"I don't think I would have been out of teaching by now had I not joined.”

After 20 years in the classroom - 13 in secondary and 7 in primary - Steph had reached a point where she was really ready for a change. She felt stuck, and not for the first time; she'd tried to leave eight years earlier and given up, resigning herself to staying put in the classroom. This time, with the right support around her, it was different.

Now a Learning Designer in the civil service, Steph is five months in and already feels like a different person. Her friends have all said it - her confidence is back. With hybrid working, flexi time, and the ability to close the laptop and actually switch off, she's no longer using every holiday day just to recover.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Community support - and why it makes the difference
• Why it’s not ‘just’ about the CV
• Uncovering your values - and using them to filter your job search
• Translating your teaching experience
• Targeting roles that value equivalent experience over specific qualifications
• Upskilling opportunities once you're in the role
• What a Learning Designer actually does day-to-day
• Stakeholder management in L&D roles
• “But what about the holidays?”
• Building project management skills
• Changing your environment as the fastest route back to confidence

Links & Resources:

Project Management Fundamentals

⛺ Next Step Fest 2026 is coming! FREE online event for teachers ready to leave ~ released 23rd July. Register here now 🩷

"I just think you're not trapped. You have options."

Kate left teaching after 23 years in the secondary English classroom - not with a plan, but with the certainty that something had to change. Long-term supply work gave her breathing space but not direction, and by the time she found the Adventures After Teaching Academy, she was no longer burnt out, just lost. Having already invested time, money and energy into courses that hadn't moved the needle, she wasn’t sure about joining at first. But hearing others further along the journey made her feel, for the first time, that this is where she needed to be.

Now a Learner Success Coach, Kate spends her days supporting apprentices through deadlines, personal crises and everything in between - all entirely remotely. With control over her own calendar and holidays where she's truly switched off, she's built a working life that actually fits around her family. Losing the subject expert identity was an adjustment, but she's gained something she hadn't had in years - time to read for pleasure, go to the theatre, and follow her own interests again.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Supply teaching as your lifeboat
• Why CVs aren't one and done
• The project management course that changed everything
• Feeling in limbo - and the power of seeing others make it out
• Resilience in the career change process
• What an AI-driven interview actually looks like
• The pastoral heart of a Learner Success Coach role
• What genuinely supportive workplace feedback feels like
• Taking time to unpick your identity outside of teaching
• Enjoying flexible working!

Links & Resources:

Kate’s LinkedIn Profile

⛺ Next Step Fest 2026 is coming! FREE online event for teachers ready to leave ~ released 23rd July. Register here now 🩷

"Once I'd made that decision, I just felt like a weight had been lifted."

After 13 years in primary education - taking on the roles of phase leader, assistant head, and eventually acting head - Iain hit a wall. The workload became unmanageable, and he was signed off with work-related stress before handing in his notice in May without anything else lined up. Returning to a lovely new school in September, Iain quickly realised that the education system just wasn’t for him anymore and joined the Academy Spring Track in the New Year.

Now Head of Programmes and Impact at the Hull KR Foundation - the charity arm of a professional rugby league club - Iain is using every skill he built in education, from curriculum design to stakeholder management, in a role that genuinely excites him. The role is just as varied, but with less pressure and more flexibility, and for the first time in years, he's not counting down the days to half term.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Going off sick and navigating what comes next
• Traps we fall into that convince us to stay (when it’s not right for us!)
• Finding a new role that aligns with your values
• How the CV course and interview prep booklet helped at short notice
• Overcoming interview imposter syndrome
• Picking up new skills quickly
• Surprising teacher transferables
• Taking ownership of a newly created role
• It’s okay not to want to be in education anymore
• Leaving well

Links & Resources:

Hull KR Foundation

If you're looking for step-by-step support to find and secure a new job or start your own business, check out the Adventures After Teaching Academy which will help you successfully leave the classroom!

⛺ Next Step Fest 2026 is coming! FREE online event for teachers ready to leave ~ released 23rd July. Register here now 🩷