Greetings fellow teachers. I am not on here a lot, but would value your advice in this case. I am currently on supply in a challenging school in Edinburgh. The behaviour of the pupils would make a saint cry. But, I have a fairly light timetable and marking is practically non-existent. It is the behaviour which is very tiring and draining. Every day brings another piece of nonsense.

I have been offered a maternity post in a large school with excellent results which would take me through till June. It is a very different place. You have to sign in and sign out everyday. There is constant class observations. Lesson plans would have to be meticulous. I could simply not turn off like I have to sometimes in my present post.

Two very different kinds of stress. Would I be mad to jump, better the devil I know, or would my teaching actually benefit from getting away from crowd control and constant swearing? Pretty confused to be honest.

I tend to agree with that.  I worked for a decade in an awful school run by various completely incompetent managers.  I bascially de-skilled myself because I had to a) massively dumb down everything I did and b) developed into a sort of crowd control prison officer.

I left last year and now work in a normal school which is run effeciently.  I'm learning how to teach again and how to enjoy what I do.

If you think you can step up to the mark in the good school then go for it, will probably be good for the CV.

Bare in mind that a stint in a tough school where you have to work in a different manner is not always a bad thing.

The real problem is you on supply, you really settle down once you get a f/t post regardless of the school as you have a purpose to really make changes.