To leave the teaching profession?

[OnSilverStars]

I have been a teacher for 10 years. I don't really like it anymore. I like the teaching and many other parts, but I hate working every evening and weekend and being in school until
5 or 6 most evenings as well as meetings until 8 or so once every few weeks. (Senior management member). I also hate the pressure (which many jobs have I know) and the constant observations and threat of ofsted. (Non teachers will be rolling their eyes, I know!)

I have small children. The eldest will be starting school soon

I have found an opportunity for work I feel I would enjoy, however the only thing holding me back is not having the school holidays, especially when having young children

Has anyone left teaching and the holidays? Did you regret it?

Thanks

I left teaching and don't regret it.

Managing holidays can be tricky. (But I don't work full-time so I only have about half the holiday days to cover.) DH and I each take about 2.5 weeks leave in the summer. We arrange it so about 10 days of that is at the same time so we have a family holiday, the remainder is one of us off whilst the other works to cover childcare. That usually covers about 3-3.5 weeks of the summer hols. I work in an industry that pretty much shuts down over Xmas so get most of that off. And I usually tack days onto Easter Bank Holiday to get a week off there. DH will usually do a couple of half terms. For the remainder of the time DS has to go to the childminder.

The holidays are tricky but the flip side is I get my evenings and weekends free and I'm nowhere near as tired as I used to be. (Non-teachers can roll their eyes are much as they want, I've done lots of jobs and teaching is, hands-down, the most exhausting job I've ever done. By miles.)

I think I would never be able to be as 'present' for my son if I was still a teacher. The pressure and exhaustion almost drove me to a breakdown....

I dropped my management role shortly after I returned to work after my husband died. I didn't have the headspace for it.

The difference in stress levels was immense, and suddenly I loved my job again. I'd have done it years before if I'd known what a difference it would make. It was also shocking to see how little difference it made to my salary. All that stress and responsibly for so little reward.

It's up to you. You definitely have less holidays.
Most jobs I had in the past vary between 20-25 days at your disposal plus BH. (... and sometimes you are told when to take these!)
As for working hours, it pretty much depends on the company and the type of job. My current job is high pressure and seasonal and I find myself at work from 8-6 during busy periods ... yes I get paid for this, it's fine.
One thing is true though, once I walk out of the door, I am done for the day.

Also look at childcare costs and availability. At some point, I struggled to get a place in breakfast club. Child minders were not interested in an hour before / after school care plus a few days in the holidays.
My kids are older now, so all this is past me. But I remember some times when I had no choice but to take unpaid leave.

Yes, I'm afraid, also from my experience in industry, lots of teachers are really bad at managing their time, by comparison to my colleagues before. Do you really need to work such long hours or are you easily distracted? Many of my colleagues seem to actively look for distractions during the day and then complain they have to work into the evening. I generally do very little work after hours, less than I did in industry where there were often evening (and breakfast) meetings.

I think if you have a senior position you can also influence the culture. We, for example, have recently introduced an ban on email between 6pm and 7am. This has made a huge difference because, as a result, senior staff don't even open their laptops in the evenings. Strangely, things still get done.
There's such focus on staff wellbeing in schools that you really should be able to promote changes that help you get a better balance. If not, it's the school not the profession.

But I think most teachers are blinded to the real world and don’t realise that working until 5-6pm is completely normal and most people do it all year round.

What rubbish. Most teachers at my school work on-site until 5 or 6. It's doing that then still needing to do 2 more hours at home that is the problem.

If you have another job opportunity and aren't happy teaching then I wouldn't necessarily give it up for the holidays although if your DC is about to start school that is the most useful time to have the holidays. Does the new job have any flexibility about wfh etc? If I was free to pick up my children from school quite often during the week, the lack of holiday time wouldn't bother me so much.

Otherwise, give up the SLT role and maybe consider a different school. Where I work we are observed no more than 2-3 times a year maximum and haven't had observations at all since Covid (they are starting again after the holidays though).

Well, I have also worked in ‘industry’ and it’s definitely easier to think at the end of the working day that you can leave something till Monday morning when you are next back in, for example but not so easy in a school when period 1 Monday has to be completely ready way before then.

It’s also easier to leave emails till working hours only, when your work is mostly literally to answer and deal with emails alongside your normal job when you are at a computer for both.
Not so much in teaching, when dealing with emails is not so easy when multitasking with the actual ‘teaching’ away from a computer.

It’s by the by though. If you haven’t taught during this pandemic, then it probably is hard to see where the OP is currently coming from and to come on a thread like this and make the OP feel even more shit for just not ‘managing their time properly’ or not knowing about the ‘real world’ is a really low thing to do.

@Soothes

Are you actually a teacher or do you just work in a school?

If I'm timetabled for 5 lessons and I have break duty or a lunch time club when exactly am I supposed to be distracted?

It's true that sometimes you don't achieve as much as you want to in a free period (when you aren't doing a supply lesson) because the adrenaline of the previous lesson and the knowledge you're about to do another one makes it hard to get into a marking essays headspace.

Also,during the teaching day you can't "look for distractions". You've got a room full of kids to educate. You can't get distracted at all!

@BatleyTownswomensGuild I have come across stories like yours so often - in real life and on here. That life seems manageable again/ evenings and weekends back makenup for less "holiday."

Every time I think about jumping back into teaching I remember the pressure that all seems fine and normal when you're in it but is so great to be out of!

I think teachibg isn't like it in other countries. Ireland seems more sensible. I had an exchange teacher form Monaco stay with us once and seems different there. Similarly family in Australia have some similar pressures but more autonomy.

@Soothes is absolutely right

Chloedecker. Agree completely. (And also love lucifer...)

Next series is the last one SavingsQuestions Ahhhhhhhh!

I also don't understand about the distractions thing. I have 15 mins to eat and the rest of the time I'm setting up, marking, teaching, planning, preparing resources, assessing or supervising.

Op, I agree with pp's about stepping back from slt.

I left after 14 years without a backward glance. I work in higher education now in a support role and get 30 days annual leave plus the one week Xmas shutdown.

I love my job and don't miss the holidays because I don't feel I need them anymore. Our daughter isn't school age yet but between the two of us I think covering holidays will be totally manageable. Other parents manage!

I sometimes have anxiety dreams about being back in classroom but then I wake up and think 'thank god - never again!'

Whatbdo you do ihateoflate? Do you recommend it? How does it compare?

I mean in free periods, PLP, HoD time. Lots of colleagues seem to do nothing useful with them and then complain they need to work evenings.

What is noticable here is all the people who have given up teaching for a better balance have taken a significant pay cut and/or cut hours. Which is fine if DH can support the family (and doesn't have work life balance issues of his own), not so good if you actually need to earn a living. I'm not sure there are many better balance options with an equivalent salary.

For the person who asked, I'm SLT in a maintained secondary school (last man standing )

I see @Soothes and yes I do understand what you mean. I have seen evidence of that, especially at the moment.

I think sometimes I feel overwhelmed with what I have to do so feel like I achieve nothing. I also have to have ppa in school and cannot concentrate on planning while being called on every five minutes for first aid etc so do that at home at night when it's quiet.

And yes I agree about being supported by a higher earner. I don't have that luxury and many colleagues are single parents or in a similar situation to me.

I left class teaching 3 years ago after 16 years in the classroom.

I now work from home as a private tutor and educational content developer. I earn more than I did full time on UPS2 in the outer London area and I work around 25-30 hours a week. I work less in the holidays, 15-20 hours maybe.

No pension or sick pay but I'm far less stressed and I don't miss the holidays because I'm not permanently exhausted during term time.

You have skills that are transferable and there is well paid work out there.

Those of us in primary don't get free periods. We get one afternoon of PPA time, though to be honest, planning and setting up work for a TA to cover often takes almost as long as the PPA time. I miss the days of PPA cover teachers where you could just leave them to plan and prepare the lessons.

I teach in further education and after 7 years have had enough. I enjoy the actual teavhing but there is too much bureaucracy. I spend more time doing admin than teaching and it is such a thankless job.

I am planning on leaving teaching completely but there is lot of scope for private tutors so that could be an option depending on your subject. That way you work the hours that suit you.

I’ve gone part time and dropped responsibilities. I know others that have left, work 5 days a week with less holiday and have taken lower pay to escape. Their job security is a worry - not just due to covid. Deadlines still present stress and all work being done on site isn’t always a plus as they can’t control the time they leave / have the option to take work home.

I guess it depends if you have a secure plan B but I decided the gamble wasn’t worth it.

I think its a real warning to those considering teaching. Many of us have excellent degrees and could have taken a diffferent path, yet find it hard to leap other than into low paid jobs.It can be such a trap. So many other threads on here see teaching as low paid (I don't, but in mumsnet style whole threads about good careers/average salaries etc.)

Not a Teacher, although family members and friends who taught have all said its a hard job .With the new opportunity what would the holidays be like there? Can you take some extra as unpaid leave ? What about a PT role? Life is too short to be stuck in a job you no longer enjoy I think.