Teachers - How Do You Know When It's Time To Go?

You’ve trained hard, sacrificed a lot and the idea of leaving it all behind can make you question whether those missed weekends were wasted.

THREE WAYS YOU MIGHT KNOW IT'S TIME

Perhaps the thought of something outside of teaching has been tempting you for a while, or maybe you’ve been seeing others make the leap and have started to wonder if you could do the same.

But then there's the doubts... "Aren’t you too old to change careers? Can you afford to take a pay cut? Where do you start looking for jobs? What about childcare during the holidays?" You’re not the first burnt out teacher to ask these questions and I’m sure you won’t be the last.

The decision to leave teaching is not a small one. You’ve trained hard, sacrificed a lot and the idea of leaving it all behind can make you question whether those missed weekends were wasted.

When you start to notice that you’re counting down to the next holiday, the next weekend or even the end of the day, it can be hard to ignore that you’re not enjoying your time at school.

There are many common challenges facing teachers debating whether or not to leave, some practical, some mental or emotional. Here are three ways in which you may be hearing that little “leave” voice getting more persistent.

I love TEACHING but I hate being a TEACHER

Teaching and the role of a teacher are not one and the same; quite frankly, if we were all left in our own little bubble of a classroom, we'd probably be perfectly happy. But we’re very much not left alone!

Or perhaps we ARE left alone (until assessments are due) but with the pupils that need a lot of extra attention and preferably a teacher with 8 hands and 4 heads.

The decision to leave teaching isn’t as clear cut as “hating the job” - there will be many elements that still light you up, making you feel you’re making a difference. In some cases, a change of school or even year group can reignite your spark. It may be that your cycles of overwhelm and physical exhaustion can be eased considerably by talking to a burnout coach and once you’ve eased your anxiety, reframed negative self-talk and learned to be assertive around what you need, teaching is enjoyable for you again...

For those of you who’ve tried this and still feel the weight of another week, getting clear on how much you actually still enjoy your role will help - information is power.

This is one practical exercise which can help clarify how you feel about your current role:

1 - Over the course of a week, at the end of each day write down all the small moments of joy/satisfaction. Everything that made you smile. Any small or big ways in which you achieved.
2 - Next, write down all the frustrations - not necessarily challenges, as they’ll only be negative depending on how you’ve responded to them.
3 - Note down if these frustrations or negative experiences were in your control.
4 - Looking back over your positives, consider whether you could experience these outside of the classroom.

The body keeps score

Every teacher that comes to me for support with burnout and work related stress is experiencing some physical symptom. Whether it be difficulty sleeping or waking in the night, tension headaches and migraines, exhaustion all day long or susceptibility to every cold going.

They also notice they’ve become negative, cynical even, not just about the role but more significantly about their ability to do a good job. They don’t recognise the person they’re becoming and are concerned life is always going to be this hard.

This is the place we can’t stay. This dangerous wasteland where experienced, intelligent teachers go to languish till retirement!

Despite the years of training, riding the government changes like a pro surfer and willingness to demonstrate growth mindset with the pupils, most teachers are “not enough” and never will be by the standards of all those who have a say. Now that sounds doom and gloom and of course there are many supportive schools out there who highly value their staff. However, it might feel more and more that your ability to stay in the classroom has more to do with your emotional resilience than your ability to teach.

Mental and physical are so interrelated and the more you doubt your ability, overcommit your energy and tolerate the growing number of ailments, the louder your body will shout at you. And while being burnt out or depleted isn’t necessarily a sign you need to change your job, working out how to radically overhaul your life to find more balance can feel impossible. That’s why focusing on reclaiming some energy is the first step to finding more clarity.

So if you’re running on fumes, it might be time for a life audit.

What do you need? A simple but powerful question. Write down the answer. Write down all the answers.

Look deeper by considering how you can physically, mentally, emotionally and relationally replenish your energy. What can you say “no” this week to reclaim some mental and physical space?

When you take care of yourself first, you can start to see what and who is worth sacrificing your energy for, and also, what you’re doing on autopilot. You can decide your non-negotiables. All of this is invaluable information if you decide to start looking for possible paths out of teaching.

You can’t imagine teaching till retirement

Perhaps with a change of management, reluctant responsibility or increasing workload, you can’t see yourself in the profession pushing 60. When we enter the classroom bright eyed and bushy tailed, the welcoming environment, sense of belonging and willingness to do the extra work for the love of the job feels like it will last forever. We’re sold on the idea of vocation and a job for life.

Sometimes a shift in priorities (maybe with the arrival of children or an unexpected health condition) we find ourselves re-evaluating and starting to feel the overcommitting and sacrificing more keenly.

You may feel a sense of guilt at the idea of leaving - like your wanting to leave is a comment on the choices of your colleagues or a sign of disregard for your pupils. The trouble with pleasing others, is that all too easily, we wander from serving others to taking responsibility for their thoughts and actions.

This is exhausting.

You can’t carry the burden of other people’s reactions when they have such a disproportionate impact on how you spend your years on the planet.

Another reason you may be drawn to “sticking it out”, is feeling like you’ve “already invested so much”. While not so life-changing, this reminds me of my monthly mental battle with our Sky TV package… We don’t watch it. It costs us money. Yet every month we vow to “get our money's worth” by binge watching box sets. Do we get the value by staying? NO, WE DON'T! So we fester in our commitment to them, knowing we need to make the change.

I said it wasn’t really comparable, but I do think it highlights that there may be a perceived sense of loss felt, whether it be time invested, money spent (or not earned) or sacrifices made. This is why working to get to a place where you can release resentment and appreciate what teaching has given you is so important to moving on with confidence. The little voice saying “you can’t do anything else”, will be strong enough without fuelling it any further.

Few of us leave teaching sticking two fingers up to the school gates as we walk out of them. For many of us there is grief and stages to be processed. But there is also liberation.

I don’t need to list for you the mental, emotional and physical freedom that leaving teaching can afford you. There are plenty of interviews with teachers on our Adventures After Teaching Podcast who’ve made the change and are so grateful they did - you can hear that energy of relief in them when they talk.

Yes, it isn’t an easy decision. But don’t let the fear of what others may or may not think influence your decision. If you feel deep down it’s time to make a change, have faith in yourself.

🌟 ps. For ideas of how your skills suit popular teacher career change paths, have a look at our Classroom Exit Plan workshop - it's free!🌟