To give up this "easy" money?

[DietC0keandLime]

I currently work for a fairly small manufacturing business, when I joined the office was an absolute mess and the business on the brink of collapsing, so I was given a profit share in the business as an incentive to help turn it around, but I don't own shares or anything like that.

The business has really grown over the past ten years since I started, and I have ended up being paid really well these past couple of years for what I do (around £50k, the role would normally be about £20-25k if not for the profit share) and I think that would continue to be the case for the next few years as well.

The owner of the business is really lovely, but I don't actually like the job for the most part, I find it really stressful, my mental health has been quite bad for the past year and I think it is a big contributing factor. There's nowhere for me to grow within the company, and I feel like I'm just fed up.

I really want to completely retrain in something different, I have a career in mind but I would need to go back to Uni and do a full degree to even get started in it, which would take 3/4 years and the maximum salary I could ever realistically earn would be £40k. Probably this industry would be more demanding and have it's own stresses, but I think it would be more rewarding as well.

I'm 35, no kids, but DH isn't supportive. He can't believe I'm even considering it. He thinks I've dropped really lucky with my current job and I'd be crazy to give up the "easy" money. DH earns around £70k, we've made good financial decisions in the past and we only have a small mortgage and have an additional joint income of £1k per month on two rental properties we inherited. I don't expect him to support me through Uni, I would get a loan to cover my half of the bills and have a small amount of savings too.

I'm grateful for my current job, I really am, I feel guilty for thinking about giving it up but I hate the thought of still being here in five years time. It's like Groundhog Day.

I need some perspective please. What do you think, WIBU to change careers?

You get one life and you have to live in the moment, I say go for it

No way would I give up a well paid job to go to uni for year to eventually end up earning less. The worst part is you don't even know if you will like it, and it will probably be just as stressful.

It’s never too late to go back into uni. Especially with the pandemic, your learning might be distanced so you can be flexible with work to a certain extent? At least during first year you can probably study and work part time if you wanted to.

Don’t give up on your dreams - you might live to regret it.

Taking out a loan to pay your bills is ridiculous though

I was like 'do it' until you said teaching. I've got friends that teach and honestly the stress and workload is immense. Most want to get out of the profession. I think this might be very much 'grass is greener' thinking. At least do some work shadowing for a few weeks at several different schools before making the leap. Also think about how you could get fulfillment in your life in other ways. Work isn't everything!

Have you thought about studying in your own time e.g. Open University? I did this for my MBA, and although it was hard work, it was the best decision I ever made.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

No way would I give up a well paid job to go to uni for year to eventually end up earning less. The worst part is you don't even know if you will like it, and it will probably be just as stressful.

OP said it's going to be a 3/4 year course for her. So not a one year PGCE

Wait I'm confused. You say you would need to go back to uni, so assume you have a degree. Why not just do one year PGCE? Why 4 years out? Also if you don't have a degree way better to do it part time with the OU or even Brick unis which now offer online courses and work at the same time.

You find your current job stressful yet want to go into teaching? Just no. Don't do it. I totally agree with your husband.

And also to add teaching is very very stressful and gets harder the older you get. Wild horses couldn't drag me back. So make sure you shadow someone and try it before giving job up!

"I find it really stressful, my mental health has been quite bad for the past year"

Then this is not 'easy money' is it?

I'd say in the current climate and given the various stresses of teaching,.(based only on mumsnet threads) i d say better the position you know.

I taught primary for 9 years and then got out - DH is still a full time secondary teacher. He manages to enjoy aspects of it, but works long hours (sometimes 10/12 hours a day during lockdown). I now foster full time, so still work with children. This is not without its stresses too, but it is varied, rewarding, I work from home and the pay is infinitely better. I have also gained two permanent little additions to my family, when I couldn’t bear to part with them! Have you considered fostering if you enjoy working with children?

There’s already been a lot of good advice on here about teaching and the realities of the stress. I loved teaching, loved being in the classroom but had to get out- the admin, the constant changing goals, the relentless targets and hours spent doing the required paperwork and total lack of appreciation were just not worth it. And I really missed friends - never saw anyone during term time, I rarely even saw those I live with.
You do see children in teaching, but rarely see other teachers, it’s a lot more isolated than it looks. You spend most of the teaching day as the only adult in your classroom. Break time is usually spent getting ready for the next lesson and you eat lunch whilst sorting your afternoon lessons. No hanging around the (non existent) water cooler or drinking coffee in the (often equally non existent) staff room (yes, many schools are now staff room free) and as has been said, you can’t go to the toilet once you are supervising children, so when you do break duty that could be from about 8.45 until 12.30. Funding for schools is really poor. I would often have to buy pens, pencils, paper, craft items (glue sticks!!!) and other equipment for the children to use in lessons. It added up to several hundred pounds a year (sometimes more)
Since leaving I have been amazed at how cheap holidays are during term time. And the joy of being able to take an odd morning off to wait in for domestic jobs! As a teacher I couldn’t take an hour off for a non urgent appointment and I was refused leave of absence for things like attending my best friends funeral or to take my elderly mother to a hospital appointment.
Teaching is an amazing job. It can be fulfilling. It’s constantly scrutinised, regular classroom observations and critical reports telling you how to improve, which standards you need to focus on, but rarely what you have done well. It’s also undervalued and you are heavily accountable in and out of school. It’s exhausting and stressful. Apparently the average career of a teacher is 5 years. There’s a high turnover of staff in some schools but there are some good schools supportive though where staff rarely leave. You will work at least half of the holidays. The pension used to be good, high contributions with good benefits, but that’s changed recently. And academies can set their own rates and regulations.
Having said all that, the profession needs good teachers and if it’s for you, you have the emotional resilience, stamina, plenty of support and an understanding partner go for it. It can be the best job in the world.

but I would need to go back to Uni and do a full degree

Why?

What was your first degree in?

If you hate your job and its making you I'll then you must leave, that's a no brainer.

I can't in all conscience say that teaching is a good choice if your mental health is not great, you could spend a year working as a cover supervisor or teaching assistant to get more of a feel for it. Teaching is notorious for causing mental health problems. Many teachers are signed off with depression and/or stress.

Have you thought about something else like a school librarian. What are your interests?

I wouldn’t go into teaching if you paid me £50k to be honest.

However, I’m more concerned that your DH isn’t at all supportive.
Fuck getting a loan to pay half the bills. That’s ridiculous.
Why did you marry him if he doesn’t support your personal development? It’s not like you’ve said you’re going to give up work to paint pictures for the next 10 years, after all. (And if you did, so what?)

I supported my ex to go full time Uni even though I had studied p/t whilst working. I enjoyed studying but with working too, there’s limited opportunities to socialise with your classmates and enjoy the course as it’s pretty full on. When ex said he’d like to study, he completed an OU course first whilst working then transferred to full time at a local University for 3 years whilst I paid all the bills.

I was on a much lower income so could afford the mortgage and bills but no treats. Your overall financial situation is so much better.

I’d think v carefully about teaching. Yes, you work with children (which is the easy bit) but the bulk of the job is admin, planning, meetings, targets, assessments/marking, goal moving and generally working your ass off with very little appreciation. You can often go all day without seeing another adult other than a TA or someone observing you for appraisal.

It's as @Rufus27 says. Some days you'll barely get a chance to grab a drink or go to the loo.
Plus what personally gets me down, is the feeling that no matter how hard you work it's never enough and the constant pressure to do more. Learning walks and observations always result in lots of suggestions for improvement with little recognition of what you're doing well.
In terms of mental health, it's really not a great profession!

Thank you for all the responses, I'm reading them and listening to what everyone's saying about not going into teaching.

I don't know what to do. I feel so lost.

Going part time in my current role isn't an option, I've already asked the question. If I went part time at any other job, or as a TA, it wouldn't be enough money in the long term. TA jobs in my area are all basically part time roles too. I feel like I would be in too vulnerable a position and I would have to rely on DH for money, which I don't want to do.

Another career would be a possibility but I've no idea what. I've just always wanted to be a teacher, it's always been in the back of my mind and I've always regretted not doing it. I would potentially like to foster but DH doesn't want to, he grew up with his Mum being a foster carer and hated the experience.

I just feel really lost and empty with my life as it is at the minute. I've tried every which way I can think of to add meaning and fulfillment but nothing brings me any joy anymore. DH and I have travelled a lot together and had some amazing holidays. We bought and renovated a beautiful house. I've tried every hobby I have ever been interested in. I've two dogs who I love to bits and love to get out walking with. I can't even lose myself in a book or a film any more.

I'm so lucky in so many ways and I struggle to talk about this to anyone in real life because I feel like I sound so ungrateful. I have a good life, I really do. DH is a good husband he's just very money driven.

I've tried counselling and anti depressants and everything just comes back to my job every time.

@agathaallalong @howshouldibehave I went to Uni and completed the first year of an English degree but dropped out to go travelling. I've already spoken to the Uni I would hope to go to and the year I completed wouldn't count towards a teaching qualification, I would need to do the full three year degree which would be Primary Education with QTS. I could finish my English degree and do a PGCE which would also take three years or I could do a Primary Education degree and then PGCE which would be four years.

@mooonstone don't most students take maintenance loans to pay their bills?

DH is a good husband he's just very money driven

Be very careful thinking that teaching is something you can just pootle about in for a few years and you’ll be on £41k-you won’t.

We have teachers stuck on £25k who are being told there simply isn’t any money in the budget for them to move up the pay scale. Pay portability was scrapped in 2014 as well so even if you get to the top of the pay scale, if you want to move school, there’s no guarantee you’ll get paid the same as you were.

Anyway, money issues aside, if you have existing issues with your mental health, I wouldn’t touch teaching with a barge pole.

@Howshouldibehave no I know that, isn't the starting salary around £25k? That would be fine and a big difference from £10-15k in a part time role in my current industry or as a TA

You need ten days class room experience within the last 12-24 months to get into a teaching course now. And because of corona the bursarys have been slashed to nothing as so many people have signed up to teach just so they have some sort of income/are retraining.

The retention rates are AWFUL. Ask yourself why? Why would you be any different to every other person that dropped out after a year or two?

In your shoes I would ask work for two days a week off, term time only. See if you can make it up over the weekend etc. Then sign up to do a nvq3 in teaching and learning support. This will give you the class hours you need to get into a degree but could potentially lead you onto a school direct pathway . Or you could see the light and run for the hills .

Every teacher on MN hates it and works 120 hours a week and barely gets time for a wee.

In RL I know several teachers and they dont appear to have the same experience. A good friend is a teacher and SLT and we often meet at 5.30 or 6 after shes finished work. She has time for hobbies and weekend stuff.

[quote DietC0keandLime]@Howshouldibehave no I know that, isn't the starting salary around £25k? That would be fine and a big difference from £10-15k in a part time role in my current industry or as a TA[/quote]
Though, when you consider having to borrow £9k per year tuition fees plus the same again each year on maintenance loans-maybe working as a TA wouldn’t seem so bad!

What are your current working hours?