Anyone left teaching and not regretted it?

[mudpuddle]

Have seen a number of posts weighing up the pros and cons of teaching. I posted about this myself more than a year ago as I was having a wobble about going back to my part-time teaching job after maternity leave. Obviously, every teacher has a different situation- different school, different workload, different family demands. I have a toddler and after being back at work for more than a year, I don't feel any better about things really. The situation is this:

• I work part-time (3.5 days). It is not an option for me to do less, I have requested it once already.

-I find that there are many, many extra demands on my time. We are a tiny school and teachers tend to have to take on extra responsibilities to make things work. It is an option to say no, of course, but the atmosphere is not good if you are seen to be trying to get out of your share of the workload. I don't feel it is a 3.5-day a week job- it has expanded.

-It is just assumed that I can attend many courses, training on days off. I don't say yes to all, but for the reason above, I do say yes to some.

• I have to leave work in good time most days due to childcare- picking up etc. I spend the early part of the evening (while putting DC to bed) panicking about the work left to do when she is in bed. I hate rushing her bedtime story, bedtime routine. I then work til 9-9.30 with DP spending time alone. Crawl into bed about 10 because I am tired.

• My days off are my time with DC, but a chunk of weekend is also taken up working.

-I don't particularly enjoy the job any more- I think I do it ok, and I care for the children in my class but I don't feel the same about it as I did.

• we could afford (just- it would be a tight squeeze) for me not to work but I hear so many people saying that it is worth keeping hold of a teaching job as there are so few around, and in particular the holidays- (obviously I do work in the holidays to some extent but it fits in nicely with having DC). But all I think of is when DD is at school in a couple of years- yes,my holidays will be the same as hers, but how many school plays, sports days, assemblies will i miss?

Anyway, just wondered if anyone had given up teaching and found it to be the best decision (or any other stories- would be grateful for your experiences).

What about trying to get a TA job?

I gave up teaching 15 years ago after 8 years at it. In the last year I was messed around with part time hours which in effect had me paying for full time child care for a part time wage. I was also very bored with it. I taught secondary school but I realise work loads for primary school teachers are different. At least I had timetabled non-contact time where I could catch up. I rarely took anything home. Best decision in the world for me to leave.

I gave it up and took a TA job about 2yrs ago and I love it! I get to stay working in the environment I love without the hassle and paperwork.

Of course, the money really is rubbish but I'm fortunate enough that we don't need my salary. If you don't need your teacher's salary to get by, then it's something to consider.

I'm secondary, work 3 days, have 3 small children and a heavy marking load. Obviously still am in teaching so you may not want my perspective but I do completely get the sense of pressure and panic to fit everything in.

Mostly on my glass half full days it's the ideal job - I get the holidays with my children which many parents do not; because I'm p/t I see some of the dcs' primary events (puts me in a half way house); get stimulating adult company and have great friends there. Part-timers do work more than their contracted hours, it's the nature of the job anyway whether full or p/t but you feel it more when you have the demands of family wanting your time too, but I reckon the school get a good deal and so do I, as I am a better teacher for having that breathing space away on my days off.

And before you step away (which may indeed be entirely the right decision) have you given any thought to job-sharing (not necessarily in the current school you are in)? The reception teachers and TAs are a job share, at my dcs' school. doing 3 whole days each and it works very well indeed. The cross-over half day they use for exchange of information, planning and marking. Well, anyway, just a thought.

I gave up teaching (Secondary - English) 7 years ago and don't regret it EVER.

When I first did the job I loved it totally and was very good at it. I worked every evening for hours after school and was very creative.

When I had my dd I went part time (2 days a week) which I thought would be manageable.

My dd was the first in nursery in the morning and the last picked up at night. She was so exhausted she would fall asleep face first in her supper.

Once she was tucked up in bed I would work til 11pm again.

I was under pressure to do more extra curricular activities (the same as full time staff and the same as I had done previously) on a part time wage.

I had the same problems as you mention with in-service training and courses. I was even sent on overnight courses and asked to share my knowledge with the rest of the dept, which on a 2 day a week wage was totally unfair IMO.

I had to clearly plan what I was responsible for and what the people who took the same classes as me were responsible for. My Dept Head had a copy of this but still shouted at me about what wasn't done by the people who were in the days I wasn't and who I never saw. She did this infront of most of the staff in the staffroom which was humiliating, even though they had known me for years and she was new and they knew she was wrong. She did apologise but in private.

During my pregnancy with ds my doctor (whose kids I had taught) became increasingly annoyed about he pressure they were putting me under and signed me off.

Staff then appeared at my door with marking for me as I was not at work!!

All of that, coupled with the tiny salary I would earn once I had paid for child care, plus my dh's slightly increased salary over that time meant enough was enough and after my maternity leave was complete I handed in my notice.

I have never looked back.

I am SOOOOO much happier now, I have more to give to my children on a daily basis emotionally and physically and they are less tired themselves. It has been a brilliant decision for me and my family.

We have less money for luxuries but we get by and dh's salary has increased a little each year making it a bit more manageable. I obviously no longer have child care costs either.

For me the benefits of the holidays didn't outweigh the misery of term time and half the holidays were spent working or feeling guilty because I wasn't working anyway.

Good luck with your decision.

FWIW teaching is not the only job which will accommodate the holidays for the same (pathetic given the hours worked) wage and many of those jobs finish the minute you walk out the door - guilt free.

Sorry for the length of my post. I feel quite strongly about how poorly treated and paid teachers are!

i left teaching in 1999 and not regretted it for a minute. I enjoyed teaching but I hate evertthing else that went with it. I nearly had a breakdown. What annoyed me most was the lack of support from senior staff. The final straw was when a child brought a gun to my lesson, when i notified the head he said how dare I disturb him cos he was in a Governor's meeting. It took him 20 mins to arrive - he could have killed half the class. Then it was my fault for not dealing with it better and i was subject to diciplinary proceedings!!!

I left teaching in 1998 after six years and didn't regret it one bit. Circumstances have since led me back into part-time teaching which I now love but when I left all that time ago I thought I would never go back; it really is a particular set of circumstances that has led me back. Initially I was lucky and got a job that was better paid than teaching. I worked for a large American company and although I had a responsible job and the normal 5 weeks holiday, it felt so much less onerous than my teaching job had done. If you're not enjoying teaching I would leave. One of the good things about it is that you can always go back to it in the future.

I left a primary SLT position when they turned down my flexible working request after maternity leave. However, I had been having doubts long before that: the hours, the eternal feeling of 'never having done enough', the hours, the internal politics, the pressure to get results... Oh, and I did I mention the hours?

I am willing to go back for the right p-t job, but have found that hard to pin down. Overqualified for some, under-experienced for others and loads of applicants chasing p-t jobs.

I will be doing some suppy teaching in the autumn but am seriously considering re-training. The only things I have missed since I last worked in a school are the feelings of status and responsibility and the times when I had nice colleagues. The thought of planning a week's teaching sends me cold!

Just out of interest, what do the people who left do now?

Dh left teaching as it was asking more & more of his time. He now works in a theatre. Big pay cut but was worth it to just go home and not think about work until the next shift

I sort of left but didn't...

I am a secondary (art) teacher and taught in mainstream, special schools and PRUs. When I had my DD (now 2.8) I was a HoD in an EBD school/PRU which I loved. I went back 3 days a week after mat leave, and kept my position. Of course, this in reality meant 5 days' work on 3 days' pay, and was not really workable for me. After a year, a position as an advisory teacher for children in care came up (0.5), and I went for it and got it. I absolutely love it. I can now sometimes work from home, my working day is varied and I don't have to carry the stress home with me in the same way I used to. The job has its stresses, but they are different and I am so much better supported to deal with them and I am using my skills.

So, leaving teaching is not the only option. Have a look at non-classroom based positions; although they are rare, they do exist and may be an option for you. Also have a look at alternative education provision, special schools and PRUs. The work is more difficult in different ways, but so much easier in others. You could even become a Ofsted inspector

BranchingOut I am currently a SAHM and probably will be for a while yet - after that I have no idea.

I liked working with teenagers and teaching teenagers but got very, very tired of the work outside of that that was expected or necessary.

OP one thing I did do for a while was home tutoring of school phobic pupils. That was a lovely compromise. I was still teaching but didn't have the marking load although there is still the prep.

Thank you for the responses everyone, some similar stories coming out... Being a TA is a thought. Does anyone know if those jobs are hard to come by too? It is also good to know about those who are now SAHMs and not regretted it. I think because teaching is the only job I have done it is scary contemplating giving it up, but there might be other opportunities out there if I needed the money. I don't think it is realistic for me to do it long-term.

I've been a private tutor since having twins eight years ago - its was great when they were preschool age but now they are at school - I work the exact opposite hours of them so I NEVER see them!

Still I wouldn't go back - I am my own boss and make more money in less hours than in the classroom.

If you tutor school phobics and similar then you can teach during school hours, once your dcs are at school. You can take on as few students or as many as you like.

It is a long time since I did it but the council paid £17 an hour, so I imagine it is a good bit more than that now. Private tutoring round here makes £25 an hour. I am sure there are parents who would pay for primary age tutoring, if you are a primary stage tutor.

It is very rewarding watching individuals make progress and getting the time to give them one to one attention for longer than 5 minutes.

There are also jobs in youth work but most of them would be in after school hours.

Where I live TA jobs are being cut back so I don't know what it is like in the rest of the country.

Watching with interest as I am considering coming out of teaching too. My hours have been cut for next term from 0.5-0.3 as it's "unfair to reduce full-timers hours" . I have signed up with a supply agency who seem really positive about fiilling my spare 3 days so I shall wait and see how it goes. If I really can get enough supply work I shall hand in my notice & I will then be able to pick & choose when to work (not missing sports days etc). Also considering TA work full-time (less pressure, less pay) but will have to wait for positions to come up.

One thing that worries me is the being 'over-qualified'. I have applied for jobs in a nursery before but don't even get an acknowledgement!

I gave up-I wanted a work/life balance. I did supply for a long time but that is difficult with small DCs. I loved the classroom bit with the DCs-not the rest. I did think about being a TA ,so that I could get that, but the pay is poor. I know lots of teachers who work as TAs.
You can always go back to teaching- I had two longish breaks.As long as you are prepared to do supply teaching you can get back in easily.

I did supply and never went into teaching full time. It was too all consuming. I loved the kids and the classroom, but I cared too much, thought about it all the time, hated the institution where the learning took place and didn't feel like I could cope/be bothered with constantly chasing up kids on discipline, uniform, pens, paper etc. I used my qualifications in educational publishing/e learning type stuff and am now teaching adults which I love. I think teaching is also a nightmare for the partner, they come in from a busy day and want to play, all you can think about is the next day of teaching. And then you only get a bit of a weekend before you start worrying about it all again. The holidays aren't worth it. I've been off 3 weeks of the holidays and family have helped or covered the rest. When I come home, my work day is finished.
Teaching is the best job in the world, but the circumstances to do it in don't suit me and I gave up on it because I knew it woudl finish me off.

...all you can think about is the next day of teaching. And then you only get a bit of a weekend before you start worrying about it all again. The holidays aren't worth it. I've been off 3 weeks of the holidays and family have helped or covered the rest. When I come home, my work day is finished.

Agreed. I know of very few other jobs where you have to constantly be 'prepared' before you even start your day's work.

I remember really envying people who could turn up at their workplaces, stretch, have a cup of coffee and then plan their day's work.

I gave up the chalkface when dc2 was born, but in the last 2 years have got involved in adult education - fabulous!

I'll never go back to the classroom, I don't think, but I do enjoy teaching adults (basic skills). Best decision I have made in a long time!

I left my full-time primary teaching job at the end of the summer term. So far (though it's early days!) I'm absolutely convinced that this was the right decision. While I've always enjoyed the actual teaching bit of the job and (most of the) children I've taught have been lovely, teaching was pretty much taking over my life. I'm quite conscientious and like to do things 'properly', but with a huge workload that seems to expand the more you do, I was finding it impossible to live up to my own expectations. I agree with a couple of the previous posters about how a teaching career can affect the people around you. My partner has been incredibly supportive, but our relationship was beginning to suffer, as he would get home from work in the evening only to find me fully immersed in planning and marking, and therefore pretty uncommunicative! We don't have any children yet, and I am frankly in awe of those who teach full-time and still manage to make enough time for their family. In my experience, there are some fabulous teachers who are ultra-efficient and still manage to take very little work home, but I've come across far more who, for the sake of a better work/life balance, only do the bare minimum, and are willing to face the potential consequences of nagging management and dissatisfied parents. Sadly, I'm the type of person who will always be plagued with guilt about the bags of marking lurking in the corner or the all the lesson planning/assessment/report writing/cutting out/laminating that I should be doing for my class.

From September, I'll be doing a combination of supply teaching and possibly some tutoring, and studying part-time towards an MA. Long-term, I doubt I'll ever return to teaching full-time. I've spent the last couple of years longing for a 'normal' job, where there is some sense of completion, your working day isn't rigidly divided into hour-long blocks and you can choose when to have a drink/go the the toilet etc! Teaching can be fabulously rewarding, but it can also be pretty overwhelming, and ultimately I found that I wasn't prepared to sacrifice my own wellbeing, lifestyle and relationships for the sake of a job.

Well done you!

I totally agree with what you have written. I am married to someone in a very high stress/long hours profession and for a while it worked perfectly - in the evenings he was still at work, I was busy working at home. But gradually I found that as his work stablised, I was still doing the same amount. It was awful for our relationship - I was very reluctant to do joint things at the weekends because I felt that I had to get my personal relaxation time in before the looming work took over again, then the next day he would be there relaxing in front of the tv while I was sweating over a hot computer. We had a huge marital crisis earlier this year and one thing he brought up was 'living separate lives' and I think that workload has had a lot to do with it over the years. Also, I found that as the years went by I resented it more and more - especially the planning.

The other thing I noticed is that it has become harder and harder. When I began teaching in 2000 ish it was considered fine to use good planning from previous years and just adapt a bit for your own class. Now the emphasis on personalised learning and the creative curriculum means that there is an increasing tendency for planning to need to start from a blank sheet of paper. And then you still need to find, make, rustle up all the resources. By the time I went on maternity leave I found that my creative energy was completely depleted. I was getting slower and slower at planning and found it more of a struggle every week. The plans for reducing workload seem to have gone completely off the horizon...

I hope that you find a new direction that enables you to keep your marriage in better shape than mine. :)

There is always someone who pops up on teaching threads who c

Adding - There is always someone who pops up on teaching threads who claims to do it all in 30 minutes after school, with no work taken home. I have come to the conclusion that either they have a natural aptitude for it, work in a school which is happy for them to use lots of pre-prepared planning/resources or are happy to be a bit slapdash.

The problem is when you are none of those, you rapidly find your personal life being eroded.