Five years ago I trained as a primary school teacher, and for three and a half of those I genuinely loved my job and everything it involved. The past one and a half years, however, have been different. I’ve slowly found myself falling out of love with the profession. It had become more pen pushing and social work than inspiring young minds.
This Easter (after much discussion with Jonny and my parents) I made a huge decision. A decision that will hopefully change my life for the better. I decided to leave teaching. The one year contract I had at the school I was in wasn’t renewed and I spent a long time struggling to come to terms with this. Fortunately I have the world’s most supportive boyfriend and some fantastic friends that really helped me to deal with this.
Once I had decided to stop teaching it felt like an actual weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Ridiculous as that cliché is, that’s really how I felt. I started to begin planning what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Scary times!
I had a BA (Hons) History degree that I had loved so decided that this was the route to follow. I decided that I wanted to pursue a career within the museum/heritage industry. This September I had to sign up to a local supply teaching agency (I still need some income whilst I hunt for the dream!) I also started volunteering as a room guide at Hill Top (home of my childhood hero, Beatrix Potter.) Similarly I pursued a contact from Kids in Museums with the hope of eventually organising and running one of their kids takeover days.
Finally I feel like my life is getting back on track. It didn’t start out as a happy journey but it’s definitely becoming one. The volunteering experience I’m gaining is really useful, and will help my CV show I’m seriously interested in the career change!
Here’s to the next (terrifying/exciting) steps towards the dream job!
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