if I was your age I would look abroad

I've tried abroad, moved to Italy for a while and found it too hard. I don't speak any foreign languages and my partner isn't in the position to go with me at the moment.

Hmm...I'm putting my thinking cap on for you....   .  I can totally sympathise I did nearly 2 years on supply before I finally got my perm contract and it just grinds you down and grinds you down.  There's only so much of it you can take before it really starts to affect you mentally.  In fact, I had decided that if I didn't get the job I'm in now I was giving it up and doing something else. 

Have you got any experience from before?  If you have been on supply for 3 years and did probation that takes us to about 26 - usually you would graduate at 22, what were you doing in the gap? 

There are lots of jobs which don't require subject specific degrees - how about working in the media or civil service?  Are you mobile at all or confined to a specific area?  I would suggest you have a good think about other possibilities and maybe you could enquire about some 'work experience' during the summer holidays (even just a week or 2 in different places to give you an idea). 

Have you looked at LTS/HMIE/SQA for vacancies?  This would at least allow you to stay within education. 

Last thing I would like to say is that teaching is not the be all and end all.  That doesn't make it any easier to 'admit defeat' as such.  Try to think about the pressures we are under at the moment - changes to t & c's, pension cuts, curricular confusion, rising expectations, possibility of re-accreditation and losing some of our holidays.  Other careers don't sound so bad in that context!!  However, you may have to accept taking a pay cut (in the short term) and being more flexible at the start to successfully change career.  Good luck. 

I went to college after school, took a year out to work as an ASN assistant, went back to college for a year then did my bachelors then my postgrad.
Have tonnes of experience in shops/restaurants/pubs that I worked in while I was at school/uni but other than that not a great deal else.
I'm mobile within the UK just can't really go outwith at the moment.
I would be willing to take a slight paycut as obviously I know this is likely to be inevitable, just can't afford for it to be too much.
I'll have a wee look in the areas you've mentioned and see if there's anything going.
Thanks for taking the time to reply

Do you mind me asking are you primary/secondary/which subject?  Have you tried England?  I'm sure you will have exhausted all avenues mind you.  I know a couple of people your age who have recently got on to Graduate Trainee schemes with big companies.  I really hope something turns up for you.

 

Like you until recently I was in a similar position. I decided that as much as I wanted to work as a Primary Teacher, the stress of going for jobs which are already 'taken' was not worth it. I looked at other options on different job seeking websites and got lucky. Look at FE posts, posts with child welfare charities etc, your Psychology degree with your post grad would certainly make you attractive to employers. Good luck.

I'm primary. Have applied for various jobs in England with no reply. About to apply for a few in Newcastle. Have applied for jobs the length and breadth of the UK with very little luck. I get the interviews I just always mess them up and it seems the times I actually manage to do a good interview it's one of those 'already taken by someone doing supply' situations.
Will have a wee look at that betsyb1, am just desperate to get started on a career path that feels like it's going somewhere.

Ed Psych interest you at all? I'm sure with a degree in psych, that would be a good start?

I thought of that at first too but it requires 2 years of full time further study and the fees are about 10k per year. I'm not sure but I think the Scottish Govt has just stopped funding it.

One of the schools I visited as part of my BEd course was a Secondary School for children with Additional Support Needs. They advertise posts fairly regularly and from what the Head said rarely receive any applicants from the Primary sector despite predominantly following a Primary Curriculum (Like a Secondary School timetable). He expressed an interest in receiving applications from Primary Teachers. I thought the school was great and will definitely keep my eye out for posts once I complete my Probation Year -may be worth checking Secondary posts for anything like this?

Did look into ed psych, one of the first alternatives I thought of, but as already mentioned it takes quite a lot of further training, especially as my degree is only a bachelors and not an honours. If it wasn't for that it would definitely be a possibility.
Thanks Marcus I'll have a look into that. Have applied to be a primary transition teacher in a local high school, hoping that might be a job which would get less applicants than just a class teacher job.
Really appreciate people taking the time to reply with some great suggestions

 Good luck in all your endeavours. However I feel this is just the tip of the iceberg and the current school system will lose a great deal of very talented people if it continues down the corner-cutting, cost-cutting and morale debasing downturn.

 

Oh - and introduce a mandatory qualification for 'Faculty Heads'/PTs that emphasises morale and human resource management. There's a good Scottish education system.