Anyone have experience of both primary and secondary teaching?

[threeelephants]

I taught a core subject in secondary for a decade, and moved to primary a couple of years ago.
I absolutely love the primary classroom work...having my own class, teaching a range of subjects, getting to know the children... it's fantastic.
However, the worklife balance is getting me down. The lack of PPA time, the incessant needless planning, balancing all the subjects.
I also think primary teachers are treated a lot less like professionals...much more micro-managing goes on.
I've worked in two secondaries and two primaries.
So today I'm pondering whether to go back. I had a TLR in secondary, there's much less scope for promotion in primary.
Basically I'm doing a lot more hours for much less money and stress levels are the same.
I enjoy the actual teaching more in primary than secondary, but is it worth it?
What have other people done in this position?

I’ve moved from primary with TLR to secondary without TLR. I loved primary but my work life balance is better now. I wouldn’t consider teaching in primary again.

Done both, back where I started in secondary now. I loved primary but the workload and following the latest 'thing' was too much.

Oh dear, you're all confirming what I'm thinking. I just find myself thinking that I could go back to secondary, put in 75% of the effort I put in now and still do a great job.
And you know, actually see my kids!

I moved from secondary to primary and youre right, the workload is much heavier.

I work in primary but did a stint in secondary for a while. I would agree the workload is definitely more in primary, however the behaviour and attitude of the secondary pupils was so bad, there’s no way I’d go back (I was slapped by one pupil in secondary)

Yes, the behaviour is one thing that makes me reluctant to move back. I copied with it for many years though, and I'm just wondering if it's worth it for the better workload.

I just want to have a decent amount of money- and in secondary I'd easily get a TLR, I have lots of experience in a couple of key areas- and a decent amount of time.

My subject is the heaviest in marking and I still think I'd have more time for my family.

I started in a core subject in secondary, went to SLT in primary and am now back as a TLR holder in secondary. Definitely would never go back to Primary! I actually found the behaviour worse in Primary as the kids were far more likely to be aggressive towards one another and staff (might have been where I was teaching though!) I also found the levels of aggression from parents to be a bit of a shock!
Definitely happier in secondary and wouldn't go back in a million years!

As a primary teacher this is very interesting! Didn’t really think about the contrast - maybe I should swap!

Parents are definitely one of the hardest parts of teaching primary - I assume you get less involvement of parents at secondary?

Much less parental involvement in secondary. Obviously in primary school they're there, every morning and afternoon. Secondary it's 3 times a year unless there's a specific issue. Even when I worked in SEND it was no more than once every couple of weeks.

In terms of work life balance it appears to be a no-brainer...but I'll really, really miss my actual class teaching.

Feeling very torn and a bit sad about it all