What to Know to Prepare to Leave Teaching

Eight and a half years ago I had enough, and I had to leave teaching. It was the end of my third year of classroom teaching, and I could not take it anymore. I won’t go into the nitty gritty details, it will have to suffice to say I was over worked, under paid, and not respected. I walked away (ok maybe ran, screaming). It was one of the hardest, saddest, best things I have ever done. 

It is old news and no surprise why I was feeling this way. Our culture teaches us from an early age that teachers are selfless heroes. This message is everywhere (and I would argue damaging to EVERYONE). It gets further reinforced once you become a teacher. There is an unspoken code of suffering: You know what you signed up for. How dare you acknowledge the cracks in the system?

If you are considering leaving the profession, I empathize with how you might be feeling. When I left I felt very alone. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I also felt conflicted. How could I just ghost my students like that? They trusted me, and relied on me. For far too many of them, I was their one adult at school (or even in life). Would they hate me? Would I end up hating myself? Here is a list of what I wish I would have known to prepare to leave teaching.

It is Ok To Leave Teaching. You Alone Can’t Change the System.

You individually cannot change a system that was set up to fail our most vulnerable students. I spent probably a year after I quit teaching crying and fretting about my students. This did neither of us any good. There is nothing heroic about letting the system destroy your physical or mental health. I hope that one of the most enduring lessons I taught my students is that it is ok to walk away from things that are harming you even if they are things that you love. 

You Are Under-valuing Yourself.

You are under-valuing yourself. Coming from a profession that so dramatically undervalues its workforce, you think that your skills are less valuable than they are. When I left teaching the first time I applied for and got an escape job because I was desperate. Looking back I realize that the job I applied for was a reflection of how I viewed myself. I was undervaluing my skills when I took an entry level management job at a retail store. Not because that isn’t a worthwhile job, it is and was. It is because I thought I had to start at the entry level again. I did not realize how transferable my skills were (more on this later).

If You Leave Teaching, Salaries and Pay Work Very Differently.

Salaries and pay work very differently in other professions. Public educators almost always have a salary schedule. There is no wiggle room and no negotiation. You find how many years of experience you have and your education level on a little chart and boom that is how much you will make. That is not at all how the world outside of teaching works. Unless you do a lot of market research and change your mindset about what you are paid, you will undercharge for your labor. Work with a coach or a therapist, make sure you change your money mindset before you take a long term job in a new career field after teaching.

You Have Many Transferable Skills.

You have many transferable skills to other positions. Learn how to translate your education vocabulary to business speak. The world outside of teaching has a different vocabulary than the one you might be using and learning it is the key to communicating your skills outside of education. The top skills that I used in teaching (and you probably did too) that are highly transferable to other jobs are: organization, collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, and ability to lead a diverse group to reach a common goal.

Good teachers have the best “soft skills” of anyone I have ever met. Soft skills (if you don’t know what soft skills are here is a good overview) are valuable in any job in any field so you are probably qualified for a lot more jobs than you give yourself credit for.

If You Leave Teaching, You Are Qualified For Lots of Other Jobs.

You are qualified for lots of other jobs. The trick is figuring out which ones. Off the top of my head I know people who have successfully transitioned out of teaching into business trainer positions, instructional design, volunteer coordination, event planning, and entrepreneurship just to name a few. Do a general search of jobs in your area and note the jobs you are interested in. Are there any common characteristics or skills that the jobs you are interested in have?

Now look at the job qualifications for those positions, if you have 100% of the job qualifications on a listing you are overqualified! Look at the jobs where you have 50-75% of the job qualifications on the listing and note those down. That list will be a good starting point for the types of jobs you are qualified for.

Before You Leave Teaching, Take Time to Figure Out What Your Values Are.

Taking the time to figure out what work values are will save you lots of time and job hopping. After having a few jobs after leaving teaching, some patterns started to emerge. It dawned on me that the type of job and the job title weren’t as important to me as having values that aligned with the people I was working with. I then spent the next several years trying to figure out exactly what those were.

It wasn’t until I was forced to slow down and sit with my thoughts that things become clearer. I started treating myself with the same care and attention that I give to my strategic planning clients. Now I have a personal mission statement and clear work values. These have made the biggest difference in changing my mind set and clarifying what I want.

Are You Ready to Leave Teaching?

Whether you are just toying with the idea or you are past ready to change careers, your feelings are valid. These last few years have been brutal. I have seen excellent teachers work themselves to the point of sickness,  depression, and exhaustion, while society as a whole trashes their skills and calls them selfish and lazy. Teachers shouldn’t be shamed into continually doing something that is unhealthy for them because they don’t think they will be taken seriously if they stop.

You have skills. You are valuable. I used to derive so much of my work from being a teacher. I felt like I was a member of an honorable club. It took a while and lots of reflection to realize, if continued personal suffering is the price of admission, that isn’t a club I want to be a part of.

Want help figuring out how to transition out of K-12 teaching? Check out my career transition coaching by clicking here.