A Reflection on Life After Teaching Part 4; You Will Feel It

This is my fourth and final blog in this short series on my first year since leaving teaching. I feel it necessary to end this series with some thoughts and advice for those who might be considering leaving the profession; to shed some light on the pros and cons that I have experienced and also from my experiences at times when other staff left whilst I was teaching. This blog post has not been written to encourage teachers to leave, it is intended to give some insight to those who are considering it and perhaps some food for thought for others.

Firstly there is one point I want to address because I have been left reeling recently after reading several other blog posts, various tweets, and seen the creation of #notquittingteaching which has really got my goat. There are many tweets out there, not to mention blogs, by teachers who feel it necessary to talk extensively about the negative aspects of teaching and then go on to exclaim boastfully that they remain in teaching because they are "not a quitter".

I resent the fact that by implication of that statement then myself, and any other teacher who has changed career path is, therefore, a quitter.

Have none of these evangelists ever stopped for just one second to think about the effect of what they are saying? In school we promote anti-bullying policy. We condone peer pressure. We try to shape our young people into tolerant citizens. Can we truly say that we reflect this model? 

How many people are out there in dire circumstances desperately unhappy and might, as a result of such propaganda, have decided not to make the decision that was right for them but to stay just because they don't want to be seen to be a "quitter"? How much pressure, anxiety, and distress might this cause people?

I urge anyone else who is of this mindset, who thinks it is ok to boast that they are not a quitter, to just for one moment stop and consider what the bigger picture might be before you type that tweet. Yes, there is a recruitment and retention crisis in teaching at the moment and yes something does need to be done about it but we must remember at the end of the day that we are all human beings and health and well-being must come first. A person who chooses to leave a situation that is causing them physical or emotional distress is not a quitter. 

 

(Picture from http://www.7cups.com/)

The situation for every individual person is different. Every school is different. Every person that considers leaving teaching has different reasons for doing so. Those reasons may seem trivial to somebody else, but to that individual they are critical. The first thing that must be addressed in this situation is what are those reasons? If it helps make a list of what your motivation is for wanting to leave teaching. This will help you to make more sense of all the things running around in your mind.

Whilst there had been many times that I wondered "why am I doing this?" and many nights of burning the midnight oil through marking and planning, I had never actually thought about leaving the profession. The time came for me to make my decision when I was presented with an opportunity which would mean I needed to leave teaching to pursue. 

In my situation, my personal circumstances had drastically changed. I was quite literally at a crossroads in my life. If I had stayed at school, stuck with the routine and familiarity, and continued as I was then that choice if you ask me would have been quitting. I would have been quitting on myself. Leaving teaching was the toughest decision but for me it was the right one and thanks to that decision I have been able to rebuild and start over.

If the time is right for you and you are meant for other things then you will know it in your gut. You will feel it. Likewise, that same gut feeling is what guides those who choose to remain in teaching, it's that feeling that gets you out of bed in the morning and gets you through winter break duty! Be careful though, if you don't listen to that gut feeling and you make a decision that's not right for you then it will just eat away at you, you will continue to be distressed and that's how people get stomach ulcers. 

Leaving teaching and leaving the education profession are very different. I have left teaching but I have not left education. In my job at La Salle I was in and out of classrooms all the time, but I was working with teachers rather than students. In my current role, I am writing educational materials. Ask yourself do you want to leave teaching, or do you want to leave education entirely? The education industry is vast and varied so it is worth considering if there is an alternative role for you. I have certainly not turned my back on the profession, rather I have diversified within my industry. I am still an educator, I still feel and believe that the work I do directly impacts young people and helps to make a difference to them. That was my biggest motivation as a teacher and remains my biggest motivation today. 

I want to address the hot potato that is "teachers holidays". Now, as a teacher your year is mapped out and holidays defined. If you leave this and enter the corporate world you get let's say 25 days a year plus bank holidays. This was not a nice thought when I initially left teaching. However, I soon made a discovery...quite a startling one. There are these things called evenings, and these other things called weekends! As a teacher neither of these had ever really existed, they were consumed with all the things I didn't have time to do during the day. My weekends are now my own, and I have time in the evenings as well. Let's be frank, half terms certainly were mostly spent marking and planning, maybe a few days off were achieved during Christmas and Easter break and then perhaps a fortnight dispersed here and there in the summer. So in actuality, it's probably around the same amount of true days off, plus work free evenings and weekends. On balance, it's difficult to see which is the best deal. Don't make the decision to leave or to stay in teaching based on holiday entitlement, there are ups and downs in both positions.

When I left school I had a new job to go to the next day, I didn't leave without a plan or without financial security. If you are considering leaving teaching then you need to think about the financial implications, make sure that you can survive for a short while if you don't immediately have alternative employment. 

Never decide to leave on a whim after a bad day, an argument, or a less than outstanding observation. We all have bad days. This brings me back to my earlier point, what is your motivation for leaving? You must be totally clear about why you are making the decision. If you feel like leaving after a bad day go home and write down how you are feeling, then look at what you have written after a couple of days and see if you still feel the same. Emotions can be our unruly masters, they can cause us to make decisions which we may later regret, or they can cause us to regress and not make a decision out of fear or anxiety. Let the emotion subside and then you will be in a better place to make judgements. 

If you have made the decision to leave and have handed over your resignation then working through the notice period can be really tough. You still have to perform all of your duties, you mustn't let down your colleagues and your students by being anything other than professional at this time. For some the notice period can be motivational, knowing the end is in sight can stir people towards producing excellent lessons and awesome assemblies, I have seen this happen. That's because the stress of the decision-making process has been removed, and a plan is now in place. For others, it can be a rather more distressing and upsetting time. This is especially true when a teacher is more emotionally connected to a school, to colleagues, or to students. It can be difficult to think about how your classes will get on once you leave; it can be even more difficult not to think about the current exam classes and your hopes and aspirations for them. During this time try to find support from other staff, from friends or family, or even from online communities. 

Making the decision to leave teaching does not mean that you are not a teacher anymore. I have said in previous posts and I will reiterate that I still identify myself as a teacher and I am proud to say that I am a teacher. Besides which I am almost always helping someone somewhere in my friends or family with their Maths! 

Leaving a job doesn't change your personality, it doesn't change who you are and it doesn't change your work ethic. Teachers are special people with skills to share, you might be sharing those skills in a different way and in a new place, but you will always be a teacher to the core. 

Perhaps this post has come across as waffle, or perhaps it has given you food for thought. I've tried to truncate my opinions on the recruitment and retention crisis and comment on what I believe to be the points most people considering leaving teaching think about. 

Thanks for reading, find me on Twitter @JennyPeek

A Reflection on Life After Teaching Part 3; Excellent Stuff!

This post is rather delayed since I published the previous part in this series, mainly because of a heavy workload, winter lurgy, and Christmas. Apologies!

I have started and deleted this post several times, mainly because there is simply too much to say. At the end of my last post in this series on life after teaching, I described my last days at school and was about to embark on an exciting new path. It was such a jam-packed year that I found myself writing for far too long and soon realised I would need to write a ten-part series to really describe the journey I have been on.

So, rather than bore my audience silly, I have decided to give you the highlights. These are moments that have shaped my new career path, that have given me professional experiences I never thought possible, and most of all brought some amazing people into my life.

I worked on the content for Complete Mathematics, writing new original content and editing content submitted by other authors. We would regularly hold authoring weekends where a gang of talented of maths teachers and the La Salle team would beaver away from Friday to Sunday producing some of the best resources available in today's market. It wasn't all work and no play and it was enjoyable to socialise in the evenings, the visit to the Christmas markets in Birmingham in 2014 was a great evening. It was a pleasure to work with such talented and passionate people. 

I worked with PGCE students at EHU & BCU. Helping those about to embark upon teaching was an absolute privilege, it was such a great feeling to be able to use my own experience to help them in their development.

Working with the students at Edge Hill was especially rewarding since that was where I was trained so it was lovely to be back there as alumni. Visiting students before embarking on their placements and then again at the end of their course for feedback sessions was truly fulfilling. These experiences have made me realise that working with trainees is something I would very much like to pursue in future. 

I helped to organise and attended three National Mathematics Teachers Conferences in Kettering, Birmingham, and London. At the Kettering conference in 2014, I was a speaker, leading a workshop on the evolution of online education in the UK. This is something I have much to say about, look out for future posts on the subject. We raised £1000 for Macmillan Cancer Support at the Kettering conference and I had the duty of writing out the big cheque in my best teacher display handwriting!

The Birmingham conference in March 2015 had grown considerably since Kettering. A larger venue and increased attendance meant a lot more for the team to do. On this occasion some of my written work went on large display boards, it was a series called the One Minute Challenge which I had written for La Salle as part of the Problem of the Day releases. I was super proud to see my work not only being displayed but also to see people stopping and working out the answers to each challenge. The highlight of this day was when none other than Johnny Ball looked over my work, we had a short conversation about it and then he told me it was "excellent stuff!" I was over the moon to receive that kind of feedback from him. All of the challenges are now available in the Problem Solving Booklet which can be downloaded from the La Salle website. 

The London conference was another brilliant day, for more on this see my previous post Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

I have met some great people, from colleagues at La Salle to fellow Maths geeks I have met along the way. I have also learnt how to deal with people who are less easy to get along with. I spent a lot of time on trains and away from home as I worked with two hubs of research schools in Yorkshire and the North East. I got to know those schools and their staff very well and it was a pleasure to visit them regularly throughout the year. I also organised and lead my first Teach Meet in my hometown of Liverpool earlier this year, it was a joy to be able to connect with, and collaborate with, teachers in my local area.

I have been awakened to a wider social circle and have an incredible bunch of new friends, mainly stemming from the Twittersphere. I joined Geek Club and have never looked back. I didn't have to pass a test to gain entry, although I remember I did send @El_Timbre a Maths based riddle in Spanish to give weight to my multilingual mathematical prowess. The Maths community on Twitter is phenomenal, full of teachers sharing ideas, supporting each other and listening to one another. I am very lucky to be able to call many of these teachers my friends, I won't name names, you know who you are!

Celebrating Pi Day at midnight with @El_Timbre and @missraddders photobomb from @RJS2212 

Throughout all of the work launching the National Maths teacher network and Complete Mathematics, I continued to develop my authoring and editing skills. Individually I was a prolific author for Complete Maths, with hundreds of original objectives authored by myself as well as hundreds of others I had edited, or co-authored. I began to develop a real love for writing, I thoroughly enjoyed the research aspect of the task, especially in understanding and comparing pedagogy and teaching methods. I would write extensive pedagogical notes alongside crafting resources, worksheets, group work tasks, whiteboard questions and assessment questions. I loved applying a creative twist to resources and seeing the end results after the design team had worked their magic.

Sadly this came to an end after the launch year for Complete Maths was over. I remain an associate of La Salle and look forwards to seeing the network continue to grow and flourish in the coming years.

My life and my outlook have been completely changed by this year. I am a stronger, more confident, and more experienced person with skills and professional experiences on my C.V that have opened up many more options for me. I wanted to continue as an author and so I sought new commissions. I am now part way through a writing and editing commission for a series of books for Prim-Ed and I am very excited about the future. 

Teaching will always be there, it will always be part of me. I still identify myself as a teacher and I still feel proud to say that I am a teacher. For now, I have put the lid on my purple pen and I am happy to see where my new path leads me. It has been 14 months since I finished school, so far, so good.

My next and final post in this series will be published later in January and is likely to be the one most people wanted to read, the one that answers all the questions...how to come to the decision to leave teaching, what to think about, the pros and cons, the ups and downs. Leaving teaching is not a decision to make lightly and whilst every situation is different there are threads that all teachers in "should I / shouldn't I" limbo land will identify with. 

Until then, I wish everyone a peaceful and prosperous New Year 2016.

@JennyPeek