Teachers are some of the most dedicated and passionate people you will ever meet. It takes a lot to get them to walk away from their career in the classroom, but sometimes they need more than just a change of scenery. If you’re an ex-teacher who has had enough of grading papers and sitting behind a desk all day, then this blog post is for you! It can be difficult to find a position that doesn’t involve more time in front of students, so it’s important to do your research before you make any decisions.
15 job ideas for former teachers
If you’re considering leaving teaching, there are tons of professions both in and outside education where you can transfer your skills. We’ve rounded up 15 job options for former teachers.
You’ll find alternative job ideas, detailing typical hourly rates and salaries. Keep reading to find out about the type of industries you could work in.
Work out what you like
Maybe you enjoy the education environment but would rather not work within the classroom. Perhaps you’re considering leaving teaching and looking for some different job options in the UK. There are transferable skills from teaching that you can use including leadership skills, attention to detail, organisation and event planning.
Working within teaching
1. Private Tutor
Many former teachers start working as private tutors.
There’s a huge market for private tutors for a range of ages – for 11+, GCSEs and for catching up on the work that children have missed during the Coronavirus pandemic.
There are a number of families who home educate their children and you can look at offering your services.
Expect to earn from £15-£30 per hour depending on age group, subject matter and location.
How to find tutoring work
Try signing up with a tutoring company or go solo and advertise locally. You will probably already have some connections to start your new tutoring career.
Online tutoring – offers great job opportunities for former teachers and less paperwork. You could earn around £18 per hour. Entry-level positions for online tutoring start at £27,300 per year while most experienced workers make up to £53,284 per year. (Source talent.uk.com).
2. Coaching
Coaching is another career path for former teachers – particularly if you are very sporty or creative. Set up a sporting academy, dance school or music academy. Entry-level salaries for a football coach start at around £18k rising to £38 for professional coaches.
3. Create Lesson Plans
Time-poor teachers are always on the lookout for creative lesson plans and lesson sheets. Lesson plans can be developed for learning topics, specific reading books or seasonal studies. You can sell your plans online or directly to educators.
4. Curriculum Reviewer
If you enjoy the education environment but don’t want to be in the classroom, why not consider becoming a curriculum reviewer? This allows you to stay within education, writing textbooks or online resources.
Becoming a training curriculum reviewer may also allow you to move outside the teaching field and write training guides for other industries – such as the police force or fire brigade.
5. Become a Nanny
If you enjoy being around little ones, you may want to pursue a job as a Nanny. You can earn good money – around £150-£200 per day (but it’s a long 12 hour day). Some jobs offer live or live-out opportunities and perks such as the use of the family car and even travel opportunities.
6. Editing work
Former teachers who enjoy writing and editing can look at picking up freelance editing work. Upwork.com offers freelance work. Search for jobs for admin, editor, proofreading. Expect to earn around £15 per hour.
7. Finance Jobs
Finance jobs within education are often sought after and schools, like other businesses, have budget and finance constraints that need to be adhered to.
You may decide that you can start a different career still within a school or college (so you have those nice school hours and holidays) but use your financial skills. Book-keeping, invoicing and purchasing are all vital skills that schools need.
8 Human Resources
Human Resources is an area within schools that can be overlooked – schools employ staff and there is often a ton of personnel, legal and health and safety documents that need to be drawn up and complied with within schools. This can be a fantastic career option if you love research, enjoy the school environment but prefer working outside the classroom with adults.
9. Marketing
Larger schools can employ someone specifically for their marketing and PR. Most schools now have websites, social media accounts and newsletters. Schools will also often work with local media organisations to promote events and PR news. You could earn around £25-£30k for this role.
10. Youth Worker
Many older children will enjoy sharing problems with another adult who can connect with them. You can give advice on life and career aspects and offer signposting to other organisations to help them, such as career or mental health organisations. Entry-level salaries start at around £18k but can rise to £25k. Advanced youth workers in some areas can earn up to £40,000 per year.
11. Events organiser
There are transferable skills from working within the classroom that you can take elsewhere. As a teacher you have had to plan, budget, organise and check and double-check workload, events and paperwork. Working in events you would expect to earn around £28,224 per year in London.
12. Corporate sales
Selling into schools is a massive industry – from selling IT software, furniture, course or science equipment. If you have insider knowledge of schools this could really help you within this corporate sales environment.
13. Education recruitment
Help recruit teaching staff using your insider knowledge. You’ll work office hours and could earn around £25k plus commission. (Source Glassdoor.com).
14. Content Creator/Writer
Produce marketing content for websites, brochures and leaflets. There are a number of freelance websites to start picking up work – Upwork, Fiverr and PeoplePerHour. Expect to earn around £15-£20 per hour.
15. Estate Agent
If you love working with people and want a real change from schooling – why not consider becoming an Estate Agent? This job offers flexible hours, it requires scheduling, organising, following through on tasks and working with different people. Starting salaries for estate agents are in the region of £14,000 to £20,000 on-target earnings (OTE) for trainee posts. With experience, salaries can rise from £25,000 to £60,000, plus commission. (source Prospects.ac.uk).