AIBU to leave my teaching career to earn minimum wage in a nursery?

[Purplepinkred]

I hate teaching. I can’t cope with constant challenging behaviour . Our school has cut TAs to a minimum and we can’t provide real support for children who desperately need it . We are papering over cracks and ignoring the real issues. COVID has magnified the attainment gap but we ignore it. Head teacher demands to know why Billu can’t do multiplication yet the truth is he can’t even count !
And we all know the truth but the teacher is held accountable .

Some children in Ks2 can’t read !!! But HT just cares about manipulating data. ‘ Put Mason in the corner he is never going to make it - focus on the good ones !’ It’s awful!

I arrive at 7.30am and leave at 5pm . Then go home and lesson planning take at least 3 hours of my eve and at least a whole Saturday if I’m lucky - sat and Sunday if I’m not lucky!

Anyway , I am. Senior leader . I warn £37k which after student loan, pension and tax is £1.900 a month . ( £475 a week)

I’m on maternity and I don’t want to go back to teaching as it is soul destroying . Once I have paid £300 nursery - I would have an income of £125 a week for working an extremely stressful job and not seeing my son .

I have had an interview at a local nursery . The salary is £22k a year - £1,500 a month - £375 a week .
However with discount - the nursery fees would only be £160 a week for baby . Meaning I’d be making £215 a week. So more than as a teacher when I’d only have (£125 a week left)

I realise pension is much better as a teacher and of course you get holidays but I’m thinking that If I worked in a nursery I would be less stressed and have more money and get to know my baby was safe as he would be at the same nursery . I would have no evening or weekend work to do either ! I would be much happier I believe.

Am I crazy to leave my career to work in a nursery ?

I absolutely hate teaching and don’t believe I can cope doing it with a baby !

Once DS is at school and we have no nursery fees, so I can look at other jobs - or I may work my way up at the nursery and love it and become a manager .

Will I be bored in a nursery ?

AIBU to walk away from a ‘career ‘ to basically a minimum wage job !?

Would this be as a nursery teacher? I'm not sure the hours would be much less given that most nurseries are open 7.30-6? And I presume you will still need to plan activities and keep detailed assessment records? I've never worked in a nursery but to me it looks like very hard work with long days and statutory minimum holidays. I wouldn't expect it to be any less tiring than teaching but obviously this is just my opinion.

Only work in a nursery if you actually want to work in a nursery. Otherwise, there must be other employment options out there.

I’d just be a nursery assistant . Not teacher .
I know it’s 40 hours a week but then not work in evening and weekends and crowd control of 30 children and pressure to show progress for each child !!!!

The fact is the nursery discount at 50 % makes it a viable option . I couldn’t just get a job warning £22k a year . It only works a as I’d be saving over £600 a month on nursery fees .

I would look at working as a teaching assistant in a private school or school nursery class, if you can afford to take the salary hit. I worked as a nursery nurse in a reception class in a private school earning 20k. Worked 8.30-4 and no work outside of that. 17 weeks holiday a year. Working in a day nursery is long hours for rubbish pay.

‘I would look at working as a teaching assistant in a private school or school nursery class, if you can afford to take the salary hit. I worked as a nursery nurse in a reception class in a private school earning 20k. Worked 8.30-4 and no work outside of that. 17 weeks holiday a year. Working in a day nursery is long hours for rubbish pay.’

@3WildOnes
If I was earning £20k a
Year - I couldn’t afford to send my DS to nursery ( unless the nursery was discounted )

If I was a TA the time
I got my salary and paid for Ds to go to nursery I don’t think I’d make a profit .

But thank you for advice xx

Sorry if this is a stupid question but don’t you need a different qualification to work in a nursery (an NVQ)?

I think working in a nursery is very, very hard work and something you should only do if you actually want to do it.

Have you thought about childminding?

The pay will be rubbish at nursery but it will be a lot less stressful, I'd give it a go.

It will only be a couple of years until your son is 3 and gets 30 hours funding. You can always go back to teaching later.

With early years experience too you can always look at other roles like family support or early years inclusion for the council.

I've not gone back to teaching after second maternity leave. With childcare I would only have about £600 left for the month, and the hours and the stress are long. I am much happier and so is my family. There are many options available, the nursery sounds good - although perhaps speak to some people that work in a similar job. I have a sad feeling that the paperwork and the deadlines might not be that different to teaching.

Teaching is awful. Get out now if you can.

One of the nursery assistants at my DC nursery once admitted to me that they end up taking paperwork home and doing it in the evenings/weekends.

Given you know you hate your current job and the nursery option works financially and practically I think it's well worth a go.

No real advice but totally sympathise. Teaching is tough at the moment, if there’s a way out that works for you financially then go for it!

I own a nursery. My full time nursery assistants start at 7:30, finish at 18:30 and do the paperwork we need to, to keep our outstanding Ofsted rating at night / their sole wfh day. It isn’t mentioned in job interviews but we don’t like going to for teachers for these roles but people who are actively training in early years / are experienced in it.

Most nursery managers like me would expect a former teacher to be a preschool teacher (so we could take in more kids) or be a manager who supports the planning of all the lessons in every room. A qualified teacher with years worth of experience interviewing for a nursery assistant job will be viewed as overqualified.

What about a nanny job where you could take your baby too?

I think it's really about what you think will give you the satisfaction.

You've highlighted a question as to whether you think you'll be bored. But the real question (to me) would be whether a bit of boredom and drop in salary is worth a more relaxed environment, additional time to myself and with my child.

Do you feel that you could do some good for the children at a nursery?

If you feel you can afford the financial drop, then it's really about whether you'd miss the extra money. Although in this case, it sounds as though there isn't much extra.

I don't think it's crazy, but I think you need to feel a bit more certain before making the change.

What you are about to find out it is that it’s constant change from now on.

Not being in teaching while you have a young family is a very sensible choice.

In a few (quick years) other options for work will still be available including tutoring, creating educational resources, working for a charity that goes into schools to lead workshops and returning to teaching, if you would like.

Nothing is as back or white or fixed as you think.

@Dixiechickonhols

What about a nanny job where you could take your baby too?

There isn’t a nanny job in the world where she would be allowed to take her baby. Her baby would need childcare so she could focus 100% on her employers’ children.

if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to teaching...

Don't sell yourself short though. Teachers get to be expert at managing, prioritising, working efficiently. Near sole responsibility for 30 kids is a lot and you manage it successfully. You have a much more marketable skill set than you think.

Just to add... I left a role at £40,000 with a company car and a promotion offer of £60,000 because I'd come to really dislike the role and how the company were operating.

I took a pay cut, removal of company car and a lower level job role and it's the best thing I could have done.

The benefits to my mental health far outweighed the additional money and I actually had time for myself and my partner (and now my baby)!

I would do it. In five years time your teaching qualifications and experience will still be valid and I can’t see there being an overpopulation of primary school teachers suddenly materialising so a return to teaching would be feasible. The only thing you need to remember is that you would probably have to negotiate a new salary as a returning teacher as allowances are not portable. I can’t see that as being an issue though.

Keep up pension payments through the nursery, it won’t be the teachers pension (but that is not what it used to be) .

I think it's a good idea, just be warned it's exhausting physical work and you still have to update books or online records for the children you're a key worker with. If you can get a place in the older group then I think 3 years olds are a dream to teach/work with. So excited about the world but more independent than the tiny ones. When your child starts school you might be able to move to a school nursery where you'll get the holidays again. You can do the NVQ or the necessary qualifications on the job but as a former teacher they may not even care.

There isn’t a nanny job in the world where she would be allowed to take her baby. Her baby would need childcare so she could focus 100% on her employers’ children.

That isn't true, some people are happy for you to have your own child with you. I know this from experience. The children were older but still pre school and the nanny's baby was younger.

I work in a nursery on minimum rate (privately owned) and I personally think you will find it a world away from teaching but not necessarily in a better way. I work adhoc hours so I don't have any key children or management responsibility, which is what suits me. I left behind a career that had more responsibility but also more stress., I'm lucky I can afford this. I see how stressed the room leaders are with key children to care for and the paper work that entails, they work long days and have work to complete outside of work hours also. It's really not worth the money imo, they aren't paid much more than I am. There are staff that have children in the nursery and like the fact they get to bring dc to work with them, it must be convenient, however I wouldn't have put my own dc in a nursery at a very young age. Permanent staff are pulled in all directions and very rarely get to spend quality time with the children, that's left to the unqualified staff usually. There are bank staff that come and go and a lot of sickness, so the children often see different faces each day and don't always have the security of familiar staff, and this fact also annoys the permanent staff as they aren't up to scratch with the routines in the rooms. Then there's other things to consider, the atmosphere is different to when I've worked in schools, can be very toxic and a lot of bitching/drama goes on. It may or may not be the same in other nurseries and I know this can go on anywhere. I would think long and hard before making this leap.

There isn’t a nanny job in the world where she would be allowed to take her baby.

This isnt true. People do use nannies who bring their baby. They usually charge quite a lot less so it works for both parties.

I am not lazy . I always work hard . I don’t mind 7.30-5.00! I can do that . am told several times a month to ‘f off’ by parents . Parents ring daily to demand why their child has been told off. The children’s behaviour is so challenging but I can put Up with the planning and marking which take a minimum of 3 hours a night and a whole day ( 8-8 Saturday and often into Sunday )

I would happily do an hour a night or 90
Mins but I can no longer work all evenings as I’d never see my DS.

In the build up to the last Ofsted we spent the previous 6 months working in school sometimes as late as 9pm.
To go home and then do our planning .

I don’t think a job in a nursery would be easy but I think I would enjoy it more and it would be more enjoyable and I would have more time with my family .

I love children and education so feel I wokld really enjoying making a difference .

I would childmind but our house isn’t big enough .

I would consider nannying if I could take baby but I am not sure how consistent hours are .

My dream of course would be to not work until DS gets to school or gets to 3 and we get free hours !
Or I wish I could work PT just isn’t viable .