Leaving a full time permanent role to do supply teaching

[Spongebob35]

I'm currently full-time in the Civil Service. Been here about 2.5 months and it's making me sick with stress, I don't sleep anymore, I constantly feel anxious, i don't find anything about the role or training enjoyable.
It's incredibly micromanaged, ridiculous workplace rules etc.
I qualified as a teacher and did supply for a few years alongside tutoring but applied for the Civil service role. I was in another CS role for just over a year and left for this one on promotion.
I'm very tempted to go back on supply until I can hopefully secure a permanent teaching role. The agency I have has a guaranteed pay scheme, my intention is to do tutoring alongside this and I know I'd have to find additional work for the summer holidays etc.
It will be hard in another way but I did it for a couple of years and never felt this anxiety I feel now.
Any movement in my current role is blocked for 2 years. I dont have to do supply forever, and I could do it whilst looking for something permanent.
Part of me is scared it's a massive risk and I'll regret it, but I don't see things getting better in this role. I can be very hard on myself and compare myself to my friends a lot, we're in our mid 30s and majority of them have been in the same company for years and worked up to management. I've never really done that and sometimes feel like I'm not cut out for anything like that.

Bumping

Why did you leave supply in the first place if it worked for you? Try to think about why you left for the CS in the first place. Grass isn't always greener I'm afraid. Supply work is very sporadic nowadays and behaviour/ pay can be very poor. Also, getting a permanent teaching job can be very difficult in some areas, too many teachers, not enough posts and heads may question why you left the profession in the first place. Could you look to move within the CS perhaps?

Yes, I'm curious about why you left teaching in the first place.

I wouldn't do supply teaching. It's bad enough behaviour wise with a permanent teacher but 10 times worse with a supply teacher.

I think you'd just be swapping one type of stress for another.

I left a permanent teaching role in July 2018, and have been doing full time supply ever since.

I love it. I got my quality of life back.

There was a bit of a surge in recent years of teachers going into the civil service. I used to see it constantly mentioned on a leaving teaching fb group I used to belong to, where it was touted as amazing and so much better than teaching. Clearly it's not all it's cracked up to be!

I mainly looked for a permanent role to help getting a mortgage, which I've got now. Supply had its good and bad days but on the whole I didn't mind it. It didn't give me the anxiety I'm currently experiencing. I'll have a think over it anyway.

I can totally understand why teachers would want to go to the Civil Service, it's very family friendly, wfh, flexi etc. But I suppose every role and manager is different.

I did supply in various settings, so yeah I did go to some schools with atrocious behaviour, but I also did placements in things like hospital schools, 6th form etc. Which was nice.

What age group do you cover? In primary schools even they now have internal cover supervisors to cut down on supply costs. I would try and suss out what the demand is like before making a leap. Also remember certain times of year are quieter, so will you be able to manage financially during those months?

I do supply and this year has been like no other for lack of work and that seems to be the same everywhere.

You might already be a member but there is a Facebook group called supply teacher network and there is a lot of information on there about the amount of work available.

The agency has a guaranteed pay scheme luckily, and I'm intending to carry on with tutoring/sign up to a healthcare agency outside of work to have more options. But you're right it's something I should consider. I'm in secondary.

I’m in primary, I’m often tempted by supply but all the primary schools round here cover with internal HLTAs.

Where are you based? I’m in London and currently a long-term, part-time supply teacher. My agency Zen is good as they don’t call you in the morning if you don’t want, you can choose from jobs on the app. I’ve never been short of work.

I always think that the guaranteed work scheme might give u the jobs that everyone else turns down? Might be wrong but I definitely wouldn't want this.