To not want to teach

[idontwanttoteach]

This is probably going to be a frustrating thread because there’s literally no way around it, I sort of have to teach because it’s the only thing I’ve done and the only thing I can earn the amount I do and plus the holidays (have young children) and so on.

But. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Teach.

I know about the FB group by the way but there’s no real feasible alternative for me at the moment.

I walked into a 40k job with no degree (full time, but as posters have said I had a lot more free time than I would have teaching). The jobs I listed have straightforward progression routes, they do not require a degree in a specific field, so you could enter as a graduate or work your way up through vocational training. Eg. I. Networking you could go down the CCNA/CCNP route, you can read a textbook, sit your BA exam in a few months. It takes 3-6 months to qualify as a PT.

Like ALL things you have to put in the effort to train and learn your way around the industry - once you've made the leap, how quickly you progress is up to you. Perhaps you take a slight hit for 2 years as you build up skills, but then you could be on more pay. (Teachers are notoriously underpaid!).

If the OP was on 50k in a job that gave her lots of free time with her young children, I would understand this post, but instead the OP is saying its not much different to working full time? Teaching has many transferrable skills and careers that you could switch to have comparable/higher salaries?

I honestly think this is not a question of there 'being no other option' but a combination of fear, burnout, and feeling trapped on the OPs part because of a lack of awareness about the alternatives to teaching, and how to make the switch.

What about a part time non class based SENDCO or assistant SENDCO role?

God that's even worse. Senco roles are SO pressurised.

But not that classroom based and writing applications can sometimes be done at home. There is also a lack of marking and teaching small groups can be better than a class of 30.

I would strongly recommend against this-it’s just a whole different set of problems. Yes, some schools might let you WFH occasionally to get through a massive backlog of paperwork but many won’t. You are also the only one in the school, so when it comes to Ofsted, that’s all on you.

I have no sort of SEN background or qualifications so I wouldn’t be suitable for that at all.

I think others have correctly identified it’s just a - lug, for want of a better word. It’s a bit frustrating when people decide it’s all DHs fault / all my fault that I can’t swan off into the sunset and pursue a glittering career in my mid forties with two preschool children, a mortgage and other responsibilities.

When both children have left primary school I may be in a position to rethink but I’ll be 54 by then and being honest it’s unlikely I’ll want to retrain or climb a ladder then. I think that’s part of what’s getting me down, the sense of being stuck with it!

Equally, the children will start school and that will give me a couple of days in the week to properly get stuff done, and I think I’ll enjoy the benefits of part time a bit more then.

Be careful moving around schools as well. I was on UPS3 with a TLR and I changed because I wanted a bit less stress. I ended up on UPS1! Then the school closed and most of the jobs out there now are MPS so I will have to take another pay cut as I need a job!

YANBU for not wanting to teach.
YABVU for being so defeatist about it, and it's not fair at all on the kids you teach.
Plus, teachers moaning that they can't match their teaching salaries outside of education really serves to further undermine their status, the idea that they are overpaid, lazy people who can't hack it elsewhere and that's why they teach.
Which is obviously hugely unhelpful to the current crisis....
I'm an ex teacher.

Of course it's not going to be possible to side step into something as well
paid as what you've spent 20 years working up to and with the same great flexible benefits.

But if you really want to get out, I wouldn't let that stop you. You'll have to take a pay cut in the short term, yes, but you can progress and earn more in the longer.

What kind of thing would you like to do? In an ideal world? That's a good starting point for thinking about it.

It would be worth thinking about it it was possible but I really can’t afford to take a pay cut at the moment.

The children I teach aren’t badly taught and they aren’t badly treated. It is not a pre requisite of any job that passion is needed. Enthusiasm can be masked.

Schools are quite peculiar places to work in that you don’t get the kind of exposure to other jobs that you might in a different kind of workplace. But there are other things that you could do, some of which have also been mentioned on this thread.

Why not try a low key online course (try Future Learn or Coursera) or just applying for some other jobs and seeing what happens?

I left teaching in my mid thirties (having been turned down for flexible working after maternity leave - yes it happened!) and found it absolutely fine. I got a job in a different sector and was earning the equivalent of the middle of MPS. This was a significant pay cut as I had been on the bottom of the leadership spine, but I now absolutely loved going to work! I didn’t miss the holidays at all, began postgraduate study and my life/interests really opened up. It all went really well for about twelve years and I successfully moved from one job to another.

But things can change as you get older and life can become more complicated. I am job hunting right now and have been for a while. It is really tough as things are quite different in the post-Covid job market (plus AI on the horizon) and I suspect that ageism is also a factor for me now, despite years of experience in my new sector and qualifications falling out of my ears. I have been made redundant once and been at risk of redundancy on other occasions, so there are some advantages to the continuity of employment generally offered in teaching.

Most teachers don’t want to be there though.

I was a teacher for 25 years. I didn’t know anyone who wanted to keep on doing it.

I quit teaching. I earn more than UPS3 as a learning designer in HE. I work 35 hours a week (flexibly) and have 44 days leave a year. Plenty of my colleagues work p/t. I also WFH 4days a week. There are options out there.

Most teachers don’t want to be there though

I completely agree. I have never heard so many colleagues say how unhappy they are at work as since the start of September this academic year.

If people want this statement to apply in teaching, No child deserves to taught by someone who doesn't want to be there.

we need to have huge changes in education asap.

Have you looked on local county council sites for teaching jobs that aren't school-based? They usually come under the "normal" job search, so along with other council roles. I'm a peripatetic Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People. I visit children in schools who have a hearing loss, advise staff on reasonable adjustments, do language interventions 1:1, lead INSET sessions, attend annual reviews etc.

I have no displays to do, don't have to be at school for 8am, can do online meetings and PPA from home, only ever work with 1 student at a time, no big loads of marking, no sitting in assemblies, no playground duty, no data-driven performance management etc. A couple of days a week my first visit of the day is 9:30 so I can do the school run.

I do have to write reports, do paperwork, language assessments, email schools, ring parents etc. but it comes with far, far less pressures.

And the best thing? UPS3, plus SEN points, Burgundy Book and all the school holidays.

I had no SEN training before starting the job and work paid for me to do my mandatory qualification.

There are other advisory teachers, not just ToDs.

I would love to be a specialist teacher-working for the PNI or VI teams particularly interest me, but I haven’t seen any jobs advertised in my LA for years :(

Wow! Did you need to be able to code to do this?

Wow. Were you already smt? I saw one recently but it wanted lots of relevant experience.

I would love a role like this.

I've been looking at neurodiversity type roles and still surprised sendiass and ipsea pay £23000

@Milkandacookie I don't code (apart from very rare occasions when I need to edit a bit of html to embolden text... but that's very rare)!

Oooh really? What did you need to apply for the role+ I'm happy to learn things. Was it specific to an education company or general L and D? I keep thinking I'm not qualified for general L and D.

I did that. It was better for me too, until it wasn’t. Then I burnt out and had to retire early.

You just have to make the decision - but it sounds like you've made the decision to stay in teaching OP, which is fine. I made the decision to leave and took an huge pay cut - but after 2 years in corporate L&D was earning more than as HOD.
You just have to take the leap. If you wait for the perfect job (money, location, hours etc) you'll never do it.

I've worked very closely with a number of SENCO's from various schools and my best friend is a SENCO. I honestly don't know how they do it. The responsibility is immense. They also deal almost exclusively with the most challenging/dysregulated children and the parents they are working with are often (justifiably) frustrated or highly anxious. Trying to meet the needs of increasingly complex children with ever-dwindling resources and next to no support from external agencies or the Local Authority. Not to mention in some schools the SENCO is still expected to have a teaching timetable, and they often have to take on additional responsibility such as the DSL role and other Leadership duties. The SENCO's I know are all either childfree or have adult children who have flown the nest, I imagine doing the job with small children at home would be very difficult.

Nope. I was middle leadership so had a TLR but have never been SLT. Probably 90% of us never have been!