Alistair Stirling of Stirling Careers Consultancy spends some time working in schools delivering careers education lessons and one to one careers advice across the age/year groups.
Whilst working in schools he sees how rewarding and attractive teaching can be with the ability to make a difference to young people’s lives. However when he talks to teachers it is not always what it appears on the surface and many are choosing to walk away due to the stress of heavy workloads.
When talking to teachers they often ask what other careers they could do. The first thing that Alistair does is to help them to identify some of their transferable skills.
What are transferable skills?
Transferable skills are general skills you can use in many jobs.
You can gain these skills from previous jobs, projects, voluntary work, sport, your home life, hobbies and interests. They enable you to be adaptable and flexible in case you need to change your career in the future.
Secondly, it is about re-assuring them that they have a lot of marketable skills and experience gained from their training and experience in the classroom. In addition to their teaching skills, they will have good communication and presentation skills. Also they have lots of experience of dealing with difficult situations e.g. pupil behaviour, emotional and pastoral support.
There are many educational related careers outside of the classroom that would be ideal. There are also opportunities in the private sector working for an educational organisation.
Some of these careers could be:
There are also careers related specifically to the subjects you have taught for example if you have taught mathematics there will be opportunities in the finance industry or engineering.
These are just a few ideas that you can consider and depending on your skills and experience, there are other options available to you.
Before you make the leap from the classroom to your next career, it is worth talking to your line manager to see if you could change your role or consider moving to another school. Finally, if you decide to leave teaching it is really important to do some research. This could be talking to somebody who is currently working in the role you are considering or even shadowing someone for a day or so.
It may be difficult to step into a new role straight away as you may have to gain additional experience or qualifications. However, there are many roles that you can consider.
This could be the start of a new life / new future / new beginning!
To book a Careers Consultation either call us on 0790 461 4946 email us at info@stirlingcareersconsultancy.co.uk or contact us via our contact form on our website:
https://www.stirlingcareersconsultancy.co.uk/
We look forward to hearing from you.