Left teaching , work with Adults with high level needs AMA

[Tulippilut]

I was a teacher , for a short time , before realising I absolutely hate the system.
I felt awful , I had put so much into it. I resigned myself to either sticking with it or giving up my term time only hours.

I now am living the dream in my job. I know a lot of people will be in a similar situation and if I can help I would like to.

I feel like I also work in an area that not a lot is known of - the adult education of those with Autism , too severe for mainstream and even SEN colleges. An area where parents need something for their adult children- who may or may not have an EHCP ( the only reason some don’t is age ) but they’re too old for school and they don’t want them to just be sat in a day care centre.

I am a tutor in a small setting that provides life skills , meaningful activities and an accredited course. I also have full autonomy over the curriculum , outside of the accredited course ( also have full autonomy of how I teach the accredited course ) . I attend EHCP reviews , I plan , I assess. I love every single day and the young adults I work with are the most amazing people. It’s challenging , yes , but I see a change now I am there - and I don’t mean that to sound big headed but they have never had teachers in this role before but are branching out to give more of an education. I had set up my own maths and English curriculum there and am branching in to science.

so , yeah AMA

That sounds amazing! Are you working 1:1 or teaching a class/groups/directing support staff?

How did you find the role and what's the salary like!?

It really is !

I have a cohort - 10 students but there are never 10 in at the same time , usually around 6 as some only do a few days. All students have a 1:1 or 2:1 dependent on need . Technically , the role is more to direct the support staff but I have the teacher in me that means I like to be hands on and involved in everything 🤣 so our way of working has became more of a ‘Teacher with TA’s “ set up .. but this works , the staff like having the direction and the students have adapted really well to having someone who is “ the teacher “ .

The salary works out the same as a first year teacher really. But , I am happy with that . I worked in a school and I had so much stress and no life. Here , the laptop is only on when I’m In work . I do nothing at home or in the holidays , I don’t have pressure , I have more than enough PPA time and I have control over my own timetable . If I need time to plan / do reports / admin , then I take it. No one is watching over me . I’ve gone in at a management level and there is a definite change of progression .

I found the role by looking for college teacher roles , as someone I knew started one and enjoyed it. This isn’t what it is , but that’s what I searched and that’s what it looked like until I went to interview and found that it’s actually a new role that they’re still developing .

Sounds really interesting. Is your role with a charity or via the local authority?