Parents who are/were teachers.

[Panda07]

Hello,

I am a first-time Mum to a 4-month-old. I love being a Mum.

I have 10 years of teaching experience in Special Needs. Although I love working with the students, I was losing my mo-jo for the job before pregnancy. The curriculum comes first, too many hopes to jump through, OFSTED needs pleasing rather than teaching what the students need. Not to mention the lack of support from SLT, especially in the schools I have worked in.

Now that I have my firstborn - I can't imagine going back to the role. I don't have family nearby to help with childcare, so I will be paying £18,000 a year on nursery fees.

If I go part-time I will be out of pocket from bills before I put food on the table.

My maternity leave ends the week before the Easter holiday next year. If I decide to leave, I need to return with my resignation letter.

Did any parents leave the profession? What did you do next? Any WFH ideas?

You would be very well over qualified for roles with lots of charities, supporting individuals and families of children with a variety of SEND, but you will halve your pay, for working FT.
Now, my thinking is I'd rather work PT (and therefore also paying PT Nursery fees) than work FT for the same money.
Yes, the role will be easier and the hours per week far fewer, but against that you don't get the extra 2 days a week with your dc, and you are still paying FT Nursery fees.

I was working in a special school when I had my dc. I went back FT after dc 1, and dropped down to 3 days a week after dc2.
I know it is hard now, but you do need to think long term.

Remember you aren't paying out £18K for Nursery, but both parents share that cost.

I was a SENCO and class teacher in a secondary school.

I now work for our local authority as a specialist teacher. I work 1:1 with pupils out of school for medical reasons.

I am employed and paid as a qualified teacher, full terms and conditions but the role is sooooo much more flexible. I manage my diary and teach 2 2.5 hour sessions a day. I generally plan my sessions 10-12:30 and 1-3:30 so that I can do morning drop off for my kids. A lot of my students don’t access the full 2.5 hours so I’m often there for pick up too and then I can do my paperwork whenever suits me. It has its own challenges sometimes, but it’s a dream composite

*compared to classroom teaching!

From your OP it doesn't sound like you worked in a special school? If not perhaps that would suit you? My son attends one and while the teachers and assistants work extremely hard it doesn't seem like they have to follow the usual national curriculum. From my own experience and what people that work there have said it is an extremely warm and caring environment. My husband is a teacher and the school holidays are brilliant for your own childcare when your kids are in school? Is part time a possibility? That would also make life easier.

@Flippingflamingo ia that paid on a sessional basis? Ive seen similar locally but not sure I can cope with another zero hours contract.

There's sen case officers - I've nearly applied for those but they have such a Hugh turnover I think the role must be awful.

Also sendias advisors is another role I've looked at

Occasionally there are other council sen roles.

Or failing that have you looked at Ed pscyh/ot/ retraining?

Or charity/museum - less pay but so much less stress.

Or Adult ed? Or adults with sen ?

No, I’m salaried like an ordinary classroom teacher not paid sessional. I’m employed by the county council as a teacher, just without a school named on my contract.

Oh that's good!!! I've seen quite a few of similar job ads but it seems a lot of it is outsourced here to sessional workers so there's no guarantee of income.
I'd be really interested though. Do you go to their houses? Public places?

The other ad I've seen sometimes is virtual schools. Which isn't an online school but the name for people who help oversee those in the care system and that they are accessing education.

It depends on the needs of the student. Sometimes it’s in the home, sometimes libraries, sometimes in their own school, sometimes at our base where we have a classroom set up. The job varies a lot.

The op said WFH. I think you do work for little with nursery fees so high. It’s common. After 10 years of going up a pay grade, you won’t be earning peanuts. I do not see many well paid jobs using teaching qualifications wfh besides tutoring. The obvious one! So look into that. But: no pension. No sick pay. No promotion. No further training. Lots of spare time though!

I moved into being a specialist advisory Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People. Like @Flippingflamingo above, I'm employed by the county council and paid a teacher's wage (I'm UPS3) with SEN points and am on STPCD contract.

I visit different schools in the county to do 1:1 sessions with deaf children or just go in and do advisory visits to make sure the pupil has the best access to the curriculum possible. My day is usually 9-3 and I get an hour for lunch! I drive around and visit different schools which is really interesting. My longest 1:1 session is 1 hour. Part-time is so, so common in our team as lots of parents.

I did a mandatory post grad qualification part-time for the first two years, paid for by the council and given study time as part of my working week. The pressures on my working life are far, far less. No books to mark, no displays, no learning walks, no break duties, no assemblies, any planning is only for me, yes annual reviews to write reports for and attend and Team Around the Family meetings etc. but really interesting and always part of my working day.

Best move I ever made!

I moved from teaching to a Virtual School when my first child was small, retaining STPC. With your SEN experience, this may suit. Some Virtual Schools employ on STPC others don’t. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any help 😊