Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Its hard to cross over from teaching into the world of business. Most corporations don't view teaching skills as valuable assets. With that being said, there are plenty of teachers that have successfully made the transition.
It may be that you need to start at a lower salary, however, your career ladder may be more favorable than one in teaching which is essentially non-existent. In some cases teachers with masters degrees become principals. That's pretty much the extent of upward mobility.
It may be necessary to return to school to gain credentials for another career.
Teachers with less than 5 years in teaching tend to have an easier time with this transition than those who have only known teaching for 7+ years.
Case in point--My sister was on a fast track career path in the business world when she was derailed by the education department at her college. They painted teaching as a wonderful career full of rewards, time off, etc
Had she stuck with her bachelor's in business administration (as her corporate boss at the time advised) she would have been set.
Instead she switched her major to elementary education, left the business world and the rest is sad history.
Years later she ran into a co-worker from the fortune 500 company she worked for and who had been attending the same school my sis had been attending. The co-worker got her bachelors in biz followed by an MBA and is now a successful executive who is pretty satisfied and happy with her life and career.
She told my sis "you could have been right their with me. You had all the skills, drive, experience, contacts..everyone loved you and management felt you had the right stuff to send you career soaring in that company--what happened"?
All my sister could say is "Somewhere along the line i took a wrong detour".
15 years into teaching my sis is full of regrets, tears, battle-worn and deeply dejected-- With a head full of gray hair and wrinkles by the time she was 35 (No one in my family had ever developed gray hairs and wrinkles that soon).
Teaching took an enormous personal toll on her family and her health.
Now at the age of 43 she can't stand teaching anymore, but like many teachers, has no place else to go since she knows that most employers don't consider teaching of any value in their companies. She's waiting till her youngest daughter enters high school to retire.
The thing is--she was happy with her business career, but like many young college students, she fell for the pretty picture painted by the ed dept in her college and therefore thought that the "grass must be greener on the other side".
How wrong she was.
For many people teaching is either a second/terminal career or is one that they may start with but end up leaving within the first 5 years. Many people view teaching as a dead-end career offering little by way of respect, mobility or salary.
I can empathize. I went into teaching because they said they needed subject matter experts to raise the bar on education only to find they don't need us or want us and they won't let us raise the bar. The rule today is teach to the bottom of the class. Seriously, you don't need someone with my background to do that. You need someone who has a personality that can coax kids who don't want to work into working. That's not me so this has not been a happy choice.
The only mobility is into administration, which I don't want and don't get me started on the disrespect shown to teachers. It borders on outright hostility. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten a PhD in engineering instead of a masters in teaching.
I hope your sister finds something she likes. I'm not to the point that I hate the job yet but I can't imagine doing it if I did. Even though I can't do what I entered the profession to do, I still like the teaching part. I just hate the disrespect, the adminstrative BS that interferes with my teaching and parents who think their special snowflake should be given an A even though they don't deserve one.
I'm in a similar situation but I think even more challenging. I'm just finishing my second year as an administrator and have just about had it. As much as people knock administrators for not letting teachers do their jobs, I like to think I'm one of the good ones. But in doing so and dealing with parents, discipline, special ed, just about all the problems every day I've found myself disillusioned and missing what originally got me into education. After 20 years teaching and as an administrator, I don't know where else I'd go other than schools, and wonder what other jobs administrators are qualified for outside of education, that wouldn't be an unmanageable pay cut.
I can empathize. I went into teaching because they said they needed subject matter experts to raise the bar on education only to find they don't need us or want us and they won't let us raise the bar. The rule today is teach to the bottom of the class. Seriously, you don't need someone with my background to do that. You need someone who has a personality that can coax kids who don't want to work into working. That's not me so this has not been a happy choice.
The only mobility is into administration, which I don't want and don't get me started on the disrespect shown to teachers. It borders on outright hostility. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten a PhD in engineering instead of a masters in teaching.
I hope your sister finds something she likes. I'm not to the point that I hate the job yet but I can't imagine doing it if I did. Even though I can't do what I entered the profession to do, I still like the teaching part. I just hate the disrespect, the adminstrative BS that interferes with my teaching and parents who think their special snowflake should be given an A even though they don't deserve one.
I can empathize. I went into teaching because they said they needed subject matter experts to raise the bar on education only to find they don't need us or want us and they won't let us raise the bar. The rule today is teach to the bottom of the class. Seriously, you don't need someone with my background to do that. You need someone who has a personality that can coax kids who don't want to work into working. That's not me so this has not been a happy choice.
The only mobility is into administration, which I don't want and don't get me started on the disrespect shown to teachers. It borders on outright hostility. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten a PhD in engineering instead of a masters in teaching.
I hope your sister finds something she likes. I'm not to the point that I hate the job yet but I can't imagine doing it if I did. Even though I can't do what I entered the profession to do, I still like the teaching part. I just hate the disrespect, the adminstrative BS that interferes with my teaching and parents who think their special snowflake should be given an A even though they don't deserve one.
Same reasons I wanted to teach...same reasons I am leaving teaching this year..I have done this as a SpEd teacher and it is not appreciated or works that often.
Yes. There is nothing wrong with reviving old threads if they are pertinent to the new posters. It's also fun to see how ideas and viewpoints compare over the years.
My current theory about people who are tired of institutional jobs like teaching is that they are tired of the bureaucracy that funnels power upward. Teachers no longer have autonomy to practice their profession; and neither does anyone else. An increasing mountain of paperwork and monitoring is created by managers trying to micro-manage everything they can for the sake of efficiency, profit, and self-justification.
Yes. There is nothing wrong with reviving old threads if they are pertinent to the new posters. It's also fun to see how ideas and viewpoints compare over the years.
My current theory about people who are tired of institutional jobs like teaching is that they are tired of the bureaucracy that funnels power upward. Teachers no longer have autonomy to practice their profession; and neither does anyone else. An increasing mountain of paperwork and monitoring is created by managers trying to micro-manage everything they can for the sake of efficiency, profit, and self-justification.
Very well put. I feel that I got out just in time (for me to not completely lose my very soul.)
In NYC, all the libraries have reduced their current staff members (and have done so for the past few years). So although becoming a librarian is a nice idea it may not be a good one at this time.
How about private tutoring? You can make PLENTY doing that, practically naming your price. I know people who do that and do quite well, on their terms.
In general this is a good idea as it can even be done online. The only problem is building up a reputation (meaning selling/marketing oneself) to get a constant flow of students.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Seriously, you don't need someone with my background to do that. You need someone who has a personality that can coax kids who don't want to work into working. That's not me so this has not been a happy choice. 
