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Had enough of the classroom? Perhaps you’re tired of dealing with students who don’t want to learn? Or of correcting sheaves of painfully bad student writing? Or of trying to motivate kids to work hard at an unrealistically challenging mandated curriculum? Or of teacher training that poorly trains? Pushy parents or uninterested ones? An unfair principal? Hands-tying administrative rules?
Teachers have transferable skills, for example, explaining, organizing, and the ability to satisfy many stakeholders: students, administrators, parents, fellow teachers, and legislators—that pesky mountain of rules and regulations. But it can be tough to convince employers that the aphorism is false: “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” So, perhaps more than most career changers, teachers need to prove they not only possess transferable skills but at a high level.
Often that is best accomplished by showing would-be employers a portfolio of your best lesson plans, student work, a statement of your approach to teaching, and maybe most convincing, a video of you in action: Have a videographer, student, or friend, video you conducting a lesson that shows you at your best. Also, walk the videographer through your classroom as you narrate your planning and thought process, for example, about what to put on walls, what assignments to give, and how you’ve organized your desk and student storage spaces. Edit the video to the best two minutes and, voila: Instead of telling them, you’re showing them. Show-don’t tell often prevails.
As well, have a few PAR (Problem-Approach-Result) stories to tell in your interviews. Many interviewers are compelled more by story than by straight facts.
But what sort of career might you want to aim for? Here are some that capitalize on common teacher strengths and that many people find rewarding:
Education administration is an obvious choice but often not the wisest one. That’s because the skill set required to be, for example, a principal or district administrator is very different from that of the teacher: interpreting regulations, liaising and resolving conflicts with other administrators, etc. That said, because public education’s bureaucracy is among our most elaborate, many positions exist in education administration. In addition to school-level jobs such as dean, assistant principal, and principal, there are myriad administrators in school districts, county offices of education, regional agencies such as for special education, your state’s education department, and the U.S. Office of Education.
Counselor. Many ex-teachers find school counseling a more felicitous option than is administration. School counseling comes in flavors, commonly: disciplinary counselor. academic advisor, college counselor.
School librarian. This job tends to be unusually rewarding: selecting and curating the library's collection, training students in the art of finding the right resource, and helping teachers find what they need.
Tutor. Many people entered teaching not just in hopes of short work days and summers off but even more so to teach. Tutors get to teach and in an individualized way, without the challenges of classroom management, administrative edicts, etc.
Trainer. Teachers are mandated to take what’s called “in-service” trainings, often on “minimum days,” when the students are let out early so the training can occur within the union-limited six-and-a-half-hour school day. In-service training is often provided not just by district, county, or state personnel, but by outside consultants.
Outside of K-12 education, corporations, nonprofits, government, and consultancies do training. For example, sexual harassment, inclusion/diversity trainings are often mandated by law. Creating even more jobs, employees who have completed those trainings are typically required to retake them every year or two. Then there are trainings on everything from customer service to team-building, employee safety to software implementation.
Consultant to teachers. Many teachers think their university-based training didn’t prepare them for the real world of the classroom. They may have learned developmental theory but that’s a long way from how to deal with a classful of kids who enjoy challenging the teacher’s ability to control the class. Often, such teachers are reluctant to ask for help from their principal or fellow teachers for fear it will cause extra scrutiny or even termination. A private consultant can be an answer. If you’re an ace teacher but have had enough of the classroom, perhaps you’d like to be a consultant to struggling teachers.
Sales and its nonprofit analog, fundraising. Many teachers are reluctant to leave public education not just because they'd give up job security and nonpareil benefits including the ever rarer pension but for fear of decreased pay. Sales and fundraising may offer the most realistic opportunity to make serious money. That’s because salespeople and fundraisers are directly responsible for bringing in the bucks, hence organizations tend to pay them well—if they bring in the bucks.
Research assistant or editor. High school teachers might want to query a dozen of their favorite authors or professors asking if they need a researcher. For example, a history teacher might query writers of history. An English teacher might query a novelist known for rich details about their books’ milieu.
Organizer. This tends to pay poorly but many people who make even a modest living as an organizer love it because they're helping people obtain instant, visible results. And it tends to be an achievable goal. Plus, if you’re good, you’re not just helping your clients organize but are changing their mindset and habits so they become organized without having you, that loving taskmaster, breathing down their neck.
Start a school. Perhaps most exciting if daunting, many ex-teachers wish school were run differently. Maybe you want to take a shot at making that happen. It’s a major project, perhaps requiring your working with an outstanding early-retired principal, businessperson, government compliance expert, etc.
The takeaway
In theory, teaching should be among the most rewarding careers: transforming kids into thoughtful, lovers of learning. Alas, sometimes there’s a Grand Canyon of difference between the ideal and the reality.
Perhaps one or more of the careers described here will enable to you make more of the difference you were hoping to make.
I read this aloud on YouTube.
This is part of a series. The others include Career Change for Counselors, Career Change for Creatives, 10 Big-Impact Careers, Big-5 Careers, and more.
