Have any of you left a job for a simpler one and felt better?

[Schooliskillingme]

I can't keep on going in the job I'm in. Really well paid, mostly lovely employees and very worthwhile. However, I'm in an unsustainable system which is cracking under the strain of not enough quality teachers, understandably low resilience and retention, not enough social workers and inadequate social care support, massive poverty, unacceptably poor behaviour and assaults from pupils, daily aggression and complaints from parents with mental health issues and no external support.
I've been in schools since I was 22, and now 19 years later at age 41 I can't do it anymore.
I'm at the point of resigning, even without another job to go to. I'd be leaving in December.
Have any of you left a job you've worked up to, and taken a lesser one for a smaller salary yet been happier?
And did you ever go back? Or never look back!

Hltas are taking whole groups as ppa cover here. :(

I did.
My story is not yet finished as i resigned at Easter without a job to go to and have yet to get another one but I do not regret it.
I love supply and I have savings.
My plan is to try my luck in another school first before becoming a statistic of newly qualified leavers so i am in a different position from you. However if you feel you would think clearer after resignation then absolutely do it. Taking some time to think, sleep and move on will be well worth it.

I have no financial safety net but could do supply or maternity cover as a teacher.
I don't know if I'd manage financially but I can't carry on physically and emotionally like this, I'm feeling it.

I left teaching in March after 7 years with nothing to go to. Took me a while to find something but I'm now working in a completely different field, although only temporary. I absolutely love it and do not regret leaving whatsoever!

It did mean a massive pay cut though, but job satisfaction is now 100%

I'm not a teacher, just a parent of 6 kids who have attended 4 different schools. And almost without exception the teachers have been very hard working and dedicated to their jobs.

At my kids current high school I can see that the staff are there at 8am and rarely away by 5pm and work through lunch breaks. I know that they take piles of marking home because my chiildrem often get their work back marked the next day. And I also know they do the same for other year groups.

DD2 left school last week. She's had some amazing teachers who have inspired her, who have taught her study skills as well as the curriculum. She is genuinely sad to leave, even though she's off to uni.

As a parent I feel very sad that you teachers are all under such pressure and lacking support . And I want you to know that there are some pupils and parents who appreciate all you do and hold you and your profession in high regard.

But yes of course you must put your own health and your family's welfare first . I wish you well OP.

Hi, I couldn't read and not post.
I am also a secondary school eacher, I felt similarly to you for around a year before taking the break and leaving in the December just gone. It was a very sudden decision and I literally have the school 1 month notice.
I am still teaching, but 1:1, I work lower hours and have a lower income as a result, however it has done my mental health soooo much good. I do not look back at all. I could never teach in a school again. I now supplement my lost income by doing a range of "extra' things which I now have time to do. Exam marking, making and selling handmade gifts, a little tuition on the side. I could sell Avon, join Usborne or do another home-based business if I was desperate for the extra money. But I'm actually doing ok and as a family we have cut down on expenditures massively to accommodate my change in job.
It can be done.
You.will be happier as a result.
I left on a bit of a whim and decided that I would look for better paid work after a shirt while, but it's actually going well. If you've got enough to drive to make it work, it will. Good luck OP. You can do it.

Can I ask a question please? My DC started primary school in 1998. I was truly shockrd then at the way the teachers complained about how overworked they were, the Conservstive LA, lack of funding, etc testing, lesson planning.

Has it really got worse and if so were those complaints really justified?

Much worse :(

Hence most teachers leaving within 5 years of qualifying. Lovely good teachers who would do anything for the kids.

I am a senior manager and in a highly stressful job. I constantly daydream about leaving but I need the income. I know some people who set up on their own but it's brave and takes a long time.

I am not sure whether it is helpful, but I do think all sectors are squeezing employees for more. Certainly I have seen a big difference in the last 10 years.

It is very common for us all to work weekends, late nights and nobody ever has a lunch break. It is grim so I feel your pain. I wish I could quit!!

I'm a teacher.
I worked in a school in an area of very high deprivation for many years, for the latter part of my time there, it was in special measures.
It was the most miserable time of my life, and it impacted on my marriage and family life. I hardly saw DD.
So I left with no job to go to.
2 years later, I'm self employed now so go into schools as a specialist subject teacher alongside supply, which I love.
I am a completely and utterly different person now. It is clear to me now that I was depressed back then but was in such a bubble that I couldn't see it.

tastes what did you move to?

Not teaching, but working in a big corporate that was slowly killing me. Well paid, but the hours and attitude of management had just become intolerable. I'd lost my ability to put things in perspective so 18 months ago I walked away. DH had left his job the year before for similar reasons (same role) and others on my team were leaving in droves, many of whom had been there a decade or more.

Im now self-employed and I love it. No stress, but a lower income than I had before (still building up my businesses and skilling up in some new areas). Eventually I should be back where I was in terms of earnings, but I'm covering the basics right now and we have a decent buffer to tide us over if needed. I probably wouldn't have taken such a leap into the dark without some financial security, but it is possible, and it sounds like you have a few ideas of how you could make it work already. Life is too short to be miserable - work out what you can survive on, how you might acheive it (a couple of different income streams is preferable) and go for it.

leccybill I'm the HT in a school in deprivation. I took it on in Requires Improvement, got it to Good in a short while but now it's impossible to keep it there. So many many impossible challenges, extremely little parent support - in fact most of them work against us. At risk of outing us, less than 5% of our parents have any post 16 study or qualifications so they don't think School is important. Someone in the authorities or government need to see what is happening but nobody cares.

So why all the complaints 20 years ago? Trouble is i tend to think it's moaning for moaning's sake now.

But yes I work in the public sector and am flat out.

ohtheroses
yes I'm just moaning for moaning's sake.
That's why I posted on here, obviously.

Fuck off.

Oh the roses you need to get to know some teachers who you can really listen to and not just write off. People don't leave a profession they trained for in droves when it's "moaning for mornings sake." Education had been batted around by politicians and very rarely are experts in education listened too. The last few years most of my teacher friends are either quitting or wish to, and these are lovley, dedicated teachers. Teachers rarely mind doing lots extra work if its in the students interest, just so much of current policy is not in their interest and it becomes soul destroying. I used to spend hours thinking up inventive lessons, reflecting on learning and strategies. When. I recently taught I didn't have time for actually improving teaching. Most of my primary school teachers (a school I chose due to good retention of staff, they'd been there many years on the whole) have left since academising and becoming sats driven.

If I could afford private (local whole child focus, forest school, broad education etc) or homeschool effectively I would. I hate what the government is doing to both teachers and our children.

School - better response. hugs

Hi op I'm off sick from my management position in childrens social care, due to work related stress. It's been a long time and I cannot go back as it's worse than ever. Horrendous doesn't begin to cover it.

It's scary stuff - messing up my pension and having very little money - but I've realised life is way too short to work in something that makes you ill. Two of my friends have become seriously ill recently which has reinforced this.
So I'm looking at options to work for myself and earn enough to live on. I'm in my 50s and single but I am going to make the change and see what happens. I can always get work in social care if this fails.
So, my advice is think deeply about what's important in life and do not be constrained by social expectations and guilt. Take a risk, look after yourself - you're all you've got
And very best of luck

The thing is, as teachers, all of us want to work 'flat out' if it benefitted the children or led to any kind of job satisfaction or achievement.
We perform all day long and make a thousand minor and major decisions a day- we're used to working under pressure, teaching is very fast-paced.

But really, what's the point if the goalposts are changed constantly, you have no backing from anywhere, no money, no resources, low morale, a curriculum that many children can't access, to name just a few issues?

I worked for a large corporate in a very stressful area. Every year the mantra was do more for less, which is unsustainable in the medium to long term.

I ended up taking two separate periods of extended sick leave because of the pressure. Then I was offered redundancy and took early retirement. Fortunately our mortgage was paid off and we were financially stable.

Now, two years later, I have a lot less income but a much better quality of life.

I sleep through the night. I manage my time to suit me and feel so much calmer. I find that I no longer need to prove anything to anyone.

I know my circumstances are different, as I did not need to get another job, and for that I am so grateful.

Good Luck. No one deserves to be miserable or unwell. We are all trying our best in difficult circumstances.

OP
I know where you are coming from.
I don't quite have your level of stress as my job is not so 'responsible'.
But I too would love a break.
Financially that is not possible at the moment.

My DP did. He was working as a Senior operator and just found it quite boring. He's gone down from £50k to £30k so a significant drop but I'd say our quality of life is MUCH bette because he comes home Buzzing, he's so happy everyday. We actually have time to use the money, we go out and actually do things with our baby now.
Honestly if you can afford it I'd change jobs, you'll work your way back up.

I'm a healthcare lecturer. Everyone I know flogging their guts out in the public sector feels like this. The concept of 'early intervention' means nothing in terms of 4 year electoral cycles, therefore we keep fire fighting until the system must surely collapse. This is what years of Tory rule results in. I despair, absolutely despair.