Primary school teacher wants a new career

[Cloudminnow]

I've been teaching since 1993 and work 3 days per week. I no longer find teaching interesting or rewarding and want something new (DSs will both be at secondary school by September). Any ideas? (I've got a BA in Art History and a PGCE primary).

Have you thought about staying in education, but leaving the classroom? A close relative of mine moved into curriculum development for the LEA, whilst another went on to become an oftsed inspector. Another possibility could be to try and move into higher education eg as a lecturer in primary education - this would allow the possibility to look at educational research for example?

*ofsted, sorry - really should proof read before posting!

Do you know how your relative got 'into' ofsted?

If you no longer find teaching interesting then I would say that an LA post is not the best idea. They are few and far between these days thanks to cuts anyway, but if you are not enthusiastic about the classroom how can you advise and help teachers?

OfSTED regularly advertise in TES for secondments - was one in there the other week. They tend to want some management experience I think. Not a job for the faint hearted, and obviously a lot of travel involved too.

The one who became an oftsted inspector was originally a secondary school teacher, then went into FE and then into inspecting. She does travel a lot (apparently you can not inspect schools close to you as you are more likely to be biased for/against them, so you can only inspect schools more than a certain distance away). However, I think she spends e.g 3 or so days away on an inspection and then spends another week or two working from home carrying out data analysis/writing the report etc, so even though she is away a fair bit, this is perhaps balanced by also working from home when she is not out on an inspection.

How about going into English as a Second Language teaching? Still in the classroom, but working with adults is very different. The pay isn't as good or as regular but it's probably a lot less stressful than teaching in a state school.