I am a teacher in Scotland for reference. A job opportunity has just arisen to go from principal teacher of a small curricular area to principal teacher of a much larger curricular area, in a much bigger school than the one I currently work in.
I'm in a bit of a quandary because I've worked in the school I'm currently in for the last 10 years and there's many aspects of the school that I love: I love a lot of my colleagues, the kids and my PT role gives me challenge on top of my class teacher role. However, I have a difficult line manager who has created a bit of a toxic environment and I've had to distance myself from them in recent months.
Senior management often say things to me to suggest I'd make a good PT subject but I don't know if I have it in me or if I'm just lacking confidence.
I actually think my line manager may apply for this role themselves as it would mean a good salary increase for them, and they are forever complaining about our management team and they often say they'd like a new job. They don't really support me in terms of developing my skills and I think they like having me around because I do a lot of things that make the overall team look good.
My question is: do I stay in my school where I have (on the surface) a pretty good gig or push myself out of my comfort zone and apply for this much bigger role? I'm panicking it'll be the wrong move then I can't go back to my old role. I'm worried about not enjoying the school environment, the behaviour being much worse than in my current school, the workload being too much and colleagues making life challenging.
Ideally I'd love to hear advice from anyone who's been in a similar situation.
I also don't even think I'd get the job but even going for the interview might be good practice for future opportunities? But then I'd run the risk of actually getting the post lol.