Talk me out of teaching

[Avaricii]

I don't enjoy my job. I've drifted into something that doesn't fulfil my need to feel like I'm making a difference. It pays ok.
I'd like to teach secondary maths. I think I'd be great at up to GCSE and have a relevant degree. But all I hear is that teaching is so stressful. What I don't get is why it's more stressful than any other stressful job? I'm stressed every day at work now so at least I would get a less stressful summer with my still primary kids who I feel are growing up fast at camp or at after school clubs.

I completely agree..I'd love to say that noone should and an ECT's mentor should go.in to bat for them over this sort of issue but I recognise there's "should" and "what really happens". It is a shame because in the end, if enough staff rebelled and said no to extra duties, responding out of hours etc there's not really much an SLT can do but I do understand the predicament on an individual level.

I was an English teacher for 4 years in a large secondary school and ended up having to go onto antidepressants just to function. Teaching was my dream job and all I'd ever wanted to do, but the pressure and expectation on teachers is utterly relentless. I got to school at 7am every morning and stayed until they kicked us out at 6pm, then I'd work at home too. Weekends went down to 1 day, as Sundays were spent planning and marking. The workload is miserable, particularly for a core subject like maths or English. I spent the shorter holidays stressing about going back to work and marking assignments, and the six week holidays were great for about 3 weeks, then I'd be going in to set my classroom up, planning lessons, making resources etc. I felt like no matter how hard or long I worked, it was never enough.

Obviously this is only my experience, but teaching made me very very unhappy. Since I left teaching I've worked several different jobs and none have been anywhere near as stressful as teaching, but most have been higher paid.