Great career changes for teachers

Are you a teacher currently considering an alternative career as the notice deadline approaches but are stuck for ideas?

In this post in series about different career options for those in education, let’s focus on roles that still involve working with children (but ditch all those other things).

Student Learning Support

If you love the interaction with children and helping them succeed, a role such as this can be a fulfilling alternative to teaching. Former teachers often support teams in a supervisory role, which holds higher responsibilities and therefore a higher salary than team members.

There are numerous organisations in which this role exists and a good diversity of age-range and role duties, making it easier to find a suitable role to match your interests. It may be providing targeted support for children outside the classroom, accompanying young people to therapy sessions, assisting students with disabilities or learning needs to access further education or holding a student support role within a university to help with wellbeing.

Whatever the role, you are still interacting and making a difference to the life of a young person, supporting their learning journey – just without the same expectations associated with a class teacher position.

Youth Worker

The main responsibilities of this role consist of ensuring young people in the local area feel supported to enable them to develop new skills and flourish. Youth works take a leading role managing activities, such as those found in youth clubs, organising community projects and leading outdoor pursuits.

If you are a teacher who enjoys the extracurricular activities, events and trip planning, community cohesion and helping children beyond the classroom, this may be a great option to consider. For some roles, there may be additional training courses to attend but your transferable skills will be recognised.

Other roles involving children: