Aibu to move on from teaching?

[Quarterofanonion1]

Hi, thanks in advance for reading. I've been a teacher for 17 years but feel I have reached my limit with it and it's making me feel unwell and takes up so much of my headspace! My DH is fully supportive of me leaving and we have worked out I need to make about £1000 a month for us to manage. I just have this horrible niggling feeling that I'm going to really struggle to find a job but the notice periods for teaching are so long that I'd have to leave before securing something. I'm a very insecure and self-doubting person so my inner voice is saying 'you'll find nothing, no one will employ you in a different field as you're so inexperienced, supply teaching won't pay enough, you will leave the family short of money etc.' What do you think the job market would be like for someone like me looking for a 1k per month job and is there much work about? I seem to do well as a teacher so my references should be good and I'm open to a range of job types e.g. supply, admin, education services and, at a push, hospitality. I live on the East Coast but can access Norwich easily enough. Thanks so much.

Another teacher here. I went from teaching for 5 years to being teaching assistant for 7 years and the last 3 years I worked part time to allow some breathing space from the crap at work. In the end, even that was not tolerable so I left in July.

I was lucky in that I had some savings so I took a pause in my life and didn't work or look for work for a while. I decided I didn't want a permanent job yet so I looked for temp admin jobs until I decide on what I really want to do. Started looking at beginning of Feb. Got 2 offers in the last 2 days. Just took the 5 month contract. That suits me fine.

Just a few points:

1. If you do supply, there are not many jobs around in September. It only really starts getting busy after October half term. On and sign up with multiple agencies. Your DBS can be made portable.

2. Do you have the right mindset to do supply? I'm pretty flexible and can cope with the uncertainty.

3. Doing what poster said upthread about you do a bit of this and a bit of that wouldn't work for me because I can't do multiple things and it would stress me out. How about you?

4. If you're going through recruitment agencies, pick up the phone and contact them. You can tell pretty quickly who will promote you and who won't. I didn't even bother with the ones who said just apply through the website.

Good luck. Life is so much better out of education.

Youth charities are full of ex-teachers so there’s definitely plenty of options!

We no longer have advisers with subject specialisms we hardly have an LA team at all and some LA’s have nothing except for statutory services ( safeguarding, attendance). Tory government erodes council services, including those to schools. There may be a role with an academy trust.

Probation service.

Try looking on the charity jobs website. I see lots of things on there for people with teaching experience. I know because I've applied for some (didn't get anywhere as I have no teaching experience!)

What about working for companies that produce teaching resources such as Twinkl or teaching via online lessons. There are lots around it seems.

I left teaching after 12 years. I felt so sad to be walking away from the career that I once loved, but my mental health was on the floor. I left with 3 other teachers who also adored the career but were broken by it.

I was on UPS3 with a TLR and I took a £5k pay cut to work for a training company that trains teachers. Within 6 months I’d had a pay rise and I now earn 9k more than I did as a teacher. I still work in schools each day, and what hits me the hardest each day is how lucky I am to have escaped the absolute carnage that is education now. There is woeful funding, higher SEN than ever with no funding for staff to support the pupils in need, overstretched broken teachers, ineffective SLT and and a lack of support staff.

So as an aside, I 100% support the teacher strikes (not that that was the question!)

If you can afford to make the jump, do it. Do anything else, your family and mental health will thank you. Good luck!

Twinkl pay peanuts but want qualified teachers !

I’m thinking of leaving after 14 years. I was going to tutor as it would work around my kids and dh job. I think I could easily earn what I get after childcare by doing just a handful of hours a week.

I just don’t want to spend all my weekends marking anymore, after working a full week, attempting to look after my own kids and run a household (thankfully my dh does part of this but still). There are other issues but that’s the main one really.

Sincere question as I am considering teaching. What is so bad about teaching?

I'm thinking of applying for a charity job for 30k. Less than teaching but boundaries hours.

@SeekingBalance what Send role is it? I see adverts for case officers (but seems a high turnover) and send advice that's adjacent to the council I think. Is it one of these? I've always been curious about leaping in!

@taxpayer1 there's so many threads - just look in staffroom. Or join life after teaching on fb. I'm not sure this is the one to ask on tbh.

Thank you.

Resigning at half-term of the summer term gives you a little more time in paid employment. 6 weeks more to search. Sign up with some general agencies, and get the feel of non-classroom work again. On your CV, emphasise the extent of the transferable skills you have acquired in teaching, and how resilient the profession has made you: you can manage crises on a daily basis, and walk on water if required. Above all, make sure your IT skills are up to date - not interactive whiteboards so much as modern switchboards and presentation programmes, and anything specific to your desired profession. Talk to recruitment agencies and ask what they advise. I took everything they offered until I found my feet.

I think you could easily move into something totally different. I think a teacher with 17 years experience would be an attractive potential employee. Would you consider financial services? If access to Norwich is no issue for you, take a look at the Aviva careers website. Aviva always have lots of jobs avaliable and entry level jobs would easily bring in more than £1000 a month and are often hybrid working now, so you'd probably get a couple of days working from home. Or Marsh? They're now based at Broadland Business Park, so easy access for you from the coast too. If you're good with people, I can't see why they wouldn't consider you. Best of luck.

Lots of SEND caseworker jobs recently in my LA.

Yes, high turnover. Chronicly underfunded service. Child needs recently are so severe and such a large number of children requiring support. I've had workers walk out because they can't support the child.

Nationally SEND provision is in crisis, other supporting services and schools are in crisis. Parental engagement at an all time low. Parental support at an all time low too.

We can't even keep our senior SEND people ( Head of), mind LA area SEND OFSTED inspection due)

Really tough at the minute.

Doesn't the high turnover of SEND caseworkers suggest that they aren't happy? Out of the frying pan ... ?

I think anything school/education rated seems to have a high turnover. For example, school office staff. I can't believe the number of schools desperate for admin staff. Loads of jobs being advertised. I personally wouldn't apply because they generally underpaid, under resourced and overworked.

She would earn more in a shop/supermarket and it would be less stressful.

You'll be ok OP. You could try having a look at your local Primary Care Network, lots coming on stream with jobs as Social Prescriber, Community Care Co-ordinators etc. Hope you find something you can enjoy!

The evening and weekend planning/preparation/marking, the children’s behaviour (often physically violent), the verbal abuse from children and parents, the threat (sometimes carried out) of physical violence from the parents, the constant negative media/social media reports, the scrutiny from senior management, the constant Ofsted inspections hanging over your head, the overwhelming paperwork/assessments and form filling, the lack of spontaneity.

I have been teaching for 25 years. I don't dislike my job,I just loathevtge bureaucracy and indiscipline. When you have a cooperative class it is really pleasurable. I understand how it is all consuming. This year I went down to 0.8,it means I can do my prep on my day off if I want weekend off. Js this something uiu could consider? Or even 3 days? Good luck. I 53,can't imagine continuing till 60

There are definitely roles in Children’s Services you could do - Attendance Intervention Officer / admin connected to the Early Help Hub for example.

Look into civil service and NHS admin roles too. I left education after 20 years for DWP and there are a lot of ex teachers

DH is getting out of teaching after 30 years aged 56. He is going to be the mental health coordinator at a local college. £15K pay drop but still £41 k per year and hopefully more in the future.

Its scary, but you have to do it!