To ask if you would go for this job, in my position?

[YouBelongWithMe]

I recently did another AIBU and the responses were so helpful! Hoping you'll all help me out with another dilemma.

I am a teacher in a secondary school. I have been teaching for a seven years and have had various promoted posts during this time.

I know someone who is in a teaching-adjacent role and who told me the post would be advertised soon, and asked if I'd consider applying for it. The job is now live.

Here are my pros/cons:

Stay in current role:

• Excellent holidays (13 weeks a year)
• Very stable, almost no likelihood of redundancy
• I am highly regarded in my dept and in my school. That makes my life easiest because students are generally bought into me, try hard and I don't have many behavioural issues.

• my colleagues annoy me. Like REALLY annoy me.
• in term time the job can feel really overwhelming in terms of workload.

The new role

• An opportunity to shape the role. More autonomy
• Day-to-day workload would be lighter. There would be opportunities for independent projects and some flexible working from home. More of an opportunity to establish myself as a leading voice in the sector.

• six weeks holiday (so more than half my current allowance)
• I would miss the kids and teaching them everyday. I love teaching teens.

Would you apply? TIA.

Key points for me that you’ve not shared:

£, is the new job a higher salary?
Commute, is this different?
Daily working hours?
How easy would it be to get back to a similar teaching role in the future?
What does the change in annual leave mean for your family? It’s a significant reduction but I presume with greater flexibility as to when leave is taken?

What is important to you? What makes you get up in the morning? Is a job a job or a career or a vocation? Could you move to another school?

Salary-wise, not a massive difference. I'm on £51k, and it's being advertised at £46-58k, experience-depending. I would have to negotiate it to the top of the pay scale to reflect the increased hours.

Commute - negligible. New role might be 15m more each day. This would be offset by the fact I could sometimes work from home.

Hours. I currently work 8am-5pm and do an hour in the evening. I would definitely be working less hours in the other role. In fact the current post-holder says they are sometimes "quite bored"!

Going back to teaching - I think quite easy. I have build up a pretty strong reputation in our local authority for various reasons. I wouldn't be worried about not being able to get back into teaching. Of course finding a school that feels like the right fit is a trickier business.

Annual leave - my kids are older teens. One is starting uni, the others will presumably follow suit in the next few years. I don't need the holidays for childcare.

I don't want to work in another school. I really like the kids at my school, and there's lots about the curriculum we teach that I'm especially proud of. Some colleagues infuriate me but I think there are shite teachers everywhere. Better the devil you know, in that respect.

I really enjoy my subject and love teaching it. Day to day, it's the kids that make it for me. They are wonderful and hysterical and entertaining - I would miss them dreadfully. But I do not want to be teaching full time when I am 50. This other role is a perfect side step into a career that would let me keep my fingers in education and let me share my love of pedagogy and my subject.

It's almost like the perfect role has come five years too early.

I'd go for it. I can't see any reason not to.

Can you?

It sounds like you've answered your own question

"But I do not want to be teaching full time when I am 50. This other role is a perfect side step into a career that would let me keep my fingers in education and let me share my love of pedagogy and my subject. It's almost like the perfect role has come five years too early."

Five years goes quickly. If you choose to wait, is it highly likely you'd again get a similar opportunity?

No point deciding until there is something to decide about. Apply, you might not get it. And if you do get it you don't have to take it.

Go for it, find out more at interview stage, see what happens.

You may or may not be offered the role, but if you don’t even apply you’ll never know either way, I don’t see why you wouldn’t just put an application in.

Even if you were offered it then changed your mind, you can still do that.

No, it's quite unlikely. I live in a major city and there are only two post-holders in this role across the city. I don't see that changing in the next five years. Although I guess the person in post at the moment only did it for three years, so I guess a small chance.

I would apply as you sound confident you can go back to teaching but less confident you will get this opportunity again.