What Else Can a Teacher Do?

Review your career, reduce stress and gain control of your life

David Hodgson

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781785830150
• eBook ISBN: 9781785833007
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In What Else Can a Teacher Do? Review Your Career, Reduce Stress and Gain Control of Your Life, David Hodgson surveys and suggests a diverse range of alternative career options suited to teachers' transferable skill sets. Some teachers reach a point where they question their role in the classroom; they want to consider something different, but don't know where to start. In this practical handbook, David combines expert careers guidance with a carefully compiled list of over one hundred job profiles in order to help teachers find clarity on their career path, and presents numerous case studies of teachers and education professionals who have already successfully done so. So whether you're tentatively weighing up career alternatives, actively planning your route out of the school environment, or simply assessing where you are in teaching possibly eyeing a change of class, key stage, sector, working hours, or even country What Else Can a Teacher Do? helps guide you through your options. David feels passionately that everyone should be supported to find a rewarding career that suits their unique mix of skills, qualities and experience, and in this book he has distilled his specialist careers advice and extensive research in order to address the most frequently asked questions that weigh upon teachers' minds. What Else Can a Teacher Do? presents a measured approach to career evaluation to help you gain a better perspective on your work satisfaction at present before moving on to explore how your contextual experience and in-demand skill set can be transferred to a multitude of other professional roles and environments. Split into three interactive and user-friendly parts, What Else Can a Teacher Do? features a variety of self-reflective checklists, charts and activities to engage with; an exploratory range of at least thirty education-based career moves to consider; and a comprehensive list of around 120 job profiles providing details on the key roles, entry routes, salaries and tasks involved in each profession to both inform and inspire. Plus, in order to help you accurately compare your current position with these realistic career alternatives, all of the jobs listed have some overlap with the skills and interests teachers develop in the classroom and each job profile is complemented with a select listing of reliable websites for more detailed information and sources of vacancies. This book is not intended to serve as a survival guide or as an escape manual. A survival guide implies you'll do just enough frenetic gasping and paddling to keep your head above the turbulent water, while an escape manual is an equally dangerous proposition as it implies that change is easy. It is not. Rather, What Else Can a Teacher Do? provides a wealth of suggestions in order to help you move on in your teaching journey, and lays out some alternatives to teaching so that you can take a peek with a dispassionate and critical eye if you are contemplating making a bigger change in your working life. What else can a teacher do? David Hodgson has the answers. Essential reading for teachers who are 'stuck in a rut' and want to explore other options. Contents include: Part 1 Where are you now?; Part 2 What are your job options? Section 1 Job options based around teaching skills, Section 2 Job options for recent graduates, Section 3 Job options for school leaders; Part 3 Job profiles.

Part 1

Where are you now?

In this section there are a number of statements to consider and checklists to complete. These will help you assess where you are now, and help you see where you’re going more clearly. Write down your answers and any thoughts, either in the book or in a notepad. Do show all your working-out! As a teacher, you’ll know how important it is to engage actively and reflect on the content rather than speed-read your way through it. You will not be externally assessed on your answers, but you will benefit from looking back over your responses to make sense of later sections.

In at the deep end?

Let’s start by assessing where you are now.

Marilyn Clarke studied career patterns and identified four approaches adopted by staff facing a career transition.1 Who are you?

Plodder: Focuses on present, loyal and hardworking. They pay little attention to personal career planning or networking.

Pragmatist: Focuses on a traditional career path within the prevailing organisational structure. They consider personal progression reactively as and when vacancies arise. Don’t tend to update skills via additional training.

Visionary: Actively plan and execute their career plan and move employers to maintain control. Personally confident and proactive, undertaking additional training and opportunities.

Opportunist: Self-aware, they grasp opportunities and embrace change to continually develop new skills and knowledge. They demonstrate flexibility and are driven by their values.

Clarke concluded that adopting behaviours that promoted a future focus to career planning led to success. This book will help you develop these powerful habits through a series of steps starting with an exploration of your own strengths and values. You can then start to match these to the many career options available within and outside of teaching.

Successful teachers are likely to agree with most of the following twenty statements (pages 8–9). Have a look through them and see how you do. These beliefs can be developed, and this book will help embed these into your behaviour. If you’re going to fill in the gaps, start with the lowest number first, as the list is in a logical order along the lines of: know yourself, develop a plan, then execute the plan. If you’re competitive and want to score top marks and tick all the beliefs, then you can do so, but remember this isn’t a test. It’s a continuous improvement loop for life and your career. Even if you respond with a tick, you can consider additional action for that statement. If you make changes across a half a dozen or more, you will begin to notice a positive impact. Don’t worry if you think this list seems a bit pushy and self-indulgent; John McEnroe might have said everybody loves success, but they hate successful people. The way to avoid this phenomena is to look out, not just in. Help friends and colleagues work on their progress, not just on your own, and nobody will begrudge you success. Perhaps one of the traps of the self-improvement movement is the descent into self-absorption and a focus on personal entitlement without offering genuine interest and support to those around us.

According to an ATL survey, 83% of teachers have considered leaving the profession.2

40% of new teachers leave the profession within a year of qualifying.3

List of beliefs

1	I know my skills and what I’m good at.
2	I know the skills I need to develop.
3	I can do an elevator pitch (a thirty-second summary of my skills and best achievements to date, showcasing what I can add to an organisation or team).
4	I keep a record of all my major achievements at work.
5	I seek regular feedback on my performance from colleagues and students.
6	I share my ideas with other professionals.
7	I take on new roles, projects or research at work to enhance my skills and experience.
8	I feel good about myself at work.
9	I know what opportunities for progression are available in my current school.
10	I’m aware of the politics, tensions and ‘characters’ in my current school.
11	I’m aware of the career options available to teachers in the UK and abroad.
12	I’m aware of the job options available outside teaching, and the entry routes for these options.
13	I have a pretty clear idea of my career direction, and what/where I’d like to be in three years’ time.
14	I have discussed my career plan with important people in my life.
15	I’m content with my life outside work.
16	I have a life outside work.
17	I have mentors.
18	I am articulate and assertive.
19	I keep up to date with what...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1: Where are you now?
• Part 2: What are your job options?
• Part 3: Job profiles
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Copyright