To want to give up teaching for more holidays?

[Nonotthisone]

I know that’s contradictory but we have preschool children and while I’ve been on maternity leave it’s been so nice to have holidays in term time.

Is it insane to think of giving up? I know it is really …

So will you be taking them on holiday during term time once they start school? Although to be fair with the recruitment crisis you could probably quit now until they start school and then esasily return to teaching so you have all the school holidays back! I guess it depends on how much you like your current school or would be happy to move to another one in a few years.

I'll answer my own question: private sector education.
I used to get 16 weeks holiday!

Agree with PP's. Also worth noting that in some work places you are not guaranteed the dates that you want for holidays/annual leave.
In my place I get 20 days per year and only 3 of us (out of a team of 9) can be on leave at the same time. It's happened to me where 3 others have beat me to it and I've had to chose different dates for my leave.

Is a career break an option for a year and then return when the children are in school and term time holidays aren't really a thing.

When your children start school you will be tied to school holidays anyway.

But as someone who worked 18 years not in schools and about 10 years in schools (not teaching), i can say that the second im not tied to school holidays by the children, i will be going back to less annual leave that is more flexible. I used to make my annual leave go a long way. Although i did get more than statutory to be fair.

Other options are some private schools have shorter terms so you can squeeze in a cheaper break. Or part time so you can get a long weekend

Give it up because it is a shit, stressful job...but holidays??

Why would you go from 13 weeks off to 4/5 weeks per year? As people have said childcare in the holidays is hard to cover and expensive.

Literally how many holidays will you have in this year to make it worth it?

Honestly this is a mad post.

I can see what you are saying, I'm an ex teacher and DH is a teacher still so we are tied to the school holidays and the increase in cost is frankly eye watering (no, I don't fancy a holiday leaving DH behind before anyone suggests it). We lived abroad for 6 years so I had forgotten how awful it is in the uk.
What we do is scan flight costs months ahead and look for cheap deals. This year we are going on two sun holiday breaks in the uk, plus abroad twice for a fraction of the cost of almost packages.
I changed careers and work p/t, so it's a god send DH is around for the school hols.
Also don't forget the annual leave needed for inset days, staggered school starts etc.
also the teachers pension is one of the best around nowadays.

could probably quit now until they start school and then esasily return to teaching so you have all the school holidays back

I was thinking along these lines!

Of course it’s a mad idea in many ways, but with only a year and a half where we can be this flexible it’s why it’s quite precious in a way. Bit depressing to think the next non school holiday holiday will be when I’m retired 😅

So hideously out of touch with your privilege op, most people get 4 weeks. You get 13 weeks and still complaining 🤯

Teachers get 6 weeks holiday too.

The rest is unpaid.

can you request to work as a teacher part time? This is what i did and now work start of the week which has allowed me to take DC on holiday few days before the end of terms. I am a single parent and would struggle to afford hols without that flexibility.

So you're willing to give up 13 weeks off with your DC, just so you can try and grab a cheaper few days in the sun?? This is absolutely insane.

You have no idea how hard it is to juggle working FT with covering all the random inset days, early finishes, endless school holidays. Your annual leave soon disappears believe me, I don't know when I last had time off just to chill, rather than being dictated by the school holiday timetable.

You really don't have a clue!

That being said, if you were posting saying you hate teaching, you are sick of the excessive workload, bullying.... etc etc I would have supported you 100%.

@Newchapterbeckons
Bullshit do they. At least not in primary. I worked full days every holiday bar about two weeks in the summer to keep up with the workload.

Is part time a possibility? I'm a part time teacher. Have all the flexibility of the holidays and days off in the week for days out etc.

I did. Well, I worked very part-time, freelance when my kids were pre-school and we took advantage of holidays outside of term time and did quite a lot of travelling for extended periods.

Can you afford to? Could you find another teaching job relatively easily? It isn’t hard to get a teaching role in London (where I am) but if you have a role with benefits - local, good SLT, nice school culture etc - those things aren’t always easy to find.

there’s only one year before one is school age but in a way that’s what makes it even more precious

What will be more precious is the time you can spend together during the school holidays for the next decade or so, when so many other parents are paying for holiday clubs and feeling guilty about that. Having all the holiday time with your children is a huge privilege. It's not just about going away.

Do you have childcare for the school holidays ? Because you’ll need it if you’re not teaching

But it's not a privilege- it's something the OP decided to do and trained for it. Anyone can train to be a teacher- it's not something you're born into.

Clearly you have the same problem! Not everyone can fund a degree or even have a good enough education to meet the basic requirements of one ! Jesus.

I am part time, but wouldn’t be able to go on holiday for the days I have (if that makes sense.)

I am not sure why people are shouting about holiday clubs. I’m not suggesting giving up teaching for something else. I’m contemplating giving up temporarily and going back to it when DCs are school age. I probably won’t but don’t think people need to get worked up about it.

Where do you live and what age and stage do you teach. No need to answer, but in my area the infant class sizes are dropping. We have surplus places and teachers are being made redundant.

So look and see if there is a teacher shortage for the type of teaching you do. If you are a secondary maths teacher i reckon you could have a year off easily. But you might not get back to your school.

You also need to keep references for your safer recruitment checks So doing supply would help.

But that's not what you said in your OP.

There is literally only a year until you can't have term time holidays anyway.

Could a solution be to stop work for six months or a year? Spend the time with your children and then get another job when they start school.

Shortage of teachers therefore you should get another job.

Otherwise you will be swapping 13 weeks leave for 5 weeks leave .

Leave teaching if you wish but not for holidays