Teaching can provide educators with much job satisfaction. Few experiences are more rewarding to a teacher than watching a student grasp a complex topic. Yet, they often need to spend many hours in a school teaching, creating lesson plans, meeting with parents, and marking papers.
Despite its many advantages, you might feel eager to move on from the role and enter a more respected or senior position. Thankfully, there are many more options available thanks to the internet, and you can even use various technologies and data to flourish in a role.
If you’re ready for a big career change, check out the best online and offline education careers.
Start Tutoring
Many years of teaching will stand you in good stead as a tutor. Thanks to your knowledge and experience, parents might be willing to pay a substantial hourly rate to help their son or daughter improve their grades and reach their academic potential.
As a self-employed tutor, you can work at a time that suits your needs, which will provide a better work-life balance. Also, you can attend a student’s home or deliver a lesson over a Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams video call. Secure your first students by promoting your tutoring services across social media, launching a website, and asking your loved ones to spread the word.
Take an Online Education Course
Improve your career prospects by growing your qualifications. If you are interested in entering a leadership role or education management, consider an MA education distance learning program. It can open the door to various occupations in curriculum development, education policy development, consultancy, training and development, and youth work, to name a few options. As the course is delivered 100% online, it can fit around your busy teaching schedule and provide you with the skills to thrive in various educational settings, from schools and universities to prisons and museums.
Transition to a Museum
Many teachers often move towards museums when leaving the profession, as it will allow them to use their subject knowledge and teaching experience. By securing an educator role at a museum, you can help interested members of the public learn new facts on a topic, share valuable experiences with visitors, and help children develop a new passion for a subject.
It is a perfect avenue for a teacher looking for an alternative career, as you can improve the visitor experience, get up close to museum collections and relics, and teach both children and adults. Also, many large museums now collect and analyze data, which will allow you to make calculated decisions to transform a museum for the better.
Become a School Principal
If teaching provides little job satisfaction, it might be time to take the next step as a school principal. As the leader of a school, you will need to supervise teachers and students, manage various administrative tasks, and ensure the faculty maintains or exceeds the same high standards.
Plus, you must improve parent involvement in their children’s education, revise procedures and policies, and assess teaching methods. Therefore, you can directly shape the student experience and improve academic outcomes for every child.
It might also surprise you to learn that many school principals and educational leaders are using data to measure student progress. By analyzing the gathered data, educators can provide students with further support based on their specific needs.
A Published Author
If you have a flair for the written word, consider writing a book, such as an academic textbook, biography, non-fiction, or novel. It will allow you to share your expertise, knowledge, or talent with a larger audience. You never know; your published book could one day be used in many classrooms, lectures, or workshops up and down the country.
Also, the likes of Amazon Kindle allow writers to self-publish a book to generate a big profit. The more books you publish, the more money you can earn throughout the years. You can even analyze popular searches to identify popular educational angles your target audience wants to buy on an e-reader. As you will cut out the middleman, you will receive a larger share of the royalties.
Become an Academic Adviser
Academic advisers can help students make important decisions about their future. You can provide support and guidance online or face-to-face, which can help young people identify the best university courses, apprenticeships, or entrepreneurial resources for their ambitions. Most academic advisers will work in various educational settings, such as schools, youth clubs, and even prisons.
Enter Corporate Learning and Development
Corporate learning and development could provide a refreshing change from a classroom filled with young students, and workshops can be delivered face-to-face or virtually. This role will require you to develop many employees’ capabilities within an organization, which can help the brand achieve its goals.
Teachers are perfect for a role in learning and development, as they will have fine-tuned their interpersonal skills and teaching style to deliver engaging lessons via Microsoft Teams or in a classroom.
As you will work with different brands and students, it can provide a more varied working life and greater job satisfaction. Again, a master’s in education could improve your career prospects in the corporate world and provide the tools to become an effective leader.
Start a Teaching Blog or Podcast
Even if you are eager to leave teaching behind, you likely feel passionate about education and have many views on the curriculum, the student experience, tests, and much more. If so, you can share your opinions and expertise by writing a blog or launching a teaching podcast.
In addition to producing unique, compelling, and insightful content, you will need to promote your blog or podcast online to secure a large audience. The bigger your following, the more money you can generate from your blog or podcast. However, it can take time to build a large audience and receive lucrative sponsorships.
Move to Adult Education
After spending many years educating children and teenagers, you might have a desire to teach adults. Moving to adult education could be a natural next step in your career that provides a fresh challenge.
Each working day you will help adults improve their qualifications and reach their academic potential. As your students will have chosen to enroll in a course, you will likely experience more engagement in each lesson and improved pass rates.
If adult education sounds perfect, you can secure a university or college professor position or work as an educator at a community college.
Conclusion
Leaving teaching doesn’t mean you need to turn your back on the education system. There are many online and offline career paths that will allow you to use your expertise, improve your job prospects, and even grow your income.
However, you could improve your employability and options by advancing your education, such as completing an online master’s in education or getting published. While saying goodbye to teaching children might feel daunting, it could help you embrace a new challenge, improve your confidence, and increase your job satisfaction.
