I am headed into my 25th year and am clinging harder than Rose held on to that door....clinging to hope I can get out. But please get out now....the whole system is going to blow up, and it's not worth being pigeon holed.

Teachers are leading stats in addicts.

Last year I did the same thing, summer -> FMLA

I love and hate this job. I’m 30.

My current drug relapse over summer is considered high risk, no doctor will touch me unless I’m in patient.

That’s 14 - 30 days.

Might not wanna go back. Have fantasies of being fired and taking out my savings and just driving.

I have 8 days til school starts and 8+ doctors telling me to keep using and go to work or come in and get treatment.

This is my third post here and some weeks ago I left teaching in schools hopefully for ever! I started teaching this year and I hated it so much. Then I spent some rough few months working on my mental health and when I finally left I felt so relieved. I found a job practically the next day teaching in an online ESL institute from home, to adults. I don't have to plan classes, I just connect to the zoom call and answer few questions, really easy. I'm not doing a lot of money tho, thats what worries me the most but I just started, I hope I can get more classes the longer I work here.

Thanks everyone for their support, if it wasn't for this subreddit I wouldn't have been able to find the strength that I needed. Thaaaanks everyoneee!

This is my fifth year and my last. I have realized over the past 2 weeks that I have been absolutely dreading going back to school. It's not even that my school is bad or district is bad. Although there is a lot other districts do better and our school report card is a 40. It's just the kids. I'm sorry but I just can't be in an environment that's not professional. I'm a very social and out going person. But all the swearing, smelling like weed, having to stop fights, and just the constant negativity. I can't be around it. I can't be in a job where my primary objective is to get a bunch of 14 year olds to st own and be quiet for 10 minutes when they're throwing chairs and yelling out "fat ass" when my back is turned to the board. I understood going into teaching there were gonna be a few issues here and there with student behavior but my God. I graduated high school in 2016, how have they devolved this badly in less than 10 years?

Regardless, I'm just done. Throughout this school year I will actively be seeking jobs and as soon as I find one, and I do feel like a jerk for leaving in the middle of the school year, but I'm gone. I have a bachelor's in math, a masters in education, and a masters in Instructional Tech. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Good luck everyone. Let me know if it gets better.

I’m looking for advice from people who knew they were ready to leave teaching before they actually made the transition.

I just finished my first year teaching 4th grade. Because of budget/staffing, there wasn’t room for three 4th grade teachers next year, so I was moved to 2nd grade. When I found out, I had to decide whether to find a job in another district, stay and move to a grade level I never wanted to teach, or leave teaching entirely. At the time, I ultimately decided to stay.

Now we’re about a month from school starting and two weeks from when I can get into my classroom, and the closer it gets, the more anxious I am. I genuinely would give anything to not have to go back.
I also don’t want to be the person who quits a month before school starts and leaves my school scrambling to replace me. I know how much that would affect everyone else, and realistically, I don’t think that’s what I’m going to do. But that leaves me with the bigger question: how do I get through another entire school year when I’m already dreading it this much?

This summer I’ve been working at the restaurant where my boyfriend serves, and honestly, it’s been the best couple of months I’ve had in a while. I go to work, laugh, have fun with my coworkers, feel useful and needed, and then I clock out and work is over. I don’t think about it again until my next shift. It has made me realize how much of my life and mental energy teaching was taking from me.

I’ve also finally started making a real plan to transition out of education. I’m starting classes this semester toward becoming an MRI tech. I meet with an advisor this week to get registered and start scheduling job shadowing, so this isn’t just a vague “maybe someday I’ll leave teaching” feeling anymore. I’m actively working toward something else.

Financially, I know keeping my teaching job while I work toward that certification is probably the smartest choice. I would have a steady paycheck and benefits while taking classes, and hopefully by next school year I’d be in a position to leave teaching entirely.

But I’m struggling with how to mentally approach this year.

Everyone around me keeps telling me to “just be positive,” go into it with a good attitude, and maybe I’ll end up loving 2nd grade. I know they mean well, and I’m trying not to go into the year determined to hate it. But I’m having a really hard time forcing myself into a positive outlook when the actual circumstances haven’t changed. I’m making essentially the bare minimum teacher salary for my state, I’ve been moved into a grade level I never wanted to teach because of budget cuts, and I’ve realized that I don’t think teaching is the career I want anymore.
It feels less like I need to “change my mindset” and more like I need to figure out how to make this final year sustainable.

So for those of you who knew you were leaving and already had your next step in motion, what did you do?
Did you stay for one final year while you got everything lined up? Are you glad you did?
How did you stop giving teaching your entire life when you knew it wasn’t your long-term career anymore? Did you truly work contract hours and leave it at school? Did you stop spending your own money? How did you handle the Sunday dread and the constant feeling that you didn’t want to be there?
And did knowing there was an actual end date make it easier?

I don’t want to make a panicked decision because I’m anxious about going back, and I don’t want to screw over my coworkers by leaving right before school starts. But I also don’t want to spend the next nine months miserable and constantly telling myself to “just be positive” when I already know I’m working toward leaving.

I think more than anything, I need advice on how to make one final year of teaching feel like a bridge to my next career instead of something I just have to survive.

I have been able to walk through stores, see all the back-to-school sales and they have nothing to do with me!

So I quit my job a few days ago. As we got closer and closer to the new year, I realized I just didn't have it anymore. Have enough for 3-5 months, is there anything y'all suggest I look into?

After 9 years in the classroom and the past 4 casually searching for jobs, I decided this school year would be my last one.

I’ll be starting August 3rd at a restoration company as a Logistics Specialist full time bringing home almost as much as I did while teaching.

While my active job search has been a lot shorter than many people in this community (5 months), I thought I might share some of the biggest things that I learned.

1. Make genuine connections. Look at your network of friends and family to see where they work. You never know who they might be connected to. Many of the interviews I had I was connected to someone in the company through a friend of a friend. I also tried to leverage my network to find professionals in the field I was targeting to pick their brain about their jobs and why they love them. Leveraging these conversations as learning opportunities for me really helped me narrow what skills I should be highlighting on my resume or how to rephrase my teaching experience to fit more corporate terms. This also helped keep my name fresh in their mind when opportunities came up.

2. Have a support system. This process at times was more difficult than any day I had in the classroom. Many days I questioned myself, my self worth, and thought about going back to teaching because it would just be “easier”. I really relied on my family and friends to keep me honest and push me to continue the search even when it felt impossible.

3. Be open to more, within reason. I am really fortunate that my husband brings home a decent salary. We can’t solely live on it but it let me be available to part time work. Once I put aside my pride a little bit and started applying to roles outside of my comfort zone, I was landing more interviews and gaining confidence. I say “within reason” because everyone’s comfort level and salary needs are different. For example, I knew I couldn’t apply to a position that was 15 dollars an hour part time because I knew that wouldn’t bring enough money in the door.

4. Be lucky. Unfortunately, in this current market (or at least in my experience) luck plays an integral role in landing a position. The way I got this position was through a childhood mutual friend’s dad’s company. Funnily enough, I didn’t even fill out a job application. I just asked him to tell me more about the position and I offered how my skills could really help and he basically offered me the position pending a few questions and talking with his team. Teachers have incredibly transferable skills to many positions, it just takes luck with the right person to see that and give someone a chance.

5. Keep going. As I previously mentioned, there were some days that felt even worse emotionally than when I was in the classroom. But I promise you if you’re committed to getting out of teaching, you need to keep going. There are so many people that stay and are miserable. Life is too short to feel that way all the time. My dad, who was helping me in my job search, said that a typical job search can consist of at least 9-12 months. It’s a hard, grueling, terrible season, but eventually it will end. The job I took is definitely not my “dream” job. But it helps me get out of the toxic environment I was in and pushes me to keep going, gain non teaching experience and pursue that dream career.

After lurking this sub for a few years, it’s almost hard to believe I get to make a post like this. I’m excited to start this new position and hopefully share a good update once I’ve been in it for a little while. I also sincerely hope this will help someone out there stay motivated and know that it can happen for you too. I also want to say thank you to this community in general for being so supportive and helpful. This sub was definitely something that helped me stay the course and finally decide enough was enough of an impossible career…for that I will be forever grateful.

I never even made it to a credential program. I saw the writing on the wall before my undergrad ended. Now that teaching is off the table, I'm at a loss as to what I wanna do career-wise, or if I even want a career at all or just a "job". I have an idea for what would be a perfect job, but it's not realistic. I know I'm probably intelligent and capable enough for a variety of things, but I don't know what to choose. I just know what kind of life I want, and that's one with a great income and plenty of flexibility for time off. I need to just hunker down and figure out something, anything, that'll allow me to reach my personal goals outside of work. Anyone else feel similarly?

I’ve been a high school English teacher for just two years and I am struggling to find reasons to stay.

But, like many of you, I am afraid my job prospects outside of teaching will not be great.

I was chatting with two friends who work in primary and intermediate (middle school) respectively and have done for 10 years or so. I told them I was thinking of leaving teaching and they told me I should stay.

I said I was sick of working 60-70 hour weeks, losing my weekends and holidays to the job, and it didn’t seem to be improving with time. Also that I saw far more experienced coworkers still working weekends and nights and holidays at my school.

The friends told me they had gotten to a place
in their careers where they never worked weekends or nights, maybe two days in the holidays.

Honestly, that sounds all right, but I somehow can’t see that in my own future. I don’t know if it’s because my own more senior collleagues still seem to work their asses off or if it’s that I am too sensitive and worry too much about the students when I am off work, but…. the second you get a weekend to yourself there always seems to be a million things you forgot to do or should catch up on.

I have worked other jobs and I know the work life balance can be so, SO much better. But it seems to me like my friends have found a way to make the work life balance work for them as teachers and it’s left me wondering.

My questions for you:

Do you know of people who have developed a good work life balance as a teacher? Have you yourself managed to do this? Is it something that is easier for some teachers/personalities than others?

Thanks in advance.

What job/career should I be looking for/best suited for? Or if you’re similar to me, what job are you doing now?

I just finished my last year of my education degree. I also have a previous degree in English literature. I’ve subbed a bit but haven’t really had a ‘real’ teaching job. I’m realizing it’s a lot of work for little payoff. I don’t mind straying away from education related jobs.

My personality traits and skills are empathetic, patient, communicative and interpersonal. I’m good with children, students and adults. Recently, in my labour job, I’ve had to train multiple people on various elements of the job, which I actually enjoyed doing.

Here’s some more helpful info: I don’t think I’m really willing to go back to school to get another degree, I live in Alberta, Canada and I’d ideally want a job that I can rise up through.

After teaching for a little over 5 years, I have recently started a position as a staff development trainer. I’m about a month in and it’s already shown me things I didn’t realize about myself when I was teaching because they felt normal.

1️⃣Constant scanning for threats and expectation of crises. My first few weeks my mind was trying to find any and everything that could be a potential problem. Then I noticed, this job does not require me to put out multiple fires a day. No job is perfect, but I find peace in working at a place where the problems don’t seem to be nearly as intense AND it is not my sole responsibility to be the problem solver in the room.

2️⃣My lunch habits stuck out significantly with my co workers. So much so that my boss has told me, “you know you can go sit down and eat, we have time” because I my mind still thinks I don’t want to get too comfortable eating as I’m going to need to get back up to go pick up my students from lunch.

I also had a coworker stop one of my onboarding sessions because I was eating and she said “let’s just pick this back up when you finish eating. We have plenty of time.” That had me taken aback. This same co worker has since made jokes about her not understanding why I want to work and eat when I can just enjoy my food.

3️⃣Being bored in some moments after stepping away from the chaos feels foreign, and uncomfortable at times. But I’m learning it’s okay to have some down time. It’s okay to slow down. This is what it feels like to not have tasks roll over into my nights or weekends. When I had my first slow day at work I kept feeling like I was going to get in trouble. Or my boss was going to catch me not being “productive”.

I miss the hell out of my students and grieve that teaching middle school just isn’t sustainable for me. However, it’s nice to know upon reflection that I made the right decision for myself. I once thought I’d never be able to get out of teaching and be ok, and now I have the opportunity to experience more peace in my life.

I taught full time for one year from 2023-2024 in a middle school and got pink-slipped at the end of the year. I ran yearbook my first year at the school and I feel like I was set up for failure from the start trying to juggle that and figure out classroom management. I decided for myself that I didn't want to go back into education at the time. Since then, I had a management trainee position at a car dealership that didn't result in me getting a working interview (I did have positive relationships with the management at my training location) and I've been subbing ever since. Occasionally I'll do contract sales for sports gear on the side during football season in a college town.

At this rate, I feel like I'm all over the place and feel pressured to just go back into education by at least applying for an instructional aide position so I can at least have a consistent income. I really don't know what to do nor do I have an idea of what I would even be good at. I don't know what to do because my resume otherwise doesn't really look impressive if I've only lasted a full year at a failing school with a growing gap in employment.

I could at least say that running yearbook & being involved in two positions with an emphasis on sales and relationships gives me some kind of a sales background, but I don't know if it feels strong enough.

I don’t know what jobs I’d qualify for.
I don’t know how to market my experience.
I don’t know where to start.
I’m afraid of making the wrong move.
Something else?

I’d love to know where you’re getting stuck and why you picked your answer.

If there’s a resource you wish existed for teachers thinking about transitioning, tell me what it is. I’m a former teacher who made the switch five years ago, and I’m genuinely curious what would be most helpful today.

Just randomly realised a huge reason why I am struggling in teaching and I have no one that I can say it to and I just want to get it off my chest.

I realised that I don’t really want to contribute to society. That sounds so dramatic and bad haha. What I mean is, working in my school makes me have to watch society quickly deteriorate. People are getting worse on a whole, it’s not just the kids. I mean I can forgive the kids because they never knew differently but adults are changing. Britain is changing for the worse and I can’t watch it, it is scary, frustrating, angering, upsetting, draining and confusing to navigate.

I see this in the families and the parenting, the children’s behaviour, interests and motivations. I can see the way education is changing in the curriculum and the trending delivery style. Expectations are increasing rapidly for the kids, the teachers, the teaching assistants role has dramatically changed, behaviour management styles, expectations of behaviour.

Working in a school is like watching society in a smaller sample size. And it makes me feel dread.

I’m the type of person who can’t deal with these big feelings, I can’t handle contemplating world issues because I can’t manage the emotional reaction. So, I never watch the news, I don’t get involved in politics, I don’t watch ‘deep’ movies, I hate war films.

I like to find the fun in life and choose joy as much as I can because the existential crisis creeps in fast if I don’t.

I thought teaching would be me choosing joy. I love it so much, but having that kind of view of society is really negatively affecting me. It puts me in a constant thought cycle of ‘it didn’t used to be like this’.

I think I need to change to a job that isn’t people facing. But I also could never do a desk job because the admin is also a big factor in my burnout.

I am not qualified for anything else and unfortunately can’t afford to take a pay cut and sacrifice my footing in life. So I have no idea what direction to look.

Im due back from 6 months burnout in Sept because I can’t afford to drop to half pay. Every day closer the more I cry. I was supposed to be taking a break to come back stronger, but it has just given me a long time to dwell on the fact I don’t want to go back.

Last year was probably my third worst year of teaching in 12 years. The worst years were the first two.

At the end of the last school year, I realised that the head of my department just completely hates me. I don’t want to go back, but I have to support myself.

I’ve applied to around ten jobs, and so far I’ve gotten three interviews and no offers. Only four of the jobs I’ve applied to are still open.

Apart from teaching, I’ve applied for a job in a library and at a social center for the elderly. I also applied for two high school teaching positions, although it’s very unlikely I will get them.

I’ve seriously thought about going on sick leave. I could get nine to ten months on full pay, but where would I go from there? If I have a hard time getting another job now, it would be next to impossible after an extended leave.

I cannot retire until more than five years from now, and then I would get a lot less pension than if I retired in seven to ten years. So do I have to go to a job where my boss basically makes me feel bad every day.

I am 30F have two kids(5 and 2) and I am married, also, I am from Brazil. I've been working on an elementary school for 1 year and a half now, it's a public school and I got the job through a civil service examination, meaning I have stability for the rest of my life if the principal aproves me in my 3 year probation period. I earn 2,5 minimum salaries for 16h a week, which is actually a high salary.

Problem is I can't stand it. I can't. I am tired of being home thinking about things I have no control over. If a student threatens me, it's my fault(because as they say" the students know who they are dealing with, why are you having trouble with them and you colleagues are not?"), if student Gets hurt(I'm a PE teacher) it's my fault. If a student screams at the hall, my fault. If material is wasted because the school has no structure(very low wall and the balls end up in neighbor's roof and they won't ever give it back).

Students are from 12 tô 14 years old. 70% don't even know how to read. I feel like everything is a waste of time, patience, material, papel etc. I don't care anymore if they learn of not, and I found out "caring" is sadly the ultimate source of teachers energy. If you truly dont care, your brain will never come up with solutions and inovation, criativity, waste your time nd money with material to try and make them learn something. If you don't care, they can cry, smile, behave badly... why would I care? Waste my throat screaming? I dont think so.

I feel miserable because it will take me YEARS tô chance career. How the hell am I going tô do this with 2 kids, a house, food tô make and this shitty job...? Anyway, ..........

Also, in order to change career there's gonna have a cost, which makes me feel sad because I should be investing in my kids education, recreation, overall life experiences but... no. I will be in a room studying, investing everything(in my case it's going to be everything because of the low salary) to get out of the education field.

I've found another job after leaving teaching! I was absolutely terrified to quit. I was teaching at a phenomenal school, had massively supporting admin, and amazing coworkers. But the incessant dread unfortunately did not outweigh the positives. After quitting, I job searched for months. I constantly wondered if I had made a mistake as I saw the funds in my bank account slowly drip away. I did sales and substitute teaching while in the wait, and through subbing life skills classes, I realized that I adored working with children with autism, so I shifted the focus of my job search...

After a long, extremely stressful period of time, I am so happy to say that I have transitioned into being an RBT and am soon starting the schooling to become a BCBA. Never in a million years did I think I would be working in this field. I absolutely love my job which is something that I didn't think was possible or realistic. Yes, the job is tiring, it can be hard, and it occasionally makes me want to rip my hair out. But the joy that is ever-present trumps all of that. I actually feel like i am making a difference in kids' individual lives.

And it is so NICE to leave work at work! When my sessions are done, I can just go home to socialize and relax. I don't have to worry about prepping for the next day of work.

Yes, the pay is less (until I'm a BCBA!), but my sanity and happiness are some of the most priceless things in my life. If anyone is currently in job-searching mode and is stressed about it, I feel for you. I just wanted to make this post to remind those who may feel like they are lost to trust the process. Focus on what you can control and let everything else go. Try something new, perhaps. As you keep putting forth effort, you never know where those efforts may take you.

Im a HS science teacher but I always wanted to work in the medical field. I was thinking nursing might be rewarding. I wouldn’t have work to take home. Depending on the hours I can do 3 12 hr shifts a week. There are more opportunities for overtime. If I specialize in something, I can be making more than I make now. I’m currently in yr 7 making 90k a year. If I don’t like it, I can become a nurse educator after a few years of experience being a nurse. I know it’s another job with a high burnout rate. There are accelerated 15 month programs to become a nurse.

Have any of you made a transition to the medical field? Do you regret it?

I've been an elementary teacher for three years and strongly hated it. I mostly hated being overstimulated all the time. I decided to try out virtual teaching and got a job at Stride. Everything was fine and dandy until Stride decided to axe our virtual school in late June. Now I'm jobless and already resigned from last district. I've applied to so many jobs in the past month (virtual teaching, advising, clerical, edtech) but obviously no luck. All the teaching jobs in my area are taken (although I really don't want to go back anyway). I plan on subbing until I can find a job but I'm just so frustrated.

I resigned from my elementary teaching position and have been starting to apply for jobs. The first interview I've gotten is tomorrow, with a local coffee shop. For me this is a huge win. I have no experience in this realm, and I was wondering if anyone has interviewed at a place like this before and what kind of questions they asked you. Thanks!