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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:

Pieceofpurplesky · 07/02/2019 22:07

Subscribe I bet you are all buzzwords, wellbeing weeks and positive messages!

What a load of bollocks you talk. I would love to be a fly on the wall in your staffroom (if you have one as it seems 'happy' schools have done away with them so teachers can't talk

I have been teaching over 20 years and if I could quit I would. The kids have no clue whatsoever as I breeze around the classroom, run extra classes for intervention (English GCSE) and sort the school play.l

OP Quit and see the world. You can always come back to it in a few years if the governments sort it out

SwimmingJustKeepSwimming · 07/02/2019 22:25

Thanks, Swimming! I've just been looking at the websites of the relevant unis....

SwimmingJustKeepSwimming · 07/02/2019 22:25

Thanks, mummy. I've just been perusing the relevant unis website!

SwimmingJustKeepSwimming · 07/02/2019 22:26

(Complete attempt to correct post fail!)

RockyFlintstone · 07/02/2019 22:29

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.

Utter bollocks.

Mummyshark2018 · 07/02/2019 22:31

@SwimmingJustKeepSwimming
Go for it! It's a great career but also has its own stresses!

pasbeaucoupdegendarme · 07/02/2019 22:36

subscribe “born a good teacher”???? What, emerge from the womb waving a copy of the National Curriculum?! Honestly.

Leave, OP. I’m about to go on my 3rd maternity leave and this time I’m not going back. No idea what I’m going to do in a year’s time but it won’t be teaching and that feels fab!

RockyFlintstone · 07/02/2019 22:43

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

Lol.

superram · 07/02/2019 22:50

I’m leaving at easter after 20 years. It’s not the same job which is a shame.

aliceelizaloves · 07/02/2019 23:00

You're so young, you should definitely leave. I wish I had left and retrained. Am in my 30s now with 2 small children so unlikely to be able to do so. I did however move into special needs teaching which I really enjoy and hope to go back into. I also considered social work but have heard it is very similar to teaching in terms of stress and workload. There is a scheme now which is similar to Teachfirst as a way of getting into social work. I probably would have considered that if it had been around then. Also a teaching qualification is useful to have. I'm not working much st the moment but do marking twice a year and quite a bit of tutoring around caring for my children.

Kattatty87 · 07/02/2019 23:00

Would you consider being a governess? There's always people looking for one, especially in london, or abroad if you fancy travelling. with your age and qualifications you would easily find a job.

garethsouthgatesmrs · 07/02/2019 23:24

cookiedough123 I wish I had left and retrained in something else ANYTHING ELSE at your age. You have years of working ahead of you trust me find a job you love.

subscribe you remind me of a head I once knew who used the metaphor that people are either radiators or drains to describe his own staff in a public meeting. If the boss has so little respect for the teachers in his/her staff who are struggling with aspects of their work then what kind of support are they likely to receive? You need to be working to help teachers who feel like the OP to feel more valued and better able to do their job not insulting them and telling them that they are letting the children down. People like you are the reason there is a recruitment crisis. Even if you were right that some teachers are born to it there aren't enough people who are born to it are there? So what do we do to fill the massive and growing gap?

SwimmingJustKeepSwimming · 08/02/2019 01:42

Train as an OT or a psych or anything really so that if you decide to have kids youve got something other than teaching under your belt!

VinnythePanda · 08/02/2019 03:35

Leave. Getting out of teaching is the best thing I ever did. I’ve never been so happy, healthy and fulfilled as I am now.

PurpleDaisies · 08/02/2019 04:38

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

What a load of crap. Some people find it easier than others but struggling at the start can make you really consider what works and make you a much better teacher. One of the best teachers I know failed their NQT year.

If teachers are born not made, what’s the point of teacher training and CPD?

Baby1onboard11 · 08/02/2019 05:08

Left when I was 24. Also felt the same as you, loved the teaching side of things but there was too much pointless paperwork alongside. I cried and cried and cried when I left. Felt like I was throwing all my training and life’s dreams away.

I honestly couldn’t be happier now. I couldn’t justify working harder for other people’s children than I did/do my own. The holidays are great but when you calculate how many unpaid hours you work during the school terms, they’re not.

Decormad38 · 08/02/2019 05:18

Unlike posters on here that spout that bolloni that you need to be born to teaching and grit and determination! I think you just need good working conditions and supportive management. Another school may give you that. Or another teaching environment. My husband moved out of secondary into a pru and its a great fit for him. I moved out of FE into HE and that’s a better fit for me. You don’t need to change profession to do that! It’s incredibly costly to switch professions!

echt · 08/02/2019 05:55

I do think that good teachers are born instead of made

What utter utter tripe, subscribe

Just think about it for one fat second, what's all the INSET for, the observations, the feedback if it's not to build capacity, to enable a teacher to get better. What do you tell your pupils, that they are born with innate capacity, that they can't make themselves better?

In forty + years of teaching I have never heard anything quite so egregiously stupid uttered by a teacher.

araiwa · 08/02/2019 06:36

At end of the school year, im going to one final school for a last throw of the dice. But no more. Ill do somethingelse after that

PurpleCrowbar · 08/02/2019 06:52

Oh God - subscribe, that's such utter twallop. Powers preserve me from Heads like you & give me an honest bastard.

OP - another recommendation for teaching abroad, if you are free to travel. It's all the good bits & much less of the crap, a very nice salary, you see the world...at your age it would be brilliant. It'd also give you a year or two to think through your options, & you could come back with a fat wodge of savings.

I've been in the ME for 4 years now. Absolutely the best decision I ever made.

MaggieAndHopey · 08/02/2019 07:21

My husband retrained as a teacher, went to uni for 4 years, graduated at 40, started his probationary year in August (we're in Scotland), and left his placement in November, having had a fucking nightmare time. Kids were great and he loved the actual teaching - the job he thought he'd be doing - but there was a mountain of planning and admin to get through. He particularly struggled with long term individual learning plans for each of the kids for literacy and numeracy. He had minimal support to help him learn to do this and his degree hadn't prepared him for it, so it took him a long time to get the hang of it. By the time he did, he was already hideously behind with everything. The head teacher was a bully, his confidence was shattered, he was working all hours (staying up till 12, getting up at 4). Classic burn out but in such a short time. The other teachers were so lovely to him and tried to help him out but there was a blame culture there and everyone was terrified of the head.

It's been a frankly awful time not just for him, but for our whole family. He is currently applying for supply work so he can qualify in a longer time period, but he's considering leaving teaching completely. It's devastating to think he put in so much effort for it to end like this - everyone who has seen him teach says the same thing: he is a natural, exactly the sort of person you'd want teaching your own children - energetic, creative, child-focused - but a bit crap at admin, and sadly it seems that teaching is becoming mostly admin at least where we live.

Variousartists · 08/02/2019 07:35

I can’t believe how many posters are telling a young teacher to give up now!

I have had a long career and overall I have loved it. As someone who is currently supply teaching, what I would say is that every school is different. Also that every year is different, even sometimes down to what kind of timetable you have in a particular year. I would definitely say hang on in there, go to a different school for a few years, maybe in a different role. You would still have time to retrain if you are still unhappy.

hoochymamgu · 08/02/2019 07:50

Hi Cookie I left teaching, did an MA in social work and have been a social worker for 5 years, started off in children's and went to adults true it's not easy, but a heck of a lot better, for me, than teaching. But, as has been discussed upthread, there are some lovely schools and management out there that can make the job work. Try a move to a different job first?

feckinarse · 08/02/2019 08:00

Hi OP,
If you love teaching and want to do less pointless paperwork, why not consider teaching overseas?
I taught in private schools for years because I wanted to avoid the paperwork (there is much less, though also less money in some) and I liked it. I also needed money. I am saving about a thousand quid a month now because I teach in China. I have a nice life; the classes are small with interested students, the colleagues are really fun, and I'm travelling an interesting part of the world. in 2 years' time I'll have a deposit for a house, and I'm paying off student loans... basically, think about doing 2 years in China or the middle east IF you like teaching but can't hack the slog of the extra guff. I think whatever else happens it will give you the chance to see a lot of the world and broaden your horizons, which future employers would love.
It is international school hiring season right now (look at jobs on TES and edvectus); if you like teaching and feel torn about it, most international schools ask for a 2 year commitment, and if you STILL hate teaching after doing that, then you're in a better position (financially and experience-wise) than you are now; and only 26!
Happy to talk in PMs if you want to know more. You have valuable skills and talents that people want to pay well if you teach internationally.

I'm not recruiting for my particular school (or anyone!) but I do want you to think it's possible, if you fancy seeing more of the world and teaching in a less stressful environment. From what I've heard of state teaching, I don't think I could hack it. And I'm a great teacher. Not a great paper-shuffler, but great in classrooms and good enough at the rest to do just fine in private and international schools.
Anyway, whatever you decide, good luck!

monkeysox · 08/02/2019 08:02

Subscribe won't actually have any staff in the staffroom as they don't have time to go there anymore.
Supply teaching isn't all the good bits. It's crowd control.
It's only actual teaching if you go to a really good school. But those schools employ cheap cover supervision so you won't get day to day work there anyway.
Agree that leaving and retraining now is good advice.
Ed psych or salt

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