To consider a career change - gardener or secondary teacher?

[Fatkins]

Slightly cheekily posting here for traffic, sorry.

I am currently taking a break from my career, which has mainly been in coordinating corporate travel and HR admin.

I am trying to decide what to do next and I'm not convinced I want to, should or even could go back to what I did before. It was highly competitive then and I'm out of the loop! Also, I remember the hours and stress levels being fairly demanding in the industries I worked in.

Anyway, I am now thinking through what I could do instead and I'm weirdly torn between two very different ideas; secondary teaching (I have a degree in a subject I could teach, but would need to do a pgce) and gardening.

Wonder if anyone has any experience of retraining in these areas and has any words of wisdom / caution.

Another thought is should I study HR / recruitment and try and get back in with a qualification to boost my CV.

I’m a secondary school teacher. Do you have recent experience of being in a secondary school, e.g. shadowing a few teachers?

I would think gardening would be much better for stress levels than teaching (I garden in my spare time to soothe my mental health thanks to being a secondary teacher!) I wouldn’t know how the pay would compare though.

They are so very different.
By yourself most the time, physical, outdoors, possibly self-employed

vs.

Constant human contact, performance monitored, indoors, part of huge workforce

What subject would you teach?

Well drop out rates in teaching are incredibly high, the government doesn't consider teachers are professionals and education funding is being cut all the time.

BIL is a gardener and struggles to make that much money because of high overheads of having to run a van, maintain equipment, travel costs etc.

I'd go into HR.

Don't go in to teaching if you don't want a stressful career.

Yep, you're all saying what I've been thinking myself. I think the stress of teaching would be dreadful, but the stress of not being able to support myself on a gardener's salary might be equally stressful, while the work itself might be less.

Gardening is a much loved hobby.

I would be teaching History, English or Citizenship. Though the latter seems to be impossible to find a job in according to a friend who did it. She now works in something else 😬.

I think the pp who said HR might be better may be right. I love the subjects I would be teaching and would so love to teach them, but I wonder if I'm being unrealistic about secondary teaching. I would obviously do some shadowing before I apply and have booked on to an open morning at the local secondary in September so I can get a vague idea. That's what the receptionist told me to do when I enquired about shadowing.

It's not that I want a stress free job at all, but I think it's hard when you're stressed by something you aren't especially passionate about.

Teach history!

You have to be really passionate about teaching to even approach a secondary school. I teach in a college which is a pleasant happy medium, mostly adults who want to be in my class. I have friends who teach secondary and they’re all frazzled beyond belief and wanting to leave.

If you’re on the fence about it I really wouldn’t teach secondary. Gardening is so antithetical .

I don't think I lack passion for the subjects I would teach or for helping young people learn more about them, but I am hesitant as I know the actual teaching is only part of the job. It's the other parts I'm hesitant about, which makes me think it might not be for me.

Are you an introvert or extrovert? Check on an online MBTI test. If you're a true introvert, teaching will be exhausting, not just because it's a huge job, but because you have to be around a LOT of people ALL the time. On the other hand, if you're an extrovert, gardening is likely to be very lonely and miserable being on your own all day.

DO NOT BECOME A TEACHER

If you teach history, what would be your second subject? All history teachers I know (many across different schools) have to teach a second subject with it. I left secondary teaching two years ago, never regretted it

@Ineedaweeinpeace

Oh lord, why? Are you a teacher? Is it that bad?

I think I'm probably more of an introvert, but I don't know. I do like to discuss things before I reach a conclusion (hence being on here). I'll look up the tests, thanks.

I really wouldn’t put so much emphasis on those tests, Bridget, they’re mostly bullshit in terms of theory. I exhibit every trait of the classic “introvert” in my regular life, but as a teacher I find being around teenagers all day utterly exhilarating. It’s the only part of the job I enjoy.

They are so very different.

You'll come across a load of manure in both!

Teaching history/ english/citizenship is very broad. You typically need 50% of your degree in the subject area for secondary unless you're doing a subjecy knowledge enhancement course (usually only for STEM/MFL).

Given how different your options are, I'd initially wonder how much thought has gone into each option.

For secondary, I would advise speaking to teachers, getting into schools to volunteer regularly or a longer work experience placement. Get a real understanding of what the job entails.

I like teaching and recommend it to people as long as they have their eyes open and know what they're getting into.

My previous career was mostly outside and as you get older it gets harder, you haven't said how old you are but talking to my lovely Gardener last week he was saying much the same thing about looking to not have to be outside all weathers as he got older ( he's 27 but looking to the future )
The other problem I found was I was doing something I very much loved but found that doing it as a full time full on career for 18 years sours the love as time moves on - I don't do any thing related to it anymore

What about getting a job in a garden centre to start of with whilst you decide? it could also open yours eyes to other possible jobs in the industry. eg Seed rep in commercial Horticulture, or working in Bio control companies.

Gardening, you can be your own boss, choose your own hours. Too many teachers are quitting due to stress & new management strategies, choose something where you can use your creativity with a healthy environment. My mum has a gardener for 2 hours a week, from what he has told my mum he could work 24/7 & still have more clients than he can manage. In winter he does odd jobs like decorating & assembling flat pack furniture but earns enough to cover the shortfall during the gardening season. He charges £15 an hour.

As an introvert, yes I do find the interaction enjoyable but it is draining. I don’t hate being around people but I have to recharge by being alone. In teaching you are never alone though conversely it’s a lonely job.

That's for basic gardening, if you were to get a qualification in garden & landscape design, you could charge a fee for the designing as well.

My degree is in history and politics, but I also speak a second language, so I could arguably teach that, though I don't really want to. To teach English, I would need to top up with modules through OU. I've spoken to potential pgce universities and they would be happy with this.

Could you do both?

Do your PGCE and qualify and then look for a part-time teaching job. Then on your days(s) off you could pick up some gardening work?

I know it wouldn't be easy, but if you could make it work you'd have a nice balance.

Frederick that sounds like a dream! I wonder if that would be possible...