According to a 2022 survey conducted by the National Education Association (NEA), 55 percent of teachers reported that they were “thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they had planned.” This was up from 37 percent in August 2021.
Retirement, burnout, health concerns, or other circumstances may have influenced your decision to exit the classroom, but the skills and experience you gained as a teacher are transferable and useful to many modern careers.
Leveraging your teaching experience involves more than just citing work in education on your resume. Below, we’ll discuss how specific skills and experiences can lend themselves to careers in adult education, extracurricular tutoring, becoming an educational influencer, and even jobs that, on the surface, seem to have little in common with teaching.
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Teach Adults
Lifelong learning and continuing education are becoming increasingly common and sought-after. Not only do adults seek out training to help them advance their careers, but they also pursue subjects that they simply enjoy or find enriching.
First, you can draw on your own teaching experience when searching for opportunities to teach adults. For example:
- If you have a background in special education, you might work with adults in speech therapy. Adults with developmental delays or those who have suffered traumatic injuries or neurological conditions face special challenges to communication. Speech therapy helps them learn techniques to overcome specific challenges and enjoy a better quality of life.
- Adults from around the world seek out online English language tutors. Often, the tutoring primarily involves conversing about everyday topics to help the student gain practical experience speaking English. Many tutoring companies require their teachers to hold at least a bachelor’s degree (which your teaching career already affords) and favor candidates with a background in teaching.
- Music and art teachers can often find full-time or gig employment teaching adults these subjects.
You can also look to your own hobbies and interests for subjects you can teach to others. Really, your interests and imagination are the only limits. For example, you might:
- Offer fitness classes in coordination with a local gym.
- Conduct seminars on wild birds in cooperation with a local wildlife preserve or farm and feed store.
- Teach arts and crafts at a community or senior citizen center.
- Teach dance.
- Teach beekeeping along with the local beekeeper’s association.
- Host writing workshops at a library or bookstore.
- Work for a zoo or museum as a tour guide or instructor.
Teach Children in Extracurricular Settings
If teaching children is your passion, you can look for work that allows you to continue in your calling in a low-stress setting. Many parents bent on academic success are willing to hire private tutors to help their children with difficult subjects or college prep. This may be done in person or online. As mentioned above, many online tutoring companies favor teachers as candidates, and you can choose to work with children rather than adults.
You can also teach many of the subjects listed above to children in a one-on-one or small-group format. You might gain employment at a dance studio or music store, for example, or you could start your own freelance tutoring business.
Especially in rural communities, consider seeking employment as a 4-H extension agent. These agents are professional educators who manage the day-to-day operations of their local 4-H programs. In addition to administrative tasks, they visit schools and oversee courses taught at the extension offices.
Bring the Facts to Social Media
Do you remember any educational TV shows that made an impression on you—Bill Nye the Science Guy or The Magic School Bus, perhaps? Today, these experiences take place on YouTube and Instagram.
While becoming a viral social media influencer doesn’t happen overnight, you can share your expertise by making educational videos. As they gain popularity, you can earn income from advertising and sponsorships.
Don’t Teach—Try Something New
What if you want a complete break from teaching? There are plenty of non-educational jobs that are a great fit for former teachers. Consider a few options.
- Educational sales representatives don’t teach, but they are knowledgeable about the books, software, curricula, and equipment that work.
- Realtorsrely on many of the same soft skills as teachers, such as communication and building trust.
- Grant writersdo research and lean into written communication skills to help projects gain funding.
- Translatorsuse their expertise in a non-English language to convert documents into the target language, and interpreters do the same for spoken words. They often work for hospitals, legal, and government entities.
Key Takeaways
Teaching is a beloved line of work, but it is also a taxing one. At some point, nearly every teacher needs to take a break or a permanent removal from the traditional classroom environment.
Your years of educational experience are invaluable in many career paths, from adult education and extracurricular tutoring to social media influencing and jobs far removed from the educational sphere. Introspect to figure out the best path for you, then leverage your experience for the next fulfilling part of your journey.
