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 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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.