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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really not e enjoying teaching?

117 replies

NotEnjoyingTeaching · 22/01/2022 10:50

Sorry - moany thread and I don’t think there is a solution although happy to hear any suggestions.

I was deputy head, stepped down after having DD, classroom teacher again and I thought I’d love it.

I hate it. I don’t know whether it’s being a mum now and not so career focused or whether it’s the relentlessness of teaching all day every day and the accompanied planning and marking, or whether these strange post covid times. But it’s exhausting me.

I’m already dreading Monday Sad

OP posts:
Original poster
NotEnjoyingTeaching · 23/01/2022 11:54

@TracyMosby - I know, I completely agree with you. I have been given such a rammed timetable and I am frustrated at it. I barely get a chance to breathe!

I will definitely be looking at part time. I just have to survive until the summer.

OP posts:
Original poster
NotEnjoyingTeaching · 23/01/2022 11:54

I don’t really fancy FE to be honest.

OP posts:
OnceuponaRainbow18 · 23/01/2022 12:10

@NotEnjoyingTeaching

It’s really tough, going part time is the answer. I went part time after I had my second and it gives you some breathing space. I think going from SLT to a full teaching timetable would be a major shock. I’ve got 4 gcse classes and 2 a level this year and it’s breaking me, especially since I keep loosing my 3 PPA a week to emergency cover and having to do extra duties. At times I think fuck it and then I missed a day off work last week as my kid was awaiting a PCR test and when I got back the kids were so happy to see me I think we’ll at least I’m doing a good job

Also know what you mean about wanting adult company when you have your own child, my friends in offices actually have cups of teas together and lunch… our staff room is still shut, and we are all doing duties all the time, but it’s ok then give us a free lunch for every 2 duties 🤣

cafedesreves · 23/01/2022 12:28

It sounds draining. I work full time as a HOY in a private school. Get in early at 8 but can leave as soon as my lessons finish, so twice a week at 2.40.
I have a 1 year old and it's manageable. Have you considered the independent sector?

cafedesreves · 23/01/2022 12:29

Also I earn so much more than I would in the state sector and certainly part time!

OnceuponaRainbow18 · 23/01/2022 12:58

@cafedesreves

Full time starting at 8 and finishing at 2.40 twice a week?!?

coop36 · 23/01/2022 12:59

Teacher pay and pension is pretty

yea but the pension is pretty much a faux ami/false economy these days as nobody makes it too pension age in the job.

cafedesreves · 23/01/2022 13:00

[quote OnceuponaRainbow18]@cafedesreves

Full time starting at 8 and finishing at 2.40 twice a week?!?[/quote]
Yes, just happen to have my frees at the end of the day those days.

Original poster
NotEnjoyingTeaching · 23/01/2022 13:02

We finish at 245 on Wednesdays, but then have a staff meeting until 4. We lose morning registration to do that - wish we could every day!

OP posts:
whyayepetal · 23/01/2022 13:04

Oh crikey - my finger slipped and I hit the YABU button by mistake. So sorry OP Blush . YADNBU!

Howshouldibehave · 23/01/2022 13:05

@whyayepetal

Oh crikey - my finger slipped and I hit the YABU button by mistake. So sorry OP Blush . YADNBU!
You can just change your vote!
coop36 · 23/01/2022 13:05

My husband earns 3x what I do (admittedly he’s full time and I’m 0.7, but still more than 2x my FTE) and I work more hours and have significantly more stress. Not just my opinion; he says so too. And I work fewer hours than most teachers I know. There ARE some jobs which are far less work/stress for more money than teaching

that's just his perception/personality though, you and a million others could do his job and find it highly stressful. I know that teaching is very stressful because I do it myself and have colleagues who, like me, find it very tough and struggle. Yet I know others in it who seem to excel at it and are never stressed. It can very much depend on the personality. I am not suited to teaching myself and would leave tomorrow if I win the lottery but that's unlikely to happen, that and I 've never being very good at most jobs I do but that's another story.

coop36 · 23/01/2022 13:12

If you’re not enjoying it I would say it’s time to find a new career, as teaching is impossible when the love has gone

in an ideal world perhaps but many go through it for years and in other jobs hating it but bills have to be paid. The idea that jobs should be 'enjoyed' is a myth that needs to die.

YahBooFucks · 23/01/2022 13:18

I hear you, OP. I started to really dislike teaching after returning from my second maternity leave. And I was part time! I became really resentful of the enormous amount of work I had to do in the evenings and at weekends. I totally lost my mojo and teaching really is a horrible job if you don't love it. You have to love it to accept its effect on your life.

I'm so pleased I don't teach anymore. I still work in the school but in a different role that I absolutely love.

coop36 · 23/01/2022 13:21
  • Of course, you can leave and do something else, but then if doing that something else involves (say) commuting for longer or reduced income leading to financial worries or even the stresses and strains of a new job it is just swapping one type of stress for another.

I think it’s always possible to change your circumstances but it isn’t always possible to change them in a way that’s better, if you see what I mean.

People always make it sound so simple: ‘you have to do what you love’ or ‘money isn’t everything’, ‘do something else’. But from my point of view none of those things are solutions! I can’t drop everything to retrain as although we don’t have an extravagant life we’ve cut our cloth to fit in terms of mortgage and where we live, so one salary isn’t an option *

This with bells on. MN is too quick to post the advise of just leave/retain etc which in theory sounds great but in reality it never is so simple a step just to leave a bad or imperfect job/partner/family etc.

TheHoptimist · 23/01/2022 13:30

@Viviennemary

Maybe try and get a job in a private school.
Most are worse Lower pay in many (not all but many) More weekends and evenings Parents who think they own you
Stellaroses · 23/01/2022 13:39

I was a secondary teacher but after kids I went part time, still not happy so did supply. Ended up swapping to primary (no discipline issues, lucky I'm a nice school)
That's what worked for me. You need to give yourself time and space to figure out what suits your needs in a job now.
YADNBU to be finding it too much though.

Basilthymerosemary · 23/01/2022 13:43

@NotEnjoyingTeaching

I don’t think a job in a private school would make much, if any difference, to the sort of stress I mean. It’s the sheer relentlessness of it, kids in, kids out, grabbed twenty minute lunch, kids in again, kids out again, then the work starts …
Go to an independent school. So much more relaxed with time to think and long lunches (most but not all do sport at lunch so lunches tend to be longer than an hour). Less marking as small class sizes and very little bad behaviour. Normally a couple of lessons under from a full timetable too- although there will still pinch points throughout the year.
Runninghorse · 23/01/2022 13:48

@NotEnjoyingTeaching

Supply is an option but it is terribly paid. I’d barely make a profit after childcare fees were paid for.
IME, supply is a nightmare with child care - unless you have someone who will take DC at a moment’s notice. If you do long term supply, there are usually expectations about marking and planning. I went part time while I retrained - it cost a fortune but I saw it as a long term investment in myself (based on the assumption that I would be working well into my 60s)
Mistressiggi · 23/01/2022 14:00

Even when I'm not enjoying it I still know it is a worthwhile job, and not every line of work would offer that feeling.
Sometimes I fantasise about being in one of those rural schools you see in movies with one teacher, no colleagues and no interventions from above.

LanguageAsAFlower · 23/01/2022 14:01

@NotEnjoyingTeaching I haven't read the whole thread, what's your subject? I'm in exactly the same position as you, was SLT, had child now, HoD, just feel burnt out. Teach First are currently advertising for Subject Mentors. 42k starting. Which is maybe a bit of a drop depending on where you are but might be an idea. I'm debating it!

cafedesreves · 23/01/2022 14:11

Also I have one 15-min duty a week and no after school CPD ever. Free lunch. It really is worth considering.

CatCup · 23/01/2022 14:13

I went from slt to teaching. Hated it. Now middle leader. Less teaching, but more responsibility. But nothing compared to SLT. Much better work life balance.

42isthemeaning · 23/01/2022 14:19

@Viviennemary

Maybe try and get a job in a private school.
That is NOT the answer! Believe me! Confused
42isthemeaning · 23/01/2022 14:24

@cafedesreves

Also I earn so much more than I would in the state sector and certainly part time!
This is definitely not the case in all independent schools. We earn less than state and have been taken out of TPS against our will as well.