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Quitting my teaching career
... is more than just a part of my professional story. It's the major turning point. It is a pivotal moment of my life and lies at the heart of who I am and what I do today. For 14 years, I was an English and French teacher at a secondary school in North Rhine-Westphalia, until I quit my tenured position and left the teaching profession in 2020. This step fundamentally changed my life – and became the starting point for much of what followed. Therefore, leaving the teaching profession gets its own dedicated space here: for my story, my experiences, my book SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER , and everything I have to share on this topic today.
My school exit in the media
Since 2020, my journey out of the teaching profession has repeatedly garnered media attention. In newspapers, radio, television, and podcasts, I have spoken about my decisions, the pressures of the teaching profession, tenure as a civil servant, and the question of what actually happens when you give up that perceived security .
July 17, 2020: Local newspaper Generalanzeiger : Tension is running high.
August 15, 2020: National radio Deutschlandfunk : Campus and Career: Secure in your job, but unhappy? Dare to change careers.
Oct 2020: National TV SAT 1 Letter Battle (the whole episode is available here)
March 28, 2023: TV WDR Current Affairs Hour
March 31, 2023: National news: Tagesschau : Job dropouts at schools in North Rhine-Westphalia: Teachers resign due to overwork
May 6, 2023: TV WDR Local Time (nationwide): The career advisor for former teachers
February 25, 2024: National TV ZDF 37 Degrees: Leaving a dream job. Why Kaliopi quits.
February 12, 2024: Radio WDR 5 Morning Echo - Interview: Stresses in the teaching profession: A former teacher tells her story.
March 2, 2026: Local newspaper Generalanzeiger: Former teacher Annika Reuter on her departure
September 8, 2026: Video podcast EVA SCHREIBT MIT (Watch Podcast with English SUBTITLES)
Unfortunately, some of the older videos are no longer available in the media libraries. Where the original videos are still online, you can find the direct link here to watch, listen to, or read more.
And then there was SAT.1...
SAT 1 is a private German TV network, always looking for the next story to pitch. One of their film crews also visited my home and filmed with me for a planned segment. However, it was never broadcast: I didn't want to bow to their sensationalist questions about violence at schools and they were not interested in what I had to say about the "real problems" underneath.
Media attention
I WOULD HAVE COLLAPSED!
How This Teacher Was on the Brink of Burnout – and Got Out Just in Time
Watch the podcast with English subtitles>>>
Listen to the English version of my exit hymn:
The German version
The wave began with my farewell speech...
Watch here with English subtitles
... what actually happens if you give up your lifetime civil service status.
Here I answer the questions I have been repeatedly asked since leaving school: about security and money, disempowerment and pension, physical consequences, my criticism of the school system – and the question of whether I would ever go back.
I'm not going to help you quit your teaching job.
I will help you regain your ability to act .
I myself left the teaching profession and speak openly about this decision. But that doesn't mean that leaving the profession has to be the solution for you.
My books and coaching sessions can help you break free from the feeling of being at the mercy of the school system and its structures, to rediscover your own options for action and to make your own decisions. You decide what you change next. From a newfound clarity. That's the point.
NOT AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH!
My BOOKS for Teachers
SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER
SCHOOL FREE FOREVER. Why I left the teaching profession, and why it wasn't so easy.
Although Annika Reuter is the daughter of teachers and finds teachers dreadful, after graduating from high school she enrolled in teacher training without a clear direction, ambitiously planning a career as a civil servant. She ended up teaching two subjects at a grammar school, but the endless responsibilities and immense pressure increasingly took a toll on her mental and physical health. After fourteen years of constant marking, she decided to leave the civil service. This decision threw everyone around her into turmoil: How could she possibly give up such a secure job? Bureaucratic hurdles, paralyzing beliefs, toxic structures, misunderstanding, and unsolicited opinions littered her path, and Annika Reuter realized just how difficult it is to break with convention.
IN GERMAN ONLY!
Paperback and ebook available everywhere (including bookstores). Audiobook on Spotify, Google Play, or Audible.
Reviews
For teachers who wish to resign from the teaching profession, either internally or externally.
YOUR HAMSTER WHEEL STARTS IN YOUR MIND!
The hamster wheel: a familiar term for many teachers. But how much does it dictate not only your daily life, but also your inner self? This handbook is a journey through the recurring question: Do I really want to continue like this? Where have you long since adapted to structures that make you tired and ill? 133 insights reveal why change is so difficult and how you can regain your own choices. This book is a clear invitation to take responsibility for yourself, because you can learn to take your health and nervous system seriously, to recognize your limits, and to choose for yourself again. Give yourself permission to understand your life as something you can shape again in a realistic and sustainable way. Ultimately, it's about a new inner orientation instead of making rash, major decisions in the external world.
This book is not about leaving the teaching profession, but about leaving your inner structures.
With helpful reflection questions and detailed EXTRA (Reconnection & Future Planning / The Basics of Nervous System Regulation) / Special Burnout Exercise
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Get out of the hamster wheel
WORK WITH ME FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD
This is how you can work with me as a (former) teacher
You can no longer switch off, are constantly exhausted, feel responsible for everything, or are you just going through the motions?
My coaching formats are ideally suited for (former) teachers – from individual sessions precisely when things are going wrong, to longer-term support. I myself taught at a grammar school for 14 years, including state exams and a traumatic teaching traineeship. I know the pressure to perform, the excessive responsibility, perfectionism, burnout cycles, hierarchies of authority, and the constant need to function. And I know: just because you're no longer in school doesn't mean that school is out of your system.In the six years since I left, I've worked intensively on precisely these patterns and gradually flushed the toxic connection with the state from my cells. School system detox deluxe. Even my previously diagnosed Hashimoto's thyroiditis is now undetectable.
My coaching isn’t limited to teachers. I work with people on all kinds of issues and life situations – you can find more about that >>HERE. And you can work with me from anywhere in the world, in English, German, or French.
Because cultural differences aside, we’re all human – and underneath it all, we tend to struggle with remarkably similar things.
Am I the right coach for you?
Find out where you stand
Especially if you're considering quitting your teaching job, it's worth taking a close look beforehand. Quitting a job isn't automatically the best way to change your burdens. In the INNER COMPASS, we'll sort things out: What's stressing you out? What are you missing? What do you need? What skills and resources do you already possess? Is it really the school itself – or are several issues at play? This will give you clarity about where you truly stand and what actually needs to change.
Addressing stress patterns and physical reactions
With the Connecting Link® Basic Coaching, we start where the stress of teaching leaves its mark – from burnout to typical beliefs that become deeply ingrained in the teaching profession. Constant tension, excessive responsibility, perfectionism, lack of boundaries, fear of mistakes or authority figures, self-doubt, and the constant pressure to perform: we work specifically with these patterns and the associated physical reactions such as migraines, tension, teeth grinding, or sleep disorders. Individual sessions are suitable for preparing for specific stressful periods: a demanding conversation, an upcoming exam, or parent-teacher conferences.
Support through major life changes
With YOUR BREAKTHROUGH, I will support you over several months. This format is particularly suitable as support during periods of reorientation , when you are considering leaving the profession or making other major changes, but also during extremely stressful phases in the teaching profession, such as during your teacher training . We can always address the specific challenges you are facing, provide targeted coaching to manage current stressors, and simultaneously work through the issues that arise during the process.
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COACHING
