Indecisive About Career Change....

[ms spock]

You are most welcome @Jass_T! :hug:

 

[barefoot]

What I notice from your OP is that you love learning/text books/stationary etc - but I think it sounds more like you love being a student yourself rather than you want to teach other students? Most people going into teaching would list things like "I want to help people", "I want to work with young people", "I want to share my knowledge/passion for my subject/love of learning with others" etc. Are those things that appeal to you? If not, I'm not sure that teaching is necessarily the job for you.

Loving science and text books isn't going to get you through classroom management, staff room politics, pressure of exams/school inspections, ever-changing government initiatives etc etc, if you don't really want to be working with young people in that kind of environment.

Not saying this to put you off teaching per se. I used to be a secondary school teacher and it was incredibly rewarding, varied, interesting, fun, funny, worthwhile, purposeful... It's also hard, mainly because of the number of different pressures and because it's the sort of job that can take and take and take from you if you don't draw clear boundaries around your work and home life. It's very easy to get out of balance.

I ended up being signed off with depression for a while (I now think I had PTSD but I didn't get diagnosed until more than a decade later) and then I resigned and changed careers. Education is still of real interest to me and I like being back in school environments around young people. And I have a great many very fond memories of my teaching days. And I've probably never had a job that felt as important and purposeful as that and that's been a difficult thing to get over in the jobs I've had since. But I don't ever regret leaving teaching and it's not something I'd go back to now - especially having PTSD.

I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying find out more about the reality of teaching and see whether a) it appeals to you and b) you can see a way to manage your PTSD around it.

Contact a local school and say you're considering teacher training and would like to shadow a teacher for a few days to get a feel for what it's like? Or try to get a job as a teaching assistant helping kids who need a bit more extra support? Or try to get a job as a science technician in a school - they support the science teachers, helping to make sure all the experiment apparatus is prepared for lessons and that the right things are stocked up etc). These roles will give you some good insights to help you decide if teaching/school environments are right for you to pursue - without the big pressures/responsibilities.

Good luck!

 

[barefoot]

By the way, have you spoken to a career coach? They generally have a very different approach to career advisors - much broader, much more focused on who you are, what your purpose is, what makes you feel fulfilled, what you want more or less of in your life... And if you think you don't know the answers to these questions, they'll be able to work with you to help you find out.

Advisors, I find, can be less helpful if you don't have a clear thing in mind that you want to do.

Might be worth a go? And coaches often offer a free sample session so you can have a go at no cost - so, nothing to lose and you might get some valuable insights just through those freebies.

If you want to try, I'd suggest looking for someone who is a member of the ICF or who has completed their coaching training with an ICF accredited course.

 

[J_trustno1]

@barefoot: I know that teaching is not an easy job. It's more than just learning. It's about discipline, patience, perseverance , passion for the subject and willingness to help students go the extra mile. It requires a lot of dedication and calmness. I do feel that I am not currently in a position to be a good teacher. I don't want my students to fail because my own issues. I've seen bad teachers and truly SUCK!

If I want to become a teacher I want to be able to have good self-esteem and willingness to help others. For now I want to help myself before I can help others. I don't know if I have the patience to deal with teenagers right now because I'm only 28 currently and I can't tolerate my teenage cousins behavior and I can't imagine being able to cope with 25-30 students like them for now.

Teaching does appeal to me, I have helped explaining things other people in the past and taught my cousins but I don't know about large masses of people? I enjoy it when I learn and explain it to others, it just makes me happy. I am a very thorough and detail-orientated person.

 

[void]

@Jass_T

In your first post in this thread, I felt like you were describing ME.:wideeyed:
My passion for Science:geek::bookworm:...for learning in general:geek::bookworm:...is boundless, effervescent, and rarely shared by anyone I meet.
I also relate profoundly to your troubles dealing with humans:yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck:
Give me a library with no one in it:laugh: and I'm as happy as a pig in ......:laugh:

My gut feeling(which means precisely nothing;)) is that you will never enjoy teaching and deep down you already know that...you are just desperate to break out of this intolerable conundrum...and who wouldn't be?

I know you are suffering terribly.:(
I can feel it because I have been there and it is so exhausting, so heavy, so all-pervasive that you're just sick and tired of the lack of resolution to this issue...the pressure feels unbearable(how am I doin' so far?)
You know that working with humans greatly diminishes the intellectual joy you experience from dealing with the academic material and yet how do you find one without the grievous other?

There are a few people who have found resolution to these issue and many more others who end up languishing in a role they despise.
I'd be happy to brainstorm with you if you so desire.

Be well:bookworm::geek::happy:

 

[J_trustno1]

@void: Omg! !!! You are so damn smart!!! Yup! You've picked it correctly. I know from deep down that teaching is something I cannot do. I cannot deal with 100 teenagers a day. Hell, dealing with four asshole cousins once every month only for 1 hr is hard enough and let alone seeing 100 people! !! :yuck: I'm also the same as you about going to the library, throw me in a library of no humans and I'm happy as ever :D. I've always wanted an office job ever since I was a kid because I HATE outdoors because I hate the sun (I get migraines from sunlight and heat). I'm a very task orientated person so as a result I chose Project management. I hate doing the same work everyday and I doubt I'll be able to handle teaching but in project management I'll be seeing fewest people a day and projects are usually short term so I'm happy doing that. Plus doing project management will keep intact with my scientific background :) :happy:. Lastly I get exhausted if I'm around people for too long. So I have enrolled myself in project management after discussing with tge careers counselor about my background, my ability to deal with humans and my personality :) ;). Thanks for the input, you're really smart :D.

 

[ms spock]

Primary School Teaching Jass_T - putting the love of science in the young ones? It is a very important thing to do!

 

[void]

@void: Omg! !!! You are so damn smart!!! Yup! You've picked it correctly. I know from d...

:happy:It is a wonderful feeling to feel understood and to deeply relate with another person, isn't it?:geek::bookworm::happy:

I feel it too:happy:

I think I'd be happy in the library if you were there, though:happy:....just you though:laugh::roflmao::laugh:...any more than that and it would get crowded;):laugh:

I'l say more in PC.:)