Morning all, as ever, when life presents you with challenges and tough questions, I turn to STW for answers.

My wife is a teacher, has been for 10 years, and she has decided it it time to leave the profession behind before it (literally) sends her insane. 60 hour weeks, huge amounts of pressure and unrealistic expectations are having an effect on both physical and mental heath and so it’s time to move on.

So, the obvious question is “what next?”. She likes the idea of a role in the care industry or perhaps in charity as she currently volunteers at The Samaritans and feels she could take that further. In truth, she’s very open to ideas as education is all she’s known bar shop work when she was at uni. She has a psychology degree, pretty sharp on a computer, can talk to people, usual fun and games. She earns well at the moment but we can take a hit on that so money, to a large degree, is not an issue.

So dear STW, can you please find a career for my wife????

Teaching Assistant

Already qualified.

It’s possible she got into teaching because she enjoyed teaching? So the opportunity to just turn up and teach might suit.

Teaching Assistant
Already qualified.
It’s possible she got into teaching because she enjoyed teaching? So the opportunity to just turn up and teach might suit.

It has been talked about but, at the moment at least she wants to get out of the class room altogether. This is very much the fall back option.

Care work will be more stressful and poorly paid (?)

Charity work can be great but finding a good spot is (in my daughters experience) quite tough. Also many people seem to do that and not care too much about pay so thats low too !

Is there something she likes doing and could start her own business ?

a different school? I know several primary teachers and some secondary. It seems to me that primary is much less stressed than the latter.

Ed psych?
Plays to her strengths.
Lots of kids are getting EHCP’s now so probably reasonable amount of work available?
School term only and a mix of office and classroom based.

Personal tutor, theyre one £27ph and can choose how much and you dont have to set as much work

Is it possible to make the jump to a private school? Better resourced, more non contact time and less overall stress. Probably better pay too…

, huge amounts of pressure and unrealistic expectations are having an effect on both physical and mental heath

&

as she currently volunteers at The Samaritans

=

Could she not just phone herself ❓

😉

She has my sympathies – igmc.

STW, you are all wonderful.

Is there something she likes doing and could start her own business?

An option but she’s not overly keen on that idea right now. Want to be employed in the “real” world ideally.

a different school?

That was the decision 18 months ago, a new school with a head she knows well and rates highly. The fact is that primary education is tough right now and a move doesn’t seem to change that.

Ed psych?

This was the first choice. However, you need to do a long post grad course, 3 years, a career in teaching and a psych degree is no longer enough.

Personal tutor

This is being talked about, if nothing else as a source of income whilst she works out what she wants to do.

Is it possible to make the jump to a private school?

Again, this has been talked about, but for the moment she wants to be out of the classroom.

My niece has become a Commissioning Office for child services for her local council.

Probably just as stressful! Not as well paid initially but she’s gradually climbing the ladder.

But she doesn’t have to bring work home, so she now has her evenings and weekends free.

Is it possible to make the jump to a private school? Better resourced, more non contact time and less overall stress. Probably better pay too…[/quote
Not the impression I get from the wife’s(who is a teacher) friends who have made the jump.

More pressure from the parents for results.

More pressure from the school for results.

More expectation to take on extra curricular and take your turn on school trips during the holidays.

60 hour weeks, huge amounts of pressure and unrealistic expectations are having an effect on both physical and mental heath and so it’s time to move on.

She likes the idea of a role in the care industry

Frying pan to fire but if she really wans to do it n then there are jobs out there, maybe even training in a care background.

these guys saound great

still teaching but with a different focus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41529262

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/psychology

Job match on that site as well for some ideas…

Life coaching / counselling? You get the advantage of picking your own hours / who you take on.

Mate of mine got out of teaching, he is now a brewer.

Mmm beer, it’s good beer, did I say beer

Innovative Jam is going to be the export success of the future – now’s the time to get that stove running.

After 10 years as a secondary science teacher I move to a training company training adults.

It’s not all brilliant, but it’s working for me.

I did a year as a supply teacher and that was great from a stress perspective- almost no responsibly.

One mate has become a teaching assistant. As an ex teacher the school has started to load her up with extra stuff to the point that it is starting to look a lot like a job as a badly paid teacher

Mark on here started a bike magazine, you might have read it or heard of it?

I found my job browsing the guardian jobs looking for any old job to get me out of teaching.

Good luck!

Has Mrs Lunge considered working in the Special Needs sector?

My friend Debbie, with a PhD in physics, completed her PGCE and probationary year, then decided to re-train as a teaching assistant in a Special School. She loved it!

interesting, my wife is in the same boat, but teaching at a 6 form collage. the work loads, crap pay, and huge responsibilities have really taken the toll. she’s really keen to get out.

Dominatrix?

The hours and pay are good. No sex required and you get your housework done for free.

That lot love a naughty schoolmistress.

Mrs B had much the same experience and has moved into a SENCO role (nearly done with the post grad bit now) – loves it. She’s part time which helps with the separation from work, but now often works additional time because she gets a real reward from it. Still can be stressy, but more on your own terms.

I’ll suggest the dominatrix though, it’s a decent shout. Lots of well educated types around here, I might never have to touch a duster again.

After Uni, my daughter taught for a couple of years.. Some of the stories she told me were horrendous. She hated every second of it and is now a part time waitress.

Of the five good friends she went through uni with, none of them are still teaching.

Staff are leaving in droves.

Dominatrix? Interesting call, I’ll put that to her.
Commissioning/services manager sounds interesting, I’ll put that to her.
Special Needs is also a good shout, she’s done some work in that area although it may be a touch close to the classroom.

Mrs M left teaching a few years ago due to stress, she now works for the council as a Early Years Practioner for children with special needs. Basically she helps parents and schools integrate children with additional needs into education. Very rewarding and though stressful on occasions nowhere near as bad as teaching.

Magistrate. Not well paid, but rewarding.

Of the five good friends she went through uni with, none of them are still teaching.

Staff are leaving in droves.

I think we’re at something like only 50% of new teachers still teaching after 5 years?

It’s hardly surprising when you can get £25k entry level at a desk job where you have no stress or kids to deal with

It’s hardly surprising when you can get £25k entry level at a desk job where you have no stress or kids to deal with

The hours, the stress and the responsibility are ridiculous irrelevant of the pay levels. Certainly for Mrs Lunge, you could offer her a 50% pay rise and she’d still turn it down.

Any chance of reducing hours? My Mrs managed to cut down to 4 days a week which has removed around 11 hours of working per week and she’s got her Sundays back.

My mrs did just this about 2 years ago when she essentially burnt out. She is now a residential care worker for children unable to be fostered. There is quite a lot of stress, particularly emotional as she’s dealing with kids who have been in some cases seriously abused, but she works in a large team, gets lots of training and support, and more importantly she’s paid for every hour she works.

She’s found it hugely rewarding as she’s 100% hands on with the kids and because they live/stay in the house for many years (ideally) she has very close personal relationships with them and sees them grow up and develop.

Any chance of reducing hours? My Mrs managed to cut down to 4 days a week which has removed around 11 hours of working per week and she’s got her Sundays back.

The education system is propped up by people doing 5 days work for 4 days pay.

I feel very lucky to be teaching what/where I do – I lasted 4 terms in primary, currently at 15 years in a sixth form college.

Mrs (Psychology degree and 15 years teaching experience) went into a path of counselling training with a view to being an in-school child counsellor. She’s midway through a university course currently and in tandem with that gaining loads of practical experience mainly with adults.

However financially it’s rubbish – the training phase has the cachet of a lifestyle job / vocation – many places won’t even pay expenses, and I’m not sure how it’ll be once she’s doing it comprehensively either as a private practitioner or in a school.

It is tough, since moving down to Devon I have been doing cover work while looking for other jobs. It is really difficult trying to think about what to do and in what direction to go in. I suppose finding something less stressful in the mean time that gives her the opportunity to retrain or try different avenues.

While still teaching it is difficult to imagine life outside of it.

I have found a few jobs with universities doing outreach and organising school sessions, much less pay, but you have to weigh up stress and poor health versus less pay and potentially more happy.

There are also a few tech companies I have seen that want people with education experience selling software to high ed establishments.

There are also a number of online teaching English courses that require tutors, money can be up and down dependent upon number of students, and the times are in the evenings, but again coupled with another part time job can give her the time to look for jobs and retrain?

I have found trawling indeed and reed quite helpful, but it has taken time and seeing jobs that interest me, only to seriously think about it and realise it is not suited to me.

I do have an interview tomorrow though at the local museum as an education officer, less pay, but I get to work in a castle if I am lucky.

There are plenty of things out there, but it is a case of spending time and looking at jobs, and thinking carefully what you want out of a job. I still want that reward and ability to help educate people so have been looking at things focussed with this.

Good luck with the move out of teaching, as many other STWers have experience of, it can be done.

How about education outreach stuff? It’s not a big industry but can be very worthwhile and valuable and means staying in the field and still having some benefit from the teaching experience

My wife was a teacher, gave up xmas 2015. She started to hate it. Was PT doing 2 days a week but working EVERY weekday evening and a good chunk of the weekend. Not currently working as our kids are young so we changed the household work/life balance dial, now thinking about work again

Very difficult to find what to do next. She wants to do the teaching part of teaching, just not all the unbelievable amount of stress and crap that goes with it

My wife was in a very similar situation – psychology degree and 10 years in a primary school. It was hard enough before baby number 1 came along, after that it nearly broke her and she’s a tough cookie with a lot more mental fortitude than me. She also wanted to become and Ed Psych, it’s why she got into teach in the first place but then the funding got pulled and she stayed teaching. In truth, she loved the teaching side but not all the other crap. Long story short, she now does supply, all the fun stuff, none of the rubbish (although going from school to unprepared school is not all fun and games). The money is worse but she has her life and I have my wife back.

One thing she didn think about was some sort of education coordinator for a museum or something, arranging all the stuff for kids to do when they visit. Not sure if those jobs exist though

I am a teacher and I have been since 1999. Sadly I recognise every comment made regarding the toll of doing a good job on individuals.

In Scotland we work a notional 35 hour week. I always do more than 35 hours, sometimes by Wednesday, but is is a target to aim for, and although I certainly care a lot about the job I do, I recognise that teachers regularly carrying out far in excess of 35 hours are doing themselves, their colleagues, and the profession no favours in the long term.

Can your wife try to re-evaluate the priorities in her weekly/termly workflow, and simply choose to try to accomplish less. I know to personal cost just how difficult this is, but it can help.

The OH gradually cut down from 5 days teaching in a 6th form college to 3 days, then gave up totally last December. She has a new job starting after half term – part time HLTA in a Primary School… covering my PPA (and a few others)! Ask me in a few weeks how it’s going, it could be interesting.

As far as education goes she’ll be ridiculously experienced. She’ll end up having lectured at uni, taught 6th form, secondary and now primary.