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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to consider retraining as a maths teacher in my forties?

93 replies

Curioustoteachmaths · 02/05/2026 15:47

I have a successful career in finance but quite frankly I am tired of the corporate game and looking to change careers into teaching maths. Late 40s, in London. Have you done this shift? What has been your experience?

OP posts:
Pineapplewhip · 02/05/2026 17:46

Absolutely not!! Being a teacher nowadays seems like to be about 20% teaching, 20% mental health worker, 20% prison guard, 20% babysitter and 20% administrator.

The entitled parents, the entitled kids - no thanks!

The only part I would half entertain is adult/older teen teaching at a college.

Unexpectedlysinglemum · 02/05/2026 17:53

I would strongly recommend you do a years sabbatical and then go and do a years or a terms work experience /learning support job in a secondary school to see what it’s like. They’d love you to teach maths and business studies or Economics I’m sure

aCatCalledFawkes · 02/05/2026 17:54

It's not unreasonable to consider retraining - I'm being made redundant and my payout and other stuff will support me retraining. I wouldn't go straight to teaching unless you really love think you can make it work.
I totally get that you feel burnt out and very much over the corporate life (I defo am) but I would look at all retraining options.

Hatty65 · 02/05/2026 17:57

I've just retired after 30 years teaching. It's a job I absolutely loved and would absolutely NOT recommend to anyone. Can you do 5 hours a day of standup and improv? Because that's basically what your teaching day will consist of, including being heckled by the audience.

There is no work/life balance, even if you are teaching maths and have considerably less marking than an essay based subject. Maths is mandatory up to GCSE so you will have every kid in the school taking your subject, including a lot who don't want to and don't like Maths. It's not something they have chosen.

In any school you will be considered responsible for the grades your students achieve. Whether they are good at maths or have put any work in or not. In a private school the pressure and expectations from entitled parents is generally even worse.

dapsnotplimsolls · 02/05/2026 17:59

I doubt if you can qualify by training in a private school.

Moonlaserbearwolf · 02/05/2026 18:28

dapsnotplimsolls · 02/05/2026 17:59

I doubt if you can qualify by training in a private school.

You absolutely can train at a private school. However, this is more likely to happen in shortage subjects (eg chemistry) when the school struggles to find a qualified teacher. Maths might be ok - though my school (top independent) always has lots of experienced maths applicants.

Moonlaserbearwolf · 02/05/2026 18:31

Do you have school age children OP? I would recommend if you can work at the same school - otherwise I think there are too many cons. I moved from finance to teaching in my 40s so feel free to PM me if you’d like to hear the pros and cons from my perspective.

Kingdomofsleep · 02/05/2026 18:34

Some private schools are SCITT schools and I know of one top private school that is a SCITT Hub school for Maths and Physics. Of course you can train at a private school.

Kingdomofsleep · 02/05/2026 18:38

noblegiraffe · 02/05/2026 17:38

Do private schools train teachers? If they do, I assume you wouldn’t be getting the £30k tax free bursary to train?

Yes some do, via the SCITT program. If you do a fee paying SCITT then you get the bursary. If you do a salaried SCITT then you don't but you may get paid a similar amount to the bursary.

EndofDaze · 02/05/2026 18:41

I went in to teaching in my 40s. I did 17 years and absolutely loved it. Just retired for personal reasons not related to teaching.
The only thing I would say is that schools do not give a damn about your previous life experience. Staffing a school timetable is purely a logistical exercise. No one cares if you ran multi million pound contracts or tap danced in the West End in a previous life. They just want a competent body in front of a class for 22 hours a week. No more, no less.

TheGoodEnoughWife · 02/05/2026 18:44

A lot of scaremongering on this thread. I have retrained (or trained as was home home educating my children for many years) as a Maths teacher at 50. I work in a SEMH school and absolutely love it! Can the students be challenging? Yes definitely but the wins are great and I go to work feeling I am making a positive difference every day and not everyone can say that.

I also have a good work balance. There are many different types of school and mine suits me.

Shinyandnew1 · 02/05/2026 18:52

Bear in mind that many independent schools have come out of the TPS and their pension offerings are poor.

Kingdomofsleep · 02/05/2026 18:53

Shinyandnew1 · 02/05/2026 18:52

Bear in mind that many independent schools have come out of the TPS and their pension offerings are poor.

This is true. Hopefully op has a good start to her pension already though

Enigma54 · 02/05/2026 18:56

Reliablesource · 02/05/2026 17:03

Teaching is a young person’s game and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go into it in their late 40s. I trained as a teacher in my mid-30s, also in London. Was burnt out within 5 years.

Left to work in children’s services/safeguarding for a local authority, where I was still making a difference for young people, and found it far preferable to teaching, in terms of workload, stress and work/life balance.

Went back to doing some supply teaching when I was 50 and did that for about 3 years before having enough and left the profession for good.

Teaching in inner city schools is a very tough job. The workload and pressure from senior staff is immense and continual. Behaviour is DIABOLICAL. You will be spoken to with disrespect, derision or downright abuse on a daily basis. You need a lot of stamina and energy to get through tough, unpredictable days, often with minimal breaks. You have to deal with entitled and//or disinterested parents. It’s a bloody nightmare.

Most teachers I know are looking for an escape route by the time they are in their mid-50s, when you will only have started.

Would strongly advise you to reconsider and think of other jobs you can do with your transferable skills, I wouldn’t go back to teaching if they tripled the pay.

This 10000%
I did 10 years and burnt out completely.

Moonlaserbearwolf · 02/05/2026 19:11

@Enigma54 (and others who left feeling burned out) what kind of school/s did you work in?
I felt totally exhausted after a few weeks in one particular school (it happened to be a state school, run by a dictator). My current school is completely different. Not perfect, but anyone would be lying if they claimed every aspect of their job were perfect.
My (relatively limited) teaching experiences cannot be compared - OP your choice of school is key to enjoying a teaching career. As demonstrated by this thread, schools are so very different.

Phineyj · 02/05/2026 19:29

Curioustoteachmaths · 02/05/2026 17:03

This is exactly what I am afraid of. I have arranged to go to a school and meet the teachers and observe a day in school. I expect the pay will be less but what about work life balance. I am hearing pretty scary stuff on this aspect. My plan is to train attached to one of the top private schools in my area. I suspect it wouldn’t be representative of the broader teaching profession?

Are you aware you'll still need to do a significant placement in a state school?

I teach Economics, trained as a teacher in my late 30s and have been doing it 15 years now. I've taught in a grammar, a couple of highly selective Maths-school type sixth forms, an independent school and now a comprehensive. Bit random I know, but I had my reasons.

I've had a good time on the whole but so much depends on finding a decent SLT, and they're not so common!

The salary (once qualified) will top out at £35k or so out of London, £40k or so on the edges of London and £50k or so in inner London. Not all that much variation between state and private but working conditions and holidays and pensions vary between the two sectors.

Maths departments tend to stick together and I've met some very happy ex City types. I suspect most aren't relying entirely on teaching for their income and/or already own their houses, however.

Phineyj · 02/05/2026 19:34

As @Moonlaserbearwolf alluded to, there are certainly some tinpot dictators and as running a school requires some charm, you can't always tell who they are till you've signed on the dotted line!

Regarding the salaries, I meant to add that if you fancy school management, you can progress very quickly and earn more on top of the numbers I quoted (cos no-one wants to do it), but you'll work all the hours under the sun in term time and a few of the parents will be HORRIBLE.

CaptainSwan1 · 02/05/2026 20:10

I've not read the whole thread, but I suspect it's a lot of bashing of the teaching profession.

I have been a teacher for around a decade in two schools, both very good state schools which are locally very desirable. I have enjoyed teaching immensely.

At first the planning can be all consuming, but in my experience this becomes significantly faster and not at all a problem with experience. Marking will always take time, but this often comes in waves - for example when there are trial exams in multiple year groups all at once there's a lot of marking.
There are certainly administrative tasks, but in my experience, these are not unmanageable for a classroom teacher. If you progress up the ladder, these become much greater.

I think much of what you experience depends on two things, most importantly your colleagues. If your department is well led and the school is well led and SLT places high priority on staff well-being this makes a massive difference.
Student behaviour and culture of the school is second. But generally these things go hand in hand, if a school is well led it tends to have a good culture and good behaviour follows from this. As a new teacher, you will almost certainly experience behavioural problems, even in a great school. If you have a good supportive SLT and department they will help guide you through this, and you learn how to deal with it.

I've never taught in a private school, I think that the stereotype would be that behaviour might be better if it's a good private school, however, there can be more expectation on teacher time. In my current school, it's acceptable for teachers to leave sharp at the end of the day, this may or may not be the case in other schools - in a private school you may be expected to get involved in after-school activities, etc. sometimes the parents at private schools might be more difficult and more demanding, marking load might be greater etc. But these are all stereotypes. As I said I've never taught in a private school.

I think the teaching is a vocation, it's certainly not easy or fantastically paid. Even in a good school, there are challenging students and challenging moments. But if you're going in it to help young people and to pass on your knowledge of maths it can be very rewarding . I find it rewarding to look at their work and see the methods I've taught them and the style I use on the board reflected in what they've written and to know that I've imparted knowledge. It can be a great job.

Overall - get yourself in to observe and see what you think. Choose your school carefully because it makes all the difference.
Good luck

Yuja · 02/05/2026 20:14

I taught for 13 years - left at 36. I found it exhausting by then - always on your feet, performing. The workload sucks and there is very little trust or autonomy. I’m 40 now and work in the corporate world. I work hard but I am treated like an adult. My kids are secondary age now and I don’t really miss the holidays. I wouldn’t do it in your shoes but if you did, as a maths teacher you’d have the pick of jobs

PersephoneSmith · 02/05/2026 20:17

I did it when I was 38. I hated it and didn’t finish my NQT year.
Teachers are the worst bullies I have ever encountered. I would definitely advise against it.

noblegiraffe · 02/05/2026 20:29

Kingdomofsleep · 02/05/2026 18:38

Yes some do, via the SCITT program. If you do a fee paying SCITT then you get the bursary. If you do a salaried SCITT then you don't but you may get paid a similar amount to the bursary.

Edited

Really? Why the hell are taxpayers paying a significant amount of money to train teachers who have no intention of teaching in state schools? That’s mad.

Phineyj · 02/05/2026 20:38

noblegiraffe · 02/05/2026 20:29

Really? Why the hell are taxpayers paying a significant amount of money to train teachers who have no intention of teaching in state schools? That’s mad.

Taxpayers include those paying private school fees. Probably more of them are net contributors to the state, in fact.

My (state) school swaps placements with several local independents and everyone benefits.

I wouldn't have my teaching qualification without the week of experience an independent offered me back in 2012, because it's hard to find Economics in KS4. And the HOD put a suit on in a day of his half term holiday and did a round trip of 50 miles to observe me teaching at my own school.

CaragianettE · 02/05/2026 20:42

OP have you read the former FT journalist Lucy Kellaway’s articles about moving from the corporate world to secondary school maths teaching? And are you aware of the ‘Now Teach’ scheme she co-founded? Might be of interest to you.

PurpleNightingale · 02/05/2026 20:52

I think it would be a noble thing to do, and since you would be in high demand you could end up in a really nice school with it too which makes all the difference to the kids you might teach. I think a career change - whatever it is- probably feels quite invigorating.

BurnoutBee · 02/05/2026 20:54

Don’t bother. Schools, particularly academies run like businesses. Soul destroying. It’s made even worse by the fact the career SHOULD be rewarding. It’s just really not these days for a huge amount of reasons that I can’t even be bothered to list.

Honestly? You would be absolutely fucking insane to do this. Stay where you are. Please.

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