Changing career from teaching - advice needed

[ThisChirpyStork]

This is not an AIBU post but advice needed. I’m new to MN so not sure if posted in the right place.

I’ve been teaching for almost two decades with over a decade in leadership. I’ve decided to quit teaching and have no idea what to do next. I need a regular income and flexible working. Flexible working is one of the main reasons why I have quit and the fact that it’s an extremely tough job. All teachers working in state schools deserve more than an OBE/MBE! Any advice appreciated with links to sites where applicable please.

Sympathies, OP. I've just retired after 30 years.

There is a FB group called Life After Teaching - Exit the Classroom and Thrive that I've seen advertised. Might be of some help?

Adventures after teaching might be useful. They have a job board.

I left 4 years ago, have worked as an advisory teacher and virtual school teacher for LAs, money isn’t as much as teaching but pension contributions are less so take home pay isn’t bad and the flexibility and hybrid working makes up for it. The Charity jobs site has interesting education roles as well as the other sites and pages that have been mentioned.

Try FE. It’s a different vibe.

What kind of flexible working do you need?

I left teaching after 15years and moved into a big corporate L&D role, very quickly moved from that into Business Change Management in the same company and am loving it. I'm very lucky with my role in that I have full control of my calendar and complete flexibility, I tend to do three early morning 6am starts in the office and drive home in my lunch break, then do a couple of hours before the kids get home and so I'm around for all the after school activities.

The transferable skills from teaching are immense and you can map them to almost any role so have a think about the type of thing you are interested in and start applying. Good luck!

Taking holidays during term time. Attend my child’s school for sports day, assemblies, parents evenings etc. Be able to take the odd day off as leave without feeling guilty. Have the option of coming into work late and leave later to make up for the hours etc. As teachers we never actively have the holidays as stated because we spend more than half that time catching up. I know I’m stating the obvious and what most people would refer to as a ‘normal’ 9-5 job.

I’m new to MN and replied to this message without quoting.

I’m at a complete loss as to where to even begin. Did you find your initial job via a recruitment agency? And did you use a particular tool to map your transferable skills?

Where I am in the UK the gov offer a free careers advice service. I was feeling stuck in a not dissimilar role to you although slightly different and used it and it was really helpful for looking at what my realistic options were around retaining or what jobs my degree was transferable for. Maybe there's something similar in your area and would be worth an appointment? Also I work in the charity sector alongside a number of teachers doing essential skills work and I also work with some qualified teachers who are doing support work roles. It's not probably as well paid as actual teaching but it would definitely be very flexible, I'm a lone parent and I love my job because I can be there for whatever my son needs even though I'm now at management level.

I would definitely pick something less stressful than teaching. Bomb disposal or hostage negotiation would seem to fit the bill

I left 18 months ago after 17 years and 10 in middle leadership.

I'm not in UK anymore, but I got my degree and trained in the UK. For some background I have a BA (hons) Primary Education degree and completed my NQT year in Stoke on Trent.

My job is completely out of teaching. I work in Settlement and Inclusion for a local council. I work with social inclusion, which is fascinating! My role is a mixture of research, meeting and supporting people in order to integrate into the local community to picking up people from reciever centres and arranging their first home after forced migration. Sometimes I need to liase with other agencies or politicians for support etc. I love my job.

I have core working hours. So its expected we are available between 9 and 2.30, but the rest of the time is up to me. I tend to start around 7.30am and then do a 7.5 hour work day including a paid 30 min lunch. I also have flexitime. Its amazing not being held hostage to a school timetable and I love being treated as an adult/ equal.

I live in Norway, so it's been extra tricky to leave teaching, especially as my old workplace has an English language environment. I've had to work really hard to get a professional grip on language.

However! I found that writing applications and covering letters to really highlight skills was helpful. I've actually been hired due to my project management skills and experience working with international families. Open learn has a huge variety of free professional development programmes that are well worth doing in an evening. They look great on your CV and also can lead you into a different direction. This was also commented on during my interview.

It's been difficult to get out, a lot of trial and error with applications. But I found i needed to highlight my skills. This took a bit of work in reframing but chatgpt was useful in helping me to draw out my skills and put them in context of a job and it's description.

I hope this helps!

Are you looking for something totally different? If you still want to teach but not the long hours you could offer extra tutoring for SEN kids in the evenings, i had an extra maths teacher who used to come to my house cos i have dyscalculia. You could do part time as TA in another school. My Mum gave up teaching after 20-odd years in the job when i was doing my a levels, she enjoyed being SAHM for little, when i left for uni she went back and qualified as a head teacher, gave up again when my Dad died, she briefly took on a franchise (selling and installing telecom systems for small businesses) with her bf and is now retired.

I moved to Ed tech and instructional design. I have 44 days A/L (including bank holidays) and a good salary. It’s a very flexible role. I WFH 4 days a week.

Sounds like my dream job!

I’d like to give up teaching ideally.

That’s what I need to work on, adapting my CV and covering letters so they are suited to industry jobs.

Exam boards - AQA, Edexcel etc. They often have hybrid jobs in their curriculum teams that pay well. Being an ex-teacher is a huge advantage.

I had a colleague who left teaching and now works for the LA writing EHCPs.

They'll be on the dole then soon.

Editing work? Lots of publishers that produce educational resources like editors with a background in teaching. Most roles are hybrid.

Something like this: jobs.thebookseller.com/career/27768/commissioning-editor-elt-greater-london-london

I'm in the Exit the Classroom and Thrive group on FB. It's sad to see so many teachers desperately trying to get out. I'm in leadership and enjoy my job but it's all consuming and I have no work/life balance. I work every evening and weekend, which is impacting my family life. Teachers often move to Civil Service roles, the charity sector or some kind of tutoring.

I suppose they will be able to do whatever it becomes in the reform.