To leave teaching?

[Hann472]

I’ve been a secondary teacher for some time now and I’m not enjoying it as I used to. It’s a lot of work for the pay. The pressure and expectation is a lot and managing the behaviour of the children is at an all time high (in fact I feel this is all I do some days!). My work is never done and having a job where I can switch off at 5pm is feeling very appealing right now!
I'm considering leaving but would not have a clue where to even begin! I also have a young family so not working the holidays is useful.
What job roles have you gone into after teaching? Was it a big pay cut? And how did it affect a young family (if you have one)?

Look into a business analyst role!

I left when I had my children and it was the right thing for us. I now teach music which I love. It’s probably about the same wage but so much more flexible and I still get the hols.

@Hann472 not a teacher but a nurse who went from practice to teaching/lecturing at a University. Been a great move for me - flexibility, generous annual leave etc. It does have pressures with high student numbers, marking, deadlines etc but hardly any behaviour management 😅 I have met other new staff from the education school who have made similar moves, from schools to the Uni.

Thank you all.
My subject falls under humanities, so it’s not something that I can teach outside of a school setting unfortunately.
Will definitely think about the other two suggested roles though.
I would just worry about subject knowledge at university I think!

Could you move up into leadership with a smaller teaching commitment?

Or teach in a College where the student dynamics might be very different?

@Feelingstrange2 definitely something to think about, thank you!
I do enjoy the actual teaching, it’s everything else that is bringing it down for me, so maybe a college setting could be the way forward.

Look into training roles in companies - HR training business partner type job title?

@coronafiona good idea, thank you!

I moved from teaching to being a learning technologist and am now a learning designer in HE. I get 44 days leave with the option to buy more... plus flexible working is rarely refused.

I work in a college (not as a teacher). We still get the odd one with behaviour, but it's mainly dealing with mental health now. Can not get over the amount of students every year who are dealing with anxiety, depression and mental health.

I have looked at other jobs outside of education, but I do love being term time lol I can now leave my job at work and switch off. You have to, otherwise you'd go insane. Good luck with your search.

@Cornishmumofone that sounds very interesting! I’ll have to have look into it, thank you.

@Soccermumamir this is the thing, there’s so much to deal with on a daily basis that I spend all my time chasing things up, ringing parents, wellbeing checks on kids, and so many other things that teaching it becoming lower and lower down the list! Thank you

ALT is the best place to look for learning tech/design jobs: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=alt-announce

@Cornishmumofone that’s great, thank you!

There's a fabulous Facebook group called 'life after teaching - exit the classroom and thrive' that is full of everything you could want to know, if you're not already in it!

I left two years ago, after a 23-year career and got a job at DfE which was really interesting, before moving to local council in Learning and Development role. I now help other teachers to leave teaching and part of this involves looking at the wide variety of roles that are available to teachers, given the vast array of skills they have and use every day.

Some of this information is available in my free guide here:
https://freefromteaching.com/5-top-tips

I hope you find it useful. Teachers often believe they 'only know how to teach' when the reality is, they have the skills and experience necessary for most jobs! I have been told several times that 'teachers make the best employees!' due to work ethic, independence and problem-solving.