Trying to decide what to do

[Flamingoose]

I'm qualified to do a fairly minor job in education. I love doing this job and I'm good at it. I've been lucky and had some great opportunities so I have good experience. I've never got off the first rung of the ladder though - partly because I came to it in my late 30s, and then childcare issues stopped me applying for promotion / longer hours. It's not well paid and the longer I do it the more I realise that my peers are kids in their early 20s, or the dinosaurs who do the same thing over and over again and never progress (yep, me!). I want to do better than this.

I lost my job at the start of Covid. Most of us did.

I found that I could earn really good money teaching online. I have a waiting list and can more or less pick my students and name my price. But working from home full-time was really bad for my mental health. I found it hard waving the family off every day and having the quiet house to myself. Plus the work just expanded and expanded - the client is pushy and always wants more more more which I'm not very good at dealing with. And the hours are antisocial; not much to do while the kids are at school, and then busy until 11pm (or as late as I'll agree to - again, always pushing for later and later).

So I got a part time job at a primary school to get me out of the house. I did enjoy it for a while but I'm fed up now. I like some parts of the job but not the main bit. The primary school pushed for me to go full time so I did.

Now I'm full time at the primary school and part-time online (16 hours). It's a lot. Money is tight. I'm always tired.

Obviously a bit part of the problem is that I'm so passive and let life happen to me. I just - I'm so tired and there's always 1001 things to do and I never get the chance to work out what my plan should be. I was applying do to a post-grad dip in teaching (heavily encouraged by the primary school) but I suddenly realised I really really don't want to be a teacher. I canned it.

I have three teenagers and I love having the school holidays off. Well not off exactly because I switch to full-time online in the holidays, but at least I'm at home.

I think I need to get another qualification in something. I think my ideal job would be university lecturer, but I've got nothing to lecture!! I'm just a whole lot of wasted time and wasted potential. I don't really know where to start.

Hmm I think from a money point of view online teaching sounds like a good area but your client sounds awful / is taking advantage of the fact you're not very assertive. If you are in a position where you can pick and choose your students and name your price, you're also in a strong position to name your hours too. There will be students in other time zones who can do lessons during the day. Can you work through other online tutoring companies or is there a non-compete in your contract?

I would use the online teaching to build up a cash buffer to help you make the jump to the next thing. If you find WFH too difficult (it can take a while to get used to, but it isn't for everyone) you could look at a co-working space, although as you need to be alone to do the lessons home makes the most sense.

It sounds like you enjoy teaching but not school teaching? What about further education?

I think it's a good time to take stock of what you want. Full time job plus tutoring plus three teenagers sounds like an awful lot to deal with.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply tribpot. I think I need to have a really good look at teaching in further education. I'm going to do that now.

Can I ask how you make good money teaching online? Do you need teaching qualifications? I've got an English Language degree I've never used...

Personally, yes I am qualified to teach the subject I am teaching.

I'm pretty sure anyone can register online to tutor in their subject though. When I have looked for tutors for my kids I have to scroll through pages of people who are not teachers but are highly qualified in their subject. Presumably they get work.