Has Covid made anyone want to change career?

[Witchcraftandhokum]

The way school staff have been treated throughout the Covid outbreak has really begun to affect the way I think about my job. I feel like we've become collateral damage in the strive to keep schools open. The government guidelines seem to think it's safe for me to be unmasked in a class of 30+ kids, say it's not safe for me to be in a supermarket without a mask and tell me I can't see my family.

I feel we've been attacked by entitled parents who tell us that our safety and the safety of our families don't matter as long as long as their little darlings have a so i life.

I'm sick of pupils who don't wear masks or don't wear them properly. And parents who won't allow their children to wear masks because the think it's 'dangerous' and we can't enforce it.

I started looking at other jobs today.

Sorry, second paragraph makes no sense...

I feel we've been attacked by entitled parents who tell us that our safety and the safety of our families don't matter as long as their little darlings have a social life.

Yes I want to leave

Almost every teacher I know wants out. It will be interesting to see what happens when the resignation deadline comes around...

I can’t leave yet for financial reasons but I want to plan an escape!

I know a number of teachers with escape plans in place ranging from early retirement, starting own business to leaving schools altogether. One teacher has resigned to start an nhs admin position.

I was just wondering (after reading a university thread) will there also be a shortage of NQT's next year as their training has been so disrupted? So between staff who resign and lack of new teachers there could end up being a massive recruitment crisis by next year.

I'd love to leave - financially I can't. At 56 and asthmatic I'm higher risk but don't have enough of a pension (long child rearing breaks) and am too old to start another financially viable career in a pandemic. I'd quit tomorrow even though my school is lovely.

@ChristmasinJune

I was just wondering (after reading a university thread) will there also be a shortage of NQT's next year as their training has been so disrupted? So between staff who resign and lack of new teachers there could end up being a massive recruitment crisis by next year.

According the the NEU, lots of NQTs didn’t find jobs for the start of this academic year so there is likely to be a lag in struggling to recruit which will temporarily hide the issue.

@wasgoingmadinthecountry

I'd love to leave - financially I can't. At 56 and asthmatic I'm higher risk but don't have enough of a pension (long child rearing breaks) and am too old to start another financially viable career in a pandemic. I'd quit tomorrow even though my school is lovely.

Although I am 49 I am in the same boat as you. Who is going to hire us? But I am actually looking, you never know. I am soooo tired and frustrated by it all. Plus My kids have now left home and I feel so lonely. That’s not even Covid fault, that’s 12 hour days and weekends leaving no time to socialise..sigh.

Really want to escape, too - feeling so hopeless. Felt this way before COVID and the plan was to get a different job this year, but with the uncertainty in the economy I had to suck it up and get another teaching job this year. Grateful to be employed but also feeling so trapped and unhappy. A couple of years pre-teaching in financial admin and a Politics degree, what could I do? Have looked at civil service but the success profiles and strengths seem utterly overwhelming.

I'm planning to leave - taking retirement 2 years early. Covid has been the icing on a cake of utter misery that education has turned into.

I've managed to get a job in the civil service. Feel very lucky as I've been in the same school for 15 years. I think corona has given me the push I needed to leave. I've not been happy for a few years but just put up with it.The way teachers have been treated during the pandemic was the final straw

@bestthingsinceslicedbread

I've managed to get a job in the civil service. Feel very lucky as I've been in the same school for 15 years. I think corona has given me the push I needed to leave. I've not been happy for a few years but just put up with it.The way teachers have been treated during the pandemic was the final straw

Wow well done! Wish you best of luck on your new career. Yeah I’m kind of feeling like that myself after only 7 years. Any tips for applying to the Civil Service?

Thanks @picklespark
I found they are very open about what they are looking for. I had to do online tests...there are practise ones that you can do before hand which was helpful .
I found the success profiles really helpful before the interview. I made sure I had several examples tailored to the success profiles.
I'd say just give it a go.
Good luck!

I’m 48 and finally doing my NQT year this year.
I spent most of Saturday bursting into tears over nothing - I think it must be tiredness and stress. I will see this year out, but cannot face doing this forever - I never see my 8 year old.

I only got offered the job on 3 September - so it was a bit of a shock (I was an intervention TA), then had COvID and class, was off for 2 weeks, me for 3 - it’s been a whirlwind.

I can’t think of what else I could do - but have started to slightly hope for small injuries/ illnesses which would have me off school: which isn’t healthy.

Perhaps NHS admin role is the way forward...

Sadly yes. I have an interview lined up for an admin role. Feel so unsafe at work and I can’t see that changing over winter. Just hoping my head will agree to an shorter notice period if I secure another position as my mental health is in tatters 😔

Just popping up again to say I’ve secured an interview for a civil service SEO position, feeling very chuffed even if I don’t get it. Will just give it a go and see.

Well done and good luck

@SleepymummyZzz

Sadly yes. I have an interview lined up for an admin role. Feel so unsafe at work and I can’t see that changing over winter. Just hoping my head will agree to an shorter notice period if I secure another position as my mental health is in tatters 😔

Sorry to hear that as far as mental health goes, so many of us are in that place right now. It’s an impossible situation.

No doubt you’ve had the interview by now but good luck for future endeavours anyway.

Yes I found myself nodding vigorously while reading this OP. The absolute lack of regard for teachers during this pandemic has been awful.

Bizarrely I find my friends' scornful attitudes the worst to stomach.

The public hate towards teachers is sickening. The total unawareness that schools run on goodwill and teacger charity infuriates me when I read the rubbish such as pribted in The Sun.

I love my job, some days, but the stress gets to us all. The i sane working hours, I am paid 21h and was chuffed to get my working week down to around 35h, full time I was paid for 35h and worked 70h.

I now truly feel we, as teachers, need to make the change. Stop whinging, stop taking in everything thrown at us Nd actually say this is a job, these are my paid hours and these are the resources I am supplied with. Anything else, pay me or do one. We also need to put our own mental health and families first. It hits home when a 7 year old tells you that you care more about the kids at school than them because you spend all your time planning for them.

Covid has taught me we all need to be a but more selfish and let the parents, government and the public fix all the broken things in education. We can't do everything.

@bestthingsinceslicedbread well done you..what type of job do teachers fit? I checked thru the civil service jobs but got stumped on the lingo and What section to look at. As a hod I have heaps of management experience but only Look after a small budget!

[quote Quarks69]@bestthingsinceslicedbread well done you..what type of job do teachers fit? I checked thru the civil service jobs but got stumped on the lingo and What section to look at. As a hod I have heaps of management experience but only Look after a small budget![/quote]
I’d look for jobs that require more general skills - just the behaviour competencies like Leadership, Delivering at Pace, etc. Some positions have additional technical skills - which you may have, I don’t know - but if you don’t just ignore those ones.

If you have management experience I’d be looking at SEO level positions. You can filter by grade when searching. It’s just a case of tediously reading every advert to see if it’s a more general type of job. Even better if it is a big recruitment drive and there are a lot of posts.

You have tons of transferable skills, so really use this in your applications. How you motivate and work with others, what problems you have solved, how you achieved certain results and knew you were successful. Good luck!

I'm personally not looking to leave, however, I am only 34 and fortunate enough to work in a lovely school.

However, I have had a TES job alert set up for yonks (just never deleted it) so I get the job alert emails. Loads of Science vacancies appearing over the last week or so and it's not even the Feb resignation date yet! So, I am guessing a lot of people are jumping ship.

I don't blame people for wanting out tbh. The media/public have been vile to teachers throughout the pandemic. We are key workers but with no public support. This year has been bloody hard with lockdown learning etc. I am a middle leader and trying to continue to move things forward or do anything constructive while simultaneously doing some strange version of the hokey cokey is like wading through treacle!

As I say, I am exceptionally fortunate to work in a lovely school for a decent head teacher. If I didn't, I would probably feel differently.

Yes, I’m only a term into my NQT year and I’m already thinking I’ve made a huge mistake. I work part time and was thinking about upping my hours next year. No chance now, not after giving so much more unpaid time than expected in the last few weeks. Love the pupils, love my colleagues, hate the attitude of SLT and government.