To Dan, the originator of the thread - late thirties is still young. One of the effects of teaching is to make you feel about a decade or so older than you really are.

To those who favour "conspiracy" theories, is the plan "get a lot of young teachers who will throw themselves at the job for ten years then burn out so we can avoid having to pay pensions"?

I had a "burn out" when I was fifty three due to all the factors discussed in this thread -this was because of insomnia caused by the job. Stress will always find your weak point whatever that is -my wife met her nemesis about a year later than me with high blood pressure.

A "burn out" isn't just the same as being knackered -teachers are perpetually knackered -it's more like prsssing the accelerator on your car and nothing happening.

I had had two days off ill in 25 years and then ended up having seven weeks off -that gave time to think -this raises an important point that teachers often cannot think clearly because of the stess they are under.

I'd kept on good terms with the Primary School that I worked at, and would advise anyone thinking of a change to do this. My burnout happened in May, and It gave me the summer holidays to think about what to do -to retire then would have meant a virtually non existent pension. I decided to do supply work at the school that I worked at plus a couple of others close by -as a previous poster said supply work can be ghastly, but you don't have to go back to schools you had a bad experience with. Schools like to have a regular supply teacher they know is reliable to avoid paying agencies through the nose -often a teacher knows in advance when they are absent and you can go in primed and ready, although you do need to expect some of those phone calls at twenty to eight! The stress of supply work is different, but I was able to do it for four and a half years, and then retire at fifty eight.

I probably worked three days a week on average and spent the other two trying other things. I was lucky to get a job with a company that makes learning journeys for schools by researching suitable websites. This can be fitted in as and when.

I started to teach guitar lessons - just put a postcard in the local shop windows to get started - you can transfer your teaching skills to areas like this - I invigilate exams at the local secondary school -these don't just take place in the summer these days - I do exams marking History for OCR in the Summer - I also lecture for the WEA -teaching adults, mainly retired, who want to learn purely for the sake of learning. I do all this, except one WEA lecture a week without the use of a car and we've actually managed on a single car between us for the past 20 years as I worked at a school within walking distance, or within range of a trusty, cheap to run and ecologically sound pushbike.

I got my bus pass a month ago ,and feel younger than when I was fifty. I have loads of time for my hobby, music, have made four CDs,we go to folk clubs and festivals regularly, and we get paid gigs every now and then. Recently I decided to go back into my old school to help with an IT group and teach recorder. I like this patchwork existence (I think the modern jargon calls it a "Portfolio")

I think it's such a shame when teachers reach fiftysomething, colapse in a heap and say "I never want to step inside a school again". It's so depressing after spending most of your working life doing a job to come to that point. Also, when you're longing for the end of the day, week, term att the time you're wishing your life away!

Everyone's situation is individual, and your situation, Dan, is a bit different to mine- your age means you've got a long time to make an alternative career viable, and this is a point in your favour. Obviously it depends on what you've got in terms of family, mortgage committments, etc.

How about:-

Do an assessment of your finances and work out how you can make any savings.Could you downsize housewise -this would get your mortgage paid off quicker? We actually downsized and are now upsizing again having paid off our mortgage.

Could you go part time? -this would guarantee some income and if you did , say, three days you would have four days, if you include the weekend, to dabble in other things which might/might not take off?

Could you do supply? -you might have some horrific experiences at first but try to establish a relationship with school where your face fits - I managed this with just two or three local schools using a pushbike, so if you've got a car available even better. The paper work seems to be the thing you hate most and supply cuts most of this. If you can think on your feet, supply is ideal, and even if you can't, a lot of supply is booked well in advance when people are on courses. Could you do it at your own school? Mangement are the way they are mainly because everyone is on the same treadmill.

I'm going to post a little parody I did after this.

Also, could we perhaps have a thread "funny things that happened in school" as a counter. Most people who make the escape attempt to succeed in the end and don't regret it.