I quit my public school position last year and have been looking for work/underemployed for the past 8 months.

I recently got a job as a full-time remote teacher in Texas. The salary is lower but I'm betting on daily life being more manageable.

Does anyone have experience working online for a public school? How was it? Is it better than brick and mortar?

I’m currently a 5th year teacher and while I don’t hate my job necessarily, I know this isn’t what I want to do forever and I’m scared that the longer I stay the longer it’ll take to get out.

I’ve been job hunting for the past few months, and I just found out today that I’m being offered a 6 month internship position with an EdTech company. It’s full time and paid okay (somewhat of a pay cut but I was expecting that if I wanted to leave teaching).

On one hand, I’m super excited because it seems like a great opportunity to get my foot in the door and get non-classroom experience. But on the other hand, it’s temporary. There’s no guarantee that I could get hired on for a permanent position by the end. Job hunting has been absolutely brutal and I am terrified of being jobless again when the six months is up.

Has anyone done anything like this? Does anyone have any insight? I don’t really know who to talk to about this because my closest friends are teachers who think I should stay in the field.

Is this a bad idea? Should I reject it and keep looking? Any and all advice is welcome.

Anyone else hanging in til summer because of those paychecks that are distributed through August? (I know some are not as lucky to be paid over the summer). I have had such a hard time going into work lately and my efforts to teach have dropped drastically. Yesterday a couple of girls were overheard “all she does is sit at her desk, like it’s your job to teach why can’t you do your job?” Gossiping in the back of the room. Teenagers.

I don’t want to do it anymore. I have checked out. Doing the bare minimum. If I had the financial security to walk out I would. But I’m hanging on til summer and this sh*t is hard. Exhausting. Demeaning. And we put ourselves through it every day. But I’ll be damned if I don’t get that money I earned.

That is all. Thanks for reading.

Hello all!

This post is temporarily pinned to address an on going issue.

Just a quick internet safety alert. As we continue to moderate comments in this community, there’s been an increase of comments by bot and spam accounts offering “resume service”. While these comments are posted by different accounts, they are all similar in nature, offering a link to see “his/her resume service” and promising greats results (after months of searching I got a call back, I got many job offers, etc).

While we do our best to find these comments and remove them, we might not get to them before others view them. Reddit’s built in spam detector seems to be doing a nice job detecting and removing these but in the event you see one not removed, please submit a report to us. Please note that these violate our rule of no spam or self promotion.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a Reddit wide problem in job advice communities, as these comments can be seen in other communities as well. I advise everyone to exercise caution whenever you encounter a link to job services on Reddit.

I am leaving my teaching position in Virginia at the end of the school year to move to a different state. I have not signed and do not plan to sign a contract for 2024-25.

I want to take the last week off so I can get started with my move earlier in the month. I have 3.5 sick days and plan to take them for the last week. I was planning on taking the remaining 1.5 day even though I don't have remaining sick/personal leave days.

I know they can dock my pay for the 1.5 day, but I don't mind that. I am worried that this may be considered breech of contract.

Could this be considered breech of contract--and could they withhold my final bonus for the year or make me pay back my first two bonuses? Are there any other consequences I should be worried about?

I'm a first year teacher so I'm unsure as to how seriously they take this kind of thing. Is it a big deal to take a day and a half without sick or personal days?

Is it spring break or is it actually a good idea to try another school/position?? Context: I’ve been rather miserable teaching my tested subject at a title 1 middle school for about a year since returning for parental leave. I decided probably in November to leave teaching and began working to do so. My goals in a shift are primarily more pay and more flexibility, but once upon a time I loved teaching enough for those things not to matter. I have possibly 2 opportunities to shift to an ESL position— 1 in my current district but in a different school with better admin. I’m about to finish my masters so I would get somewhat more pay, but not a ton obviously. Another in a 5 star district teaching ESL. Doesn’t fix my pay and flexibility issues, but it could be a much more fulfilling job and less pressure?? More really relationships and meaningful difference with the kids and far more manageable behavior issues? But maybe I just feel open to it since I’m on a break right now.

...Today is my last day of teaching and I just wanted to post a little about my story in case others are in the same position (UK based so might not be applicable to everyone).

I was never someone who always wanted to be a teacher, i fell into it after doing a masters as where I lived it was one of the better job options and because of my subject I got a decent bursary to train. That was 9 years ago and at some point in every one of those years I've thought about doing something else but the timing was just never right. I started in state, went to private and went back to state so have seen a good variety of settings.

Last year after a tricky year personally including me being diagnosed with a lifelong illness, my partner being very unwell during pregnancy and a lot change, I ended up having a mental breakdown. I was diagnosed with depression and while my depression didn't show as sadness, my brain was completely fried, at the worse point I couldn't even read properly because the words wouldn't make sense. My brain basically hit a limit and shut down. I could focus, concentrate for long periods or remember simple things and conversations. I was emotionally unavailable for my partner, shortly after she had given birth, and kids at home, I was always tired, both being teachers we had no flexibility, something had to give.

At this point I knew I had to make a change, made more difficult by my partner being on maternity leave but I knew I had to have an escape plan and set myself the target to be in a new job by September. I signed up to counselling which helped enormously in untangling the brain fog, I actually wrote down a schedule of when I wanted to get things done by which was the light at the end of the tunnel and for the first time in a while I focussed on myself (it is very hard to overcome the guilt of this when you have a young family).

I didn't particularly search hard to begin with as I knew I had time and wanted to get it right. I half heartedly chucked in applications for things with a vague interest, using AI to help rattle out applications. By chance I was sent a job by a friend of my partner and it matched my skills, it was not the first job I'd gone for but the first I properly applied myself to.

Skip forward and I managed to get the job (civil service) and am now finally getting out of a career that has damaged my mental health, tested my relationship, absorbed all my patience and still pays fuck all. To top it all off I got out a term earlier than hoped.

My advice to anyone is getting applications out is important for practice but really find something that interests you and matches your skill set. Teachers really do have skills across the board and they can easily be transferred. Find at least one job (a week? A month?) that you invest a decent amount of time into researching and applying, it does come across in applications. Don't give up, if you want something enough you can make it happen.

TL;DR - Leaving teaching isn't easy, if you want short cuts it's probably the wrong choice.

Does someone know a good career counselor who can help me figure out what I want to do next? Maybe someone who's worked with teachers? Thanks!

This is the only job I have never known, literally. I have NEVER had a job outside of teaching—babysat in high school, tutored all through undergrad, and got through grad school on a TA-ship. I have no concept of how the corporate world works, but I desperately want out of teaching. I’m 31 years old with 8 years sunk into this profession that is slowly (or maybe not so slowly) killing me.

The problem is… I am TERRIFIED to leave. I have a Master’s degree in mathematics and I can pick up on technology faster than you can say “teacher burnout.”

I’ve worked in higher ed, urban and suburban high schools, and now virtual schooling, but I feel like a 10-year-old trying to enter the workforce. The education bubble is so far removed from anything else that I’m afraid I won’t know how to function in any other field.

Has anyone else felt this way and managed to transition? Or anyone else feeling this way now and can commiserate?

Long vent I just don’t know what to do with:

I won’t be getting too into details (oh anxiety, you never will let me believe I can maintain a level of anonymity even this level has me wigging) but I’ve had One Of Those Weeks and I’m just seeking … a sanity check I guess? I feel insane.

My partner and I both currently teach. Partner has taught nearly our whole relationship (15+ yrs). I joined in 2020 for many reasons, and I had an idea about the difficulties. I still feel so naively stupid though thinking that going from working two jobs to “just one” would mean an overall life improvement. (Silly silly elder millennial.)

My partner teaches a “core subject.” I teach visual art. Surely that means less pressure bc I don’t have to fret over standardized test scores right?

Except it doesn’t run on a block. So by the time everyone pulls out their supplies and gets settled, there’s only a little bit of time before we have to get everything packed up again. Can’t leave it out for the next class. Of the 5-6 class periods I typically have it’s anywhere from 4-6 different subjects. each class is using different materials. The entirety of my planning (and most of my lunch) just goes to classroom maintenance and material prep sometimes lesson planning, rarely grading. Provided I don’t get pulled to sub.

The only metaphor I can use that gets people to sorta understand is, “have you ever run a ‘lab’ for a science class? That’s my class, /every period./“

Thing is, it’s a small school (private, so i do have privileges many in public teaching don’t have, but there’s also drawbacks .) it’s expected that everyone “wears many hats.” So I’m also doing graphic design, set/prop building, redo bulletin boards, help coworkers brainstorm solutions for “artsy” things, repair decor, paint murals, etc. Individually, yes! I enjoy doing these things! But my time is already so scarce. Attempts to put people off or ask for help with time management (thanks ADHD) only help for small things and only rarely.

I signed up last summer to take a time management course for teachers. I’ve barely done half of it.

Additionally… I feel vaguely insulted bc people just assume I can magically get the kids to make high quality stuff. No. I can improve their skills! But only if /you give me the time and materials to do so instead of dumping extra projects on me despite me having planned lessons and activities for students to practice and learn 👏those👏 skills👏./ the message I hear over and over (implied) is “you don’t teach a REAL subject. But, you do have ACTUAL SKILLS we need to take advantage of. You know, skills that perhaps more people could learn…”

This term I’ve broken. I’ve tossed some of the projects I designed. Tried to get the kids to just focus on making the stuff the higher ups want. Mixed bag. Some big things wound up being unusable and I had to make them anyway or deal with the fallout. And despite this? I’m so so behind I’m surprised no one has sent a “wtf why haven’t your grade books been updated in two weeks?” I’ve gotten a touch more time back but not a lot and I feel shitty for literally just going “fuck it” to the standards and to really trying to make the classes I wish I’d had.

One more year. But fuck how is it that it’s impossible and yet I feel so shitty for not being able to do this.

Anyone have the pleasure of seeing former students and parents at every pick up and drop off because their own kid still attends the school? Only 10 more weeks…just me???

Was non-renewed at a toxic school in June 2023, the biggest blessing in disguise. I tried to get into data analytics, had no luck. I looked into non-profits to see if there were any roles I’d qualify for, and I got a job! I’m teaching Life Skills to kids in the system, I have freedom AND TIME to build the curriculum, I have a company credit card to get any supplies I need, I’m not micromanaged, my skills are APPRECIATED.

I just can’t believe I’m still able to use my strengths of building effective lessons, making an actual impact, and I look forward to going to work. Also had what could be considered an ‘unsafe’ situation yesterday, and I woke up to the CEO implementing a safety plan across the company. I was blown away by this, but THIS SHOULD BE THE NORM. If you’re struggling with the job search, don’t give up! I know it’s so cliche and I hated when people would tell me this when I was in the thick of it, but the right job will come if you’re making the effort!

I've finally left the field after almost 20 years in ECE. I've been a teacher, instructional coach and a trainer, and quite frankly, I'm just tired. Honestly, I just want a job where I go to work, kick ass at it, then come home, not think about it and still have enough physical and mental energy to be productive outside of work.

I've been out of education for almost a year, but have not managed to find anything full time. My last interview (phone interview) left me feeling super frustrated and I knew I bombed it. I could feel myself rambling and talking in circles (yay for untreated ADHD! /s). My mind went completely blank trying to come up with three weaknesses and as far as where I see myself in five years, I'm 46 years-old, I'm not interested in growth and challenges. As mentioned previously, I just wanna go to work, kick ass at my job, then leave it at the end of the day.

How do I convey all this in a positive way? How do I explain that I want a low stress job after years of being at the end of my rope (without trivializing that job)? I don't want to come across as lazy (though sometimes I wonder if that's my problem) but I am just SO burnt out!

So yeah, am I the asshole for wanting a simple, rote, low-stress job that I'm technically over qualified for? Am I just being lazy? Grrrrrr, thanks for listening, I'm just feeling super frustrated and feeling a bit discouraged at the moment.

Hi all, last year in my 2nd year teaching I had debilitating anxiety that was manifesting into physical health issues. I stuck it out until the end and I’m very proud of myself for that. I’ve spent this year subbing and applying to jobs and I’ve had very little luck so far. I’m getting nervous because it’s approaching the end of the school year and I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t find a new job by then. Any chance I would qualify for unemployment benefits? I’m just looking to buy a bit more time… thank you in advance. 🥺 I really do not want to go back to teaching.

Have been sooo nervous to tell my school that I’m resigning during the end of year evaluation meeting AND for the unpaid unemployment until I find something else. (I know, not having something lined up is dumb, but my severe medical issues due to extreme stress and anxiety disagree.)

My school just took all the pressure off by informing me they’re not renewing my contract 😎😂 I guess I checked out a bit upon deciding I was done with teaching. Unemployment benefits and no stress of telling everyone I’m getting tf out of this career are calling my naaaame

Considering all these options, I wonder how many teachers see entrepreneurship as a path to a new career. I've been in the educational supply business since 2005 and see publishers, software companies, and tech start-ups continually looking for sales reps who know their way around school districts. You can be a W9 or 1099; the latter is like going into business for yourself. Here's one resource that posts sales jobs in education.

Where are you guys looking for jobs? I be scrolling on LinkedIn all day

Hi!

I stepped away from teaching in late 2021. Since 2011 I have been a ELL Director, Science Teacher, and led/created many PDs around compliance, sex ed, and STEM. I was able to land a seasonal virtual Camp Director gig for 2 summers but other than that I have been unable to find any on going work. I have paid $$$ to have my resume reviewed and rewritten a couple of times. I have been taking coursera courses in project management, excel, and program management. The jobs (500+ at this point) I have been applying for are as follows;

​

- Ed Tech education specialist

-Customer success advocate

-Ed Tech program manager

-Curriculum writer

-Part time data entry (I would love this)

..and many other jobs, even some internships.

​

All jobs are well within my background and scope, each cover letter is personalized for the job, and my resume is tweaked based on the job description. I also participate in networking events. What am I doing wrong friends? Rather, what did you do right to land your gig?

Hello all. Need some advice. I've decided to leave teaching with the birth of my first child. I have a BS in math (education option) and MA in curriculum and instruction. What career do yall suggest I look intoopen to anything that pays at least 70k eventually. Need at least 50k startingwould love to work remotely, but in no way mandatory. Located in Los Angeles.

I left being a SpEd teacher right before the pandemic not under good conditions. It boils down to me reporting the district to the state and the district put me on admin leave while telling my coworkers they weren't allowed to talk to me.

I did transition to working within behavioral health teaching psychosocial rehabilitation. I liked it but was getting paid closer to minimum wage even with having a Masters of Education. However during virtual learning with my son plus how bad the district is here, I ended up quitting my job after pulling my son out of school and have been homeschooling for 3yrs.

He is getting ready to start college/dual credit next fall and I need to figure out what I'm doing with my life. As my son will be 14 and we only have a community college, he will need to attend the university that is an hour away at around the age of 16. I don't feel comfortable having him drive that distance at that age. So, I'm thinking about getting a PhD/ED from the same university so I can teach classes there.

How am I suppose to get recommendations/references for my application??

I’d like start working a non-teaching role by July 1st. How many jobs should I apply to per day to have the best chance to achieve that goal?

Critique my current plan: March - I’ve been applying to one job per day. I have 8 rejections and 17 pending, no interviews. Starting April 1st I’m going to apply for two per day and increase that by one per week (ex. By April 8th apply for 3 per day, April 15th should be 4 per day) until I secure a position. I will value quality over quantity of the applications over the whole process. What do you think of this timeline? Should I increase how many jobs I’m applying for per day right now, or stick to my plan?

I’m looking to transition out of teaching in the next 3/4 years.

I need to wait that length of time for a few financial reasons. During that time I want to try and retrain to have skills/qualifications that are applicable in different work fields.

I’m thinking of looking into the IT and computing world as it’s something I have a personal interest in and I have done bits of before.

Are there any suggestions for things I could do in the evening at home? I have two young children so if I can avoid having to go other places that would be best.

For context I am UK based.

So I no longer teach. I work for myself. I do other stuff some of which includes notary things.

And because I remember how hard it was to GET to a notary during my working hours, I wanted to provide the service with no travel fees to the schools that are near me. I got approval to post flyers from central, that was no big deal. Central office said everyone has a notary on staff, but they had no issues with me sharing my flyers.

The SECOND school I traveled to I get greeted with
"Oh we have a guy here that does it for free but he's not here"
me: "that's great. but still... can I ask to have these posted in the workroom?"

Now, I because I was a military spouse and my jobs were often itinerant, I have worked in 15 schools. Not ONCE did I never know that we had an active notary on campus. NEVER!! So if we did, that's just something else that gets gatekept and held secret from teachers who need it. Ugh.

It was so dismissive. And she didn't even stop to consider whether what I was offering was useful to staff or not - or whether staff knew about their in-house options or not. I'm here trying to help teachers (and whomever else on campus) and you have someone just making me feel like crap about it.
And as I went back to my car to drive off to a 30 minute job that was going to pay about half a sub day pay, I just told myself "and that's why you left..."

Not going back.

I had a parent refuse to meet with me in the beginning of the year during conferences and instead went straight to my principal with a list of 27 things I was doing “wrong” in the classroom during the first month of school. Three days after this initial meeting, I was called into the principals office to face these now irate parents as they spat vitriol in my face. It felt like a complete out of body experience. A month following that meeting this mom decided to email all of the other parents in my class a three page manifesto about how I was basically the antichrist. Completely false accusations. With even false attacks against my husband who doesn’t work at the school. Many of the parents reached out to me as they were completely appalled that this mom had the audacity to email them this bull. Admin met with these parents again without me and told them to toe the line or leave (private school.) I lasted three more months until they creeped into my inbox again and I said “enough, I’m done!” I thankfully resigned and found a new job within the week. After all this trauma should I seek legal counsel for defamation of character and libel for the infamous email? It was so blatantly false and unhinged that I still think about it daily.

Hi everyone! I am a 21 year old performing arts teacher that has left their teaching job for a non profit program coordinator job. I’m so excited for this new role, but I am feeling guilty about leaving mid year and so abruptly.

I think it’s going to take some time to heal from my time teaching.

I am currently a middle school science teacher/Team lead for my campus. I am about to complete my 5th year of teaching. I have a bachelor's in interdisciplinary studies, and am halfway through a master's in science education. I want out of the classroom, out of education as a whole. The system is falling apart and I can't take it anymore. I feel like I'm above average intelligence and a very hard worker, but I am at a loss of what we'll paying career I can get hired into without needing more school. The only reason I am getting my masters in science Ed is because I got a scholarship for it and I thought any masters degree would make me more employable. What do I do?

I have been offered an interview for an account management job.

Does anyone here have experience moving out of the classroom and into this role? Or a sales type role?

Thanks for any insight!

Hi everyone!

Literally just got off the phone with the company I interviewed with yesterday for an official offer! It’s a bit of a pay cut… but it has benefits and work from home!!! Plus I already know from my contact there that it’s low stress with a chill team!!!

Now to hear back from my union about breaking contract cause crap. A friend suggested trying to take a leave which I’ll do if needed. Been having panic attacks and anxiety all year.

I asked two of my supervisors, who are more senior teachers in my department, for a reference for a new job (I clarified that I was casting as wide a net as possible and thus just a generic short one would be great) for my job search. I wasn’t expecting a glowing poetic ode but they just flat-out refused with no further questions. They essentially said “I don’t believe we can say anything positive so we won’t.” I respect that and didn’t say anything but i’m also burnt out, desperate, and discouraged.

The past 2 years hasn’t been perfect, but nothing bad or unprofessional happened. The main criticism was that I didn’t seem engaged or motivated, rather than about my content or my work ethic. My students didn’t have great rapport with me, let’s say we weren’t chatting it up about our weekends and if we were in the US they wouldn’t be asking me to sign their yearbooks. We got through the material and many did well but they complained to my colleagues that I seemed distant, cold and standoffish. In reality I was going through a LOT including the growing desire to leave teaching.

I did try to improve content things that admin mentioned in evals, but it’s like they were only there to give negative feedback and didn’t bother checking up to see if i’d addressed it. I was very transparent about how I wished to transition and was trying to reorient myself into a different field. A work reference, even if not the most positive ever, would have helped a lot both in my search for a new job and my applications to return to grad school (in my country it’s ok to just have a pdf from your boss to send out to people, they don’t bother contacting your boss directly) if only to show that i was on good terms with my current job. I’m old so it’s not like I can go back and ask my former uni professors, i’m not even sure they’re alive.

Anyway i’m going to keep applying with just a dusty old reference from 2021 and hope something sticks, but it really does sting knowing that you can work for someone for several years, do your best, and still they won’t help you. It’s not like I’m trying to stay in teaching, I’m trying to get out. I thought they might even be happy that I was voluntarily leaving.

I’ve taught high school for the past 5 years but my god am I done.

My dream role just posted a summer internship about an hour ago and I got my application in immediately.

I hope I get it even though I’m not in college for six years.

Fingers crossed.