10 Alternative Careers for Teachers - University of the People (2023)

If you are interested in education but don’t want to be a school teacher, there are many excellent alternative careers for teachers.

An M.Ed opens up a host of alternative opportunities in the field of education. If you don’t want to be a teacher but love education, you can use your leadership, teaching/mentoring skills, imagination and creativity in other related professions. A tuition-free M.Ed is available at UoPeople. The M.Ed at UoPeople is a graduate-level program designed to train students for dynamic careers in education, childcare, and community leadership. It opens up many possibilities for alternative non-teaching careers too. We have selected 10 alternative careers for teachers that you may want to consider.

Top 10 Alternative Careers for Teachers

1. Career guidance counselor

Choosing a career can be an overwhelming process. Making decisions is easier for some than for others and some people need a little help along the way. A career guidance counsellor is responsible for helping people to assess their abilities, and providing information and advice on educational and training options to help them make decisions and choose the right direction.

2. School administrator

If you love organizing, enjoy working with people, and have good interpersonal and communication skills, school administration could be a great option for you. This would involve lots of contact with children, staff, and parents and would require sensitivity and confidentiality. All you need are good computer skills and a can-do attitude. You get to stay in a school environment, continue working with children, staff, and parents, but without the pressure of the classroom. If you want to brush up on your computer skills, try taking an evening class at a local Adult Education Institute or take some free courses online at Alison or Lynda.

3. Librarian

If you enjoy working in a learning and academic environment and you love to work independently, a librarian could be an option for you. The job of a librarian is to be responsible for providing access to information and managing the library facilities, which may be in a public library, a school, or a university.

4. Private Tutor

If you have a passion for teaching, but want a break from the classroom, choose a subject or subjects that you would like to teach and start advertising for private students. There is always a demand and if you are patient, knowledgeable, and a good teacher, you will gain most of your students by recommendation. Some students fall behind in school for a host of legitimate reasons, such as insufficient attention, poor teaching, learning disabilities, attention disorders, or emotional and behavioural issues. In order for them to pass exams and gain qualifications, those who can afford it, will have the privilege of being able to provide 1:1 education for their children after school.

There is also the option to teach adults. Adults may want to learn a language, including English, art, music, or may want to improve their literacy or math skills. If you have good computer skills, you can also teach Microsoft or Adobe programs. Due to the technology gap, there is a demand for teaching computer skills to the elderly or anyone who may have difficulty with the fast pace of technological change in society today.

5. Corporate trainer

If you would like to use your transferable teaching and leadership skills in the corporate world, there are some interesting options. You could teach company employees a variety of subjects, including: sales skills, negotiation skills, business writing, or digital marketing. There are many courses available on Udemy and Lynda in which you can brush up or learn from scratch business skills at very reasonable prices. These online courses are taught by highly experienced professionals and the courses can be done anytime, anywhere. You can also check out the evening and part-time courses available in your hometown, but bear in mind that face-to-face courses are usually significantly more expensive.

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6. Adult literacy teacher

Adult literacy courses are usually taught in Adult Education Institutes, part-time during the day or evening. This gives you the perfect option to work part-time if you need to balance other commitments. Adult literacy learners may be immigrants looking to improve their literacy in order to get a job or progress in their profession. They may also be adults who simply never learned to read. This may be as a result of undiagnosed learning disabilities or emotional/behavior problems at school. This is an extremely rewarding job as you are opening up new opportunities and improving the confidence and self-esteem of your students.

7. Parenting coach/educator

Every parent wishes the best for their child, but sometimes parenting can be a challenge. A parent needs to not just care for their child but to understand their emotions, behavior, and psychological state of mind. Parents are not experts in every subject and often need a little help along the way. They need to be advised what to do when a toddler refuses to sleep in his bed at night, when a baby wakes too frequently, when a young child has tantrums, and when a school child has behavior problems.

As a parenting coach, you can work hours that suit your schedule. In order to work with young children, you will require a background in Early Childhood Education. Your leadership, patience, and mentoring skills can be put to good use to help parents as well as children. If you love working with young children and enjoy helping people, this could be the perfect job for you.

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8. Writer

Your great communication skills can be put to excellent use by becoming a writer. There is always a demand for content writers, technical writers, and copywriters. Content writers are hired to produce engaging content for use online. Technical writers communicate complex matters in a simplified way, e.g., writing instructions for a software program, writing an instruction manual, or writing helpful guides on a website. If you have a creative flair, then copywriting could be the job for you. This involves using your creative writing skills to sell products by dreaming up catchy advertising slogans, writing product literature, and producing copy for emails, websites, or blogs.

9. Social worker

If you enjoy helping people, a career as a social worker could be just the right job for you. Social workers are responsible for protecting vulnerable people and helping families and children to deal with the difficulties and challenges in their lives.

In order to be a social worker, you will need an M.S.W., Master of Social Work.

10. Personal coach

Teachers have the great advantage of knowing how to teach and coach others. Ever thought about becoming a personal coach? For personal coaching you will need a coaching diploma which may take approximately a year. You can then build your own business and take on private clients!

Coaching is designed to help people to take the required steps of action in order to achieve their desired goals, objectives, and dreams. People often feel stuck, with difficult decisions to make, procrastination problems, and have many obstacles that are preventing them from taking action to achieve their objectives. Coaching is a mentoring relationship in which you will guide, direct, and help provide pathways to the client’s desired goal. According to the National Careers Service in the UK, life coaches earn $38 – $77 per session and Executive Coaches can earn up to $383 per hour. According to a study by the International Coach Federation, the average income of a life coach is $61,900 in North America, $55,300 in Western Europe, and $37,800 in Asia.

Teachers who want something totally different

Are you looking for a major change and want to do something totally different?

If your background is in mathematics, you could become a high-earning actuary, a financial advisor, or a statistician. According to Glassdoor, an actuary in the USA earns an average salary of $128,987.

If you are a language person, you could go into public relations, human resources, or marketing. Your communication and interpersonal skills would be great for HR and for PR and your language skills would be a major asset in marketing. If you work your way up the career ladder in the field of marketing, an average senior marketing manager can earn $61,172 in the UK, according to Payscale, and $97,895 in the USA.

7 Quick Tips to Make the Transition

• Make a list of all your transferable skills
• Choose your intended career direction and goal
• Re-write your CV from scratch, emphasizing all your transferable skills
• Research jobs on Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, Facebook, and register with some recruitment agencies
• Prepare answers to common interview questions
• Take some courses to brush up your skills or to retrain completely
• Start making applications

Changing careers can be daunting at first, especially if you have been teaching for a long time. You may be apprehensive at first, but once you have made the decision to change, do your research and make that change today. Don’t procrastinate, just do it!