I'm leaving....anyone else?

[didiimaginethis]

Finally I've made the decision to leave, I've been a teacher for over 10 years. I feel very good about my decision and I know I've made the right choice because when I handed my notice in I felt so happy!
Anyone else decided to leave? What did you go on to do? Luckily I've got a couple of months grace period in terms of money so that I don't have to get something straight away after August. My dream job looks something like this:
Turn up to work, quick cup of tea
Work
Go home

I would if I could. I've been teaching for 24 years but can't see me doing this for another 20

So sad to read so many of you want to leave. Is there anything us parents can do to make the job more bearable?

Not really berry but thanks for caring. I am not sure you are the main problem, demanding as you can be!

Hi Berry - I'll tell you my final straw. I had inputted my mock grades on a Friday afternoon. That weekend, my parents had been abroad and become trapped by a mudslide (they are both fine now). Obviously, communication was tense and patchy. Things were too much - both at work and with my home life. I spent all weekend crying and took myself to the GP first thing on the Monday.

I got an email first thing Monday morning (while I was waiting to see the GP) along the lines of: 'It is disgraceful that you have not been in touch about my child's mock grade. You are once again letting her down. I expect you to call me before lessons begin.' That was when I knew I was never going to teach again.

This was after a run-in with the same parent who said I was detrimental to his child's learning and that, despite him not attending parents' meeting, nor reading his child's last two reports, I should be letting him know when his child's progress was insufficient for the top grade.

That's awful physicskate, sounds like the straw that broke the camel's back. I used to work in the NHS and left after 14 years because of the constant grinding down of the workforce, more expectations with less staff/resources etc and it became too much. So I understand why many want to leave, it's just a shame that public services aren't what they used to be.

It definitely was the straw. I'm still very bitter (if you couldn't tell). I was always taught to be especially nice to people you want something from, not to be nasty and aggressive. I feel like several parents from my last school were never taught that lesson.

Being aggressive towards someone who genuinely wants to help will more often have the opposite to the desired effect.

It was awful. I wasn't able to handle it because of a lot of personal issues happening at the time. I wasn't allowed to be a frail human...

(Issues dealing with: Forrest fire followed by mudslide that destroyed my hometown, infertility and heading towards ivf, depression caused by said infertility, BIL diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in his early 40's, oh and parents deciding to divorce and sell family home after 42 years of marriage). So sue me if his child's grade wasn't forefront on my mind at all times... and lead to a bit of a breakdown...

I once spoke vaguely like that to a lazy year 13 class you know kate (my issues were minor next to yours!) and , do you know what? It worked! They haven't dared backslide since!

Maybe we should be tougher on difficult parents, too.

Another escapee here!

I did 20 years of teaching. Sadly, the last two years were plagued by a bullying new headteacher, and the school's implication of ridiculous government ed policies. I resigned when I couldn't take it any more.

No regrets though, as I now work for myself flexibly from home for a similar salary, see much more of my own family, and never have that dreadful sinking feeling on a Sunday night. Whoppeee!!

I left around 1 year ago after almost 10 years teaching and it was the best thing I did!! I'm now a finance assistant (for a company heavily involved in education!) and love it!!

Timeforgin and mummymuppet, did it take you long to find these posts? Xx

Scooby23 I didn't even begin thinking about my future career prospects until after I left my permanent post. I just couldn't get my head around planning my future. So, I did supply teaching for 6 months, and it was during my free periods on supply (as I had no marking or planning to do ) that I gave serious thought to my next career path. To begin with,all I knew was that I didn't want to have anything to do with education if I could help it - I was just so disillusioned.
But 6 months later, after a lot of soul-searching, I came to a firm decision, to work in publishing. I'm coming up to my third year. Being self-employed comes with risks, but I have no regrets...

It took about 2 years to recover from the bullying experiences, but now I feel that the headteacher did me a massive favour
They say the best revenge is to live well

Thank you very much mummymuppet. So pleased things have worked out so well for you. X