The Show Notes
About 5 years into my teaching career, I started to feel this stirring of discontent. Teaching was such a good match for my strengths in the beginning. The first couple years had been everything I had hoped for, but then the excitement was beginning to fade. My energy and passion were outgrowing the size of my classroom. I wanted more opportunities to help more people beyond the walls of my classroom.
Was there something wrong with me?
I felt discontent. I felt confused. I felt alone in experiencing this among my coworkers.
It turns out it’s not just me. When I dug in a little bit to see what other teachers were feeling, I discovered there were actually three reasons teachers were leaving the classroom.
The facts don’t lie
If you’re a research nerd like me, you’ll be impressed to know even Gallup has done research in this area. Like me, they also wanted to know:
What percentage of teachers are looking for different jobs.
Why are teachers leaving the classroom?
Are you ready to see their findings? Here are the details:
How many teachers are looking for different jobs?
- 48% of current teachers are actively looking for or exploring other career opportunities.
Why are teachers leaving teaching?
- 29% of teachers who leave teaching do so because of relocating or health reasons.
- The majority of teachers who leave the classroom, 60% of them, leave for “career advancement or development”.
When I read that last bullet point and saw that it “wasn’t just me” but rather it was the majority of teachers who are leaving the profession, I felt comforted in a way, like I was actually “normal” and not alone in my experience. Most teachers simply just want “more”. Development. Growth. Advancement. Opportunity. And all of these are great things!
Did you know that people who have low job satisfaction are twice as likely to experience depression?
I wasn’t alone after all
So, why is this not only “okay” for teachers to want more opportunities, development, and growth? Why should we actually encourage and applaud teachers as they pursue these things? Because it relates directly with the health, happiness, and life-satisfaction you have as a teacher.
Think about it this way. A teaching career can oftentimes be thought of in terms of the shape of an “S” curve. Picture the learning curve you experienced as a teacher in the shape of an “S”. At the beginning, there is so much to soak in. Your student teaching barely prepared you for what it would be like to be on your own. There’s so much to implement, to tweak, to improve. The moment you feel like you’ve got things down, there’s a new curriculum thrown at you or a student behavior challenge you’ve never encountered. The incline on the S is steep at the beginning moment. Always learning, always improving, always growing. That is a healthy and happy trajectory of growth.
But then there comes this moment where things start to even out and stay more or less the same. You’ve got more tools in your tool belt. It’s much harder to throw you off. You’re flexible and the routines come easy to you. At this point, it can also be a challenge to keep things interesting for you on the daily. You feel like you’ve “plateaued”.
Nowhere to go from here
If you feel “stuck” or “plateaued” or “stagnant” as a teacher, it’s not your fault at all. The teaching system is not designed for you to grow or advance beyond the classroom. It’s designed for you to become an expert at what you do then, well, more or less, stay put.
Some people may decide to pursue the administrative route. Others may have the rare opportunity to snag a job at the district level. But it’s nothing you could ever hedge a bet on being available or becoming yours.
Did you know that career well-being is one of the most influential and under-rated areas of focus when it comes to being a healthy and happy individual? It makes sense. After all, it’s where you are spending most of your day, every day. As a result of this investment, it’s also where you make one of your life’s biggest contributions in the world. Knowing that what you do day in and day out for work influences your health and happiness so directly, isn’t it worth it to ensure your work-life is on a trajectory that continues to be fulfilling to you, even after the first few years of teaching?
It would be one thing if you were the only one to pay the price for being unhappy in your job. But here’s the thing: your well-being and career fulfillment doesn’t affect just you. It affects everyone around you. When you’re up, they’re up. When you’re down, they’re down. And it’s not just your students, it’s your family, your friends, and everyone who is a part of your life. What kind of feedback are you getting from those you love?
Are they similar to friends and family in my life who said things like, “You just don’t seem like your happy self any more.”
Maybe you’re realizing that if you’re honest, you’re feeling stuck too. Maybe you’ve said things like;
I’m not sure where I fit anymore.
I feel discontent in my classroom.
I’m burnt out.
I need better work/home balance.
I’m not liking this the way I did in the past.
Then perhaps it’s time to start exploring why you feel this way. I’ve created a free tool for you that is research-based. It will help you determine your well-being at work as a teacher and what you can do about it. Grab the Teacher Well-being Survey HERE!
What is it that really matters here? Your well-being. The reality is that how happy you are in life relates directly with how happy and fulfilled (or unfulfilled, or stressed, etc.) you are at work each day. Are others going to have their own opinions about what you should do for work? Of course, but keep in mind that the opinions that matter are those who want what is best for you on a personal level.
Take the Teacher Well-being Survey HERE now to find out how you’re doing and to identify the best next steps for you personally! What if this was the first step to where you want to be?! Let’s get there together!
In this episode, we’ll explore
- Why teachers are going beyond the classroom
- What percentage of teachers are considering or searching for new jobs right now
- Why it can be easy to feel “stuck”, “stagnant”, or “plateaued” as a teacher
- How you can start exploring career advancement opportunities with a teacher’s skillset
- Why it’s crucial to start taking your career well-being more seriously
If you enjoyed this episode I invite you to take a screenshot and tag me on your Instagram stories @teachertransition and tell me your biggest takeaway!
Want to know what other work opportunities you might love beyond the classroom? Click here to get the FREE Top Jobs for Teachers download.
