I’m a fully qualified MFL teacher (French and German) and have been teaching for 7 years. For about the last 3, I’ve really been questioning if I want to continue. Truthfully, I can’t see myself doing this job for the next 30+ years until I retire and I really feel like I don’t want to be doing it next September either.
I have no idea what area I’d like to move into, but I know I want to work with a team of people, hybrid working would be a bonus. I’ve started researching skills based CVs and looking at jobs online but I’m so confused by the technical jargon in adverts.
There are some elements of teaching I still absolutely love (being in the classroom, working with the students) but the relentless pressure from above to improve last years results (even though it’s a different set of exam papers and a completely different cohort of kids), being told that you’re never good enough (whilst at the same time being told what a great teacher you are), and the never ending to-do list that has me working evenings and weekends just to get by is soul destroying. I’d love a job that when I’m finished for the day, that’s it.
Really I guess I’m looking for reassurance that it is possible to change careers with almost no experience in any other sector. I’m prepared for a pay cut (currently on M6 on the teachers pay scale) but can’t afford to
go as low as £22-25K which seems the norm.
Ang ex-teachers out there- what have you gone on to do? How did you get into the role? And how did you overcome the fear of being completely incompetent?