Switching career can seem a daunting prospect. But every year thousands of people retrain as teachers after deciding they want to use their life and work experience to help educate and inspire young people.
The biggest reward is clear, says Roger Pope, the chair of the National College for Teaching and Leadership. “Purely and simply, it’s about the buzz you get from making a positive difference to somebody else’s life, and going home thinking, ‘actually I’ve done something worthwhile in my day’.”
And your impact isn’t only on individual pupils. “It sounds a bit pompous but it’s true: there’s also a collective impact of improving society by turning out lots of better educated, more thoughtful individuals,” Pope says. “That’s a tremendous feeling.”
Although the training options and application process are no different if you’re coming from an established career, you may have factors like a mortgage or family to consider. But tax-free bursaries or scholarships can make taking a year out to train a more viable prospect.
If you’re already working at or have an existing relationship with a school, you could earn a salary on a salaried School Direct programme, and if you’re a graduate with a 2:1 or above, you could get paid while training via Teach First.
The growth of school-led training also means you can get qualified without having to uproot your life. “If you’ve got a family or are already settled in an area, for example, you can access training nearby,” says Pope.
You won’t be alone coming into teaching from another career, either. In 2016-17, more than 6,000 of the 27,000 people who started initial teacher training were over 30.
If you’re interested in teaching English, biology, geography, maths, physics, chemistry, computing or design and technology, you may want to consider a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course. These are useful if you’ve got an A-level in the subject you want to teach, or professional skills such as accountancy or fluency in a second language, but are not qualified to degree level in those areas.
Available at universities, schools, or third parties, SKEs generally last between eight and 12 weeks and are fully funded, so you won’t have to pay any tuition fees. You may also be eligible for a tax-free SKE training bursary of £200 a week to support you while you’re on the course.
And if you’re unsure whether classroom life is right for you, you can spend some time in a school on a short placement with the School Experience Programme. “People will always be influenced by the school they went to and imagine all schools are like that,” says Pope. “They will be perhaps surprised at how well ordered the vast majority of classrooms are these days.”
