Tanked my career. Please help!

[PeapodBurgundy]

Currently working as a Lecturer in an FE college, and it's literally killing me! The classroom based/teaching side of my job is great, it's everything that goes alongside that which is draining the life out of me. I can't do right for doing wrong, nothing I do is good enough (not just me, we're haemorrhaging staff at the moment, the most recent two to leave went without another job to go to, they just couldn't stand to be there a moment longer). It's making me physically ill. I can't do it any more, but I have no idea what I might be able to do next.

My first 'proper' job was as a teaching assistant in a primary school, I've worked as a playworker for the Children with Disabilities Team, a nanny and a nursery nurse. My degree is in Early Childhood Studies, I have the (now defunct) Early Years Professional Status, then obviously I have a PGCE. I currently teach on Childcare, Early Years and Teaching Assistant programmes at various levels (mainly Teaching Assistants).

I have no idea what I could do with my qualifications and experience other than what I'm doing or very similar. Anyone have any ideas which direction I might be able to move into without re-training from scratch? I'm a single parent with minimal support, I can't drive (medical reasons) which does limit me significantly.

Play specialist in a hospital or community team. Nhs also have nursery nurses that support children in the community who have long term conditions which need play/therapy support

I taught in FE for 18 months. Loved the teaching, everything else was terrible!
Could you become an Apprenticeship assessor or similar?

My sister does is a Play Therapy Assistant on the children's inpatient ward at the local hospital. Roles do come up occasionally, but it would add on about 50% on top of my childcare bill, and be around £5000 less a year in salary, so I really couldn't afford that kind of a hit to my income.

I Programme Lead the Teaching Assistant apprentices at the moment, so I know the way they work quite well, but the majority of assessor roles demand a full driving licence and own car, which I'll never be able to achieve. I have been looking for WFH EPA assessor roles, but they're few and far between for just the PD element, most roles I've seen come up require you to be able to travel to complete the observation element too. I have got alerts set up in several places for those kinds of roles though, so my ear is to the ground on that front.

Have you put the pat details into turn2us or entitled to? Check the eligibility for childcare costs for Universal Credit.

The threshold for childcare support is high.

Also access to work if you can't work due to a medical condition.

what about anything in the field of child support? Are there MAST teams in your area? (or similar - MultiAgency Support Teams, in case they use a different acronym around you).

I get UC support for childcare costs at the moment, which is a big help, but I'm still only just keeping on top of living expenses. Made the stupid decision 4 years ago before I was single to buy a doer-upper, so any spare funds don't go into savings at the moment, they go on trying to gaffer tape the shit hole house back together (another poor life choice! But hindsight is a wonderful thing!)

I've applied for a few support based roles outside of education, but still with children and young people. The constant feedback I'm getting is they want a stronger background in either healthcare or social care.

I've been completing some distance learning courses on an evening to try and expand my knowledge base, but when I'm up against somebody with actual work experience in the field, it's not making that much of an impact. I'm still plugging away though, I've just started one in Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences.

HE rather than FE?

I'd need to get my MA to teach in HE. We have HE provision at work in partnership with the local uni, and they demand an MA (or at least in the process of getting one), just to lecture/teach on the foundation degree.

I have just sent off an application to the local uni for a Student Success Tutor role which I think I would both enjoy and be good at. It doesn't close for a couple of weeks, but I should think I will at least get an invite to interview for that one; I evidenced everything on the person spec.

Training & Development? Most of our content is delivered virtually and a lot of time spent actually developing the content.

We typically look for people from an education background.

Will stick that phrase into a job search and see if it throws anything up. Thank you :-)

How about some kind of safeguarding role? In a school, college or for the local authority?

My husband is an FE recruitment consultant and he’s suggested:

• Go back into what you’re teaching, become a nursery manager
• Consider roles in HE, in early childhood studies - if you don’t have the quals for HE lecturing, there will be additional support roles in the dept
• Training and development roles in corporates
• or try another college with a better culture!

Maybe look at wellbeing jobs? Mind or other charities may be worth a look and often have youn people's programs although pay likely less than your current role.

Or training roles?

What about working in student services at a university? The non driving wouldn't be an issue.

Send officer for a local authority.

I also think Apprenticeship Coach / Assessor.

I did it for a while - £40k and full time WFH role as it was all virtual.

I managed 10 years in FE until it burnt me out. Taught every level from Princes Trust up to Foundation degree. Even got my QTLLS with the aim of going into secondary.

I couldn't bear it after 9 years and went off with stress got the last 6 months. Jumped into the fire when I got headhunted into my speciality subject (tourism) by a tour operator. Which was sheer hell!

I managed another 10 months then joined the police as staff in despatch, and am now loving my role as a PA 5 years later.

Pay is slightly less but kids are grown up now and mortgage paid off. So I got out alive and healthy eventually. It was like an abusive relationship; started off loving it, until it broke me.

My DC are 4 and just turned 7, so I've still got a canny few years of childcare being a consideration. I'm also about to buy my ex out of the house we're currently living in, so I'm about to effectively go back to square one with the mortgage which is unfortunate, but not the end of the world.

It does however mean I won't be able to afford to take a pay cut. Although my college underpay by a significant chunk (£3500 PA difference on the lowest pay scale between my salary and the exact same role at a college in a nearby town), so my salary isn't as much as would be expected for the level of the role.

I've so far only seen one apprentice tutor/assessor role which is entirely remote, I applied but didn't even get invited to interview, I'm assuming because I don't have my assessors award. I'm looking into ways to get that without my current employer knowing I'm getting it to open up a few doors for myself.

I'm absolutely up for doing courses/training etc to upskill, but I'm not in a position with finances and time constraints (eldest has ASD so takes quite a bit of attention) to completely retrain from scratch (e.g. new degree). I think I'm just so fed up and demotivated, I'm struggling to get a sensible plan together to get myself out of the rut I'm in.

There have been some useful ideas so far though, I'm really glad I posted.