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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To leave teaching

87 replies

Cookiedough123 · 07/02/2019 13:04

I am 25. I have been teaching for the last 4 years. I cant say i hate it but i dont enjoy it. Im happy with my wage and the holidays but i dont actually enjoy the other side of teaching, massive workload, extra marking, planning etc. I love the actual teaching side and teaching my really nice classes. In reality though that is only a small portion of my job.

Before training i was torn at whether to go into social work or teaching and chose teaching. I am tempted to retrain even if it wasn't social work something else. Anyone done similar?

OP posts:

recrudescence · 07/02/2019 13:11

Yes, leave. It has become a truly horrible job. I wish I’d left age 25.

subscribeBelow · 07/02/2019 13:22

I'm in my third decade. I love it. I've risen through management to be able to create the kind of school I want students and teachers to enjoy coming to.

I do think that good teachers are born instead of made (asking which is one interview question I love to ask).

I don't think you can blame this government or previous governments for disliking education. I've occasionally met teachers who could have been great in a different environment but, on the whole, great teachers have the grit and determination to make a difference and love their job wherever they're working.

You should leave because you don't want to do it. The children will know your heart's not in it and so will the SMT. You're letting down everyone involved, including yourself.

Leave and retrain. You've QTS so are clearly bright and determined. Turn your ability to something you love as that's where you'll bring positive effect or change. I would (and have) said the same to teachers' faces.

Don't see your last 5 (?) years as wasted. PGCE or BEd teaches skills which are incredibly useful across a broad spectrum of careers.

*created by the SMT and Governors.

LaurieMarlow · 07/02/2019 13:28

Leave. 25 is still so young, there's so much you can do if you want to.

I'm not a teacher (thank god) but what I've seen from my friends who are is that the profession has become impossible. Get out while you can.

RabbityMcRabbit · 07/02/2019 13:29

Go. It won't get any better. I've been teaching for 16 years and it's made me so ill I'm having to retire on grounds of ill health...at the age of 48. Good luck xx

CaseofEllen · 07/02/2019 13:52

Hello! Really similar to you, I loved the actual teaching and students were absolutely great but the marking/planning/targets/management was awful!! And not at all what teaching should be focused on.

I left when I was 24, no job lined up (found out I was pregnant literally a week after I left) and don't regret a thing. If you aren't happy, leave while you're young! It's getting worse.

sanityisamyth · 07/02/2019 14:33

I'm 35 and seriously considering leaving. I teach a shortage subject and have applied to start a new degree in September. 25 is young still and you should be enjoying your jo. Good luck!

Confusedbeetle · 07/02/2019 14:36

I think you might find social work has its challenges, not in a good way

AnotherPidgey · 07/02/2019 14:43

I'm out. I'm a SAHM for now as I found my DCs needed me far more than I could spare when teaching. My salary isn't essential and it just works better for the family life package for me to be around for the next few years until we no longer need wrap around and holiday care which would make so many jobs logistically awkward and seriously erode the financial benefits.

I do a lot of volunteering with youth groups and with the DCs' school so I still get that glow of being with young people that made teaching so special. It's such a shame that the accountability and data culture has gone so far. I left early enough that I could still consider a return to education in some way.

There will have to be a culture change at some point because the current situation is completely unsustainable at all levels.

You're young, have valuable life experience and less of the clutter (family life) that comes along that makes change harder.

Sukochicha · 07/02/2019 14:45

Dunno if social work will be any better. It has EXACTLY the same 'additional crap and lack of value' pressures but potentially even worse and more harrowing consequences.

sevencontinents · 07/02/2019 14:57

Hi there
Leave! Not because you are letting the children down as someone upthread suggested. You aren't. You have been let down by the government who have repeatedly failed to retain teachers and who have, by consequence, created a system where there are insufficient good, experienced teachers in schools educating our children.

I also disagree that good teachers will love teaching no matter where they are. Not one person who I trained with over a decade ago is still in full-time teaching. Many of those were good teachers who realised they could do better with their skills and talents than what modern-day teaching could offer. This country is losing fabulous teachers in droves and that is a huge let down for all of us. Leave because you can be treated so much better elsewhere but don't ever believe that, by staying, you would be letting anyone down.

Springwalk · 07/02/2019 15:48

Social work will be glad of a new applicant the downsides will be much less holiday, and some of the cases may stay with you for life.

jellyfrizz · 07/02/2019 16:20

You should leave because you don't want to do it. The children will know your heart's not in it and so will the SMT. You're letting down everyone involved, including yourself.

I think that's harsh. The OP said 'I love the actual teaching side and teaching my really nice classes. In reality though that is only a small portion of my job.'

Teaching in England these days is not about children's learning and experiences, it is all about the data and 'evidencing' everything.

It's easy to dismiss the ridiculous workload, most of which doesn't even benefit the children, if you aren't actually teaching a full timetable anymore. There is a reason so many teachers are leaving teaching. It's not because they aren't 'born' teachers.

oldwhyno · 07/02/2019 16:33

Teaching has become less enjoyable. As others have said though, the grass definitely might not be greener when you get to the other side. It's a big decision to retrain so do as much research as you can into what it would actually be like.

Paddington68 · 07/02/2019 16:40

Have you thought about trying another school to see if it is the same, before you leave the profession?

bluebeck · 07/02/2019 16:44

I have also left because I did not have enough time to spend on the lovely parts of the job (teaching) but was spending 70/80 hours a week working because of the all the other shitty paperwork/data teachers have to produce in the vast majority of schools these days.

twoshedsjackson · 07/02/2019 16:44

It is one of the sadnesses in my life to see what has happened to teaching; I know this sounds corny, and it was always hard work, but I remember saying that I felt lucky to be paid for something I enjoyed so much (hollow laughter from present day!)
The actual teaching part remains a great job but you're right - all the other crap gets in the way, and so much of it is of absolutely no benefit to the children.
I ended up in the independent sector as I became too well-qualified and experienced for budgets (I know that sounds egotistical) but more and more is expected and poorly resourced. In particular, I believe that the cynical provision of Special Education on the cheap, called "integration" but more like "Darwinian shark-tank" is a complete disgrace.
And don't get me started on provision for the arts, my particular interest......apart from anything else, it's so short-sighted.
So yes, I can see where you're coming from.
I went to the retirement "do" held for a former colleague, and he was the only one, from my whole career, that I know of, who made it through to retirement age in the state sector. I read somewhere that there are 10 qualified teachers in the PIT (Pool of Inactive Teachers) for every one currently serving; what a waste of all that training.
Whatever you choose to do next, you have that qualification and experience, and may even be that the tide will turn one of these days, and you can return to the profession.
In the meantime, you have plenty of transferable skills.
You might even consider consulting a careers advisory service.
The days of one lifelong career are past, and you still have youth and energy on your side. Good luck!

Honeypickle · 07/02/2019 16:47

Could you consider supply teaching (perhaps while you look for a different job)? All of the good bits (the actual teaching) but not the bad (planning, admin, etc). Massive downside though is no paid holidays - though you could tutor?

jellyfrizz · 07/02/2019 16:55

Why not teach overseas OP? It's a whole different ball game.

clairedelalune · 07/02/2019 19:58

Leave while you are still young enough to do something else.

clairedelalune · 07/02/2019 19:59

And before you have financial commitments that will stop you leavingbin the future.

Bumper1969 · 07/02/2019 20:09

Teaching in the UK is shite. Stay with me

I taught in London for twenty years.

I was constantly made to feel guilty, wrong and wrong.

Twenty years of coming home to more work.

Getting sick on the train to work.

Constant 1s in Offstead reports etc.

I packed it all in and moved to Ireland. I now now work 9 to 3.30.

No one ever questions my job.

I am paid 65K for the same job, with half the work, and respect from society and parents.

Get out now it's a fucking shit hole teaching in the UK.

Holidayshopping · 07/02/2019 20:12

I think that's harsh. The OP said 'I love the actual teaching side and teaching my really nice classes. In reality though that is only a small portion of my job.'Teaching in England these days is not about children's learning and experiences, it is all about the data and 'evidencing' everything.It's easy to dismiss the ridiculous workload, most of which doesn't even benefit the children, if you aren't actually teaching a full timetable anymore. There is a reason so many teachers are leaving teaching. It's not because they aren't 'born' teachers.

I completely agree with all of this.

@subscribeBelow are you a head?

SwimmingJustKeepSwimming · 07/02/2019 20:15

Absolutely. I wish I'd retrained prekids.

Artfullydead · 07/02/2019 20:19

I am pretty sure subscribe is a head. It's all bollocks. I was shite for at least three years.

Someone is born a good teacher: wtf

RelaxDontDoooIt · 07/02/2019 20:22

Don’t leave yet! I taught for 7years, burnt out and left. Then went back to a different school and age group. I am so much happier in my new school. I have the workload down now and I can hand on heart say I get in work at 7:30am and leave at 5 and rarely do work at home. It was the school that broke me not the job. Try somewhere else!

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