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Dec 2023
1:21pm, 11 Dec 2023
26,207 posts
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GimmeMedals
I was a primary school teacher initially, with the last 12 years as a Head teacher
I worked for the local council
I loved the job for most of my career.
I started to feel like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders in the last 2 years of working; external pressures weighted heavy, working for an LA who was quick to criticise and punish based purely on SATs results, but offered no solutions. It was anyone's guess who would be on the hit list next. I had one set of weak results (an unusual cohort of 33% imports and nearly 50% SEN) and was hauled over the coals by the LA, despite Ofsted giving a "Good" grading a couple of months earlier. The following year, results were back to normal and the LA took all the credit as they'd "held me to account". Too many of my friends were treated even worse and hounded out of the job.
I expected to work until I was 60; revised that to 57 but in the end, chose to go asap and left 5 days after my 55th birthday. I hate what the job has become.
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Dec 2023
1:28pm, 11 Dec 2023
48,796 posts
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Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)
GM, that is fascinating. Thanks for answering. A terrible indictment of primary education (or the management thereof by external bodies). Very sad.
Anyone else who has retired recently (or not recently) want to step forward?
What was your job?
Who was your employer (anonymise it as "one of the big 5 retailers" or otherwise if you want)?
Did you like your job when you started or at some previous point?
Did you like it by the time you chose to retire?
Do you feel you retired later than you would like, about the right time (or hopefully unusual, but were you forced to retire earlier than you would have liked and wish you could have worked longer?)
 G
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Dec 2023
1:29pm, 11 Dec 2023
12,066 posts
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cathrobinson
I was reading an article at the weekend about Ruth Perry and thinking how dehumanised the profession has become for teachers now. I’m sorry to hear your experience was not great towards the end, GM - it’s a common theme amongst teacher friends of mine too.
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Dec 2023
1:32pm, 11 Dec 2023
36,958 posts
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Ness
Initially I was a secondary school Science teacher. I started in 1993. In 1998 I moved to teaching in a special school and taught in special schools for the rest of my career.
I had always planned to retire at 55 but the job became too stressful and I ended up leaving a year earlier than that. I too, hated what the job had become.
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Dec 2023
1:57pm, 11 Dec 2023
26,208 posts
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GimmeMedals
One of my friends' daughter trained to teach primary. She has completed 2 years and a term and is leaving next week to work for a charity. Such a loss to the profession, but she could already see that she'd not ever have a good work/life balance.
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Dec 2023
2:01pm, 11 Dec 2023
36,961 posts
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Ness
It is so sad!
I think you did amazingly to stick at it for so long, GM. And you did so much for your school.
I gave it my all but wasn't appreciated in the end!
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Dec 2023
2:03pm, 11 Dec 2023
26,209 posts
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GimmeMedals
Not appreciated by SLT maybe, Ness, but your students thought the world of you.
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Dec 2023
2:20pm, 11 Dec 2023
24,009 posts
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Sigh
To respond to Happy(G):
What was your job?: I was a non-lawyer in an in-house legal team for a global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the power and utilities sector. Originally trained as a Surveyor in 1992, I changed roles several times and my further qualification in 2004 as a chartered arbitrator got me into the team.
Who was your employer?: Hitachi Energy (2020-3) after sale of the business by ABB (1999-2020)
Did you like your job when you started or at some previous point?: Yes, it used to offer a lot of variety in terms of pre-contract work, negotiation to secure contracts (value anything from £50k to £50m - the larger ones went to specialist teams), and post-award support/dispute resolution.
Did you like it by the time you chose to retire?: No, since 2021 it had reduced to 90% pre-contract work and 10% sorting out old contracts following the business sale. I was reviewing circa 25 contracts a month (more than 1 per working day), and only a handful got to negotiation due to prolonged award processes.
Do you feel you retired later than you would like, about the right time (or hopefully unusual, but were you forced to retire earlier than you would have liked and wish you could have worked longer?): I was happy to go when I did, I felt that if I'd stayed longer I'd have become bitter and disgruntled. My retirement at 55 caught everyone by surprise, and I had a nice send-off; which is far preferable to leaving under a cloud.
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Dec 2023
2:23pm, 11 Dec 2023
24,010 posts
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Sigh
I'll try that again:
To respond to Happy(G):
What was your job?: I was a non-lawyer in an in-house legal team for a global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the power and utilities sector. Originally trained as a Surveyor in 1992, I changed roles several times and my further qualification in 2004 as a chartered arbitrator got me into the team.
Who was your employer?: Hitachi Energy (2020-3) after sale of the business by ABB (1999-2020)
Did you like your job when you started or at some previous point?: Yes, it used to offer a lot of variety in terms of pre-contract work, negotiation to secure contracts (value anything from £50k to £50m - anything over that went to specialist teams), and post-award support/dispute resolution.
Did you like it by the time you chose to retire?: No, since 2021 it had reduced to 90% pre-contract work and 10% sorting out old contracts following the business sale. I was reviewing circa 25 contracts a month (more than 1 per working day), and only a handful got to negotiation due to prolonged award processes.
Do you feel you retired later than you would like, about the right time (or hopefully unusual, but were you forced to retire earlier than you would have liked and wish you could have worked longer?): I was happy to go when I did, I felt that if I'd stayed longer I'd have become bitter and disgruntled. My retirement at 55 caught everyone by surprise, and I had a nice send-off; which is far preferable to leaving under a cloud.
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Dec 2023
2:23pm, 11 Dec 2023
24,011 posts
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Sigh
Oh FFS, I give up.
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CumbriAndy