Leaving teaching and getting past the holidays? How do you do with 30 days off? Is it better now?

[Se12345]

I feel like the only reason I would continue is because once I have kids soon I can go part time 3 days and have all the half terms.

or I can move and do something else with about 30 days off in the year plus bank holidays and option to buy one week?

I left teaching to go back to industry and I get 27 days plus bank holidays.

Teaching isn’t as family friendly as it seems on the surface- parents evenings, insets, planning and marking evenings and weekends, some schools are really inflexible so you always miss your own nativity/sports day etc. You’re also not really ‘off’ most holidays as there’s so much to do. My kids went to school in a different county and half terms were different to mine. You can WFH through most of the summer though, the days/weeks you’re expected in varies by school.

I will say that I get fewer days off now but when I’m off I’m really off. I can also take a random (half) day here and there for family things. And the money’s a lot better now so we could have nicer holidays and days out. It’s swings and roundabouts really.

Runningribbit · Today 10:57
I think all teachers should be made to work a year in a “normal” job before they can complain and protest about their jobs.

Most of us have.

In our company you start with 25 days plus BH and no option to buy extra, you can apply for parental leave but that is not guaranteed as the needs of other colleagues have to be considered as well. You can move to 30 days plus BH after 10 years by adding a day every 2 years.

I was lucky that I only had to compete with one other colleague sind DD is in school, we managed to find always a decent compromise. But I also have teams in my company where it is a lot more difficult to share the school holidays.

DH and I try to do 2 weeks together in Summer, one week in either Easter, May or October. He covered Christmas as I can't take time off at all and his office always closes and often May if I can't get it off.

And you pay for holiday clubs, they are expensive, if you need 8-6 cover you look at £50/day.

Yes, and a lot of us leave teaching to go back to the ‘normal’ job because it’s a better work-life-money-mental health balance.

All these online experts who know teaching is an easy ride really should start putting their money where their mouth is and sign up for a PGCE.

I left when I had DD.
I had a year off, started some fairly flexible freelance work based on my former profession and was very quickly offered a permanent role in which I could more or less pick my hours and work from home - I realise I’m incredibly lucky there but looking around at my friends I do think more of these types of roles exist these days.

I work 3 days but spread over 4 so I do 9-3 basically, which means I can do school runs. I do often work extra in the evenings/ on the 5th day but that’s my choice and I’m either paid for it or use it to earn some flexibility when I need it eg nativity plays, sports days etc. There are several events throughout the year which require trips away from home and no getting out of them, but otherwise it’s incredibly flexible and much more family friendly than teaching ever was.

My holiday allowance isn’t great but being part time I don’t notice that so much. I’m honestly so much happier and have so much more balance and peace in my life that it’s worth the loss of the extra holidays.

We use childcare in the holidays, use up our leave and take turns with some of my family so I’ll have all the kids on my day off and they’ll do the same. It’s a pain sometimes but infinitely better than being in a job that was draining the life out of me! I’ll always miss being in the classroom with the children but nothing about all the stuff around it!

Everywhere I have worked holiday has been capped at no more than 30 days plus bank holidays taking into account standard allowance, any additional accrual for years of service etc and buying extra.

You might manage better working for a local authority with a decent flexi scheme but not many private employers would allow 30 days plus bank holiday and buying an extra week.

I get 30+8 (although it starts at 28, you get 30 after 10 years there) and the option to buy 5 more. Between me and DH we can cover Xmas, Easter, all the half terms and 2 weeks in summer. Leaves us 4 weeks over summer to cover - use a combo of holiday club and grandparents

I do have colleagues who have agreed flex hours who work less over the summer. One also takes unpaid parental leave

In the same way the OP did when she enjoyed it. Not liking the job doesn't mean that the OP will not do the job well. It means that she doesn't enjoy what she is doing.

I did do. It was way easier than teaching. It was 40 hours a week which to me seems like a part time dream right now!

I have - it was a hell of a lot easier. It was also better paid. But there was little job satisfaction which is important to me.

I think parents of the nightmare kids should be forced to spend a year in their kids class as their kids 1-1.

Interesting, I only get 30 plus Christmas Closure and bank hols because I have accumulated the maximum service leave. I rarely meet anyone who is as fortunate.

Regarding covering the school hols once they get to school. It's still a balancing act with 30 days leave. I used to plan the school summer hols on a spreadsheet. The clubs and/or their interest in them dry up when they are 12 and the first year of that can be tricky.

Regarding nursery years and teaching. Kids will be ill at nursery a lot and covering that might actually be more difficult if you are in a job like teaching.

Regarding teaching and holidays/hours. I think it's still a balancing act, just a slightly different one. There will still be pick up time dilemmas and less time off flexibility in all probability.

The way it falls with the bank holidays this year you end up with about 60 days leave if you take advantage of that. I get 32 days leave including bank holidays and booked my holiday on Monday which was my first day back.

Shocking, but there are thousands like you.

Do the kids a favour and leave teaching.

I think teaching is hard once you have a family, with planning lessons etc. Plus missing out on your own child’s school events. Have you looked into other term time only roles - health sector?
Most jobs only have 4/5 weeks holiday a year. Paying for childcare in the holidays would be necessary. But so would breakfast after school clubs if you teach.

I’ve been a teacher for 8 years and have had children the entire time. I’ve never worked during the holidays. Why should I? I go in a few times in the summer to set up my room but that’s it. You obviously weren’t very good with time management.

Why are you so worried about childcare then?

You would have the holidays covered by your DP, which is great as you could then use leave for things like inset days when it's hard to find childcare

I was just about to say, from reading posts by teachers on here, I thought teachers never got a day off and worked 24 hours a day!!

I had to be in my job 10 years before I got over 30 days annual leave.

Where on earth do you get the idea the private sector gets 30 days plus bank holidays?

Statutory minimum is 20 + 8 bank holidays and most companies do not offer more than this. An awful lot of companies do not offer the opportunity to buy an additional week.

Dh gets Statutory but his company also do a full shut down at Christmas which is precooked out of his 20 day allocation so he only gets 10 days that he can book himself.

I am luckier. My company offers 25 as a minimum and I do get the option to buy up to 5 additional.

Being a teacher solely for the holidays won't make you a good teacher imo.

Do you actually like teaching, OP? Or are you only in it for the holidays? If you feel ambivalent about the job and it's not your vocation, then you're going to resent the workload once you have kids. A job where you can switch off at 5pm and have flexibility to take time off as and when you need it would probably suit you better despite the reduced holidays, especially as your partner is staying in teaching and so will have the holidays at the same time as your kids.

I worked in a 'normal' job for a few years, became a teacher, did that for almost a decade, took a couple of years out to do a 'normal' job again, and then came back to teaching. I came back because I missed teaching and the children so much, but also because I missed the holidays. I hated only having 30 days off. It was great to be able to go on holiday outside of term time, but I felt so restricted only being able to have 2 weeks off at a time. I love having long stretches of time to go travelling, which is impossible in a 'normal' job without taking a sabbatical, but I don't have kids, so my priorities are completely different to yours. I work in an independent school so I have 8 weeks off in the summer. The hard work during the year - the evenings and weekends marking and planning etc - are totally worth it for me to have those 2 months off in the summer to travel. I also get a month at Christmas and Easter, so again, I can go to Australia/New Zealand/Africa etc and do those amazing long haul trips I couldn't do easily when I had a 'normal' job.

However, teaching is also my vocation. I love it with a passion. I have done plenty of other 'normal' office based jobs and nothing compares for me. I get so much satisfaction from what I do and I feel like I make a difference. I never felt that way working in an office. If I didn't feel that way about teaching, though, I would have left after about 5 minutes. It's a relentless, exhausting job you can't switch off from and one that's only worth doing if it's your genuine passion and you get as much from it as you put in.

Not a parent but ex teacher and I struggle to use my 30 days plus BH. Also got the option to buy more holiday days.
Charity sector so the pay is terrible but flexibility is great.

When I was a single parent, I had 26 days holiday and no family support at all. It was tough. Saved two weeks for late August when there was no play scheme. When the play scheme was on, he was always there and it was a struggle every day to get him there and then pick him up, around the 55 minute commute into London. No allowance for illness at all. Employer was nice but those were the rules then.
20 years later, different employer is totally relaxed about parental duties (I have none any more), I can buy additional leave up to a total of 38 days, I can work from home, etc.etc., and anyway, I'm married now. Today it would be a doddle.

Times have changed. Some employers easier than others.

24 hours a day! What a luxury! Your average teacher works 40 hours a day

All most teachers do is bang on constantly about how the long holidays are not all they seem because all they do is work endlessly until midnight 365 days of the year regardless of whether it's officially term time or not.

You are slightly blowing that argument out of the water.

Teaching with a young family is so difficult. It is not a family friendly job.