Have I made a terrible mistake?

[Scorcher79]

Hi all,

This is probably similar to some of the posts on here already so apologies if that's the case.

I'm a 44 year old teacher (primary)& recently left a permanent and fairly well paid role in a school for a lesser paid admin role in a university. Now I'm wondering if I made a terrible mistake?
While my colleagues are really lovely and it seems like a very supportive, collegiate environment, the job is turning out to be very dull, at least so far. Granted, I'm only 3 weeks in but all I've been doing so far is answering emails from students. I know there's more to it with various processes and documents I'm not fully trained up on but ultimately, I suppose that's the job in a nutshell.

The reason I left my previous role was because I felt the working environment was pretty toxic at times with two particular colleagues and I was l suppose somewhat bored of the environment and talking about kids all day. I wanted to work in a place of creativity and ideas, hence I applied to the university job. However, not sure how I'm going to stick out the mundane and routine aspects of this current role. Being fully desk based is also going to take some getting used to!Has anyone got any advice???? I feel so embarrassed because I was talking so much about making a change and being fed up of teaching to friends....

Three weeks into the build up of the start of term, I imagine everyone else is run off their feet and you'll have loads to do once you get to grips with everything.

Not one - not a single one - of my teaching colleagues who went on to other things have regretted it.

I don’t see anything here that makes me think you should walk away now. I think this is just the case of giving it a bit longer.

Well, truthfully, an admin role in a university is just that - highly administrative, lots of emails and managing documentation. Yes, you'll be largely desk bound.

You simply won't have the autonomy & the pace of your previous role.

However, you clearly had valid reasons for leaving. And this role will be more varied as the academic year progresses - it's early yet.

There are also lots of teaching-equivalent roles in universities - tutors, writing centre, access office - which might suit you. I'd keep an eye out internally.

You do need to give it more time but I suspect you might struggle to be very interested in a highly admin role, unless it's quite senior.

(I work in a university - in a management level teaching role, which also involves lots of admin but at a comparatively high, strategic level, so I enjoy it).

It will be so different from teaching. Give it a little time.

The other thing to bear in mind is the huge variety of jobs in a uni - you can do six months in this (pass your probation) and then start looking for something with more interaction.

You need to relax. Enjoy a few months of not being in a classroom and then make your next step up. Explore the different roles in the University and make your next move. Engagement Officer with the local community, working with secondary pupils to consider higher education, specific projects that draw your attention, even retraining and doing a phd to go into research. A uni is a great stable job to have. Many organisations are keen for people with teaching backgrounds, go explore.

You're in a "place of creativity and ideas" - but you moved to an admin role.

I'm not sure what you expected tbh - admin is essential and vitally important - but quite a lot of it can be dull.

I'm sure there will be opportunities for you to do more varied tasks and meet interesting people as things settle down, but I do think you've potentially been naive. There are some very interesting administrative roles in universities, but there are an awful lot of admin roles that are just repetitive admin, with very little interaction with anything outside the role.

I'd stick at it, and look to progress to a more varied role.

Dh did exactly this just over a year ago, having been a teacher all his life (he's late 40s) except that he had been a secondary teacher. He's a very dynamic person who likes to be busy, and he has actually found it really hard to adapt to the mundanity and slow pace of things, and the petty office politics in his new role, even though it's pretty senior as admin jobs go. He won't go back to teaching (he was a deputy head and quit under very difficult circumstances after years of awfulness), but I think he will be looking for other jobs soon.

You're in a "place of creativity and ideas" - but you moved to an admin role.I'm not sure what you expected tbh-admin is essential and vitally important-but quite a lot of it can be dull.

This! What an odd role to move into if you want creativity and ideas?!!

All the teachers I know who have left (and there are many), did so because the job was stressful and they were doing ridiculous hours in term-time. Doing an admin job like this would suit many-in fact many of them are now in very similar roles.

You sound like you didn’t think at all about what to apply for!?

I have an admin job at a university and it's hugely varied. I wonder if you're only answering lots of emails now because it's the start of the semester?
My job is very interesting. No two days are the same. I organise events, support various different projects, liaise with academics, students, other professional uni staff, business people etc.
After you've been there a while longer can you ask to take on more responsibility? When I first started I did fairly mundane tasks but my role grown with me to become much broader.

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to reply. There's lots of food for thought there and I've perhaps been a little naive alright but as others pointed out, there may be scope to take on more responsibility or move into more dynamic roles. Thanks guys, I'm feeling a lot more optimistic and positive about things now. 🙏

Yeah, admin's dull - which is why I worked so hard to get out of it!

Previous advice is good though, I'm sure there will be other roles you can move into and use your previous experience.