NightFury Senior Contributor
My teaching journey
I'm going to share my teaching journey because I wonder if others here have had similar experiences.
I fell into teaching as an alternative - I failed out of Law school because I slipped into...depression/grief when I lost both of my Grandparents in the same year. It was a scramble to find something else to do with my Uni life and so, I chose teaching.
When I graduated, I did some relief work but it was tough because I didn't have my license back then, so I went and got myself a job in the preschool room at my local day care centre. I worked as qualified teacher/room leader. I won't go into details about what happened there - it was horrible, I was bullied and took stress leave, they refused my stress leave and I quit.
I then worked at a few random jobs until I found my way back to teaching. I was in the middle of making a decision whether to do relief, and I went to help a friend set up her classroom. We happened to run into the principle of another school who was looking for a teacher. He employed me on the spot to teach a grade 3/4/5/6 class at a tiny school in the country. I was thrown into the classroom totally unsupported.
When the year was up, he told me he didn't have a position for me any more. The student numbers were so reduced that they would only have one class; a kindergarten to grade 6 class. I found another job and started working as the PE teacher three days a week. This school also recommended me to another school and I picked up the other two days a week there.
The school that I worked at two days a week was a difficult school. It was in my home town, and it's a low socio-economoc area with a lot of behavioural problems. I was attacked by students, we had regular lock downs and children being removed from their homes and families on a regular basis.
I then decided that I wanted a classroom and accepted a position four days a week in a grade 4/5/6. I was supposed to team teach, but the teacher stormed out declaring that she couldn't possibly work with me.
The following year, when my grade 6 students moved up to High School (it was a district school, so we had Kindergarten to grade 10) I moved up with them and took over as Humanities and English teacher. I taught there for 8 years. In my 6th year of teaching there, I stepped up to a senior staff role.
Our little school saw five principals in my 8 years of teaching there. It was constant leadership change and everyone of those principals wanted to stamp their mark on the school and bring about change.
In that time, I taught through COVID, had a student take their own life and was attacked several times by my students. One in particular left his mark - he was in Grade 6 and he attacked me with a screw driver for asking him to put his laptop away. As a result, I had to lock myself in the classroom, he kicked and screamed at me through the doors and windows and was making gestures and threats about hurting me. He was suspended for one day for his actions and I was expected to simply carry on as if it hadn't impacted me.
In 2023, I was done. I was doing the job of three different teachers, and I was beyond burnt out. I was dealing with my own anxiety and CPTSD triggers and I couldn't do it any more. It had a significant impact on my own mental health. I quit my job, took my long service leave payout and
moved interstate.
I got a teaching job over there, but only lasted a week. That week, we had all staff self-defence training and I decided that I didn't want to put myself through that again. I then went into support worker- helping parents work with children who couldn't be in the system any more, kids who had been expelled from school. I set up home lone routines and worked independently teaching home school programs. Until I came across a situation that put me in danger and made me feel incredibly unsafe...so I left that job too.
I took a job teaching Kindergarten. I had 16 out of 27 four/five years old with a diagnosis and we dealt with daily meltdowns - I was kicked, hit, had things thrown at me, screamed at daily. Even so, I was willing to stay because I could see that I was making a difference. However, for personal reasons, I had to leave QLD and made my way home.
I have done a full term in a Catholic School, back in my home town. The behaviour can be tough, but we have a supportive staff and an active principal. Next term we are making major changes to the way we do things and to our teaching model. I was working four days a week, with Fridays off, but they have asked me to go full time next term. I agreed to it, in spite of having reservations, for financial reasons. This school is helping me find my love for teaching again. There is fear and uncertainty there though - I need to be careful and to protect my own mental health and well being, but also it's only a 12 month contract so beyond that, I'm not sure what will happen regarding employment for me.
I took the position because I needed to get home, and I needed a way of making money and supporting myself at home. Now, I'm rediscovering my love for teaching. It's a slow and steady process though, it really is.