I'm quitting teaching, I've decided, AIBU?

And? What’s the alternative? OP works through until December (which all teachers know is the toughest term), worsening her mental health and risking her physical health?

Do you work in a management role, @Werweisswohin ?

You need to leave. I used to love my job had an amazing boss who was the loveliest lady you could hope to meet and everything was great until she retired and the new boss arrived. She was the complete opposite and created such a toxic environment. I watched several other employees leave because of how she was and spent a yr trying to make it work which seriously affected my MH. The main issue she had was that I had remained in touch with my former boss and we had become close friends. The new boss would constantly question what I had been doing on my days off and if I had been out with "my friend". She didn't like it when I said it had nothing to do with her what I did in my own time. It got to a point when I had to chose between my job or being friends with my former boss and I chose my very dear friend. It was the best decision I ever made 2 yrs on I'm running my own business and enjoying spending time with my friend.

I think you should consider moving to another school, though it will be very difficult in the interim regardless of whether you are off sick or not. You have a lot to give to children, I would not want to see that lost altogether. That way the bully or bullies have won in a way.

This is what I don't understand about teachers/teaching. Why is there such a 'thing' about deciding to do another job? Loads of people hand their notice in and decide to do something else everyday with no drama.

There's a great big world outside of the classroom, and I sometimes wonder if teaching degrees should only start after a year or two of people being in it. Bouncing from a classroom to classroom and then working in a classroom isn't a well rounded approach in my opinion. Some of the best and most enthusiastic teachers I know came to it later in life.

That would be my suggestion too. Especially as you say you love teaching.

In short, being paid for a role she has no intention of returning to.

As a teacher, I understand your plight OP, and wish you well - I would however not go off sick, either give notice and work until Christmas or be honest and just quit. (the former if you plan to teach again)

The notice periods in teaching are long, and its not uncommon at all for people leaving the profession to give less notice or none at all - I've seen it many times, done it once myself (poached by another school over the summer who were a better fit for me) - never seen any enforcement action taken. You just have to be aware that your reference may well be impacted.

In theory they could come after you for the cost of covering your notice period, but I've never heard of this happening.

Good luck.

People change jobs and careers all the time. Hopefully you will find something else that makes you happy.

You really don’t have a clue what it’s like in schools these days if you think it is the fault of the OP that the school is in this position.

You're unlucky. Most schools have cultures nothing like what you describe. If you enjoy the actual teaching, why give it up? Just get a job in a different school.

OK then, so at a point when she's not being paid for a role that she has no intention of returning to?

That point is now. The point at which returning to work is making her extremely ill and she knows she cannot do it anymore health wise. However it's the school holidays. Effectively the unpaid leave time of year. So when she returns officially at the time her contract states she is to work she will follow the correct procedure. Get a sick note and resign.

Genuine questioning isn't 'nasty'.

You’ve nailed it! I’ve been in teaching since I left university many moons ago, so don’t know if this is true of other professions, but there are so many “managers” with no management experience or training in teaching. Yes, we “manage” classfuls of children, but that’s not the same as managing adults.

Why so invested in being nasty?

Would careers service or similar be an option for you? I read recently that there are 850k NEETs (not in education, employment or training and aged 16-24). I would expect the new government to tackle this soon. Your teaching experience would be extremely valuable in such a role.

It's the not working the notice period tbh, that's doubling the cost of teaching those classes.

Will it impact your job opportunities if you have three months off sick? We used to have a score here for absence (not teaching) that would be provided in a reference and if it was high you could have job offers withdrawn. Might be better to work your notice if you can. You’ll probably also be fine if you know you’re leaving and it’s time limited.

Because she would have had to give her notice in at the end of May. And maybe at that point she hadn't realised how bad it was getting. Maybe at that point she was thinking I'll be OK, it'll be fine, it's not that bad. Then it was the start of the holidays and a bit of space and time away from it made her realise that no, it won't be OK. And then she started worrying about going back. And at this point it was taking over her life thinking about it.
Maybe that's why.

I’ve just had my first summer without this awful dread! I quit after my maternity leave a few months ago and it is the best feeling ever. I started realising in the last few years that despite people saying how lucky we are to have such long holidays etc, the holiday mode feeling has just about worn off by the time I drive home on the last day and I’m back into full scale panic. I ignored all the signs and my body eventually just went against me and basically refused to go anymore. My symptoms included: panic attacks in the school car park, needing to take beta blockers just to be able to get in the building, panic attacks if the phone in my class rang so when I answered it it was like my voice box had been removed, my hearing went in one ear and I went to the doctor about it and was told it was stress, I had a permanent twitch in one eye, I went part time but spent my days off physically being sick with anxiety anytime I thought about work and eventually the beta blockers weren’t enough and I was taking herbal anxiety medication on top of them (which it says don’t take). This then started to spill over into my daily life and turned into some kind of social anxiety. I couldn’t even go to lunch with friends with having a panic attack if anyone asked me a question. I dreaded every social situation. I avoided going to the supermarket in case I met someone I knew and they wanted to talk. It all sounds so daft now but it was like my body was just broken.

On my last day there was a fight in my class and boys threw chairs at each other. I sent for help and as usual no help came. It was in the afternoon. By the end of the day when the bell rang still no one came to see if I was okay, despite being pregnant too. I was so cool about it though. I just shut my door, packed up my things (didn’t have much there as I knew it was a matter of time by the end) and went home. When I got home I phoned the head to say I wouldn’t be in the next day and was going to speak to the doctor. I ended up off until having my baby and didn’t go back. I have never experienced a single one of these symptoms again since stopping. It’s like my body is so relieved and back to working normally again. Do what you have to do to be happy, life is too short to spend every summer filled with dread!

Correct, I’m not.
Have I accidentally strayed into a thread where only teachers are allowed to respond?
Apologies if I have.

The rewards of a teaching career seem to have diminished a lot in recent years. The relentless pressure from school leadership to perform and achieve results; the pressure from parents to get results for their children and the increasingly litigious culture of parents storming up to the school to tell you how you are personally responsible if anything goes wrong in any aspect of their child's school career; pupils / classes who can be challenging to teach.

I'm not suggesting that this is true of all schools / SLTs / parents and pupils - but it's a profession that can be very draining. This job increasingly feels thankless. If I had the financial means or could find an alternative job that enabled me to leave, I would too. Good luck, OP, with whatever you decide to do.