The Student Room Group

Quit teaching, get a masters degree and go back to industry

Hello

Long story short, did my business and management degree in 2013, worked in industry for a very short time, decided I wanted to do something more 'meaningful' than an office job, completed teacher training in 2015, did supply work in academic year 2015/16. Since September 2016, ive started my nqt (newly qualified teacher) year and I really dont want to continue. The actual teaching is not the problem, but everything else thats attached to it is. I feel overstresses, has panic attacks and spend my evenings and weekends planning/marking/ filling out parperwork.

I have two plans in mind:

Plan A: hang in there till July and complete the nqt year. Use my savings to pay for a masters degree, look for a job after that.

Plan B: quit teaching in December, actively look for an office job, whatever I can find, use the savings to pay for the masters degree.

The only problem with plan A is that I cant see myself continuing, teaching is just so overwhelming! But then again, ive dedicated the last 3 years to teaching to quit at the end, im finding it hard to realise that finally, its not what i want to do. Any advice appreciated
Reply 1
Original post by Promac
Hello

Long story short, did my business and management degree in 2013, worked in industry for a very short time, decided I wanted to do something more 'meaningful' than an office job, completed teacher training in 2015, did supply work in academic year 2015/16. Since September 2016, ive started my nqt (newly qualified teacher) year and I really dont want to continue. The actual teaching is not the problem, but everything else thats attached to it is. I feel overstresses, has panic attacks and spend my evenings and weekends planning/marking/ filling out parperwork.

I have two plans in mind:

Plan A: hang in there till July and complete the nqt year. Use my savings to pay for a masters degree, look for a job after that.

Plan B: quit teaching in December, actively look for an office job, whatever I can find, use the savings to pay for the masters degree.

The only problem with plan A is that I cant see myself continuing, teaching is just so overwhelming! But then again, ive dedicated the last 3 years to teaching to quit at the end, im finding it hard to realise that finally, its not what i want to do. Any advice appreciated

Teaching isn't for everyone and from what I've seen of friends, early training doesn't prepare you for the reality. It's wise to understand when a job isn't for you - especially when it's this high stress - and move on. If it's affecting you that way, in your shoes I'd get out as soon as possible, as long as I could get enough money to pay the bills. That's just me though.

However I would caution against doing a Masters just as an escape route. Make sure that you're doing it either because you're fascinated by the subject, or because it will direct you to an alternative career. Nothing would be worse than leaving teaching (whether now or later) and finding yourself on a Masters year which is just as bad.

Be aware that there's a £10,000 Postgrad Loan for Masters study, so whilst you're racking up more student debt, it needn't hit your savings as hard as it would have last year.

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