9 incredibly important things to consider before leaving your teaching job

Quitting your job is a huge decision because it can be a great turning point for your life and the school where you currently work. In so many cases, leaving your job could cause instability to you and the school in form of;

Quitting your job is a huge decision because it can be a great turning point for your life and the school where you currently work. In so many cases, leaving your job could cause instability to you and the school in form of;

• Failure to get another job after you quit
• The school failing to find a replacement for you
• Being sued by the school because you didn’t leave under the right circumstances
• Shame and embarrassment when/if you come back to ask for the same job that you quit

In this article, we discuss the things you have to consider before you make the final decision to push the eject button. In this, the main goal is that you don’t have to be forced to regret your decision.

1. The circumstances under which you have to leave

It’s so important for you to consider the circumstances under which you have to quit your job. This is because it’s important to leave under good conditions, so that you’re able to visit the school whenever you feel like it. Below are some of the circumstances;

• Getting fired
• Resigning on your own
• Contract termination

Sometimes, school administrators might cause bad blood because you’ve left a gap in their school, but that shouldn’t be a worry if you left under good circumstances.

2. Your plan B

I can’t even stress this enough. Every time you think about quitting or leaving your job, you just have to make sure you’ve carefully thought about what you’ll do after it. Here are some options;

• Business
• Agriculture
• Working for an organization
• Following a new career path like singing, writing, etc
• Starting your own school

In this, you have to make sure that you can rely on your plan B, because it’s for this reason that some teachers usually regret quitting their jobs.

3. What if your plan B doesn’t work

Everything always looks good on paper before it’s time to execute what you’ve planned. Especially in business, your plan B will face some of these threats;

• Total failure
• Financial instability
• Unforeseen challenges dealing with your clients

So many teachers have failed terribly at the business ventures they planned to work on immediately after they quit their job, leading to disillusionment and giving up on business for good.

4. The impact on your beneficiaries

Quitting your job is quite an easy thing to do if you have no one to feed, clothe or accommodate. However, having a family to depend on you makes life hard for all of you if you quit.

Therefore, it’s always wise to consult with your spouse or your other beneficiaries so you can think through your decisions carefully.

5. Legal implications of your quitting

Some teachers have found themselves in legal battles with their former employers beause they didn’t quit under the right circumstances. These include;

• Not writing a resignation
• Failure to wait for their boss’s feedback
• Leaving with school property

It’s therefore important that you take another critical look at the terms of your employment before you leave, because they can be used against you.

6. Whether leaving is the inevitable choice

Sometimes, resignation isn’t the option that you want for yourself, but you might be forced by circumstances like;

• Contract termination
• Getting fired
• Expiry of your contract
• Being strong-armed or blackmailed by a colleague

If you aren’t compelled by these or other circumstances that make it feel inevitable to leave, there’s still an open door to negotiation or persistence despite the challenges at your workplace.

7. The gap you’ll leave in the school if you quit

No matter how insignificant the circumstances of your employment make you feel, you’re important in the school, and your quitting will lead to things like;

• Staffing shortage
• Academic performance decline
• Chaos in the department you’ve been overseeing

8. Whether you tried negotiating with your employer

Usually, some teachers decide to quit their jobs because the salary just isn’t enough for them to make their dreams come true. However, it’s ideal that you try to negotiate with your employer because;

• Your salary can possibly be increased
• Disputes can be resolved
• Other challenges can be fixed permanently

Sometimes, negotiating with your employer won’t fix things at the worklace, but at least no one will say that you didn’t try.

9. Whether you’re ready to be temporarily unemployed

If you really think you’ll be absolutely stable and your life will be perfect after you quit, there’s a lot you don’t know. After quitting your job, you’ll likely face things like;

• Financial instability
• Stress
• Uncertainties
• Anxiety

The list goes on and on. This is common with teachers that quit their jobs to chase better employment opportunities – which sometimes don’t get fulfilled soon.

Final thoughts;

Some people’s success stories involve getting fired or even quitting their jobs – and honestly, this might make you want to have the same experience. However, it’s always a little or a lot hard after you’ve left the job and found out that you were quite wrong about many of your calculations. Therefore, quitting your job is one decision you have to make after careful consideration.