Leaving Teaching help

[ButterflyTulips]

I'm having a complete crisis of confidence and lack of direction.

I mid 40s and no longer in a position to leap into something new full of energy (can't move, can't do full time if it's practical like teaching.)

I taught in schools and then moved into adult education. I'm on a crazy "flexible" contract which feels like a zero hours contract in disguise and tutors are treated really badly. I earn £15k a year and work mors than my hours. I do currently get school holidays off though.

I have 2 very good degrees (oxbridge and an OU first) but have now completely lost confidence.

I need to move up (didn't get the role due to lack of management experience which makes me think this is a catch 22 position) or out.

I dont know how to move out. I don't want to move into a basic admin job if it doesn't have any progression. I would like to start earning a decent salary again and so move into somewhere where I can progress.

I feel in a much less secure position than a recent graduate despite years of experience now!

Any help or encouragement would be fantastic.

Contact time is 24 hours out of a 37 hour working week. We teach about 36 weeks a year I think off the top of my head? Usually stop teaching end of June. We have 6 weeks summer holiday then go back in August to do enrolment before teaching starts again in September.

@MouseTheDog Thanks that is so helpful. I am literally getting half that pay.

They've called my 16 hours 0.6 (and it's at difference venues across the borough) wheras 16/24 would be 0.7.

And then they literally don't pay us for holiday. This is pretty bad. But pretty normal for adult Ed it seems googling 😬.

My experience was that permanent staff got paid for classroom hours plus additional hours to mark and prep, while contract staff only got paid for classroom time and were expected to mark and prep for free. It basically knocks a third off your salary - and that’s before you factor in not getting paid for holidays or sick days either.

Obviously they saved a fortune so they tried to push all of the permanent staff out or make them redundant, then replace them with contract staff. Which means it’s not a decent long term career for anyone any more.

Their latest fiddle is to divide staff into Primary Lecturer (preps and teaches) and Secondary Lecturer (teaches using materials prepped by Primary Lecturer). This allows them to pay one Primary Lecturer on a normal salary, plus five Secondary Lecturers on barely more than min wage, and again they save a fortune. Of course it doesn’t work when the Primary Lecturer fails to prep the materials for the Secondaries to use, and they end up standing in front of a class with nothing to teach!

And like you said, it’s a cancer that’s spreading everywhere. You can’t even go to a different educational institution and get a better deal. The government is failing to regulate these practices. Basically you are right to get out of teaching OP!

I agree many FE/Adult providers have crap T&Cs but I’m just saying it’s worth keeping an eye out - particularly look at the larger FE groups in your area. Pretty much all the lecturers at my college (hundreds of staff) are permanent and are in the TPS.