How many teachers have had a career elsewhere?

[Earnsomething]

And if they have, does that change their perception of how good/bad the job is?

I've been teaching for 6 years now, after 23 years in Corporate Banking.

Teaching brings a unique set of challenges and pressures but that's the point, that's why it's so rewarding IMO. There is a level of scrutiny (doesn't there need to be?) but nothing like what I experienced before where results and progress were reported weekly and moved to daily if you were considered to be underperforming. OFSTED like audits happened four times a year.

I work fewer hours now and have more flexibility over when I work them (outside 9-4), then there are the holidays, during which, yes I do some work but in my past life, if I had a holiday coming up in 6 weeks, it was getting close. My work life balance is better, by a long way.

Students and parents can be unreasonable in their demands but so can customers at a bank, believe me!

I don't earn as much, but then I'm fairly new in the job. My salary before was similar to a UPS3 teacher with TLR, so not different to many teachers with 23 years' experience.

I hear the complaints of my colleagues and yes, of course we all have days when we think we'd rather do anything else, but sometimes I wonder if they would benefit from having done "anything else". Most teachers, apart from PT jobs whilst studying, don't seem to have done other work.

Please don't see this as teacher bashing, I'm just interested in why so many teachers seem so unhappy, when it's by far the best job I've ever had, in so many ways.

Why don't you ask your colleagues?

I can't find one who's ever had a career elsewhere. I wonder if they had, whether they might realise the grass isn't necessarily greener.

I was a civil servant.
I did teacher training, decided I wasn't cut out for it, went into the civil service and was there for 7 years. Started teaching at 29.
I'm definitely poorer and working longer hours.
Wouldn't change it for the world though.

I worked in PR / communications. No comparison to teaching in terms of hours and stress and for similar money. A friend is a lawyer and she works a similar number of hours to me when the whole year is considered, but for double the pay.

Depends on what you teach and the type of school you're in I suppose.

OFSTED inspections aren't the cause of continual stress it's more the continual workload of collecting and analysing pointless data.

What do you teach and what do you find the greatest challenge? Also what specific part do you find people complain about unnecessarily?

Before teaching, I worked in clinical research for a pharma company. There was a lot of travelling and a lot of pressure to get the data collected recorded accurately, get trials set up and through ethics on time. Teaching has totally different pressures and is relentless. Having said that I love teaching and have no regrets over re training.

I was a civil servant, but only at a low grade. So teaching is massively harder than what I did.
A colleague came into teaching from banking and feels the same as you. She's quite assertive though and questions everything she feels is unnecessary. That comes from her management experience in her past life.

I did work in finance before teaching. Half the work for double the money.

I worked in procurement. I would definitely be earning more with more flexibility if I had stayed in that sector, but I also love teaching. Just ancedotally and obviously not claiming to speak for everyone, those who seem to struggle with the red tape and ridiculous admin are those who haven't done anything else before teaching. From the start I made sure to make sure I had a work life balance, not as much of one as I had previously, but it's easy when you know nothing else to slip into the martyr like I've done 23 hour days for the last decade. For me it is a career I enjoy, but a job and not my life.

@Earnsomething, I work in corporate banking and thinking of switching to teaching. How did you do it?

I worked in the city. I work similar hours (probably more in teaching at certain times of the year) but am now more flexible, I can pick my kids up, do tea, homework etc then start work again. Teaching has tested me mentally/emotionally way more than my city job but it is never boring and is definitely way more rewarding in so many ways. The pay is a fraction of what I would be earning but the holidays I can spend with my kids make it worth it.

The one thing that is increasingly getting me down is kids' and parent attitudes which have become worse and worse over the years. The lack of respect that teachers are spoken to and about is shocking. It doesn't surprise me that teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

It's fairly unusual to come into teaching from another career and then stay in teaching, that's why you can't find many. Most people in their previous careers find that they can compare and so they go back to their previous careers.

Some teachers have a much bigger workload than others. It depends on the subject, number of children and their varying needs and the demands from the school.
I had different jobs before as a research assistant in a few settings with a view to becoming a clinical psychologist but I changed my mind and went into teaching because I loved the direct contact with the children. My teaching practice was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done work wise. I went into special needs quite quickly as I always wanted to work with smaller groups to really support them on a more individual basis. Being very experienced now I don’t have a big workload in terms of marking and planning time at a desk, I am constantly planning and thinking about how to engage and teach my pupils. Because I’ve being doing it a long time I can sit down and do the paperwork quickly because I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I also have managerial responsibilities which mean people ask me things a lot and I do a lot of admin on my days off. I find it hard to switch off but I don’t sit down for hours after work like some teachers have to.
I also used to have a decent lunch break and go to cafes and shops, that just doesn’t happen now! I feel so guilty even popping to a shop to buy a sandwich still now.
At my teenaged dc’s school there are definitely some teachers who have an easier ride- their PSHE teacher does the same topics with them both and doesn’t have to get them through exams; her job is vastly different in terms of workload to teachers of other subjects.
On balance though, I’m happy with the workload and have never been a moaner. My first job was in a private primary school and the long serving teachers there would moan and we had even longer holidays there, I could never understand what they were moaning about. I think moaners don’t like it when SLT ask them to do new or additional things, it’s stressful for them.

I worked in schools straight out of a levels but in finance. I then moved into the city and back into schools. This isn't teaching experience per say but I definitely saw a lot and worked in 5 diff schools. I agree it depends on the subject. However, the vast majority of teachers I met have always been in teaching. In my experience there is a certain bubble you have in teaching. Your job is fairly secure, you have a lot of variables you can blame your performance on and everyone gets used to the perks of their jobs so holidays quickly become irrelevant, especially to younger teachers who just want to go on holiday with their mates in June.

Saying this, I do think teachers who have worked in other sectors are SO MUCH more understanding of admin staff, parents and just generally more grateful for their position. I noticed when it's the only thing you have done (teaching) there is a perception that unions, regular pay, sick pay, regular holidays is available to everyone and Ofsted inspections are there to ruin the lives of teachers. Compared to the private sector Ofsted and local authority audits are nothing to what I've experienced in the city, and teachers who have worked elsewhere, always understood that. Even the worst headteacher I had was nothing to a horrible board meeting where you're drilled.
At the end of the day it's the same as anywhere, just a bigger office and there is always that teacher that does jack all and always gets away with it, just like in an office.

I agree that teachers who have worked elsewhere before teaching are better teachers for a whole host of reasons. I’m very careful who invoice that opinion to, though! I worked in a variety of jobs before teaching.

I agree that teachers who have worked elsewhere before teaching are better teachers for a whole host of reasons.

In general terms, I have to agree. I thought that when I was at school 30+ years ago. We had a couple of teachers who were late to the profession, one was our form tutor who'd previously qualified as a solicitor - he was awesome.

Our son has just gone through secondary school. He had two "stand out" teachers, both of whom had previous careers outside education.

Not saying all teachers who've no other experience are in any way "bad", but that those who've come from other careers seem to have something different to offer. A good mix is obviously beneficial.

I don't know if I'm a better teacher because of doing another job first. I do know that a class of teenagers would have terrified me at 22 so I didn't enter one. At 29 they didn't.

I definitely haven't noticed that trend in my children's teachers. The older, second career, ones are a bit useless but think they are God's gift. The young, first career ones are amazing at motivating them. The cynical hard-bitten long career ones are effective at getting them to do the work.

@NoHardSell

I have noticed similar. I suspect the OP is another victim of confirmation bias.

And I say that as a late starter.

OP- thanks so much for reinforcing the idea that teachers are wazzocks that don’t understand the ‘real world’. How many schools have you taught in? There are some utter shockers out there (most of them Ofsted outstanding) where working conditions are pretty onerous.

The statistics don’t back up your point. Most teachers who leave the profession early never come back. They can’t all be loafing about on the dole.

Until someone looks as the utterly poor attitude to education and the almost total lack of aspiration for a better education system then nothing will change. British attitudes to education are entirely backward compared to lots of first world countries.

I’m not sure why we expect so little of our kids and staff and are then shocked find that our kids have listened to us and don’t value their education.

A self fulfilling prophecy.

To answer your question: give anything time and it can turn from the best thing in the world to the worst. To your other points: just because this may be the best job you have had, does not mean it is the best for others for reasons that must be very varied. What I think is worthy of noting though is the fact that we need to keep fighting for all professions to have better working conditions and for workers to have more rights. You mentioned colleagues complaining and you not getting as to why. Why is that? Have you ever had a student you may have found difficult and spoke to a colleague about them, to be told 'they are fine for me'? In other words, we all experience things differently. If you don't understand something try to show empathy.

I worked as a junior project manager before retraining to teach secondary English.

I did five years as a teacher before getting out.

I've taught EFL abroad for 8 years and now retrained again in a form of social work in my adopted country.

Teaching in the UK was the worst paid and most demotivating job I have ever had on a per hour basis if you include the compiling of statistical data, report writing, meetings, marking (which is horrendous in secondary English), and preparation (preparation is fun though).

Secondary school teaching isn't about teaching most of the time. I enjoyed teaching. The non teaching side of work is soul destroying, the senior management is clueless and the endless "initiatives" and unacknowledged changes of direction are mind blowingly frustrating. Sometimes it was like living in a Kafka novel. The lack of tolerance for speaking out of turn, not towing the line and pointing out inconsistencies was intolerable.

Coming in from a non teaching background allowed me to see how poorly senior management in both the schools I worked at actually managed adults. I got the impression only those who'd never worked anywhere but schools would put up with it.

I agree, OP. I know very, very few teachers who have had non-teaching careers.

Teachers who get 13 weeks a year off (and even more than that in the private sector) and who have never had a job with only 5 weeks annual leave have zero understanding of what work/life balance means to most people.

I've been about a bit. TV, outdoor centre, freelance community musician and classical singer. Teaching is the most monotonous of them, but the regular pay and hours fit where I am in my life at the minute. I agree that a lot of teachers who have only ever taught tend to see the negatives rather than the positives in a job comparison situation.

How strange. Most teachers I work with have had other careers. Some like me came into teaching in mid to late 20’s, got out for a while after burn out or having kids, did other work and then came back to teaching via supply.

When I first started it was more unusual and I was surrounded by people soldiering on to try and get their full pension despite hating the changes and increased interference that made the job unrecognisable from the vocation they came into.

Nowadays I find it’s far more common for teachers to have had varied career backgrounds.

It does vary from area to area. I trained in an area with a very young and dynamic workforce and then moved to the land of grumbling old men with egg in their beards.