Husband is a Teacher - Wants to Quit

Savvy_Sue

LilElvis wrote: »

... or consider working in a private school?

not necessarily any less stressful. the pupils MAY be better behaved, and the classes may be smaller, but because parents are paying for their little darlings to be educated, there can be a tendency for the school to avoid upsetting parents by challenging unacceptable behaviour, or bone idleness.

[Deleted User]

joannestar12 wrote: »

I wish he could see that he has a lot of transferable skills and would believe in himself but he has been a teacher for most of his career (he is 37 now) but he refuses to actively job hunt for another career because he says that he is financially trapped. He earns about 42K a year and we have a newborn and 2 other children under 6.

Thanks for your help/

He is probably right. I started my new job on my first day being told changes are coming in the next two months... not the things you want to hear on your first day, just my manager thought I was old enough to know... I'm just glad I don't have children to support.

At nearer your husbands age, I find myself working alongside 'an apprentice' and 20 year old - I am acutely aware if anything goes wrong, I'll be first out of the door as earning slightly more then the youngsters and last in, first out, kind of thing.

Maybe people who are stubborn to look for another job are right sometimes. I was job looking for a friend but come to the conclusion it must be up to the person.

theoretica

joannestar12 wrote: »

Background - my husband is a teacher but over the last 12 months he has started to hate his job. /

Has anything in or about the job changed over the last 12 months?

LilElvis

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

not necessarily any less stressful. the pupils MAY be better behaved, and the classes may be smaller, but because parents are paying for their little darlings to be educated, there can be a tendency for the school to avoid upsetting parents by challenging unacceptable behaviour, or bone idleness.

My mother still found the parental demands at the private school less onerous than dealing with the bureaucracy of the State system, though it was a toss up at times.

mangog

Teaching qualifications are definitely in demand in museum education and it's a brilliant field to work in, but unfortunately he'd be earning around half what he's on at the moment, depending on your location. There's no money in museum work! It's taken me ten years to break the £20k barrier...

Genuineguy03

Why precisely does he hate about his job? Sounds like something drastic changed 12 months ago for him to go from loving his job to hating it - and looking between the lines here it seems to me that the issue is nothing to do with the kids.

Has he spoke to colleagues or the head teacher about how he's feeling etc.

You don't have to tell us off course. but we could help reverse the situation so he can return to loving his job again.

But if he's adamant and made his mind up, even once he's cooled down. Then as others have suggested theirs jobs out there in teaching or similar that may likely suit him really well.

dawyldthing

The other thing is with teaching is yes he is ‘on £42k’ but work out the tax difference, ni difference, student loan and pension contribution difference between current job and any others and you might be surprised there’s not much in it.

I remember once sitting down with a friend I trained with at uni and we worked out money in teaching (she was a few years in) but after around £20k more than half goes in stoppages (20% tax, 12% ni, 9% student loan and I want to say 10% pension but it might be more) so might not need as much in wage as some of these stoppages will decrease if the wage decrease.

Other thing is make sure your money works for you. You’ll be surprised how much can be shaved off if you work it out once a year over a day.

Plus tell him no jobs worth being over stressed about. He matters too.

MacMickster

tacpot12 wrote: »

I think that you are getting ahead of yourself if he is not ready to begin jobhunting. You need to address the issue that he feels he is trapped financially. I expect he will be able to cope better with the stresses of teaching once he feels has a viable plan to get out.

So it is not really careers advice or jobhunting advice you need, but financial planning and management advice. I think you need to work with him to identify all the different aspects of the "trap" he feels he is in. Is it the Mortgage, Credit Card Debt, his spending habits, his aspirations for your children, etc.?

Once you know what the trap looks and feels like to him, you can help him plan a way out of it. I think you will find that some of his concerns evaporate when he gets the headspace to really think about them, and others will be harder to fix. Come back to MSE for any advice you need on the financial side.

Best of luck

There must be little worse than genuinely hating your job but feeling trapped in it to meet your own and your family's aspirations and financial goals.

Life on a significantly lower salary would be different, but to be frank many millions of people live that life. The OP needs to assure her husband that she stands behind him if that is the choice that he has to make.

As you say, once her husband knows that there is an exit if he needs to use it, than that may remove the feeling of claustrophobia regarding his current situation. If not however, then surely taking that step to a less ambitious lifestyle is better than risking a breakdown of the husband's mental or even physical health.

System

Has your husband considered supply work? Less stress due to no marking, recruitment or achievement pressures and you can refuse to go back to any nightmare schools. Also, it's a change everyday and knowing that you can walk out at the end of the day is a huge bonus. Pay will be slightly less - it's about £150 a day and obviously no holiday or sick pay as such. It'll sure make the most of his skills !

pmlindyloo

I agree that the reason for his stress needs to be addressed. Is it the work load? The lack of discipline at school? The lack of support at school?

Is there anything that can change this?

If everything that can be done has been done then it may well be that he has come to the end of the road.

It is worth thinking outside of the box as regards jobs. It may be better to take a less well paid job outside of education and 'top up' his wages with private tuition in the early evenings. You may get some financial help from tax credits if his wages were low.

This may give him some breathing space to decide on his future career.