use my teaching/education for besides being s TA?

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MisForMumNotMaid · 28/01/2015 20:17

Home tuition?

Could you do cover leave or is it all school,association you want to end?

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21pc · 28/01/2015 20:17

Forgot to mention the reasons I'm considering leaving, it's not that I don't love working with children and the actual teaching them it's all the other admin and things that come with it, including school politics...

Oh, and I'm primary

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21pc · 28/01/2015 20:18

I could do cover teaching is that like supply?

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MisForMumNotMaid · 28/01/2015 20:19

I have a friend who does supply and loves it for being able to avoid a high amount of the admin and politics. She's a wonderful calm unflusterable (should be a word) person though and not intimidated by change of scene and children.

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MisForMumNotMaid · 28/01/2015 20:20

Cover teachers are used at the school my husband teaches at. They're on payroll jack of all trades.

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Caronaim · 28/01/2015 20:21

I've just left teaching. Teachers are leaving by the thousand, and many are looking for TA jobs, so there is far more competition for those than for teaching jobs.

Just prepare a CV, get onto the universal jobmatch website and start applying. I was unemployed for exactly three days in the end, after years of worrying about what would happen if I just walked out. I'm working in a science lab recording results. Teachers use a huge range of computer programmes, and are well used to copying when they crash, fail, or just expire, so this sort of job is fairly easy to walk into. You will also have sought after administrative and receptionist skills.

Like you, I am studying, so will be looking to start a new career in a year or two. this will pay the bills in the mean time though.

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Caronaim · 28/01/2015 20:22

sorry, that should say coping!

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FabulousFudge · 28/01/2015 20:27

Supply - it's the fun bit of teaching and completely flexible.

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21pc · 28/01/2015 20:28

Caronaim at the moment I'd love to do anything which doesn't feel like it consumes my whole life. Some teachers in my school work part time but even they say it feels like it consumes their life even though they're not there a lot. That's why being a TA would be a perfect Compromise but as you day jobs are hard to get. I used to be a TA and didnt appreciate it at all!

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Caronaim · 28/01/2015 20:33

Don't go part time. I tried that. the only thing that gets reduced is the pay.

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Skatingfastonthinice · 28/01/2015 20:46

I'm with FabulousFudge, did decades in the classroom and supply feels like a fantastic sabbatical with me in control. I intend to supply for the rest of my working life.

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PurpleAlert · 28/01/2015 21:08

Is it worth trying another school. I have just got out of the school from hell and into a school with a much more positive working environment.

Bounce out of bed in the morning and smile all day!

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SignoraLiviaBurlando · 28/01/2015 21:09

Supply is great!
Spend the day in the classroom with lovely children and go home at 3.30.
I recommend it!

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21pc · 28/01/2015 21:13

Will definitely look into doing supply then. I can't wait to feel like it's all too much all the time

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PrimalLass · 28/01/2015 21:22

Educational publishing?

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Armpitt · 28/01/2015 21:24

gah - stick with it a bit.
dont give up after a year

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Skatingfastonthinice · 28/01/2015 21:33

Supply will let you see how different schools in your area operate, and you will be astounded by the variety. The difference in planning expectations alone is huge. Then if you find one that suits you, you will be in a good position to apply.

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21pc · 28/01/2015 22:06

armpitt for the sake of my own mental health it's not worth it to me to continue I wouldn't leave my class before the end of a year but I just don't think it's a sustainable job plus I get v little enjoyment out of it. I don't see the point in living life like this when I could be much happier doing something else

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Caronaim · 28/01/2015 22:27

21pc, no it isn't sustainable, and my life would have much better if I had left immediately

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FabulousFudge · 28/01/2015 23:03

Skating - I intended to be a supply teacher for the rest of my life, but schools kept offering me jobs! I am fairly confident I'll be back to my halcyon supply days soon though.

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peacoat · 29/01/2015 22:08

I have been teaching for 15 years and to be honest I regret sticking it out for so long. I saw my quality of life dip as soon as I started teaching.

If you don't enjoy it, get out now.

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40thisisit · 30/01/2015 20:26

21pc, you could be me, am in my nqt year and not enjoying all the crap that comes with just teaching. I looked at the job pages today in hope of something better ....

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Skatingfastonthinice · 30/01/2015 20:32

Whereas I've had another lovely week; taught from Y1 to Y5 in four different schools and covered everything from phonics to Fairtrade chocolate and maypole dancing to complex algebra.
I now face a weekend without planning or marking and no fretting about school politics and assessments.
I love teaching again, after a decade of surviving it.

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rollonthesummer · 30/01/2015 20:39

You will be behind a long queue of teachers trying to escape the profession!

The job is currently horrible and anyone I know who is classroom based is trying to run-I know people who are now working as a TA, in educational publishing, in a museum, in a shop or doing supply.

Being a teacher guarantees you very little though.

The local job paper was absolutley rammed with Headship jobs this week-I have honestly never seen so many since I started teaching! Nobody wants to do it!

The only people who I know are happy are SMT with 0% teaching responsibility and whose sole job is to monitor other teacher's planning, do observations, book scrutinies and learning walks and PM reviews. They seem to spend a lot of time in meetings, deciding people aren't good enough and observing them repeatedly until they either break and leave, or are magically Good again (and never were anything else, IMO) and the SMT member claims glory for having 'transformed' them.

Do I sound jaded? I think I am.

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Skatingfastonthinice · 30/01/2015 20:46

I wonder what the situation will be like in another 5 or 10 years.
No sign yet of the hundreds of ex soldiers we were promised would flood into the profession with a commanding presence and who would turn around the poor discipline and be inspiring role models. Remember all the threads on that possibility, and how heated they got? All smoke and mirrors by the government and the Bosses.
Oh well. I'm paddling my own canoe now and I'm very happy.