Alumni Guest Blog - Exploring a Portfolio Career

Guest blog by Academy alumni Anna Browning: Katherine Jones is interviewed about her teacher career change journey.

Thank you to the wonderful Anna Browning for this great guest blog!

Anna interviewed Katherine Jones about her teacher transition story. Katherine shares her teaching background and motivation for moving on, what she's doing now and what she loves about her new job, as well as what helped her to make the transition out of teaching and into a new role.

Hi Katherine. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I worked as a teacher for 17 years in two different schools and have taught every year group up to and including Y6. I started out in an infant school and was there for four years, but I really wanted to do KS2 so I moved to a lovely Primary school and stayed there. I started out leading maths but I am more suited to English so I was happy when I became the English lead. I also took on KS2 leader which I enjoyed. At one stage, I even stepped up as acting Head - I had a lot of support but it wasn’t for me!

What was your motivation for leaving teaching?

Back in 2012 I started to realise that the job was not sustainable for me. I have Crohn's disease* so I need to manage my stress and energy levels. While you are in it, you can’t see the wood for the trees but the reality of the underlying stress slowly started to become real for me. I think that was the start of me looking outside of the bubble of teaching and considering other options.

Was there a lightbulb moment when you knew you’d had enough?

For me it was Covid: sitting on my laptop at home, I realised there was a different way of working – one where I could do things at my own pace and manage my energy levels. I really hated the way the profession was treated in the media and that mental health wasn’t an issue that was being addressed properly. Looking on Facebook, I found videos and communities that convinced me that it was possible to leave and so I asked to go down to four days a week. At first my Head didn’t really understand why I wanted to do that, but when I explained my reasons, he agreed and was supportive. I spent my non-teaching day researching opportunities and found Jo and the Academy at Adventures After Teaching who encouraged me to explore my options.

What are you doing now?

All sorts of things! I have found a lot of opportunities through networking and people I know and it is amazing how many people will take a chance on a teacher because they trust that we have skills. I started with an advert for a job working for a company running online book clubs for children overseas. I revamped my CV with Jo’s help and got an interview. I didn’t get the job – they went with a Secondary teacher – but it sowed the seed on an idea. And then she called me back a couple of weeks later and offered me 3 hours a week. After that, I said “YES” to everything that I felt aligned with. Tutoring has grown organically through contacts locally and through school. I do resource writing and I coach authors who are going into schools. I tell them things like, “Don’t take answers from the start, you will get sidetracked: wait until the end.” I thought that was really obvious, but it’s not to someone who is not a teacher! I’m hoping to do more of this in the future. I have also been invited to do some marketing work for a children’s book publisher two days a month. I did a marketing degree, so it’s great to be able to use those skills. I am writing a newsletter once a month for them and helping them with their social media presence. I am really drawing on the organisational skills I developed as a teacher in order to keep everything under control!

What do you love about your new job?

I am really enjoying the 1:1 tutoring and being able to spend time on what the child needs. Being totally present for them in a way you just can’t be in a school with so many competing calls on your attention. I am enjoying the variety and the exploration of different options. But the most important thing to me is the sense of control. In teaching there is so much need to constantly prove yourself, and so much scrutiny. It feels so much easier to say no to things that I am not aligned with! And if someone doesn’t like something I have done, I find there’s much less emotion tied up in it. I still mind a bit, but it’s ok. I can say, “Thank you for the feedback,” and move on.

What is a typical day like?

I don’t really have a typical day because the roles I am doing vary so much and I decide when I work and for how long. I sometimes work in the evening and at the weekend because it suits me to do that. I am not a morning person and found getting up at 6am really stressful. I’d worry about having to be up early and then not sleep well because I was stressed and anxious. Now I don’t have to worry and I am sleeping so much better. I have energy to walk my dog twice a day and do all the things that are important to me.

What else has changed in your life?

Being able to prioritise my health has been so important to my wellbeing. I started brushing up my French with Duolingo and now I have the energy to take on an evening class which is a couple of hours in a classroom. I wouldn’t have had the headspace for that when I was teaching. I have also booked more holidays than I used to in teaching – I was often too tired to think about it!

What helped you most in your transition?

Definitely the Academy. The 1:1 sessions with Jo were amazing, helping me with my CV and encouraging me to network and be proactive. The Saturday morning calls are inspirational – hearing other people’s stories. It really helped too to have my imposter syndrome and insecurity normalised, and to know I wasn’t the only one feeling the exhaustion. It was good to hear the success stories too, when everyone else I talked to seemed obsessed with me missing out on the teacher pension!

If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice, what would it be?

Give it a go – what’s the worst that can happen? And what’s the BEST that can happen? Jo said that to me and it is so true. I would definitely tell myself to just do things that feel right – and try before you think you’re ready!

For more information about the Adventures After Teaching Academy, including how to join our monthly membership, visit https://www.adventuresaftertea...

*Crohn's disease is a lifelong autoimmune condition where parts of the digestive system become inflamed. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/...

Categories: : Ex-Teacher Tales