Anyone else ready to quit already?

[MsJaneAusten]

Ugh. 5th September and I'm already done.

I'm getting more and more resentful about the amount of time I am putting into other people's children at the expense of my own.

Seriously considering alternative careers.

Thank you all. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I read your messages but didn’t have an ounce of strength to reply. Today has been better so I’m trying to chill out a bit and remind myself that the start of term is always the busiest. I teach lovely kids in a great team, but I’m a head of faculty and teaching more classes this year than ever before, plus average class size is now firmly at 30/31 and the ‘initiatives’ keep coming. It’s exhausting.

how lucky she is that we can do loads over the school holidays Thank you wentmad - that really helps

Yes. Mainly because of the politics and power struggles. It gets me down.

From your username, I’m guessing you teach English. Heavy workload Could you drop your responsibility or reduce your hours? You couldn’t pay me enough to be a head of dept on top of classroom teacher! I’m looking at the possibility of reducing my hours and doing more tutoring over the next few years. That’s the plan anyway!

Glad you had a better day. Seriously though, you do need to keep an eye on the workload. I've planned something nice for half term with youngest dd - 3 days away. That's given me something to look forward to. Have also booked a few cinema tickets and that will be non negotiable - no work during those times. It helps me because it stops me losing perspective. Yes, my job's important (and I've temporarily had to take on quite a bit more management stuff) but our life is too. That's why I insist on booking in fun/family stuff too.

Hope you're having a good weekend

It’s shit. The only way I have coped is by side stepping and not being in a classroom role anymore.

I have lots of paperwork and meetings with parents, but no teaching, marking, prep, assessment to do.

Plus I’m part time-that helps. Though my pension will be awful and I will never be able to afford to retire!

What happens when we’re all working till 68 and are at the top of the pay scale but exhausted as we are old and weary but the head wants to replace us with someone young and v cheap?!

Capability proceedings all round!?

Yes I expect that’s what will happen!

I am FT but would love to by PT. I’ve been denied this when I requested it though. I would have taken any form of PT! I’m a senior leader in a primary school and it seems that PT is simply not allowed at all.

I've been teaching for 30 years, work in a lovely Primary but cried on the way to work last Wednesday and Thursday!! Monday and Tuesday were INSET days, with the usual crap thrown at us about how our data isn't good enough and how lesson observations will no longer be conducted bt the SLT but outside providers. I'm 51 and seriously thinking about retiring at 55

cloudyweewee, I feel your pain. We have an Exec HT at the moment, and her doing observations fills me with dread, which makes me not the normal teacher I am. I need to get over it. I'm perfectly good, and she's perfectly nice. I've built it up to be a deal. Either there's too much challenge or not enough - I just can't win! I know it's all to make the powers that be happy.

My heart goes out to you all. Teaching is such a responsible job - you can make a huge difference to a child's happiness, their attitude to learning and their whole futures. That is entirely sufficient responsibility without all the surrounding crap post-Gove. I could cheerfully shoot that guy!

What you are doing is so very much appreciated though - I pick my DGD up from school twice a week and she skips out happy and smiling clutching her latest book and telling me what she has been doing.

Keep up the good work.

I began teaching 20 years ago and I can tell you it has changed immeasurably over that time. Mainly the lack of independence now for teachers in the classroom and lack of respect from every quarter. I have climbed the greasy pole and it's not much better at the top, believe me. In fact it's worse because the politics are simply unavoidable and it's such high pressure all the time.
I left at the end of August so I'm still getting used to the feeling of freedom. It is completely different to how I felt over the holidays even though I knew I wasn't going back, it has only been the last week at I have begun to appreciate the lack of pressure and to feel happier about my new life moving forward!
I have a new job outside teaching which I have chosen because the hours allow me to tutor in the evenings - I still love teaching and want to keep enjoying that aspect. So a handful of Year 11 students should keep that part of me satisfied!
I would advise seriously looking at other options and to think outside the box - your skills are transferable! I wasn't sure if I could actually wrench myself away from teaching because of my high salary, the feeling that I have been only in teaching fir so long that no other profession would consider me, the fact that I knew I would miss teaching itself. I know it's been hardly any time at all for me in terms of actually having left but I know already that I won't be back.

Cuddly - I feel like you’ve been in my position! I am worried about giving up my salary but I feel like I need to get out.

I would advise taking a lot of time to prepare for your exit. It makes a lot of difference to your mind set if you know you are going to leave. I spent the last academic year knowing I would leave at the end of it and it did change my perspective!
When you do start seriously considering it, I would suggest looking at places like the civil service and guardian jobs - I was so used to just looking at eteach and the TES it took time to get the idea of other types of jobs bring applicable to me into my mind! After time I could feel myself getting interested in some of the positions listed, then it was a question of adjusting my CV so it reflected my teaching career but clearly showed the skills I had honed which would be useful in the new role.
It's an exciting (and scary!) time once you make the decision to leave but it can be done!

Where do civil service jobs get advertised, #cuddlymunchkin?

Cuddly thanks! Do you mind me asking: did you have to take a big salary hit?

Sorry - just seen the replies! If you Google 'civil service vacancies' the website will come up. Don't limit yourself to the education section only - I put in my postcode and looked at all the jobs I could travel to. In terms of salary, I was prepared to go down 10k but actually didn't have to do that. I think it was useful to know how much I was prepared to go to mentally too.

Thanks, Cuddly! I would love to know what you’re doing but I’m guessing you don’t want to post too much online. Best of luck with it. And wish me luck too!

Please don't all give up teachers! I'm already impressed with the teachers at my sons new comprehensive, as I was with his primary school teachers. We need you and I for one will support you in any action you need to take.

I quit and am now starting my retraing as a radiologist. Absolutely the right thing for me...i was a crap teacher.