010 - Pit Pony Helen Taylor - Classroom to Cabin Crew

In this episode, we sit down with Helen Taylor, a former history teacher whose dedication to education was undeniable. Helen spent 18 years in teaching, finding joy in her students and a deep sense of purpose in the classroom. For years, she believed teaching was her lifelong path, pouring her energy and resources into her role.

But after a gruelling stint with new pressures, overwhelming workloads, and the unrelenting demands of a system that left her burned out, Helen made the life-changing decision to leave the profession she loved. 

Helen takes us through her turbulent decision to exit the profession, charting a new course and eventually finding herself soaring to unexpected heights as cabin crew for British Airways. 

Join us as Helen shares her story of resilience, personal reinvention, and the thrill of embracing a life she’d never imagined, 30,000 feet above the classroom.

https://www.tiktok.com/@helentaylor46

Buy Us a Coffee ☕️

Loving the Pit Pony Podcast?

We’d be so grateful for your support! We’ve set up a Buy Me a Coffee page where you can make a small donation to help keep the podcast running.

https://buymeacoffee.com/thepitponyclub

Voice Message Us: https://www.speakpipe.com/pitponypodcast

Interested in coming to our conference? https://www.tutorsconference.co.uk

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in our podcast there are organisations who can help:

• Education Support
• The Samaritans
• Mind
• Andy's Man Club

Join Us:

• Subscribe to the Pit Pony Podcast
• Sign up to our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/i1L5ck

Thanks for listening 🙏

Edited with finesse by our Podcast Super Producer, Mike Roberts of Making Digital Real

Transcript

0:04  
Sharon, hello and welcome to the pit pony podcast with myself, Sharon Cawley and me Sarah dunwood, in which we talk to teachers from all walks of life who exited the classroom from what they thought was a job for life and thrived on the other side of teaching.

0:26  
Hello and welcome to a great episode of pit pony podcast with Helen Taylor. Fabulous story. Helen history teacher,

0:38  
18 years in education, 10 years in the classroom,

0:43  
and PSHE laid lead at one point, absolutely loved, loved her job.

0:50  
Well, Helen came out of teaching in 2023

0:55  
interestingly, Helen, what is it you're doing now?

1:02  
Um, I'm actually cabin crew for British Airways. Fantastic, absolutely amazing. And I love this, because you're 51 years old, trying to work out how old I am. I'm 52

1:16  
wonderful, great news, because in my head, you had to be 18 to BBA cabin crew. So cannot wait to hear about this, but what we always do is we start in the middle of the story. Helen, can you talk us through the circumstances surrounding your decision to exit the job that you genuinely thought was going to be for life. Yeah. So basically, I started off in a wonderful school, and then after four years, I moved into into what I perceived as a promotion to head of history and head of Religious Studies. The two I was the sole teacher of both subjects and Religious Studies was new to the school throughout years seven through to years 11, so it was up to me to implement the subject, having never taught it before, which they were fully aware of when I was employed. Initially, what I didn't realize that was when I started, was I'd get minimal help, minimal budget with not only teaching history, but also religious studies. I had 12 classrooms that I was responsible for over a two week timetable with very, very little PPA time, and I was expected to mark 12 class worths of books over a two week rolling period. So every two weeks, those books needed to be marked, some with assessments. Some were just basic classroom and not only mark them, but mark them with different color pens. So green pen, red pen, highlighters, highlighting literacy issues, highlighting knowledge issues, all of that sort of thing. And so I was trying to set up and plan lessons that I'd never taught before, because I had my bank of history lessons that I could tap into, but I didn't have my bank of Religious Studies lessons, so I was planning from scratch, marking all of that, all of those books, over the two week periods as well. And it just became so overwhelming when I asked for help, I was told that I would be put in touch with a religious studies teacher in another school to help me. I didn't have the budget for textbooks. I didn't have the budget to buy in classroom resources, so I was buying in classroom resources using my own money at the time, and it got to the point where it was really, really shopping in a short space of time. By the October I just felt so incredibly burnt out. I hated going into work. I'd sit on the edge of the bed in the morning and think, okay, what can I do to get out of this? How can I ring up sick? My family could see that I was not happy. I hated life at that point in time. And I went to I handed my notice in before I even went sick, I just thought, I can't stay at the school. But even then, the thought of working till Christmas, which was when I because I handed my notice in to leave at Christmas, even before then, I thought, I'm not sure I can last that second half of the winter term with the way things are going, I just, I wouldn't say I was suicidal, but I didn't enjoy life at that point. So I went to the doctor, and I said to her, okay, so what we'll do is we'll sign you off. How long do you want? Because you're clearly unhappy. And I said, Sign me off until at least the week before the end of the winter term, so I can hand over because I still had that, that kind of like professional pride in me, that I wanted to be able to go, okay, so then they've employed someone, or at least I can go back and hand over everything I'd done within the first week of me being signed off. I.

5:00  
I still sent them in lessons for them, I said I sent them in hand over notes and everything, and then, because of my notice had already been handed in at that point, they basically told me, via a letter that went out to parents that didn't even know about it, that that I don't, that I wasn't returning, they said there's no point you could read about for that last week, just just leave. So that that was a bit of a shock to me at the time. Wow. Okay, so much so, so much there. So, okay, you take on a new job. Let me just unpick this that I've heard this right? You take on a new job that's that's huge, if it was fully resourced with a budget and support. So you're expected to do all of this with no time, no money, no support. Did you speak to them about this? Did you did you say this is just because anybody listening to this who's not a teacher goes, that's crazy that someone would be expected to do all that was that typical of what was going on in the school at the time. I mean, I know the the school has quite a high turnover of staff at the time. So what I did was I spoke to the line manager, and I said, Look, I can't get the books marked in time. This is ridiculous. When I first applied to the job, I asked to see their marking policy, because that was one of my biggest fears, that I was going to walk into a school with a ridiculous marking policy. And they said at the time yet, we're going into consultation in September, so you'll have be able to help with how we do marking going forward from September. So in September, when we were having these late night meetings about it, it was like, would you know what it works, so we're keeping it. And I was like, This is ridiculous. It's going to take too long. It's I don't have time to do this. And there was like, yeah, no, but we know it works, so we're just going to keep it as it is. So the consultation was no consultation at all. When I spoke to my line manager about the workload and the fact that I had no resources whatsoever, I actually gone in two weeks prior to my start date in the summer holidays, to set up the classroom and to also make start making a dent on the lesson planning, knowing where I was going to and they were again like I said, he he just said, I can put you in touch with some local religious studies teachers to help you with the resources, but we can't give you any more in the budget. I said, Well, I can't even afford with the budget, you've given me one set of classroom textbooks, let alone GCSE and key stage three. I said, I can't work like this. And he was like, well, that's the way it is. The most upsetting thing for me, though, was when I actually got a job in a supply agency from the January onwards. He actually wrote a reference saying she left under the disguise of stress related issues, even though she never came and talked to us about it. So my so that's what the agency said. There she said in my reference and like that. That really kind of like punched me in the stomach a bit. But okay, so when you said she left under the disguise my mate, Sarah Don Wood nearly fell off her chair. Sarah share with COVID. What your response is to when that reference

8:27  
left under the disguise? Come on friend, supporting

8:33  
currently furious on your behalf. Helena, I know it's I know it's in the past, but wow, and that's from a from a legal perspective, you'd actually have a right to challenge that, because that's categorically not true in terms of under the disguise of you were signed off legitimately by a doctor, So not only is he calling into question you, but the medical professional who lost for words, Sharon lost for words, what references Sarah are one of the biggest fears that our pit pone is and life after teaching members have Helen because they panic and panic about the weaponization of this reference. Now it's happened to you, but you went to a supply agency with that reference. Did that stop you getting work? No, because I was able to when I went to the when I kind of, like, went back to them, I was like, Do you know what? Please use a previous, previous reference. So my previous school that I'd worked with for years didn't want me to go because they really loved having me as a teacher in their school. So they used that previous reference because I'd been in that school for such amounts of time they could see that. I think they just kind of like believed me more than then they believed that reference, you know. So, yeah, I didn't.

10:00  
Have any issues with getting supply work at all. I ended up getting a long term supply job up until, I think it was May of that year, May, June of that of of that year, and in a Sixth Form College, doing a levels. And I kind of loved it. Really enjoyed it. It was, it was, it was kind of like a, yeah, I know I'm doing the right thing, and that school was just a blip. So that kind of like gave me the, then the courage to apply for a full time permanent position at another secondary school. I thought, You know what? I'm not going to leave. Because when I left in December, I thought, I can't teach anymore. If this is what it's going to be like, I can't do it anymore, but doing the supply and then going, I said, Yes, I can, you know, I was a supply teacher in this Sixth Form College, and I had students giving me flowers when they left. So I knew I was good. I knew I was doing the right, the right job. And so I left car, like thinking, Yes, I can do this. And then I went to, did a couple of issues, and got a job in in a school where it started from year nine, and so I was teaching years 910, 11. So no Key Stage Three anymore, but key stage four, which, yeah, that was, that was good interview, yeah. So I knew I wanted to start that, yeah, start that in the september 2019

11:19  
I'm trying to get my dates right, because of COVID and everything. So started that in september 2019

11:26  
again as the lone history teacher, but this time No, no religious studies in history, with a little bit of English support thrown in to because obviously I was only teaching three year groups. They had to make up my hours. Was absolutely fine, but I had kind of like autonomy on the lessons and the subjects that I was teaching, which is what I really enjoyed doing in history anyway. And and then, obviously, COVID hit quite quickly afterwards. Then it all went into online teaching. And and then, whereas everybody knows what happened during COVID, we're teaching. So did you like it? Because some people talk about COVID as they have seen years. They loved it. They loved teaching through COVID. Was COVID a good experience for you? Yes and no. So in one sense, I mean, I laugh about it now, particularly with some of the you know, when we first started now, first initial lockdown in March, I think it was, it was a case of everything was offline. We were emailing, mailing students. It was ringing. I had tutor groups. I was ringing my other my tutors, parents every week to check up on them, make sure they were okay, and sending resources. Some students, we got stuff back, some students we didn't hear from. And that was a little bit disjointed, because part and parcel of being a teacher was being in the classroom and having the whole classroom banter with the students, and building up that relationship, and that kind of like didn't have that the kind of Sly part of me when we went to online teaching was that those students that wouldn't be quiet, you could just mute, love that.

13:03  
So, you know, that was quite good, because then you could just crack on with what you needed to do. When I look back at teaching during COVID,

13:13  
in the one sense, it was easier, but in another sense, it was hard. It's really weird. It was such a weird, weird experience that it's really hard to pin down. If anybody was to say, oh, you know, you know, because I've heard people say, Oh, it's so hard. I found it really stressful. And I can imagine as a primary school teacher it would be as a secondary school teacher, I think we kind of like, well, in my personal experience, maybe slightly easier. I don't know. It was weird. I was glad to be going. I was glad to go back. Put it that way, I was like to go be back in the classroom with with my students. So that takes us to you teach online some hybrid kind of stuff going on during COVID, and then adds to COVID. Where are you? Then it's 2021.

13:59  
What's going on with you there in the world of education. So 2021 when we went back full time, obviously there was still a lot of disruption due to students going off with COVID with isolation in 2021 so you know, there are students that we hadn't heard from who had an awful lot to catch up with in terms of their workloads. So it was a case of balancing the students that had done everything that you asked for them to do, and the students that had done nothing, and those kind of like that sat in between. And it was the first round of GCSEs after COVID. Was kind of like these predicted results where we were marking, and that was quite stressful, because it was just like, I've done exam marking. I was, I've been an examiner for five years, so I've done GCSE marking since the start of the new GCSEs. So I know what it's like to just, you know, anomalously write, um mark. Students work online, but.

15:00  
Actually doing my own students marking and being responsible for their end grade to get into college. That was a huge, huge responsibility that took on board really, really seriously. And I, you know, and I found that really, really stressful. The following year, the first year back proper sit down exams in 2022

15:22  
again, you still had students playing catch up who missed great details, not only history lessons, but in key stage three. So they didn't have that initial background of for subject specific, what a source was, how to analyze the source, how to write a typical response, you know, a critique of a source, how to actually even argue or even have their own opinion. And I think during COVID, a lot of students were sat online on social media, and they were being told what to think. And then after COVID, having to go back into the classroom, and me telling my students history is about questioning the past, questioning people's perceptions of the past, and they're not able to do that. What do you think Miss? What can I write? What do you think? What do you think the answer is you need to make your own opinion. It's not maths or science. It's not a right or wrong answer. It's about you forming your own opinion and coming up with a kind of like an argument about why you think that. And that was when, like, literally, they didn't get it. And I think you've hit on something there that Sarah and I have talked about. We missed a trip, we locked down, we disrupted we managed a hybrid model of some coming in school, some online, which really lends itself to young children who've got emotional issues surrounding school.

16:48  
We had a real opportunity to navel gaze at our exam process and structure because

16:56  
we'd lost stuff from 2025 when

17:01  
Michael Gove just did a hatchet job. Sorry, 2015 when Michael Gove did a hatchet job on the GCCs, he took away steered entry. He took away coursework, controlled assessments, we had an opportunity for the first time, to go what was working well. Let's keep it. What wasn't working well, let's get rid of it. And content focused exams where we were testing content, not skills, we had a huge opportunity here to do something different.

17:33  
Do you ever remember Sarah? Think it was 2021?

17:38  
Didn't they send kids back into school for one day. Yeah, it was after the first lockdown. There was the Christmas holidays. There was all of the wrangling and Christmas well, they won't they, and they said, We're not, we're not, not going to send them in. They're all going back. They went in for the first day back after the Christmas holidays. Then they locked everybody down again that I think I've written down something that, that you've said Helen, in terms of the concept of it, that students over that period of time, particularly the kind of upper primary and secondary kids, almost became disempowered in terms of learning and the process of learning, and

18:24  
there's a real sense in in the group, in my conversations with friends who are still in teachers, that that children are not and I'm generalizing, but that there's a strong sense that Children are not as able to take the initiative themselves. They reliant on asking the teacher for or wanting a frame to do things on what I've noticed in my experience of teaching or tutoring post lockdown, and I'm going to take it really back to basics. They don't know how to write. Don't mean how to write a response. They physically don't know how to hold a pen. Their handwriting is shocking. And what will happen is, I'll be in a session, and we'll say we're doing some creative writing. I hand over a pen and a paper, because that's how you're going to be assessed. And the amount they produce is it's so labored, and they've only got 45 minutes in a GCSE to do it.

19:27  
And then I'll say to them, right, type it into the notes on your phone and show me. And it's worlds apart. We have got a generation and again, generalization, those handwriting skills

19:43  
are nowhere near where they should be, because there's been a two year period at a crucial point where nobody looked and marked and checked the handwriting it was done online. And if only we could do something and say, right, well, apart from a shopping list or unless you're a T.

20:00  
Children, you have to make notes on everything. People don't use pen and paper anymore. Now, I know the GCCs are going online this year, and there's, there's different things happening there, but we're still texting kids and assessing them by tying one hand behind the back. Really? Did you find that Helen, when you went back, that you'd come back to just this

20:23  
totally different set of children, and, importantly, parents, parents, attitudes change after COVID. What did you did you experience anything along those lines? I found, I mean, I don't know how much you know about the timing limitations for the GCSE paper in history, it is, in my in my opinion, cruel to expect them to write three responses plus a conclusion in literally 2025 minutes. They have literally no time at all for a 16 mark question, a massive 16 mark question, but they have, like, literally, 20 minutes in which to sponsor that 16 mark question, so they have to think very, very quickly. They have to analyze sources throughout the paper and use those sources within the final question on any one particular paper. And it's hard. It's not easy, and a lot of students really struggle in thinking that quickly and getting that information down on paper in that amount of time.

21:26  
But you know what's the interesting bit? But just imagine for one minute what we've just talked about is being set up to fail. Okay, bear with me on my little thought process. You got a job with no resources, no money, no time, you were set up to fail.

21:45  
And who did they blame? They blamed you.

21:49  
They blamed the teacher. We set our children up to fail in an exam, not enough time, not got the right equipment to work with. So the end results are never going to be the best they could be. Who do they blame? Do they blame the child for that? No, they blame the teacher again. So we're getting double slapped here,

22:13  
because the blame lies with the teacher, and that's when those teachers is the favorite. I love this use of language support plan. Do you know the word support in the world of teaching strikes fear and dread into a teacher? How have we managed it's meta, isn't it? The pure definition of the word support and make it mean everything other than that. So I think that, I think that's really nicely crystallized, where you'd come to over this 1810, year period within your life, set up to fail, went back into a classroom where your children were being set up to fail. At what point with all of this happening, does Helen Taylor say? Nah, this is not for me anymore. So in terms of even after COVID, when I was being asked to where my autonomy in the classroom was slowly being eroded away from me due to the threat of Ofsted hanging over the school. So we need to make sure that every lesson regarding regardless of topic, has to look the same with individualized headings on each slide and everything so and the students are being turned into literal exam robots, because they have to make sure that the date is on the correct side of the paper and on in the exercise book and the it's underlined, and it's done In and you're marking in the correct and they're giving feedback in the correct color pen. So all of that, and I'm like, and I'm literally sitting on an exact exam factory convey about to me, it feels like students are coming in, they're going out, they're coming in, they're going out. And my passion for history slowly gets eroded, because I feel like I've started teaching like a robot. I'm just get I'm going through the motions, and I'm teaching them how to answer an exam question. I'm teaching them about history anymore. I'm teaching them this bit history relates to this exam question, and this is how you answer this exam question to get the right marks. It's not about the thought process of, why did this happen in history. What can we do to prevent it from happening again? What happened before to make this event happen? What was the spark in it? It was all like, well, this happened. How would we answer an exam question? And it was at that point I just thought, I'm not, you know, I haven't got time to even plan school trips. Which way I used to love taking them out on school trips. Love it because the history, get them out the classroom. That was my biggest passion. Get them out of the classroom, get them,

24:46  
you know, involved in in history, around rather than from a text. And I didn't have time to do that. I also didn't have the energy to do that. I had no energy to do that. So I was just like, Do you know what? I don't.

25:00  
I can't do this anymore. I'd come home, I'd I'd vegetate on the sofa. I wouldn't do anything. My husband would want me to go. Let's go out and take dodge for walk. No, I just don't want to that would involve me getting dressed and putting shoes on. I don't have the energy to even put shoes on. I didn't have the energy to put a bra on some days, you know. So I just, you know what? I'm listening I'm listening to you, and in my mind, I'm thinking, if we work together, me and you would have been friends, right? And I was just thinking that right up until the point you went couldn't even be bothered putting a bra on, you would have been my best friend at school because we had got the homework brother on after six o'clock at night. It's the only pleasure we get in a day taking that off, but you're vegetating. You can't do anything, but you've mentioned the fact you've got a husband, so your family set up. You're all right here at the moment, you're golden. Yeah, I couldn't ask for a better husband, to be honest with you, even for all of it, he was really supportive when I was signed off. He was really supportive. So when it came to, you know, even before the whole idea of becoming cabin crew for BA, we were constantly looking at ways of which. Okay, so I've seen this job online. Do you think we can do it? Or let's have a look at the finances. Let breaks. Let's break it down. Let's, can we afford the pay cut? Because that was the big thing. You know, I was UPS one, I was naught point eight, so I was on good money. I thought I was well, I thought I was on good money. And that's the big thing, you know, I I'm so exhausted. I need my half times off. I terms off. I need that week off. I need those six weeks off in the summer, because I need to get my energy back in those six weeks, and after 18 years in the in education, you become so used to having that time off and having that money that you don't see beyond what is achievable in a normal night. How can I possibly only have four weeks off in a year? I can't cope with that. I can't cope with 13. How can I have four weeks off? You know what I'm saying? So Gary was has always been there going well, you know, if you're on sometimes I'd be in the car. I'd stop the car on the way home from work because I'd be crying. I can't do this anymore. Okay, so come home and we'll talk you through. Come home, we'll look see what alternatives there are for you. And so he's always been there for me. I'm my kids have left, well, they left home. My daughter came back after uni. But she's, she's been my, my inspiration in terms of me, um, enabling me to leave teaching. So basically, what you what you're saying there, is your daughter.

27:40  
Your daughter plays a part in this, doesn't she? Helen, your daughter becomes quite instrumental in this. You're bringing the family together. You thrashing around these ideas. You're getting rid of the false gods of holidays and 13 weeks here now, your daughter comes back from university, because we always think they're going to leave home. My son's left home three times, and he's back again. It's like Frank Sinatra's concerts, isn't it? When is the final your daughter's back home? She's finished university, and is she thinking of jobs in a certain industry at this point? I wouldn't, I wouldn't say it was in a certain industry at that point. But she, she, she, it just came out of the blue, actually. So my daughter was like, by the way, I've applied to Ryanair. I was like, what? And it just came out. I was like, and I remember distinctly in my early 20s, because I joined up. I joined the Army. I was 17 years old, and left when I was 22 and I looked into becoming cabin crew at that point, but then I thought, I, you know, I met my husband, we had kids, and that all kind of like, I didn't even think about it. And then when my daughter was like, I was like, God, it's like me when I was her age, it was like, such a flashback. I was like, Oh, my god, that's amazing. Well done. You. And so she joined, she moved to Stansted. She didn't have a car at that time, so her commute from where she was living, she was using busses and everything, and it and it didn't work out for unfortunately. So I was like, okay, that's fine. We can work this out. Like, let's see if we can get you on a long haul rather than short haul. So she applied to Virgin. She got through to the face to face assessment. But she's tiny. She's five foot one and a half, and she's so petite, she couldn't she'd failed the reach test. She was devastated. And so I was like, that's fine. I was like, Let's have another I was like, oh my goodness, British Airways, they're recruiting at the moment. Why didn't you go for that? And she was like, Do you know what the moment's gone and I think it was more down to the fact that she didn't want to be rejected again, more than the fact that she she didn't want to apply again. I think she was just a little bit scared. She'll never admit it, but I think she was scared so and so I was looking for it. I was like,

29:57  
There's no age limit. So I did a bit of research.

30:00  
You know what? I joined some like, chat forums on Facebook and stuff about recruitment into and I was like, initially, and people were going, No, there's no age. Let me go for it. So like, on the last day of applications, and this was october 2022 I was like, I'm gonna apply. And I said to my daughter, would you mind? And she was like, why would I mind? Was like, well, because it's now your thing, and I don't want to take that from you. And she was like, well, they're just going for it. So I did, I applied, I did the online assessment, passed that got through to at the time, they were doing online interviews. I think they've gone back to face to face interviews, but because it was they were still doing COVID Catch up at that point, they were doing online interviews. So I booked a date for, like, literally the next week for that, and did all that went really well. And then they were like, Okay, well, let you know within four weeks on the dot, four weeks later, I was sat at my desk in the classroom and on my great, thankfully there were no students in the classroom, and the email came up saying, you've been accepted. And I was just like, I looked at it in disbelief. My daughter was not at work, so I face behind my daughter, and I didn't say anything, and I just showed her the email on on my phone. I was like, Look at this. And she was like, Oh my God. She was screaming. I was crying. I got home that night, balloons in the living room banners she'd made a card she bought me McDonald's as a treat, because she was and she was like, Oh my God, but I'm so proud of him. And that was I was just so shocked at that point that didn't even accepted me. I didn't tell anyone else in the extended family, because I knew that I had literally still had so much to get through. So I had to get through my medical and, you know, when you when you hit 50, you're always worried about that kind of thing. You're like, Oh my God, my back hurts now and again. And you know, I, you know I'm, I can't touch my toes anymore, and I'm a little bit overweight, menopause, hot flushes and all that part of stuff going on, and he's just like, we're gonna fail. But past the medical, yes, got it. Then I had the water drills, and all I kept thinking was, I'll go pull myself into that life raft. How am I going to do that

32:14  
water drills? What are water drills? So the water drills are basically, you have to prove that you can swim 50 meters unaided. You can get into the pool with a life jacket on, so in case of plane ditches, and then there's that big, massive life raft, and you've got to pull yourself into that life raft when you sat in the water. Now, I'm I'm not great in water, but I could swim. All I kept thinking was, look, I pull myself into that life raft. I got them upper body strength. Could barely pull myself up the scares, let alone into a life raft, as I like it. There's another hurdle I have to get off into, honestly, the people doing the water drills, they were so lovely. This guy was sat with his legs over the top, and there was a little rope ladder. So obviously, as soon as you put your foot on a road ladder, it goes underneath the life raft, yeah, literally, I'm spraying everywhere. And I was, and he was like, Oh, I moved my leg out the way for you. She wants, like, Absolutely not. That's my leverage. Thank you. Let me have your leg. I need to be holding that. And I got in, I looked like a beach. Well, I was flapping on the bottom of that life raft like a wet fish. But I, literally, I did it, and I just sat there.

33:21  
What is happening? So, yeah, so that past the water drills, the next test was, there's a appointment that you have to go to where you have to do a drug and alcohol test, which is fine, I don't drink anymore. I gave up alcohol years ago. Obviously don't do drugs. And then you have security interview where they go through five years of your employment record. Again, fine. Again. I was not worried about that. The thing that I was worried about was the reach test, because I can, I'm tall enough and five foot four, so I'm just tall enough to to tap the top of the overhead bins. It's there is. There's a handle by the doors, the aircraft doors that you have to hold on to and do a the it's the manual release for the slide on the floor. And you have to reach both ends.

34:10  
I haven't got no reach. I did it. And then, obviously, I'm not exactly a small girl, so you have to be able to get into the jump seat and put the straps on. I don't know what they use in the in in the test rooms, but those straps are tighter than any of the straps I've ever sat in a jump seat before, now or since so but I was worried about, oh, my God, are they going to fail? But every part of the test that I had to go through, I kept thinking, I'm not good enough. I'm not going to be able to get through this. I'm going to, you know, so, but it's and, yeah, here we are. It was a long process. It was initially given a start date of February 2023,

34:50  
so I already handed my notice. It by the December. Luckily, the school has to say, particularly the head teacher. She was so.

35:00  
Supportive. So amazing. Had my back. The students knew I was at that point. When I passed before Christmas, they all knew I was leaving to become calving crew. Some of even the students were like, Oh my God, that's my dream job. I can't believe you're going to do that. That's amazing. I was like, still got six weeks of training to get through first. That was also on my mind. I gotta get through all the daily exams for six weeks I could take exams again. So when I was pushed back just before the Christmas holidays without a start date in mind, the head was like, that's fine. We haven't found your replacement. We'll just take you on via a supply agency, and we'll keep you on until you're ready to start. So don't worry about it. So that they were really lovely, but I could have gone into supply at that point anyway, until my start date. And my start date was the 25th of July, 2023

35:46  
right? I have no questions, because I've actually just been listening to this as I'm listening to me on podcast. Seriously, because I'm enthralled, I'm with you, and I'm utterly with you on that life life.

36:02  
I mean, I'd have bailed out at the alcohol point. And there's all sorts of points. I'd have failed there. I'd have, I think, right off the back end of that boat if I was trying to get on. Why is your mental health at this point? Because you go in, I keep thinking, I'm going to fail, but I No, not, no, not, I hope, but no. How alive you were when you were telling us that story. I know you were having your doubts, which is only natural, but compare that person who told the story just then to the woman who couldn't get off this a T to walk the dogs. Are you like night and day at this point in your life, with where you've been. So I wouldn't say it was like night and day. I was excited. I still had the pressure of the teaching job in terms of planning and everything. But the thing with me was there I was now in a tunnel with a light at the end of it, and it was getting brighter and brighter and brighter, instead of it stretching away from me and, you know, feeling like I'm on a press piece, I'm hanging on for dear life. I was walking towards that light and those blue skies, and I could see it and and every step that I was taking was getting me closer and closer to that point of starting my training. So I would say that, yes, I was a lot happier. I was still kind of like pressure. I still had a pressure in terms of getting my pass through their exams that year and everything, but I was a lot happier because I knew that well, it's fine, because I know at the end of this school year, I don't have to come back in September, because I've got this love it. I absolutely love what you've done so you get through. There's no spoil, there's a spot, no spoiler alert, because you've just introduced yourself as ba cabin crew. Talk us through now, because I don't know what the world of it somebody on cabin crow crew looks like. I don't know what shift patterns would be. I don't know how it looks like. Summarize for us a working month, for example, for you, somebody who, bearing in mind, couldn't bear the thought of losing 13 weeks holiday a year. So it's really difficult to pin down a working month, because a working month is different. Every month is different. Every month is different in terms of So currently, I'm on day one of my days off today. So I've just done a five day stretch. I did an Athens and then

38:27  
crack out there and bag the crack out was quite funny, because we had a group of 40 students get on history students get on to do an absolute tour. And the poor history teacher, his face, oh, I just wanted to give him a big hug, because he was so stressed. And I was like, oh my god, I'm so glad I'm out of that. And then I did a three day Doha. So I've just, I came back from Doha yesterday, so I spent the previous day. I had, I had 26 hours in Doha. So when you look at a three day trip, it's, it was six and a half hours in over there. And in that six and a half hours, I had a 40 minute break. And because the plane had bunks, we could go and sleep for 40 minutes in that six and a half hours, then we get to do hard one o'clock in the morning, and we give him the keys to the our hotel. We picked up from the airport, taken to the hotel, five star hotel, due to security, can't tell you which one, but a very nice hotel, and then we're picked up the following day at my wake up call was at 430 in the morning. We were picked up at 530 so you have a wake up an hour before you've collected from the airport, taken to the airport, and then the flight home was seven, just over seven hours. Seven half hours, I think it was, and we had an hour and a half in the bunks, and I literally went to the bunks and fell asleep for an hour and a half. Got home, and we landed, and I was in my car, in the crew car park at by one o'clock, the core passing one, I think, home by three A.

40:00  
Sleep on the sofa in my PJs. By 330

40:03  
I've got today and tomorrow off, and then on Tuesday, I'm off to Seattle for that's a three day trip. 20. I think I've got 24 hours in Seattle. So I'll have time some downtime in Seattle to do, to go to Target and buy lots of motion target and then, and then that starts my part time week. So I'm on a part time I started off on a full time contract, but I'm on what's known as an 87.5%

40:31  
contract, and that's an eight week running roster. So I work for seven weeks and then I get a week off my allowances us and my my basic pay and my allowances, I still take home the same amount that I took home when I was teaching. And I am getting a week off every seven weeks. I get a week off. I'm like a teacher only. I'm not in terms of my working pattern, wow, wow, wow, boom. On every single level, absolute bloody rival. I love it. I love it elevate. So with that in mind, my friend, watch your sliding doors moment throughout the whole of this story.

41:25  
That has to be when I went to Johannesburg, I was able. I'd been working with British areas for six months at that point, and after six months, you can take someone on board, like they call it a cling on. So if you're working a trip, you can take somebody with you, and they cling on. They don't know if they're going to get a seat or not. Hence the the way, because they're on standby. So they could, they could be in in business class, in first class, or they could be down the back, or they could even be sat on the jump seat, you know, or they may not even get on the plane. Sometimes that happens as well. And so it was my first time Johannesburg, my it's since childhood. It's been my dream to do a safari, but it's so cost prohibitive, we've never been able to do one. And so I was just like, okay, South Africa, let's do this. I'm taking my husband. We booked a safari. We had, we had a tent. And you, you go to these different destinations, and in a lot of places they do special discounts for for cabin crew. So we went to this one place. It was a tented Safari. And on the first morning the Safari, it was an early morning Safari. Had to get up at 5am for it. And we were on the truck, and we were coming to the end of this like they had the the place where all the animals are they have this, like, private runway. And they had, we were just getting in. She was like, Oh, we've heard elephants are in around. Let's go. And so we got in the back and, mean, my husband, Gary, we just sat there, and we just heard the corner. And she turned the engines off, the driver turning. She like, like, you gotta be really, really quiet. So we sat there. The sun was rising, and the sunset and sunrise, and so hacker is just beautiful, just stunning. So, I mean, it was just beautiful as it was. And then suddenly, out of the bush you you could hear them coming, and oh my god, there were these elephants, like, literally, so close to the vehicle. Just walked across, and little baby came out. Wow. It's just like this little baby Elena, from his trotting along, literally. I I mean, obviously I was crying. My husband even said he and he thought he doesn't cry, said he had, he was really choked up. And I just thought, I'm sat here watching this, which has been a dream of mine since childhood, and I'm still getting paid. By the way, still get an hourly rate when I'm down right I'm being paid to sit here with my husband and watching these wild animals, literally, these wild animals walk across in on Safari. And I just thought I wouldn't be doing this, and this was mid week term time, so I was thinking I would be sat in the classroom in front of 30 teenagers right now. But no, I'm sat here with my husband watching these elephants as the sun rises. It's like, literally something out of a romantic No, you couldn't write it, if it, you know, it was a real pinch me moment. And literally, even now I get emotional thinking about it, because it was just like it was. We were only there for two days,

44:20  
but it was just amazing. It was absolutely amazing. I thought I would never be doing this right now if I hadn't had the courage to leave teaching when I did. Wow. And on that amazing note, on that absolute amazing note, Helen, what a story I have thoroughly, thoroughly been activated. Listening to you. I really have So on behalf of myself, Sarah and everybody who's benefited from that story. Thank you so much. Helen Taylor, be a cabin crew. That's the way you exit teaching. Do.

45:00  
You're very welcome.

45:03  
Well, well, well.

45:05  
Alan Taylor, what did you think of that? One my friend, so I mean so much to unpick from from the start of it, and I, I do think that you and I need to have conversations about resignation dates and ridiculous marking policies and the fact that I don't know whether you picked up on it, she said that she actually worked for two weeks in the summer holidays before she started, before she was even paid.

45:39  
I think none of it unusual in terms of what listeners, who are teachers will be hearing. They'll they'll recognize all of that and nod along. But I do think that needs a conversation about about it. But while she she massively made me laugh about

46:00  
about all of the tests, and because if I had to get into a dinghy in the water, and what I'm never going to happen, I'd be under the dinghy flailing around, and somebody have to rescue me. I just there was a really lovely moment for me about the role reversal between her and her daughter in terms of that it had been, it had been Helen's dream when she was younger. Then her daughter had gone there, and then that lovely moment of the daughter being so proud of her and bringing her in there Donald for a tea, just made me laugh. It was just, it was great to me, and this is where I kept running too parallel about if you are in an environment where you are set up to succeed, you will if you are in an environment where you are set up to fail, same woman, the same woman jumped through hoops, physically, literally, not even metaphorically, tight, weight, age, everything known to man

47:07  
in order to be in that work environment, she was supported to succeed. The same woman in a work environment who was set up to fail,

47:20  
same level of resilience, same work ethics, same skills, the whole lot couldn't do something after 18 years experience, but could do something brand new two years later. Now

47:35  
I loved that because I think that sends a clear message to

47:41  
institutionalized structures, you're good and you are working with your gang to get the very best out of them. They will succeed. But the one for me and I saw you nearly leave your chair

47:57  
disguised as work related stress,

48:03  
we might we I thought we'd have to put an E in brackets on that podcast, because you were going to let Rick it was it? Good job I was muted. Is, is that there's so much wrong with that, and I think equally that clearly it is. It's it. It's factually incorrect, if you want to put it in, in, in the in the terms, and it's just morally and ethically so wrong, um. And the interesting thing, just cycling back to what you said about um, the same person in different circumstances, we had a little Helen and I had a little conversation off record after, after we'd stopped recording the episode, and she was talking to me about how flexible ba are as an employer and and the options that that cabin crew have Got in terms of making it work around their families and and and their lives. It really in a really balanced way to the to the advantage of the company and to those individuals. And it just shows you that even with something that is obviously so scheduled, so structured, so routine in terms of the pattern of work, that flexibility can be done as well, and if all and if it can be done in that context, it can be done in teaching, there's got to be ways that it can be done in teaching. So that was I, I'm a little bit gutted that we didn't have that conversation on on the chat, but it was really insightful about how as an employer, ba clearly support their employees in that regard, if you think about it, it's the flight that's scheduled, if you think about it, it's the class that's timetabled.

50:01  
So basically it goes to the root of well, particularly, say, in primary, one does a Tuesday, another teacher does a Wednesday. You can have an off day if there's teaching partnerships going on, shared classes that worked. Well, absolutely it can be done that puts the heart of the individual as the most important priority, because she's gone from teaching now that woman with all that resilience, for me, it was when the history teacher came on the plane,

50:33  
a history teacher comes on the plane doing the thing she loved and lit up when she talked about school trips, the importance of taking teaching out of the classroom. But she looked at that teacher on the plane, I don't think that teacher was experiencing the joy she was talking about in the reality of that school trip, the pressure that that guy must be under.

50:57  
And that, to me, was a real moment where I thought, Yeah, we really are getting this soul so wrong. I was I was out last night with two

51:10  
friends that I went to school with. I don't like calling them old school friends.

51:16  
And

51:18  
one of them asked me at one point, do you miss teaching? And I know I take long pauses, but I honestly had to sit. I sat there for about a minute, minute and a half, and my response was,

51:34  
I don't I do miss the tiny bit, because this is the reality of it, the tiny bit where you're in the classroom with the kids and you have the light bulb moments.

51:47  
And I miss miss how it was in the first 510, years of me teaching, but I do not miss the other 80% because that's the reality the teaching for most teachers now is probably about 20 or 30% of what they do.

52:07  
I miss that bit. But if, even if somebody guaranteed me that, that that was it, that was what I would go back to, I wouldn't go back now, because I've got so much fear around everything else that sits around it. It's just not enough to keep me there.

52:25  
It's the checks and balances, isn't it? It's like a bad relationship. Well, we've rowled All through the Christmas holidays, but Christmas dinner was lovely when all the family came and sat together and the kids opened the presents, but that was sandwiched in to toxicity and pain and everything being wrong, and that comes down to your self worth. It's just not enough for me. I need more, and particularly what I like, what I liked about Helen,

52:54  
she's just tipped into 50 like we have. And if you're measuring your life in quarters, we're in the autumnal phase, aren't we? 50 to 75 we've not hit the winter of our life, God willing. These are the times where we go. Actually, I've done the hard yards with the first two seasons of my life. My kids are grown up. I've now got chance to put myself first. But she's on this like adventure, which, and I mean a little adventure where she's going around the world, she's dropping country names like, like, nobody's business. I loved her energy. I really, really loved her energy. And I think this is what's important to anybody listening to this. Our guests have been found through one source, through one talent pool, not LinkedIn,

53:42  
not people we've known, we are interviewing complete strangers. And guess where I found them?

53:49  
Found them in a Facebook group called Life After teaching, exit the classroom and thrive. Now our guests haven't joined life after teaching, exit the classroom and thrive as a as survivors and rivals,

54:04  
our guests joined at their lowest point. So to the listener who's going, Well, that's all well and good, isn't it? But I can't I've got this. I've got they have been where you have been. So if you've been listening to that podcast with Helen, or any of our podcasts,

54:22  
and actually they don't give you the inspiration that they that you need, because sometimes we find this other people's success stories, if you're not in the right headspace, compound how rubbish you feel.

54:36  
It's just a reminder, yet again, that there's a whole world out there that you can't access for whatever reason, these are ordinary pit ponies who've had extraordinary experiences in their lives. So I think

54:54  
my final message to our dear listeners today is, if you are not there and.

55:00  
If that's not landed with you in the way we hoped it has. Remember where Helen started. She entered that woman who best line ever didn't even want to put a bra back on to walk the dogs. That's when I fell in love with her.

55:18  
She joined a Facebook group at her lowest point, and Helen would be the first to say she can do it, anybody can. So thank you for listening to that episode. Absolute Belter, and we will see you again really, really soon. And as to you, Sarah dunwood, I will see you on the other side. A Dios.

55:43  
Thank you, as always, for listening to our pit pony podcast. On behalf of Sarah, our guests and all involved with the production, we're so grateful for your support. Please subscribe to our channels, follow us on social media, and we look forward to seeing you next time when we will have another inspirational story from a fellow pit pony who has exited the classroom and thrive you,

Transcribed by https://otter.ai