Former primary teachers what are you doing now? What are your job titles now?

[sv99]

I am supplying after leaving a toxic workplace. Enjoying supply but will not help me in the future with bills and mortgage. So considering moving away from teaching fully, ideally a remote or half remote job paying least 30k. But I feel like my only option is teaching.

Please tell me what you do now and how you got into it ?

I’m still in education after 37 years and will retire from the profession.

I have seen many colleagues leave teaching and go and work for the NHS (took a pay cut to start but worked way up), retail (manager salary you can earn £30k easy) or have gone self employed.

Self employed is tricky for sure - you gotta do what works best for you.

I'm still teaching but friends who have left over the years now work in admin jobs, support foster carers with literacy, tutor adults and do dyslexia assessments.

I'm still in teaching but hoping to retire soon and get a job in the NHS doing admin work a couple of days a week.

Apparently if you start doing Bank work there is often opportunities to become permanent (not that I particularly want that).

I'm done with teaching, after 28 years in the job it's lost all its attraction for me.

I'm 55.

What kind of commitments do you have in the UK? If few, consider international teaching and it may reignite your love for the job. The teachers I work with are so much happier than those who feel as you do.

Just wanted to chime in that I left retail management to be a teacher. Seriously, that would be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Far more toxic than schools.

I'm a self employed private tutor and also work for an educational publisher producing various resources as an educational author.

I do odd supply for one of my old schools, not via an agency.

It pays more than my old FT reaching role and I'm less stressed.

I'm a self employed private tutor too, supporting Primary children, most of whom have some additional needs. I really enjoy it - all the nice parts of teaching, without any school politics. It's rewarding seeing the progress my learners make. I earn roughly the equivalent of 3 days / week teaching, with scope to add some home educated children in the day times as well.

A few ex colleagues -

One has taken the newly created last minute (thanks DfE) LA role to oversee the roll out of wrap around care. Pay cut to do the role and a fixed term post until WRAC is up and running.

Another is an LA governance officer, again a pay cut.

Another is a mentor to trainee teachers, with a local uni. Pays a lump sum per student taken on, not great money.

One headteacher has become an LA clerk to governors.

Others this year ( I work across 14 schools) have left with nothing to go to. They have no plans to be in education at all. This includes three deputy headteachers and two primary headteachers.