If you left teaching what did you go on to?

[Snowflakewater]

I had a really tough day today and parTly just need to vent and partly need some advice.

I think at the place I’m in now I really don’t know if I can carry on teaching, I’m losing passion for it on a daily basis. The good kids are amazing but the bad are awful. I got told “spotty features” and another shouted something so bad I just wanted to burst into tears another told me “I’m an arrogant so and so” for them flinging a chair across a room, I learnt not to let much get to me but this just did.

Since I’ve been back after summer I’ve lost the passion to teach, I just feel like I’m on auto pilot, I work with others who just seem to know jr all and one up each other in meetings. The kids simply do not listen and it just feels exhausting.

Part of me wants to stay or maybe this school just isn’t right, but then another part of me thinks, maybe I’m just not a good teacher and actually it might be time to find something that I do genuinely feel more passion for.

How is everyone else getting on?

Check back @Snowflakewater. I’ve never said anything offensive to you. You’re obviously struggling and I’m genuinely still trying to support you. The only thing I’m ‘hell bent’ on is ensuring that people who need help, get it.

This thread really isn’t helping you now though. This charity might: www.educationsupport.org.uk

😂 I increasingly think you might be a long-form practical joke a student is playing on us.

This whole thing is just sad. Snowflake, you are clearly having some kind of mental health and/or wellbeing crisis and need to get yourself some offline help. www.educationsupport.org.uk has a free helpline for teachers that you can access. In the meantime, I think it would be a really good idea for you to disengage rather than being hostile to the people here. You would really benefit from reading over this thread with fresh eyes when you are in a better headspace. You need to reflect on how you respond when your opinions are challenged. If you react to colleagues or students as you’ve reacted here, you’re going to find yourself in a lot of difficulty, professionally speaking.

I don’t really think there is much point in giving me the name of a charity after most of the opinions on here were quite clearly seeking a reaction or being extremely pedantic and deconstructing my every word.

Absolutely no use signposting mental health when literally you’ve probably all contributed somehow to being overly analytical of my every word and making silly over the top conclusions.

So you want to post in an echo-chamber then?
You've asked a question in your OP. Then you've made some odd claims which some have queried. Then it all went south and, I have to be honest, you became quite aggressive.
@QuickFoxRun has given you what sounds like sincere and sensible advice. Others have too. Why not accept it with good grace and step back from this thread. I don't think it is helping you with your dilemma.

You’re not happy. You want support. You’re not finding it here. I’ve linked to a charity that can help you 🤷🏻‍♀️

I mean it could’ve been done in the first place rather than people like you fixating on every single word I’m saying and deconstructing and overanalysing it.

The other posters can talk for themselves. They don’t need you supporting them and reinforcing their perspective, they’re adults and can talk for themselves. You’re not mental health ambassadors either. So don’t promote MH like you care about others.

Well in the time that this post took a nose dive I decided not to waste my energy looking for any particular support and just decided to research and focus on what I’m hoping to do after teaching.

Then I return to this to find people still rambling on and on 2 days later.

Such is the nature of MN!

"people like you fixating on every single word I’m saying and deconstructing and overanalysing it."

"People like me?" You think I've analysed every word of your (now) 60 or so posts in my 5? I mildly debated one point of yours, about private vs state teaching. That was it.

Sure.

The reality is though that whatever career field you move into you're going to have to deal with the issues you're demonstrating here. Probably other career fields will have even less tolerance for... peculiarities or personality disorders than education where we are used to accommodating difficult characters or people with additional needs. In education ime the system is quite slow to move to action when someone is not performing adequately in their job and having a lot of difficulties with relationships and fitting into the professional culture. I personally don't think this does the person who is flailing any good either (obviously not good for students and departments having to compensate around them etc).

Honestly it would be good to seek some help with a therapist who is good with supporting self awareness and interpersonal skills.

Good that you’re looking for other jobs. Your qualifications may help you find something in an associated field. A couple of ex-colleagues worked for exam boards or educational publishing and made a success of it.

And I think any and every profession will require the ability to self reflect and take accountability for one's own performance. Unless you want to go for something with far less responsibility.

Less responsibility may be a good idea. You say, for example, that you refuse to do any work outside of school and will only stay for an hour maximum after school. It's fair enough to want a job like that but entirely unreasonable to think you'll be able to plan productive lessons that draw on your understanding of your classes, and individual students, needs (let alone all the admin etc required) at such a low level of work input. Especially so early in your career. It just isn't possible for you to meet the responsibilities and duties of your contract with so little effort. Even experienced teachers would have to be failing in their responsibilities if they did so little work.

I would fully expect disastrous lessons with that little input. I can't see how you could be doing any meaningful marking and giving or planning feedback let alone tailoring your lessons to your students needs and ensuring they make progress and that you are learning and developing your craft. And that's before even looking at all the other work we have to do non specific to our actual classes and teaching practice.

Something with less responsibility would fit better with the amount of effort and time you are willing to put in.

Please stop replying to me. You’re talking to yourself at this point and I really haven’t got the energy to read these essays you’re posting here.

Stop lecturing me, at this point you’re serving no purpose. Everyone else has stopped yet you’re still going.

Youre giving me a tirade of moaning and you’re making assumptions I can’t teach or that I can’t do x,y,z based off some posts on MN. The reality is that just because I’m complaining AFTER A BAD DAY doesn’t mean I don’t put effort in to what I do.

Im so bored of your comments being based around my capabilities, of which you know sweet eff all about.

If someone was fed up you’d drive them to insanity. Seriously, and politely, stop replying.

Im so bored of your comments being based around my capabilities, of which you know sweet eff all about.

You’ve documented much of your teaching career so far on these boards so actually many readers know quite a lot about your capabilities or lack thereof. Anyone can comment on any thread and much of what you have been told on here is honest, useful comment and advice.

Also what’s it to you how I balance my career. I’d hate to work with anyone like you because you’ll be the person who complains about those who leave on time because they don’t want to burn out.

a work life balance is important and I finish at 5 I AM NOT staying till 6. I refuse to. If I wasn’t having ppa taken I could do my work.

All I have to say is if you want to burn out for a profession, then go ahead and do so, but I’m not doing it.

Carry on defending the profession that doesn’t pay overtime, keep giving your everything to the profession, I don’t care. What I will say though, is you’re replaceable as a teacher, and your impact isn’t as profound as you think. Children will forget you and move on.

So, I’m sorry, you can defend the profession all night long, but in the long run, people don’t want to stay, this is more than likely because of teachers with an attitude like yours, thinking that we all need to live and breathe teaching. We don’t.

wonderful

Saturday: But I don’t ever want to disappoint children with my lack of passion it seems horrible to do that.

Tonight: I’m sorry, you can defend the profession all night long, but in the long run, people don’t want to stay, this is more than likely because of teachers with an attitude like yours, thinking that we all need to live and breathe teaching. We don’t.

I honestly think that @WayDownInTheHole is right and you are a student trolling us 😂

I agree with you completely that teaching needs better work-life balance and it's not wrong to leave at a reasonable time. But the other user was also not wrong that this will have a detrimental effect on your planning and marking, which is probably why the behaviour escalates in your classes. And unfortunately it's not just teaching anymore that has these hours - that's why the notion of quiet quitting has gained so much momentum. You can't really do that in your ECT because you are under so much scrutiny to pass.

I think you are striving for the unicorn job which is well paid to cover your bills, you have a passion for, and you have a decent work-life balance. I think you need to acknowledge this is very unlikely and when you leave, you are starting at the bottom again which means crappy pay.
What will your reference be like? You haven't been there that long and you've already burnt bridges, so are you even sure it will be good enough to get you another professional job?

I manage my time well enough at work I arrive at 7 some mornings so actually yes I can balance my time just fine to ensure I’ve done enough. I will use weekends to mark assessments. Lunch times to do as much marking too.

it’s about using the time I have effectively

That sounds positive. And what I am about to say, I don't want you to take the wrong way and get defensive on, but, that is what I'd expect from a fully fledged teacher. How much time are you spending...

1. On your ect programme?
2. Observing other teachers of students you are struggling with?
3. Reading exam specifications and past papers so you know exactly what the end game is?
4. Calling parents about behaviour?
5. Reflecting on your practice?

Because you say you are doing 'enough' but are you? Because I don't know of a single teacher who believes they have done enough. I arrived at school at 6am today and worked through break and lunch and then left at 4pm, so probably similar hours to you, and I definitely don't feel on top of my workload and I have 10 years worth of lessons to fall back on if I really wanted to.

I do think you are right to leave the profession but you need to be proactive in looking for a job and writing applications. You need to have a serious think about what you want. Do you want the work-life balance? If so, you are likely going to have a job with limited responsibility which means a drop in pay. You'd need to be in a position to accept that long-term you'd increase your salary but you'd need to be in a position to tolerate that drop in income. Or have you got a family to support, in which case the money is important? In which case you are being paid for a particular skill set or training, or the hours or responsibility.

I also want out of teaching. My job sucks every bit of strength and happiness out of me and I feel like a shell of the person I was. But I can't afford a drop in pay, so for the meantime I suck it up. But in the middle of this is a generation of kids who deserve better, so I turn up every day and give my job my best efforts. The kids in your class deserve your best efforts if you are staying for any period of time.

1. ECT programme is made up of interactive sessions and I do the work that links to it regularly
2. observations are really hard to squeeze Into my time as I get pulled into cover during ppa, so I’ll just ask people on the ECT programme (the leads) to drop in and watch and suggest advice.
3. I’ve read the spec but I prefer to practice through marking and then showing the experienced members of staff for side by side comparisons and I’ve also read the reports that are released after exam season
4. Calling home I make a point of once or twice a week, because things are so hectic I don’t always get to do it as often as I want to.
5. reflective practice feels like daily because I always feel like I do t do the role enough justice so I usually feel like I need to be tough on myself which caused some burn out last year and that’s why I don’t want to feel that way this year and I really just don’t feel the same little bursts of excitement that I did before

yeah that’s why I’m researching in my holidays so that I can figure out the path I want to take and not be too hasty.

You have a lot of ideas about the things you are doing “right”. What have you identified as your weaknesses? Are you able to identify weaknesses in your own teaching without placing blame on external factors? A lot of the time in your comments, you link everything that has gone wrong in your lessons to things like the students, the school, your colleagues. This is why people in the comments here are telling you that you need to engage in reflection. It can be difficult to hold yourself accountable for what happens in your classroom, but this does seem to be something that you would benefit from working on.

I definitely don't live for work and live and breathe teaching as you put it or relate to your assumptions at all.

I personally can't start work early because I have a reluctant teenager to get out of bed and at least looking like he will leave on time for school before I can leave. I do stay after school to about 5 most days, sometimes I need to stay later and sometimes I leave on time because I'm tired but obviously with the awareness that I'll pay for it the next day or whatever.

I also burn out easy and have to take care of myself due to health problems. I'm working 0.8 this year, less last year. Teacher friends would tell you I'm often baffled as to how they manage to work full time effectively and raise young children. It would literally kill me! Term time is really bloody tough and my house is a shit hole and we eat far too much crap because after a full day's teaching I have zero desire to stand on my feet in the kitchen and decide what to cook let alone cook it. I think a lot of us just survive through term time the best we can other than a few superhuman types.

I have become better at just saying no to some things that I don't have the time for and don't believe are of benefit to me or my students. Part of the reason I get away with that might be that I'm relatively effective and experienced teacher and because everything important is done and possibly they know they're taking the piss anyway asking the staff to do task x.

The calling home business really is worth making time for. It makes kids feel very visible in their behaviour and harder for them to just dehumanise you or blame everyone else when you've had reasonable ideally friendly and constructive conversations with their parent and they know that line of communication is open. It also, though they'd never admit it I suspect, makes some kids feel like you do actually care about them, do see their potential and do want them to do well and that in itself changes the dynamics. It's work and time put in but it does pay off and make life easier going forward.

The only other reassurance I can give is if you put in that bit of effort and you stick around in a school for a couple of years life becomes a lot, lot easier. Kids do test you, especially new to the school staff - seeing things through with those time taking actions like calling home and still being there the next school year are how you 'pass' apparently and attitudes towards you, your right to tell them what to do and control your own classroom change.

All that only applies if you decide to give it one more push and start again and give this year a proper shot with an open mind as to how things could turn out. If you've already decided 100% you're done then as I said before and another poster reiterated after, then less responsibility and less pay is likely to be the pay off and cost of the kind of working experience you're looking for.

I await insults