Transitioning from a teacher to something new is possibly the most difficult thing I have ever had to do in my career. 

From the age of 3 I knew I wanted to be a Primary School Teacher. Everything I did was geared towards this as my dream job. My GCSE’s, A-Levels and university degree all led me down this path, the yellow brick road to my ultimate goal.

I loved teaching with all my being. It was everything, the be-all and end-all of who I was. And it’s a good thing too, because being a teacher requires just that. You have to give your life and sell your soul to the education system. There is no room for anything else.

As a young teacher, new to the profession, I was not fazed by this at all. What else was there? What could possibly be more important than my job or be strong enough to distract me from it, even for a moment? Nothing!

Then I moved abroad. I did this because I wanted to expand my horizons. Being a teacher was fantastic, it was the passport to the whole world. 

Every country on the planet needs teachers, good teachers, who speak English! I could go anywhere and as I soon found out; I could also do anything.

My career took flight in a direction that I never imagined. I was invited to train teachers from other nationalities who had no teaching qualification. I was invited to sit in on advisory board meetings and share my thoughts on what good teaching practise should look like. 

I was also head hunted by different corporate companies and asked to write educational curriculums for their audience which could be taught in schools. I would never of had these experiences if I had stayed as a class teacher in the UK.

I also found, that teaching abroad was a lot easier than in the UK. There was time to live as well as teach. Imagine that! The international schools understand that one person can’t do everything, so they invest money in their education systems. They have specialists.

The specialists teach only their subjects, like in Secondary schools in the UK. Meaning that the primary school teacher has non-contact time every day to complete the admin tasks of planning, finding resources and marking the children’s work. Also, because they are not teaching every subject, the amount of planning, resourcing, and marking are drastically reduced.

So how did I spend my time? 

Living! 

I had friends, I went to events, concerts and celebration balls. I travelled the world. I met my husband.

Then along came my daughter. This beautiful, funny, intelligent little creation, who needed to be amongst her extended family.

So we came back to the UK and I went back to teaching in the UK education system.

I no-longer had time for my husband or my daughter. The job that I had loved so much for so long was now ripping out my soul and my dream had become a nightmare. 

The workload was ridiculous, and I found myself working 16–17-hour days, every day. My weekend was spent feeling tremendous guilt. If I spent the time with my daughter, I felt guilty that I wasn’t working and there was so much still to be done. If I spent my time working, I felt tremendous guilt that I wasn’t spending time with my daughter.

Something had to give.

So, I stopped.

I stopped teaching.

But then I was left with this huge hole to fill. What should I do now? After all, I’m just a teacher. I’ve never done anything else. That’s when the fear started to seep in. What have I done?

It took a little while, but it slowly dawned on me. 

Just a teacher? 

Surely there is no such thing. The workload of a teacher covers a multitude of job roles and titles.

I have spent the last 20 years writing! Writing for different audiences, using different templates and different media outlets.

I have designed and created thousands of lessons including plans, PowerPoints, worksheets, and other resources. I have written to parents, governors, and members of outside agencies. 

I have delivered presentations day in and day out to children, staff and parents. I have chaired meetings, taken minutes and analysed data. I have found trends linked with pupil progress and written detailed reports.

I have been doing the job of an unofficial copywriter for decades. I have the skillset and now I have the qualification and the time. Not to mention the desire.

I want to write. Let me write for you. I’m good at it.