
Finding Purpose After Burnout: Head of Programmes & Impact
From The Adventures After Teaching Podcast by Joanne Howard
June 9, 2026 · 30 min · Season 7 · Episode 2
About this episode
Iain shares his journey of overcoming burnout after 13 years in primary education and finding a new path.
"Once I'd made that decision, I just felt like a weight had been lifted." After 13 years in primary education - taking on the roles of phase leader, assistant head, and eventually acting head - Iain hit a wall. The workload became unmanageable, and he was signed off with work-related stress before handing in his notice in May without anything else lined up. Returning to a lovely new school in September, Iain quickly realised that the education system just wasn’t for him anymore and joined the...
People in this episode
Host: Joanne Howard
Guest: Iain
Topics covered
- burnout
- career change
- education
- mental health
- purpose
Keywords
- burnout
- education
- career change
- mental health
- purpose
- work-related stress
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: primary education, education system
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