Life after teaching

[haribolover30]

Hi all,

I have just returned from maternity leave to a role in leadership and the classroom within school. Teaching has always been really really hard (despite the bad reputation we seem to have amongst the general public!) but the good, and passion for the job, has always outweighed the bad parts.
Long hours, endless work being dumped on us, loads of pressure from government and our SLT Teams to constantly change/ improve/ adapt in our day to day teaching. Lack of money, staffing & resources and increasingly difficult children entering mainstream schools who clearly need specialist support are just a few! Anyway... I will get to the point!

I have returned off maternity to a role both in class and on the leadership team. Before I stepped foot in the door I was already being hounded by staff and parents!

I, like many others, joined the profession because we love working with children and teaching them. Sadly the teaching part of our job is only a tiny bit of the role now. Im finding the demands of the job, children, staff and parents far too much to cope with whilst trying to not let my own home life collapse, and it feels like it already is. Getting home gone 6, house is a tip, work to mark and other school bits to sort, getting 45 mins with my children before it's bed time. It's not great 😣 and that’s after a really hard days work where I’ve had violent children physically and verbally attack me whilst trying to keep up with the curriculum and needs of the other children in my care.

Instead of moaning about it though, I want to be brave and make a decision so that I can stop feeling like I'm failing in all areas of my life. I drive to work feeling sick and with a lump in my throat, the chest pains start the minute I walk in the door and I cry on most of my drives to and from work - which I am well aware is not okay.

Who has moved out of teaching and into what other profession? Any tips or advice?

I have a psychology degree from a top university and have been in the profession for 10+ years. I have 2 LO's who are 1 and 3, so holidays have always been a positive of the job. Having a happier mum overall is better than the holidays though!

Please don't make this a bashing post... everything is feeling really overwhelming at the moment as it is so please just be kind, or say nothing at all.

I work ridiculously hard and am happy to put in loads of hours once my children are in bed. I can also work PT or FT so am fairly flexible in that respect. Just looking for options and good stories from others to give me some hope and inspiration.

Thanks x

There is a Facebook group called after teaching.

Thank you @Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas

You are obviously very stressed out by your teaching job. I can empathize, I used to teach. I gave it up when I was being expected to work until 11pm most nights.

Can you get a cleaner to help with the housework? And what about applying for jobs in education other than teaching? Please have a look at the Facebook group suggested.

I left teaching, did a master's and now teach the subject I did a master's in at university. There are still bits that are box ticking and academics are a mixed bag (most are so interesting and collegiate and some are pretty awful) but It's a lot less stressful.anf there's still down time in the summer if it's a teaching role.
Not a usual career path & not one I really intended to do but it's worked out for me so far.
Sorry you are so stressed, school teaching can be really horrendous.

Educational psychologist? You've got the first degree and the teaching experience, just need the postgraduate degree. My suspicion is that it is a job with a lot less work in the summer hols even though you don't get school holidays.

@Aquilegia23 I am. It's really hard because I love the job so much when I am with the children, but I just question whether that is enough anymore. I feel like I don't want to live my life miserable and stressed to the point I am now, so need to be brave and give it up before it breaks me!

I have been having a look at other jobs in the education sector and am really keeping my eye out. Waiting to be accepted in the group 🤞🏼 thank you for taking the time to reply ☺️

@MakkaPakkas thank you for this ! I love psychology and when I was at university this was something I wanted to use in my career. I just sort of fell into teacher training and that was the end of that. Always loved the idea of getting my masters. Lots to think about. Thank you 😊

@FiremanSid
this was my original career idea as I loved working with children and love psychology. I just never did the extra qualification as life got in the way. Will relook into this idea 😊 thank you!

You sound passionate about your job, but it will break you in the end, if you continue to work that hard.

Can you take a sideways step? HLTA, family support worker, Ed Psych, Welfare Officer, careers officer, work in children's centres, youth worker, ( if they exist) tutor, or even work in a SEN school ( different challenges obviously). What about working for CAMHS? Play/ art therapy?

I was once a successful teacher many years ago. I left and never looked back . The money was good, but I cared about my mental health more.

Some really great suggestions here @Runaround50 , I appreciate it. I care about my mental health more now, especially as I have my own little humans that need me supporting them and being present (both physically and mentally!) for them. Some really great job suggestions that I will look into now. Thank you ❤️

Good luck @haribolover30 You have your own priorities now as you say and they need you well. Trust me, a sideways step is the right decision while your children are so young. You can always return to teaching later on in life, if you wish.

A teachers work is NEVER done. You just prioritize all the time.
No one is indispensable either.
Everyone wants their pound of flesh in schools.. you must look after YOU. 🌺

I was a teacher - trained (part-time) as a counsellor and now work as a school counsellor which I bloody love! With your psychology degree, you could train as counselling psychologist which is higher status and pay, with different opportunities.

Drop the senior leadership role and concentrate on the teaching. You will just have your own problems to sort out - not everyone else's as well.

@Runaround50
this was the kindest thing that has been said to me in a long time. So thank you, lovely mumsnetter ❤️ You are completely right and I have the motivation this summer to look at all routes, make decisions and complete applications. Thank you so much x

@PressPauseontheMenopause

this sounds absolutely amazing. Are you based in the UK? If so, where did you do your part time training?
thank you x

Not all schools are the same. Mine is like yours by the sounds of it. Bonkers but I kind of love it at the mo. Wouldn’t have with young children. Try another school or type of school.

@Middledazedted you've pretty much hit the nail on the head! Loved it pre kids and loved how challenging and busy it was. Now I have two little loves depending on me and I feel like I’m failing them and putting the other kids first. Thank you for replying ☺️ Enjoy your summer!

I think there would be a lot more teachers leaving to train as an Ed Psych if we could just do a year Masters like you used to be able to do. It’s a 3/4 year Doctorate now which is hard, extremely competitive to get on and can be expensive. The 80,000+ word research project put me off as well.

That FB page is well worth looking at, OP, especially the pit pony video. I have been looking but struggling to find much suitable that’s over minimum wage :(

@howshouldibehave
I've just been looking into it, and like you say it’s a rough old training course which would be financially difficult for my family. I’m sorry you are in the same situation too. It’s really tough in schools at the moment 😞 sending love x

School counsellor sounds like a great idea with your background and qualifications.

I am in a totally different area of work so I cannot personally give you advice, sorry.

it is a real shame you are leaving the teaching profession as you really sound like a really motivated teacher, the type of teacher I like my kids to have. But at the end of the day if you don't get the suppots you need you end up with burnout.
I have a friend who is a child psychologist, works privately and is really successful, that's another idea OP.
All the best with your career move!

Do something with your psychology degree - people are crying out for good therapists so you could add some qualifications and do that or as someone upthread suggested Educational Psychologist - plenty of demand (3 or 4 month wait for the one I know) and I think reasonable money £500 odd per assessment depending on length but the report writing must take a lot of time so not sure how it stacks up vs your current salary / time demands.. maybe get a counselling qualification and then add other things or do your masters part time?

Hey! I got some good advice from the "thinking of leaving teaching " group.

I used to be a teacher. I then became a parent and realised I couldn't be a good mum and a good teacher, so chose being a good mum!

I retrained through a charity called Code First Girls. Now work in tech! I now earn more and work less

That group I mentioned is on Facebook btw

@spanishmumireland @kimfox @BuenoPlease

thank you all for taking the time to reply. You’ve all been really kind and helpful 🥺 I know I am going to burnout, and have finally sat down with my OH this evening after an awful day at work and opened up about it all. We are going to spend some time together this weekend looking at options and talking them all through.
Thank you for your kindness x

Hi! I used to teach and i left because of similar reasons to what you've described. I just couldn't continue to live constantly stressed & constantly overworked and undervalued. It honestly nearly broke me when I took the plunge to leave because I'd worked so hard to be in the position I was in but I can safely say now I'm on the other side of it that it really was the right move for me!
I'm a civil servant now, I started from a low position and worked my way up. It's not the profession I intended on doing after university but my work is very interesting and I actually have a brilliant work life balance which is worth it's weight in gold.
You may have to take a bit of a pay dip if you change your career completely like I did but you should be able to move up a career quickly using all the skills you got from teaching and managing.
Please don't feel stuck, there's more to life than a job. Be brave and make the move if you're really unhappy, you can always go back into it later if you wanted.
Best of luck xx

Hi! I used to teach in FE but am now a learning mentor -- it's less money but less stress, which is crucial as we are actively ttc. Might be worth considering if you still like working with young people.