Anyone leave corporate for teaching?

[Bussythevampireslayer]

I'm just so sick of the corporate world. I'm in a fairly senior position, earning a nice salary, but I spend hours and hours a day listening to utter bullsh*t that means absolutely nothing. I feel like I just can't have another conversation about making things scalable, or "putting the customer at the heart of everything we do", or more "tactical solutions". People getting so worked up about stuff that really doesn't matter.

I'm 35, and I've often wondered about being a maths teacher. I did maths at uni, and I really want to feel like I've made a difference in someone's life. I fully appreciate teaching is hard and the hours are long for much less pay, but I'd be going into it aware that the "long holidays" aren't time off, and that your day doesn't "finish at 3".

Am I crazy? It would be such a massive drop in salary. But god do I long to feel passionate about something

Don’t do it. Every single teacher wants to leave. Over 40,000 leaving every year. It is not what you think and you will be putting up with far worse pointless “bullshit” and nonsense policies. It’s awful. You will be worked like a dog and nothing will ever be good enough. Behaviour is awful, there is no money and children with SEN are being massively failed. Pressure and stress levels are horrendous and workload is sky high with more and more being piled on.

I know lots of teachers and every single one of them wants to leave teaching.

I spend hours and hours a day listening to utter bullsht that means absolutely nothing.*

Teaching is not for you then either 🤣

6-7

What are you passionate about already? Start there.

Don't do it. You will swop the corporate world of BS for education BS. There will managers who may not even teach/ teach as many lessons as you do in a day in one week spouting BS. On top of this there will discipline issues and probably no support. The long hours are not family friendly either. Just left 5 years early after 31 years. No job to go to. Couldn't take it anymore.

Hmmm, I know lots of teachers who love teaching so I’m not sure some of the PPs comments are wholly accurate.

There will likely be a big drop in salary, so only you know if that is affordable.

But I have to say, depending on which field you work in, the hours might not be that much worse. Obviously teaching work isn’t restricted to school hours, but I can’t think of any corporate jobs which are actually 9-5 either and I often find teachers who complain they work long hours don’t actually work nearly as many hours as I do.

As a teacher I had to comment! Yes it’s very hard but it’s also very fulfilling as well. It’s different from the corporate world, as you are giving something of yourself each lesson - it’s very intense and emotionally as well as physically tiring. But I love teaching and would never want to do anything else. I worked in advertising, was a TA and then started teaching at 35, now in my 50’s. See if you can do some volunteering to get a sense of what it is like in the classroom. You do need to be very robust and organised.

Yep I’m doing my ITT now after leaving a very cushy 80k a year role in marketing (which I HATED).

There’s plenty of bullshit thus far in teaching but less than my corporate career and at least my entire work isn’t about making lots of money.

Training year is supposed to be intense, obviously I’m not very far in but so far it’s been less workload than my most senior role. I also don’t hate myself for doing it so that’s fun.

I have found a lot of the teachers who tell you not to go into teaching haven’t actually done other careers (obviously not all!), they’ve always taught, so they don’t have a comparison.

It’s definitely not all sunshine and roses, it’s hard but I like the challenge. I expect it suits different people, like anything.

Will I want to do it forever? Who knows, maybe not, but if that’s the case I’ll pivot again. If I want to go back into a corporate role for big money I expect teaching experience on top of my previous leadership and technical experience will be helpful as, among other industries, I worked in EdTech!

I didn’t directly leave but I had a long career in the City, a few years out, did a PGCE and then taught secondary Physics for a decade (my degree was mathematical physics).

I copped out a bit and taught in private schools, but I really enjoyed it, and it was great having two relatively big careers in two completely different fields. And I was a good example of a STEM education leading to transferable skills.

But don’t underestimate the stress and time commitment in the first 2-3 years. You will sometimes feel that you are doing twice the work for 20% of the pay.

If you have any questions, I am happy to help.

Teachers have their clients - children, their board members - SLT and their stockholders - parents! They all come at you with demanding yet different needs. If you can't handle corporate, you definitely can't handle teaching.

I’ve gone the other way - teaching to corporate. The corporate bullshit is annoying but not as annoying as being on your feet all day every day, working during every holiday and being told to fuck off by teens. Maybe you can apply your skills in the charity sector or something but I’d think carefully about teaching maths

I went from a career in marketing to primary teaching and I would suggest that you use a week's holiday to shadow a teacher at not your nicest local school to see if it is what you really want. Teaching is exhausting and relentless - it's like back to back presentations and meetings five days a week, with only your free time outside those presentations and meetings to prepare for the next lot of presentations and meetings. And at the same time dealing with behaviour - constantly. I switched in my late 40s and although I really like teaching, I found it too exhausting and now just do part-time supply. You are right to think you will use your holidays to catch up on planning and marketing. Things that I wasn't prepared for when I started teaching; not being able to receive any personal (eg medical) phone calls during the day, not being able to take 15 mins to have a coffee and recoop at any time, not being able to go to the toilet when I need and having to be on-point all day and every day. All these things you take for granted in the corporate world.

I read your post @Bussythevampireslayerand thought it sounds like you work at my company, but it will be just one of many! The BS is relentless and it’s making me miserable. I’m also surrounded by so many people that’s sole aim is to trample on each other to get to the top, horrible.

I too have considered teaching but I’m not sure I can convince myself to take a substantial pay cut for a career that masses want to leave.

I’d highly recommend reading Lucy Kellaway's book, Re-Educated and her organisation, Teach Now, offers some great advice on their website.

I continue to mull over my options but 100% want to do something more meaningful in my life. Money isnt the be all and end all.

@yoshiblue thank you, the solidarity has lifted my mood! It is the substantial pay drop that is making me the most nervous. I appreciate there may be elements of swapping one style of BS for another, but at least I might feel like I'm actually making a difference to someone.

The idea of not working in financial services anymore feels so exciting 😆 I just don't know if I can make that leap yet, or if teaching is the right leap!

I am in FS too, we could be closer than you think! 😂

More than happy to have a chat over DM if that’s useful. I have some other potential ideas in the mix too, but not particularly well formed.