No direction/drifting

[sunflowerfi]

I am a 35 year old single mum of two kids aged 7 and 9. Even before I had the kids I have always felt I have no direction career wise.
I did psychology degree and just scraped through then got an admin job in a college before teaching A Level Psychology and getting a PGCE there for a while.
After I had my second child I decided there was no way I wanted to return to teaching A Levels so returned to a support role in the college which I loved and hoped to progress in. Then the funding in FE got cut and unfortunately so did most support roles in the college. I took voluntary redundancy and got a similar but lower paid role in another college. At the same time I took beauty therapy qualifications and hoped to run my own mobile businesss along side the part time job. I .was cruising along nicely until April when a restructure was announced and my job was to no longer exist.
I applied for several jobs and ended up getting a teaching assistant role in a primary school. I thought finally this is something I can do and may be progress into becoming a learning mentor, primary teaching or educational psychology.
However I am finding the job really draining. Not only am I placed with a very difficult year two class but the teacher I work with is really nitpicky and difficult to work with. Part of me wants to stick out the year and then hope I can either find another similar role or be placed elsewhere in the school. Then the other part of me just wants out but then if I get another admin job then once again there is no progression-at least if I stick at this there is a chance to progress

No advice I'm afraid but I'm feeling in a similar position re: no direction and in a job that isn't right. I've posted too, we should keep an eye on each other's threads!

So you have good qualifications and experience. That's all positive.

It seems you have had some bad luck, forcing you to leave a couple of jobs, not through your choice, and your current role isn't very enjoyable because of one particular teacher being nitpicky and difficult - I guess we all have to deal with difficult colleagues so unless its an absolute show-stopper could you try to resolve any issues with that person, try to build bridges (and maybe ask yourself some honest questions as to whether their nitpicking has any substance at all .....)

I would suggest you get more specific about what your expectation of "progress" means to you.

Sorry to state the obvious but the 3 roles you mentioned (learning mentor, primary teaching, educational psychology) are demanding jobs - if you think your current role is draining, then it could be out of the frying pan into the fire!

That's why I think you need to have an honest 'think' about what progression means, what you are prepared to work towards and the effort you are prepared to invest. Most jobs nowadays, if they are linked with career advancement, will involve slog I'm afraid .

Having some focus and a target to aim towards will eliminate the impression you have that you are "drifting". IOW, create your own personl focus and a goal based on what you are already good at, enjoy, etc - use those skills to work out where you could move to.