I've screwed my career up- anyone else?

If you're not getting interviews it may well be down to how you write your applications. Have you had someone more senior look over them?

You could get some leadership experience through volunteering.

I've never come across an inn that bans reserved teachers. (Sorry - I couldn't resist.)

No advice but solidarity. I did a degree and started a career AI has replaced. Also had a child with additional needs so can't work full time but need that immediate flexibility and wfh ideally. which are only really in senior roles of which I can't obviously walk straight into.

Because I already have a degree further training is difficult and expensive. Plus the whole needing to be flexible and part time for my children. We have no family support at all (im the scape goat).

Meanwhile both my siblings are climbing The career ladder despite similar barriers I am facing but they have family support. Genuinely happy for them I just wish I to had some more options.

I just wish there was more help to get on a path with guaranteed ability to climb. I guess the world is really changing with AI so it's anyone's guess but my is it difficult not to feel like it's all pointless.

Have you looked at the fast stream in the civil service? Applications open around now.

I don't think you are suited to teaching.
Also you said this:
"I found the Cover Supervisor role challenging as even though I was in-house behaviour was awful, I got put on an informal support plan and left before it got to formal"

Behaviour is even worse than it was 5 -10 years ago.

I thinkk you should for other career opportunities rather than trying to get back into teaching again.

(Just to add, if you want a chat more specifically about what you can do with a teaching qualification in my organisation at HEO and higher levels, feel free to PM me. There are opportunities but you have to be ready when they come up. 😊)

I'm also a former teacher at AO and earning the same and it's tough right now to get promotions in the CS! I'm also on several reserve lists and have been told that I am working above grade but the application process is rigid and there are so many applicants for each posts that it's not enough just to pass. I've been on a few temp promotions and got to HEO but then due to budget cuts I had to go back to my substantive grade. I would also try for HEO positions though because weirdly they can be less competitive.

You COULD NOT pay me enough to go back to teaching. Not for a million. Idk if you have kids but I wouldn't do that to mine. OK, I'm not earning much, it's a bad time for the civil service, and every interview I don't get is depressing, but I have a work life balance. I work (nearly entirely from home) 37 hrs a week, anytime I like so long as I'm there from 10-3. Any extra hours are kept to use as flexi another time or paid at 1.5. DD has a meet the teacher event at 3pm and I'll be there. I get to volunteer with her Rainbows troop. I go to her Nativity plays and her school fayres.

As for me, my disabilities are accommodated for with reasonable adjustments. I can ask for work that helps me improve on areas I need more experience of. I can volunteer within my organisation to take part in initiatives like diversity training and wellbeing events. I can even apply for a term time working arrangement, but currently I get 31 days of holiday (+ 9 days bank holiday/King's birthday) which I can take whenever I like.

Going back to working 60 hrs a week and waiting all morning to go for a wee, being spoken to and treated badly by kids, parents and staff, constant anxiety about the million jobs you can't possibly get done and guilt for not being there for my own daughter...just never, ever again. Teaching left my mental and physical health in tatters and did worse to my DH. He is still dealing with PTSD from some of the things that happened.

That's not necessarily down to culture or region-of-origin, though...

Private schools have often better behaved kids who don't want to disrupt lessons or harsher punishments if they do. Alternatively, how about teaching in further education? I've taught adults and no one was ever disruptive and all wanted to be there and learn.

... being able to offer French, German and Spanish is great, by the way, and should make you more competitive.

I wonder whether a multi-academy trust might look to offer German across sites, where lower numbers make it difficult to timetable at any single school.

OP, I'll PM you - I work in the civil service on teacher recruitment among other things. (On leave today!)

I moved to the CS in my 40s! You sound adaptable and a quick learner - as others have said, you should be looking at higher grades than EO. The competition can be less intense at different grades because they will be looking for specific skills/'behaviours'.

Do you have opportunities to be mentored where you are?

Also look at schemes like Tech Track - I think people join at HEO and get fully-trained. They will be looking for women in particular. Being good at languages will be a plus: TechTrack: revolutionising digital apprenticeships in the Civil Service – Government Digital and Data

For teaching options: look at the Assessment Only route to qualification, as a previous poster suggested.

Teach First do train people in their 30s, and MFL is a priority subject for them. You need to reframe your cover supervisor experience - it wasn't that you weren't up to it, perhaps just poor support/behavioural policies on their side, or the wrong school for you. If you look at this report, you will see that Teach First teachers are recruited in their 30s and 40s. Trainees also get specific training to move into leadership quickly: The progression and retention of Teach First teachers

Also: you can get one-to-one advice on routes back to teaching from the Get into Teaching service. They will know what is possible for someone with your background: Get a free adviser | Get Into Teaching GOV.UK

I have no doubt that you're working very hard at too low a grade. You need to figure out the right way forward - and then, just persist. Right now, it sounds as if you're pushing very hard at the wrong point on the lever.

You know who hires ex teachers? Academic publishers… some of the bigger ones pay VERY well once you’re established.

I didn’t start my current career til your age, you have plenty of time. I felt similar to you when I made the switch. You have another 30 odd years of work ahead of you, so it really isn’t too late!

I feel the same. I spent years languishing in a freelance job that I was good at and never short of work for as clients were pleased with my work, but the actual work itself made me miserable and severely impacted my mental health.

I now teach in HE after a brief stint in secondary teaching. I wouldn't recommend HE at the moment, I work very part-time so my take-home pay is a pittance and it's a struggle to get more teaching work at my institution, while our staff are being offered 'voluntary severance' packages and staff in other institutions are being made redundant.

My husband also tried secondary teaching for a while, but used it to get into learning technology, which seems (to me at least) to be much more stable than HE and they love hiring ex-teachers who want to use their skills.

This is why I think a small private would work. Kids aren't as disruptive and being strict is seen as giving boundaries rather than being nasty. I generalise obviously but I don't think going into the state sector would suit you at all the way it is today. Maybe prison would indeed be a less challenging workplace!

I’m the same age as you, OP, and am currently at uni studying for my career changing degree. I’m nowhere near the oldest, it’s never too late, and it’s certainly not too late at 35. Just go for it! If you don’t feel suited to teaching children/young teens, you could go into further or higher education. But I bet those discipline skills would come with time x

A previous poster has already mentioned this, but give prison teaching some consideration. It’s not all roses by any means and wouldn’t be MFL but there are real positives.

Sorry I misunderstood your point. I thought you were saying to the OP not to bother. x

@Minkdeville you wrote
"I did 3 years abroad teaching in different settings which was great."

Think about that, too. It sounds like a great experience. I think living abroad for a while is so valuable. My years of living abroad has really shaped me as a person.

Have you looked into being a trainer in the civil service or L&D type jobs? I know a guy who was a teacher that went into a trainer role and very quickly became a G7. Sign yourself up to all the schemes the mentoring, coffee mornings etc and get to know people and different roles available.

Admin jobs are the road to nowhere and you will be pigeonholed if you stay in it long term.

Make the move now before you get into “mid 40s woman” territory when it gets even harder to sell yourself.

Do you really want to teach? It sounds like a complete and utter ballache.

I went the opposite way with similarly depressing outcomes. Left my HEO civil service job to go into teaching and struggled to fine work post qualification and ended up taking a lower paid non teaching job. I’ve seen my old colleagues’ careers go from strength to strength while I’ve languished in my junior role. This has been exacerbated by poor health, bereavement, and dealing with my child’s EBSA. I’ve just about managed to hold onto my job never mind get promoted!

You might be in a better position if your teaching qualification is still active.