Going from teaching to working from home

[Emlou1993]

I am a SENCO in mainstream secondary and it’s starting to take its toll! My DD has just turned 3 and I hate that some days we barely get any time together, my job is really fast paced and stressful and I feel burnt out by the time I get home. On top of that, I have just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and my medication is immunosuppressant therefore I’m always ill! The stress isn’t helping my flare ups either.

I have seen a few jobs that are working from home in the education industry but I am reluctant to give up the school holidays.

Would love to hear any experiences where you have left teaching and started working from home or similar and found it so much better (even without the holidays!).

thank you!

Not me, but know people who have done this, but not WFH, one with RA. They really enjoyed it. If you can, I would want the option to be hybrid, so that you interact in person, at least to start with. WFH fully has downsides and can be isolating, especially if you are used to being with people all day. At the moment you are probably crying out to just escape the pressure and hard work of teaching, but you need to get some really healthy wfh habits in place to make the most of it.

WFH tips are to leave the house before work, at lunchtime and after work, so you don't go stir crazy. Make your lunch before you start work, so you can eat and then get out. If you live near a pool, consider swimming every morning as it will really help with the RA. I appreciate RA is tiring, but movement is really beneficial and a sedentary job is bad for anyone.

I've never worked in schools but prefer working at home to the office. I imagine it will be really difficult during school holidays though when you’re used to time off although I realise a lot of teachers don’t have all that time off and need to do a lot of preparation etc!

You’ll have to factor in childcare costs and/or getting a place booked in for DD during the holidays. I guess she’s already at nursery anyway. So you’d have to be out of the house anyway dropping off and picking your DD from nursery even if you’re working from home.

Some people like and work better alone at home, others don’t. Some people hate working from home others love it. Hopefully you’ll know what works best for you from your personality! You also need a proper space to work from home. Ideally another room where you can shut the door or space/area so you shut off and keep working separate. It’s also better to do hybrid working if you’re new to a job and getting your know colleagues or if it’s a new or slightly different job role and you need guidance or training or just to sound ideas out your others.

No brainer! I worked in a school, albeit, none teaching staff..I was overworked and underpaid. Teachers have to work far too hard, you may get the holidays however no freedom of choice. Late nights.. parents evenings, open evenings, meetings.. just no! I have now moved to a hybrid position full time and I am so much more relaxed.. the freedom is without question in comparison.

I went from Primary teaching to working from home after having my daughter. It crept up on me to be honest. My last teaching role had been long term supply rather than permanent (long story as to why I’d gone for that but not really relevant), and whilst they actually got in touch to offer me a permanent role when I went back, I decided to use my time off to have a bit of a rethink as I was questioning whether I wanted to return to teaching.

I did some freelance work for a year and was offered a permanent role off the back of that, not directly education related but lots of crossover. Full disclosure it was very much luck and who I knew that got me the initial freelance work (I had done similar for a few years prior to teaching) but they were obviously happy with my work and keen for me to do more with them, I’ve felt more valued and had more recognition and advancement here than in teaching that’s for sure.

I miss the children and the sense of purpose sometimes, the longer I’m out of teaching the more roses-tinted my glasses get, but I have friends still in schools who keep me right!

Working from home is a bit isolating, though DH is often at home too. The flexibility, the fact I can do school runs and attend any event at DD’s school makes up for it. I have so much more flexibility and a far better work-life balance. Not always, I do find myself working away into the evening sometimes or checking emails at the weekend, partly that’s just in my nature. There are times it’s much busier and more stressful, and I have to travel a few times a year which I hate actually. But compared to a full time teaching job it’s a walk in the park.

The holidays are difficult, our place is brilliant in so many ways but the holiday allowance is really crap. It helps that DH’s leave is more generous so we can cover more between us, and I have a lot of flexibility in terms of when and where I work. Mostly though we just pay for holiday club and DD moans about having to go and I don’t feel great about it, but ultimately she does enjoy it when she’s there and overall she benefits so much from having me around far more the rest of the time.

We don’t have any family who would be happy to do regular/ full day childcare but my in laws don’t mind watching her for a few hours providing I’m around so I’ll work from their house for a bit and then finish up once DD has gone to bed. (For anyone who gets upset about this kind of thing - I assure you it’s fully approved by my the Chief Exec and we had this conversation before agreed to up my hours to full time). I’ve also got other mum friends who I swap favours with, so we help each other out in the holidays too.

I don’t have to worry about child care so that’s obviously a key factor that I don’t have but other than that I find WFH is extremely dull and isolating. Meetings are transactional and the spark you get from working with and alongside other people can not IMO be replicated. About 50% of the workforce where I work are ex-teachers and it literally couldn’t be more flexible but about half of those teacher quit within 2-3 years and almost all cite remote working as the issue. And we do exciting interesting work so it’s not that the work itself is dull. IMO, it’s extremely difficult to go from the buzz and energy of a school, the kids and your colleagues in the staff room to sitting in front of a computer screen. I hate it and whilst wild horses wouldn’t drag me back to schools atm, I’m am actively looking for something else that is at least hybrid. But different strokes for different folks - I’m sure some people love it!

I don’t miss the holidays though. I was usually so bloody tired that I slept through about half of the school ones! I do find it really hard to actually remember to take them!! I’m so conditioned to set holidays, my CEO has to remind me to book time off! 😂

If you work from home you will still have to have childcare for your DD. It’s not possible to work and look after a small child.

Would it be possible to put in a flexible working request to perhaps work one day a week from home? My SIL is a SENCO and did this after returning from maternity - she says it's a gamechanger.

You’d be great as an ehc case coordinator and would work your way up quickly. This is mostly working at home/remotely. A bit boring as not seeing kids

You could probably do this term time only

A big pay cut and incredibly frustrating as you know you can't provide what the children need.

@Emlou1993 I have absolute sympathy with you feeling you need to get out of school, but I think it is true what so many posters are saying, that you will likely be lonely wfh full time, after being in such a busy and interactive environment.

You would, of course have to find childcare for all the holidays for years to come.

When I came out of school I didn't miss the holidays, because you just aren't exhausted like I had been at the end of every term for the previous 20+ years. You also get to take a day off when you choose, and you can go on holiday outside of the hugely expensive school holidays. However I had the wonderful balance of being able to wfh when I wanted but it was interspersed with meetings and visits and delivering training so I was rarely at home for a full day more than two days consecutively.

I wfh in a school/sen related role (not teaching or for a school) and I’m utterly burnt out. I work hours of overtime unpaid each day, haven’t taken a lunch break (or any break) in years and wfh means I don’t stop, ever. I don’t get the holidays off and due to the intensity of the job, my kids are in childcare for most of the holidays, I couldn’t do any of it with them here. I also get paid less than a lot less than a Senco.
I don’t want to put you off, but research very carefully before going for this as no one I work with would describe our job as low stress. Benefit is no commute time, downfall is I work the time I’d be commuting for free anyway.
another benefit is food/drink at home, downside is I don’t have time for a hot cup of tea or a healthy meal and live off biscuits.
Im looking for another job now as I’m done in.
Miss the fun, the chats etc. it’s just non stop head down and work work work. My backs also buggered from sitting so long not moving. Sorry if I sound really negative, just want to emphasise the importance of knowing what you’re moving for!
Also being able to take time off ‘whenever you like’ is pointless if you have kids, unless you’re very well off and can pay for extra childcare, you still take it all in the holidays and still end up with 9 weeks you can’t cover.
Good luck.