Thinking of leaving?
Are you sick to back teeth of working through those ‘holidays’ and weekends? Are you done trying to convince your family and friends and those on Facebook that teachers are not lazy 9-3 workers with 12 weeks’ holiday? There are a plethora of skills that you have that you can apply to alternative jobs for teachers.
Transferable Skills
It’s easy to pigeon-hole yourself into thinking you are ‘just a teacher’ and the only think you can do is complete a register while being on top of behaviour management with your hawk-eye (pretty impressive anyway)…but you aren’t. You’re more: you’re a superhero!
Whilst you may spend your Sunday nights aimlessly scrolling through TES jobs abroad in the hope that the perfect job in the Caymans with free accommodation comes up (actually there have been several in the last few years if that’s your thing), there are MANY other alternative jobs for you as a teacher.
Skills, glorious skills!
- Behaviour management skills
- Effective negotiating skills
- Amazingly IT literate (analysis of data too)
- Ability to converse with stakeholders (parents)
- Excellent telephone manner
- Excellent spoken and written English
- Collaborative team player
- Adaptable worker
- Flexible and responsive
- Responsible
- Trained in the following (though of course not exhaustive) GDPR, Safeguarding, Sexual exploitation, Epi-pen and Diabetes training, management courses, First Aid. etc.
And the list above is just basic! Your skills will more than likely exceed the above ideas and include management training, work with Initial Teacher Training providers and exam marking to name but a few more. The list is endless…
And if eating a Tesco chicken sandwich while being on duty and dealing with a myriad of fist fights at the same time isn’t a desirable skill, then they don’t deserve you.
Alternative Jobs for Teachers
So, you’ve got your C.V in order and you know what skills you can bring to the table but where do you look?
TES
Yes, TES. I know you’re looking at getting out of the ‘system’ but TES also lists non-teaching jobs in the education sector. This may include schools but also lists jobs with ITT providers and other jobs that can match your salary. Click here for a link straight to the page.
Charity Jobs
We get it, you went into teaching to make a difference, right? What better way to take your empathy and love of making a positive change in the world by working for a non-profit organisation.
From The Big Issue to the NSPCC, Charity job lists every job that is available at an organised charity. And even better? There are SO many that offer remote working or hybrid working arrangements.
You can search with the working arrangements in mind to find the best position suited to you!
The Civil Service
Many of us are petrified on what the future will bring – and so that pension we pay 10% nearly of our salary into, feels like a little beacon of hope and security. But there are other pensions that are decent too without those Sunday night marking marathons in exchange.
Yes, The Civil Service offers both a very generous salary plus security too. And do you know what it offers what teaching doesn’t? So much flexibility.
Flexibility
I don’t know about you but I always had the notion that schools were family friendly teaching children and all. Erm, no. As long as you are turning up for breakfast club to sort other people’s children out, you’re good to go. The Civil Service prides itself on a family friendly approach.
Working pattern include but are not limited to:
- Compressed hours
- Flexible Working
- Homeworking
- Job Shares
- Part Time
- Term Time
- Shift Working
- Remote
- Hybrid
The Civil Service has around 100 organisations that offer a range of job opportunities that your skills will match. So what if you’ve never worked in finance? You’ve sorted the school trip. So, go on… update that C.V and sell yourself. Check out the Civil Service Website for a range of truly eclectic jobs. So, if you fancy training with the MI5, give it a go.
Tutoring
There are very few things that are as flexible and lucrative than tutoring at the moment. In person or online, parents are lining up to ensure that their children are caught up after the last two years of the pandemic.
Think about what an hour lesson in your school entails. The admin, the behaviour management, the physical activity around the room, the interruptions galore from the hand dryer in the girls’ toilets or next door’s noisy printer. Now imagine being sat at your kitchen table with a cup of tea and a chocolate digestive while your well behaved, polite student eagerly completes the work as you charge them £35 an hour. Yeah. It feels like a holiday.
Whether you advertise for in-person tutoring, online or a mix is up to you. Bear in mind that people are less likely to cancel if you are physically going to their home but also factor in any petrol costs (and we all know about how they are shooting up as fast as your class in a fire drill) too.
A range of tutoring websites offer a lot of protection but at a cost to you. It’s a balance.
Tutorful is a website dedicated to giving security to both the parents/ clients and the tutors themselves. They do charge an initial 20% cut, but you charge what you like. It then reduces in percentage once you have repeat clients.
Alternatively, stick an advertisement in your local paper for small groups. Charge £10 each for a maximum of 10 kids and rent out your local village hall for an hour a week. The return can be immense.
Have you got any other alternative careers? Have you left teaching and now feel more relaxed on a Sunday evening? Drop us a comment below or get chatting in our forum!
The Invisible Teacher has been working in inner-city secondary schools for 12 years across the heart of England.
