New career for teacher? Real experience please

[MyOtherProfile]

Interested in hearing what people who taught for years found to do as a new career.

Particularly interested in ideas that used your teaching skills and didn't mean a drop in pay / pension.

How do you retrain in data analysis? It sounds part of a lot of jobs now.

@SisterMichaelsHabit I love the idea of science editing and ghost writing, any tips on getting started with either?

@thirdistheonewiththehairychest
curious to know how you went about retraining? I have the exact same plan and even started some home study before I got pregnant with my 3rd. It will be time for me to start again soon 😭

Someone I know who left teaching got a job as a Social Prescriber with the NHS so from one good pension to another. Salary around 26-29k ish and Lead SPs can get high 30k.
Lots of teaching skills fit well within the role.

I left after 8 years to move into museum education - took a 5k pay cut though. Later moved into HE sector and did a CIPD in learning and development and now manage a professional qualification - responsible for quality assurance, managing assessors, standardisation and moderation etc.

Nothing I've done before or since was as hard as teaching. It nearly broke me. Would never go back.

@BlastedPimples

Hope you don't mind can just chip in and say AAT is a great qualification that does have its place, just depends what you are looking for. ACCA wasn't an option for me when I started out due to the high cost and no experience so no chance of an employer funding, I was changing my career from retail so low pay at the time!

I am AAT qualified now, I did level 2 in 6 months and the rest I took longer because life 😂but you can get through 3 and 4 pretty quick if you want to. Was able to pay for it all myself (a couple of my employers paid for some exams) without being tied to any employers.

Have been working in accountancy for 8 years now and have built my experience up, started working for the council at the end of last year on just over £31k, I am able to get to get to the next band (top is just over £40k) with just AAT, the opportunity is there to do ACCA to go further if I want to in the future - maybe when DD is older!

I will say I have never been the most career hungry person in the world, I work hard and go with natural progression/more jobs if not happy etc

Just wanted to add the perspective as there are a few different routes and the best one depends what you are looking for/what your circumstances are 🙂of course for some this would not be the best way but it worked for me.

Move jobs I meant not more jobs!

Also, sorry, I'm a waffler 😂😂

@Lea1234 thank you very much indeed. I think I will start with AAT and see where it goes. Really appreciate your insight.

Is there a specific website for the civil service jobs?
Thanks.

@Felixinthefactory I hope you don’t mind but I’ve sent you a PM

It can be tricky finding a new career when as an ex-teacher you'll be up against people with really varied outside experience.
I would say, look for a place or organisation you'd like to work for - somewhere you can see yourself resonating with the values of the company, and keep an eye for roles there (is there a place you've ever though wow I would love to work there?). You will prob have to take a more junior role and work up like anyone new to the sector. But if you care about the place/their values that can = a satisfying career.
Charities, hospitals and universities for one all rely on huge professional services teams to keep them running. Might be a good fit for job satisfaction and work-life balance on a similar pay to what you are used to- although salaries will never complete with the private sector!

I dont think it's easy to jump into nhs on a similar scale as band 5/6 jobs tend to need ot/sw/mhn qualifications .

The leaping into admin is the alternative but they tend to be under 24k.

Similarly local gov roles tend to be 20-23 or 23-27 and not requiring the same level of qualification. I am curious about civil service roles though!

I think too many teachers would happily retrain. Given many have very good degrees and a professional post grad qual, they learn quickly and pick up assimilate information fast etc its almost like saying - what career could I leap into that graduates go into . Many people on mn talk about earning well a fee years into a graduate career so it's a case of "what didn't I look at that I could look at training in now?"

@TrigTannet would you mind sharing how you trained in data analysis please?

I only taught primary for a year but after that I went into edtech as a product manager. I work with software developers to make sure the software they make for teachers and learners actually helps teachers teach more easily and helps students learn. I also plan their schedule of work so we update the software in useful ways. I mostly work remotely, but do get to go on school visits to do user testing and observation of classes using the software. If you're interested in tech, I really recommend it, as it pays well and I still get a kick out of ultimately helping children learn.

Lots of ex teachers in social work, especially childrens.

I used to be a teacher, left 2 years ago. I'm now an Assessment Manager for a professional body earning 44k. Had to drop in salary initially

I took a slight pay cut and became a preschool manager.

My role has now completely changed since having my own children. I work at home. I now oversee staff training, provide concurs safeguarding of the business, manage the website and social media pages.

Pressed post too soon! * Provide in-house tra

I know someone in London who's taken a governess/nanny role for a wealthy family to help the kids with their homework etc. She's paid nearly double what she was.

Teacher to civil service work coach here. Yes it can be intense and frustrating but also rewarding. Ten minute appointments are not ideal but they are not all ten minutes and there is time to build rapport with customers and actually help them remove barriers to employment if they engage. I don't think moving up the ranks happens quickly though you will be privy to internal roles too once passed probation period.

Thank you all. Lots to think about here. I'll look at the Facebook group suggested.

@RaininSummer Oooh that's currently being advertised where I am.

I wasn't sure how the 10minnappointments works - that's 36+ people a day? Do you get behind? Is it mainly on site? I think I was concerned it would be "intense and frustrating" which might be a reason I'm leaving teaching... and not the wfh/flexible job I was eventually hoping from CV - although maybe it can lead to that?!

How does it compare to teaching?

I've had a look at the fb group yesterday. It's mainly lots of people saying they want to leave teaching 😔. Overwhelmingly so. It's so sad.