AIBU to want to leave teaching?

[Timetochangeisnow]

AIBU to want to leave teaching?

I'm a Primary School teacher. I love working with children, it's incredibly rewarding and no two days are the same. What I don't love however, is the mounting pressure and constant paperwork and pressure. There is barely time for anything outside of teaching and evenings and weekends are taken over with marking, planning, analysing pupil progress etc. the job in the classroom is increasingly difficult too and I think I need to leave before I have a breakdown.
I am finding I am enjoying the things I used to love less and less. I'm even having dreams about school so can't even escape at night.
I think it's particularly pronounced this year and I have some very difficult children that make every single day a battle.
I think I want out of the classroom now but would still like to remain either in a school or in education.

if the pay was better I'd be a TA no question

I'd consider retraining or studying again but I'm the main breadwinner and we have to renew our mortgage next summer!

Has anyone done similar? I don't know what's out there etc and haven't found anything online the last few months.

If anyone can point me I the right direction or has felt similar and stayed in teaching after feeling like this would be good to know!

I began my teaching career in a school in special measures (they had permission to employ NQTs). At the time, I thought that there was no pressure like it, but from looking back, the support received, the CPD offered only helped me in my career.

A few --cough- years later I am now working in a 'leafy' 'good' school that not so long ago people were fighting over themselves to get into this school; in my LA it was/is the best school given the results, ofsted etc and there were hardly any vacancies for the place.

I have been there 5 years; at first things were fine then about 2 years ago things became impossible. 19 teachers left this summer (some leaving teaching, 2 promotion, the others side ways move) 3 are leaving at Christmas. My HT and DHT think that there's nothing wrong, but the feeling amongst the rest of the staff left is that the drive to become 'outstanding' and following every single thing that any other school does we have to do whether it will work or not, whether it will make an impact or not we have to do it.

For example today; I had a meeting with a parent at 7.30am that lasted until registration at 8.45am (the only time we could both meet up) to which I got accused of abuse because I make this student sit away from his friends, to a full morning of teaching, then a lunch club, a free period taken up with gathering evidence for the parent from he morning meeting from other teachers that his HoY can use to judge the situation to another lesson, which I couldn't print out the resources for because the 3 printers in the whole building (we have 1200 students) had run our of toner and there was none in school to a evening interviewing for 6th form which finished at 8pm

I have read and heard (at work) that people were really struggling and up til recently I didn't think it would effect me, but I am now seriously looking for another position as although I went through special measures as an NQT I can not take this anymore. I am not leaving teaching altogether as I am hoping that a different school does things differently but if its the same at another school then I am out of the job

What I wanted to say was the pressure of being an NQT in a school in special measures (which was supportive) has got nothing on the pressure I have now as an experienced teacher with proven results with students of all abilities

Timetochange read 'Motivation and reinforcement' by Robert Schramm.

All kids are motivated to behave. You have to assume that whatever behaviour they are engaging in that moment is the most motivating for them and change that if it is undesirable.

My Ds was having problems with behaviour and general engagement and the teacher and me met and put in place a strategy based on what I knew about his interests/motivation. Basically he had clear expectations (not too many when strategy was introduced but increasing) and he earned a piece of marble run throughout the day. At the end he had 10 mins to play with the pieces he had earned. If there was occasionally no time, he brought it home overnight.

Oh and when he was no longer effectively motivated by marble run his teacher would give him 'measuring points' which he would use up with a tape measure, measuring lengths of things for the whole class to work out the perimeter or area.

In that class he didn't need the full time 1:1 he had in the previous year.

One of the problems I have is that 10 children of one of the classes I teach have behavioural SEN and not mild issues either. One has a full time TA. The others....down to me/job share and errr....well no, that's it. With all the will in the world it's very hard to manage strategies for 9 children, all of whom need different things and still actually teach the rest.

'With all the will in the world it's very hard to manage strategies for 9 children, all of whom need different things and still actually teach the rest.'

If those children cannot have their needs met within the resources of the school, they are entitled to an EHCP. Why has this not been applied for?

That will give you the resources you need in your classroom as by law it has to be specified and quantified and cannot be shared with other children.

Paperwork is being done......

My dp is a teacher and we're in a similar situation re depending on the salary for mortgage etc. He suffered a great deal of stress in the past year and found that he could get some free counselling, the school arranged it. That helped him initially and after a few months, he decided he needed a bit more and used the remaining quota available to him. I'd say you need to talk to someone supportive at your school to share your concerns and see what help is available. Stress and anxiety amongst teachers is very common -- if you google 'teacher stress anxiety' all sorts of websites pop up detailing the issues.

If you decide to leave teaching, it's obviously best to have a plan / alternative job in place otherwise, you'll just swap one stressful situation for another. I've known teachers who have left f/t jobs to do supply and others who have spontaneously handed in their notice with no option to return when they decided it was a rash decision.

There are other jobs out there that benefit from teaching experience but I doubt that many of them are as secure or completely stress free. I've met ex-teachers that work in educational publishing — but the commercial sector can be pretty hardcore about targets and performance indicators.

Sorry if I've repeated anything said above, I only skimmed the responses.

Oh gosh some of this really depresses me. I hate the idea of my child (or any child) ending up bored for a whole year. Or surviving amongst a class thats badly controlled...

Consider a shift to Higher education? Still stressful but much more autonomy x

I'm pissing into the wind here, I know, but as a teacher of 15 years I feel my relationship with the job, like a real relationship, has endured peaks and troughs. Lowest trough was being observed the day after my first six month maternity leave and getting a 'satisfactory' (we all know how damning that grade was), and I feel I am at my peak now, working 2 part time contracts in 2 schools and feeling a creative buzz from transferring ideas. Shoot me but I think the new Ofsted regime is much more appropriate, with no one able to be singled out with a bad grading, no notice so you can't get all worked up about it...and the all new 'woolly' curriculum fosters some of that retro-seventies creativity. However, I would say that the 2 main reasons why I have been driven to the metaphorical cliff edge in the past has been crap management and that classic teacher personality trait: perfectionism. Get rid of those from the equation and things can be almost enjoyable.

Latest news on recruitmant.
Add that to the known drop out rates after the NQT year and after the first 5 years and they have a serious problem building.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30230755

Starlight:
'
If those children cannot have their needs met within the resources of the school, they are entitled to an EHCP. Why has this not been applied for?'

Because the SLT will probably be saying that those chldren's needs can be met in the classroom without further expense. Although the teacher knows that isn't the case. The blame will be placed on the teacher if the children fail.

Because the SLT will probably be saying that those chldren's needs can be met in the classroom without further expense. Although the teacher knows that isn't the case. The blame will be placed on the teacher if the children fail.

Unfortunately true.

For the vast majority of us the crisis isn't that we have children we find hard to manage Starlight - I realise you are joining this debate from a specific viewpoint as a parent with a child which certain needs and may have particular view about teachers based on your personal experiences as a parent. But I want to stress to everyone the concerns that are driving skilled teachers out of the profession can't be seen as teachers stressed because of instances like Starlight's.

Not necessarily the SLTs fault - the problem also lies with LAs. I've lost count of the number of referrals for statutory assessment we have had refused as we are "already providing suitable support to meet the child's complex needs" - yes we are, because we refuse to see a child struggle and fail before we put support in or gather enough "failing" evidence to apply for Stat Assmt. The trouble is that support we already provide (often full time 1:1, specific resources, personal lunchtime provision, specific training for staff in supporting a particular need) can have a huge impact on school budgets as the money to support that child has to be shaved from other budgets.

Also true As BrightAsAJewel

This thread is so depressingly familiar.

Maybe I do have transferable skills, but when your self esteem is shot it's hard to see what they are.

Maybe I do have transferable skills, but when your self esteem is shot it's hard to see what they are
Too right!

I'm not convinced what transferable skills would get me an alternative job at 58 though. Office or admin work would be difficult as I don't have good enough IT skills, particularly specific program knowledge.

I am not a teacher but struggled with the 11 hour days and constant pressure in my profession so found a different job within a different part of the profession. Lower paid, but so much happier, so would echo what others say about looking for other options.

You do sound very stressed though and that is maybe not the best time to make big decisions. Possible to take some time off? See GP for advice?

I'm wanting to get out of primary teaching too sadly. For me, it was a much wanted second career, so I have worked elsewhere in high pressure environments.

I'm currently on mat leave, but have done supply for the last 2 years since DD1 was born. Supply isn't great ime. £100 a day and ok, you don't have the planning as such to do, but it's amazing how many teachers leave you with absolutely no handover whatsoever.

I feel like a total failure. Now age 40, wanting to jack in a second career (after spending goodness knows how much retraining) and I haven't a clue what I want to do.

Like you OP, love the kids, hate the paperwork.

I'm not convinced what transferable skills would get me an alternative job at 58 though
I'm 57 and a few days. I'm optimistic but only because I don't expect to get a 'proper' job, just whatever is going.

I'll happily work in a local coffee shop, book shop, charity shop...

... anything that does not have ever moving goalposts.

I too moved into teaching as a second career. I managed multi million pound budgets before this, on an international scale. Pressure I can cope with! It is the constant sucking of morale that I can't cope with!

Nomama, I used to work in Parliament. Teaching is far more stressful.

HenriettaTurkey - I love your name. Reminds me of one of my late mum's favourite jokes. A book called 'The Hungry Baby' by Henrietta Titoff.