Leaving teaching

[disny_luvr]

Have you thought about doing something else in education? I am elementary ed certified and taught 6th grade for four years and first grade for one year before becoming a middle school librarian after I obtained my Master’s in Library Science. I was starting to get burned out in the regular ed classroom and the switch to librarian is just what I needed to reignite my love of teaching. I love everything about my job. I still get to interact with students on a regular basis and teach a few classes here and there. I’m working on my second Master’s degree now, which will provide me with the option of being a tech coach/coordinator. I don’t know if I’ll ever pursue that type of job, but I like having options.

Good luck with your decision. I have worked with many teachers that have left the profession. It isn’t what it used to be, that’s for sure.

 

[tcufrog]

I do agree to try to change the type of teaching you're doing before you leave teaching altogether. My sister is a public school teacher. A few years ago, she called me upset because her school district was making her switch from teaching middle school reading to teaching high school reading. She had been teaching middle school reading for more than a decade. The school she'd been teaching at had just been assigned a new principal who didn't like my sister even though her students' standardized test scores were always the most improved for her department. It turns out switching to high school was one of the best things that's happened to her professionally. She was getting burned out and didn't realize it. Last year she made another pivot at her high school principal's request (switching from reading to special ed after earning the special ed certification) which has reenergized her as well. She now enjoys team teaching and working with small groups instead of teaching large classes by herself.

 

[runwad]

I'm here to say the corporate world isn't any picnic either! At my place we went from a department of 5 and 1/2 people down to 1 and 1/2 (I'm the 1/2, part time). The work is still there it didn't drop off they just don't want to replace people. We do the best we can but can't keep up. Honestly I'm not happy, but the hours are good, the pay is good and the vacation time is great so I try to remember that.

I've got 18 years in and at this point I see the finish line ahead. I find other areas in my life to bring me joy and work is just that work. I get through my days an hour at a time.

If you make a good wage and have a good retirement plan, I'd really think about jumping ship. There might be a lot of jobs out there, but not a lot of GOOD jobs with good pay and benefits. Of course interviewing and seeing whats out there wouldn't hurt either.

Good Luck, I hope you can find your happiness.

 

[MillauFr]

To the OP. Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

 

[North of Mouse]

As a mother, grandmother, I appreciate teachers so much!
They are undervalued, under appreciated, under paid and under respected, etc. etc.

Constantly wonder how there can be enough young people willing to be teachers. When I went to school, also my children, teachers were respected and school officials and parents stood by teachers. Now, seeing, hearing about all the disrespect shown in classrooms, and teachers' hands being tied makes me sad.

If we, any child, got into trouble at school, they got into trouble at home too - teachers were to be respected and obeyed. Now - parents (not all, I know) march themselves up to the school and demand an apology - or more - for anyone daring to hurt their entitled child's feelings.

Off my soapbox now - anyhow, thanks to you teachers!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I used to be a teacher. I taught in public school (in a fairly rural setting) for 20 years. I was in about 3 different schools total. I spent 10 years at the last one. I do not even remember at what point I started hating teaching, but it know the last few years were bad. I guess the "real reason" I left teaching was due more to my home life. A bad marriage and all that (long story) and events that occurred outside of school, if I could have pulled myself together at home, I would have been more likely able to handle the demands and stress of teaching. I ended up resigning my teaching position because I just could not take care of my home life and work full time. I ended up getting a divorce, and new beginning at over the age of 40.

I began a new career as a social worker. That was a "frying pan into the fire situation" as far as work goes. It is far more stressful than teaching as far as the day to day work. The things I saw cannot be unseen, and the environments that you are exposed to can be dangerous and unhealthy.

After a little less than a year of that I decided to move over into banking. It seems that banking is a place where I can fit in. I started off as a teller (I actually had a better title than that, but since we were short on tellers, that is about all I ever ended up doing) , and now I am in loan servicing. It is an entirely different world than teaching. There are things that I like a lot better about the world of banking, and things I like a lot better about teaching.

The benefits I would see of working in banking (at least at the bottom end of the ladder) as opposed to teaching:

1. There is much more anonymity in the outside world. You can go places, and kids aren't always like "I saw you at blah blah" or you are some place and kids are bothering you.

2. Less stressful actual work. Yes peoples' money is important and it is a lot of responsibility, but it is not going to talk back, or ask to go to the bathroom etc...

3. It feels safer... I know bank robberies happen. At least where I am, I am up in an office in a building that has no actual money in it and you have to have access cards to get inside the building itself, and individual departments. It is very secure. I know schools can be dangerous and often felt unsafe because of all the violence that can happen.

The stuff that is NOT appealing about being in banking as opposed to teaching:

1. At least at the bottom end of the ladder, there is less money. I make less now than I did when I left teaching. I am about where a beginning teacher would be as far as income.

2. Less time off....when I say less time off, I mean I am very grateful to be off for major holidays and 3 weeks. That's it, you do not have time to do much as far as things outside of work.

3. It is kind of hard to explain I guess number 3. There is no "end point". In teaching there was always an end point to look forward to. Good or bad, the year would be over. You would get a fresh start, a new year every year. In banking, that does not exist. It is what it is, and there will be no big reset coming. Things just do not shut down for a couple months and you get to start all over. I really miss having that change.

To kind of summarize, I would say the grass is always greener. Nobody will know until they have lived both lives. For myself, I have actually considered getting back into teaching IF the right situation and school were to come up. I do not dislike what I do now, but I really miss some things about teaching.

 

[indimom]

I've made two big career changes in my life and both were positive for me.
I started out in journalism and worked as both a reporter and assistant editor at a daily newspaper. I never liked it much, and eventually I hated it. Much like you, I dreaded the thought of going in to work each day.
I left when we started planning to have a family. I really wanted to stay home with my children, but also needed to supplement our income. I had always enjoyed babysitting as a young adult, so I opened a home day care and worked in that field for 16 years. For the vast majority of that time, I loved what I did. But, as the years went on, I started to feel drawn in another direction, a direction I wouldn't have even thought about when I was 18 and going to college. This was a harder transition because our kids were edging toward college, there would be school costs of my own involved, and it seemed risky to end a thriving business for something unknown. But, I ended up closing my business and went back to school for nursing, working part time in various positions during that time.

I couldn't be happier. I've had a number of good careers, but I feel like I've been where I needed to be at each point of my life. And nursing has such wide variety, that even if I did wear thin in a certain area between now and retirement, I'm sure I could find satisfaction in another realm.

Long story short, If you are that miserable, it's time to move on. Life's way too short to spend every day in dread. There are jobs out there for anyone willing to work. And even if a pay cut was involved (which was the case for me a couple times as I transitioned), it was worth it for the peace of mind and job satisfaction (and I made it back in other ways/eventually).

Good luck and I hope you find a place that makes you happy!

 

[holden]

I left teaching after 7 years when my oldest child came along. I don’t ever think of going back. It’s a very demanding job, and I can’t imagine trying to balance taking care of my kids and being the teacher I once was. I give teachers so much credit for what they do.

 

[_19disnA]

It is not clear to me why the OP doesn't like their current job and how a career change will improve that. They mention not liking either the administrative work nor the teaching. Salary jobs in most corporate settings involve a lot of administrative-type work and won't necessarily be a solution to that problem. In a large company, you might often get a new boss and/or the design of the work may change. In a large company with many locations, the processes/procedures may be dictated by the corporate office located in some other place and you will have no control over that. HR might be viewed in the future are a "non-core" business and that part of the business sold off to someone else.

Dealing with the issues of parents & students at school would be replaced by the politics you will likely find in all large companies. While you may interact with a lot of good people, at least a percentage of them are more interested in climbing the corporate ladder and getting promoted vs. those who genuinely want to work hard and are good at their job.

Honestly, a resume is mostly intended to get you an interview, so I wouldn't be overly concerned about trying to design the perfect resume. In spite of what HR claims, interviewing in more art than science. Four different people who interview you might come away with completely different impressions of your skills/abilities. Some people are smooth talkers and say all the right things during an interview, but eventually are terrible on the job. Some others may not interview well, but in fact turn out to be the best workers.

Those are some of the factors I would consider when jumping into a totally new career.

 

[disney junky]

I was a teacher. I was furloughed from teaching in an inner city setting (thinking I would never go back), worked in industry for four years, and found real misery there. I was just doing a job. I realized how good I had it as a teacher, not from a money perspective, but from a human/family perspective. I taught another 27 years and then retired. I never regretted going back. There as a reality to it as well.
I went from $29,000 a year to $18,000 a year (1987) and I was the main breadwinner.
I was able to get a masters funded through the school. I finished with a masters plus 60 credits and worked as a adjunct in a couple different college settings part time.
We have an impact on our students. Some times it doesn't feel that way. Administrations come and go. There were occasions where I was frustrated with the politics, the parents, the nonsense, but in the end, I was the one in charge of my classroom, I attempted to show respect to my administrators (whose jobs I never wanted), and got through those times I dreaded. Believe me, there were years, duties (middle school lunch duty), classes (alternative ed English).
Maybe teaching isn't for you. I knew a few who left, but not many. One got a job in the insurance industry. Many get into sales, but that can be difficult. One became a truck driver, but he eventually came back. Testing and textbook companies usually hire from the teaching profession. Often those jobs require some travel. The recruiters from the local tech/trade schools are often teacher educated.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[Princess_Ariel_5]

It is not clear to me why the OP doesn't like their current job and how a career change will improve that. They mention not liking either the administrative work nor the teaching. Salary jobs in most corporate settings involve a lot of administrative-type work and won't necessarily be a solution to that problem. In a large company, you might often get a new boss and/or the design of the work may change. In a large company with many locations, the processes/procedures may be dictated by the corporate office located in some other place and you will have no control over that. HR might be viewed in the future are a "non-core" business and that part of the business sold off to someone else.

Dealing with the issues of parents & students at school would be replaced by the politics you will likely find in all large companies. While you may interact with a lot of good people, at least a percentage of them are more interested in climbing the corporate ladder and getting promoted vs. those who genuinely want to work hard and are good at their job.

Honestly, a resume is mostly intended to get you an interview, so I wouldn't be overly concerned about trying to design the perfect resume. In spite of what HR claims, interviewing in more art than science. Four different people who interview you might come away with completely different impressions of your skills/abilities. Some people are smooth talkers and say all the right things during an interview, but eventually are terrible on the job. Some others may not interview well, but in fact turn out to be the best workers.

Those are some of the factors I would consider when jumping into a totally new career.

Thank you everyone for your replies. To answer your question, I don’t enjoy the administrative things I am doing because I am being asked to do things that I do not agree with and things that are shady, but if I ever report it, I will be out of a job. So I’m stuck in a weird spot.

Administrative work that I DO enjoy involves setting up prom and big events, reviewing contracts, networking, and talking to vendors about their business.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Administrative work that I DO enjoy involves setting up prom and big events, reviewing contracts, networking, and talking to vendors about their business.

This sounds to me very like event management. When I was doing my marketing degree, I had some core modules with the event management stream. Its part marketing, part business management, part sales.

 

[tex1989]

Can't offer you a lot of advice, other than personal experience. My wife worked for 14 years as a registrar/ attendance clerk in our local district at a Middle School. She retire a year and a half ago and she could not be happier. Her personal experience was this; she felt like her job was important and she worked very hard. Many of those who worked with her in the para-professional roles could care less. They were there for a paycheck and that was about all. They spent all day on their phones, talking and coming in late and leaving early. In her role the attendance numbers were critical due to funding being determined based on those figures. Additionally more money was awarded to the district based on the classification of students. Homeless students were the most valued because they received the most money, this was followed by kids with accommidations, and ESL students. She was continually instructed to classify students a certain way and was sometimes uncomfortable doing so. ARD's which are parent-teacher-counsilor meetings to detrmine the need for students to determine if they could be excluded from standardized testing where they still took the test but their scores did not count against the overall school's or district ratings were the norm. She hit the tipping point and just could not deal with it all anymore and we were in a place where she no longer needed to work, so she doesn't.

She loved the kids, but hated everything else.

The second example is a good friend I have known though my job for 20 years. She had two daughters in college and got encouraged to go back and finish her degree. She got her teaching degree and we all wished her well as she got a job teaching in her local district and had her going away party. A year later I got a call to have lunch with her as she was working a temp job in the downtown area where I work. I said what the heck, I thought you were teaching? Over lunch she told me how that had lasted exactly one semester. She said the kids were terrible, the parents worse, and the administration was non supportive and always back the Parents no matter how outragious the situation.

I greatlu appreciate teachers and always have. Many influenced my life in very positive ways. But also remember this they are non revenue generating, taxpayer funded roles. In other words everyone loves them but no one wants to pay them when they remember that it's increased taxes that allow it. With the world we live in today in our country and the debates over politics nothing is going to change.

 

[runwad]

It is not clear to me why the OP doesn't like their current job and how a career change will improve that. They mention not liking either the administrative work nor the teaching. Salary jobs in most corporate settings involve a lot of administrative-type work and won't necessarily be a solution to that problem. In a large company, you might often get a new boss and/or the design of the work may change. In a large company with many locations, the processes/procedures may be dictated by the corporate office located in some other place and you will have no control over that. HR might be viewed in the future are a "non-core" business and that part of the business sold off to someone else.

Dealing with the issues of parents & students at school would be replaced by the politics you will likely find in all large companies. While you may interact with a lot of good people, at least a percentage of them are more interested in climbing the corporate ladder and getting promoted vs. those who genuinely want to work hard and are good at their job.

Honestly, a resume is mostly intended to get you an interview, so I wouldn't be overly concerned about trying to design the perfect resume. In spite of what HR claims, interviewing in more art than science. Four different people who interview you might come away with completely different impressions of your skills/abilities. Some people are smooth talkers and say all the right things during an interview, but eventually are terrible on the job. Some others may not interview well, but in fact turn out to be the best workers.

Those are some of the factors I would consider when jumping into a totally new career.

This is a good post! I know someone at 54 who retired from an almost 6 fig teaching salary. Now he is a salesman, no benefits, commission only + draw and things are not good for them. Still has car payments, house payments, kids in hs, kids in college. He's finding out just what he gave up. If you're not making enough money to take care of your obligations, I don't care how much you like your job, you'll still be under stress.

I say get another job over the summer and work it for your break and see if you'd want to make a change. Its nice you have time off as a teacher to do a trial run.

 

[tex1989]

I read some more of the posts here about teaching and other jobs people have moved to and had to comment some more. People talk about being burned out in their jobs, and I completely understand that. The old saying goes pick a job you love and you will never work a day in your life. I guess that means you enjoy it so much it does not feel like work. Well news flash, that's a great concept but in reality what you love does not always pay the bills. I have worked in the energy industry for 37 years as of March 8th. At times it has been fun, at times it has sucked. Burn out? Yeah multiple times. Still working, yeah in the energy industry. Same area/ market area for the last 11. Why do I do it? I like the people (some of them) I enjoy the work, (some of the time) and I think I make a difference (some of the time). But at then end of the day (or my career which I hope is in three years) the real reason I do it is because of the money. Yes I said it, the money, they pay me a lot (thank God because otherwise it aint worth it) and they put a lot into my retirement. All that has allowed me to raise two kids, take them to WDW, pay for their college degrees, pay for their weddings, provide a nice house to live in and an overall good lifestyle. Maybe it's sad, but it's true, I do what I do because economically it is by far and away the best financial return for my time. Loving what I do is not very high on the list of why I show up everyday.

 

[NotUrsula]

I read some more of the posts here about teaching and other jobs people have moved to and had to comment some more. People talk about being burned out in their jobs, and I completely understand that. The old saying goes pick a job you love and you will never work a day in your life. I guess that means you enjoy it so much it does not feel like work. Well news flash, that's a great concept but in reality what you love does not always pay the bills. I have worked in the energy industry for 37 years as of March 8th. At times it has been fun, at times it has sucked. Burn out? Yeah multiple times. Still working, yeah in the energy industry. Same area/ market area for the last 11. Why do I do it? I like the people (some of them) I enjoy the work, (some of the time) and I think I make a difference (some of the time). But at then end of the day (or my career which I hope is in three years) the real reason I do it is because of the money. Yes I said it, the money, they pay me a lot (thank God because otherwise it aint worth it) and they put a lot into my retirement. All that has allowed me to raise two kids, take them to WDW, pay for their college degrees, pay for their weddings, provide a nice house to live in and an overall good lifestyle. Maybe it's sad, but it's true, I do what I do because economically it is by far and away the best financial return for my time. Loving what I do is not very high on the list of why I show up everyday.

Yes, but you find very few teachers for whom the salary is the reason to stick with it. Teaching at the E/S level is a pink-collar ghetto; it generally doesn't pay very well, though the benefits are usually quite good.

OP, I've been in corporate training environments; that is changing, too. These days, about 90% of it is done online, either in self-paced online courses that are designed by trainers, or via webinars. The instructional design side of the job is the growth part of it. It used to be a road-warrior job, with people traveling far more than they were ever at the home office, but that has largely fallen away as distance-learning options have improved. The primary market for corporate training is in product support: the company you work for sells a product, most often software, but sometimes machinery, and you teach the buyers how to use it properly. Normally the contract will include provision for X hours of training, and if they can do it online it costs them a whole lot less than if you go and do it in person. (Not to mention that Sales folks are notorious for making a habit of discounting all of the training costs in the contract, which means that the company often has to eat that cost. It used to tick us off when clients kept pointing out that they had paid for our time so we had to jump when they called, when the truth was that most of the time the work of the training dept. was not being paid for at all.)

Besides event management (which has a scary tendency to be a feast or famine industry that is VERY susceptible to swings in economic prosperity) another option you might want to look into would be project management. That is very similar, and although the job title is most associated with the building trades, who invented the jargon for it, it is in high demand in any industry that delivers complex products that are customized for the client and take a long time & the cooperation of a lot of people to get up and running.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

It's funny because the discussion of teaching/training came up at work yesterday. Call me crazy, but one thing I have noticed after leaving teaching is that I kind of miss actually teaching people to do things. When I was in a branch I was always excited and happy to help train new tellers. Most of the people in my department started off as tellers, and were asked to help train others at some point. They were talking about how they absolutely hated training people. I just cannot wrap my mind around that because it was my favorite thing to do. I know positions exist where all you do is train new hires, I have just never seen any come open. I know if there are ever any openings for that, I will be applying.

I guess some people have a "bug' that makes them want to teach others, there are ways to teach outside of school...just harder to find the opportunity I suppose.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Statistics show that 40-50% of teachers leave the profession after 5 years. Depending on where you are, low pay, stress over testing, poor administration or parental support, and student motivation and behavior are some of the big reasons teachers leave every year.
.

That is really interesting to hear. I've been teaching 19 years (In 5 different schools) and have only known one teacher to leave the school to pursue something else.

 

[LovesTimone]

I say

If you really know --- then you should go...

Even though you say the kids don't know they do know if you really don't want to be there...

High School kids are challenging... and many parents seem to careless about whats going on in school at this age than when they were younger... lots and lots of challenges...

I would like to say as a parent, Thank you to the teachers and staff who do this job daily... Its not a easy one... and you are brave to fight on....and God Bless you all...

 

[monsterkitty]

That is really interesting to hear. I've been teaching 19 years (In 5 different schools) and have only known one teacher to leave the school to pursue something else.

Not really. 32 years ago in my Law and the Classroom Teacher class, the statistic was around 40% then.

We don't have turnover in my school other than those who are retiring or a spouse has been transferred so I don't see that statistic in my school. However, across our district and neighboring districts the statistic is pretty darn close. My niece is a second year teacher at another middle school. She was one of 4 new teachers to that school last year and she is the only one who returned. Another third year teacher was non-renewed so he left teaching all together.

The scariest statistic is the decline in college students entering the education programs. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/f...on-but-will-students-pay-the-price-2018-02-14