Well, I’ve been out of a full time teaching position since Christmas and it feels like an eternity… or it did until I sat down and thought about it.
This year I’ve had 5 employers, two of them the same company, and the end of the financial year has sort of hit me in an odd way. It’s made me look back on things.
Last March I left what was initially a weekend job I began way back in September 2000 with a tremendous sense of, well, relief in order to begin my teaching career proper! I initially had one term covering maternity leave which was extended to two terms for various reasons. That took me up to Christmas.
So, employer number one was the temporary job – I was on comission for part of it and that kept dripping through until June. Employer number two was Leeds City Council.
The third and fourth wage givers are both teaching agencies – giving me casual supply work. I love it, but it’s hard work.
The fifth one is the temporary weekend job again. I’m back there and I hate it. I have to organise people and direct them in things they should really know already. After all, even though I worked there for five and a half years, it was on a different department, a different world. And yet I still have more working knowledge of the place than all the others put together. It’s a strange position to be in.
Anyway… that time between Christmas and now has given me brand new challenges. There’s been changes in my life, changes in the life of the closest person to me and I don’t necessarily like it.
I’m not saying I’d rather be back where I was a year ago, or even three months ago, but I don’t like the way things are now. I don’t enjoy my days, but thankfully, they’re flying by.
