Should I stop being a teacher?

[Sleepy27]

Hi,

I am a teacher at the moment and currently expecting our first baby. I went into teaching thinking it would be a good career for when we have a family.

Four years into the job, I have some responsibility but I'm not particularly enjoying it and feel that promotional opportunities have added stress and not been rewarding. My question is, is it worth staying in teaching for the holidays, or should I plan to go for something I would find more enjoyable. I want to have a rewarding career, but not at the expense of my family.

What would you do?

Supply teaching is a good alternative, but if it's secondary you have to have balls of steel to go in as a nobody on a day to day basis. Supply teachers don't fare very well in my school, although I always go out of my way to make them feel welcome and part of things as some of them just look lost and bewildered!
Also, supply jobs seem to be becoming rarer due to schools' financial constraints. We use HLTAs, rarely cover, or combined classes wherever possible now, and supply is a very very last resort.

Stay in teaching! For the holidays if nothing else. As a SAHM who resigned from a rewarding career because of childcare issues, I would love to have had a job where I got holidays off. If I had got that, I would be working today rather than on the net, waiting for DD to wake up so we can go and collect DS from school in the rain. Lovely though it is, feel my brain going to mush.

As others have said, you have worked hard to get where you are, so enjoy the benefits at this stage. Then if you want to do something different later on, when you don't need childcare, do it then.

A friend of mine went back part time after child 1 and now is doing supply teaching. Another friend also went part time after first child but now both kids are getting older, has slowly increased her hours so now does 9 day fortnight. Works for her and her school. I think that there are quite a few more options in teaching than other careers (but then I worked in the City!!! so might be jaundiced).