How to start your teaching career if you already have a job

If teaching has long been a dream career move, but you are already entrenched in a job which takes up every working day of the week, then you may lose hope in the switch ever happening.

This is understandable because teaching – like any vocation – requires a significant amount of training before you can qualify and begin your educational career in earnest.

Usually, this training would require you to drop out of your job in order to study at a university, which may seem an impossible decision if you have bills to pay and an existing career path.

Furthermore, you may struggle to start your teaching career if you have a job because you aren’t experienced as an educator. Although theory training is useful, it is also important to have some real world experience under your belt, which is difficult if all your time is taken up.

However, while having a job is undoubtedly a hurdle to overcome, thanks to technology and modern working environments, it is still possible for you to pursue your dreams of becoming a teacher.

This is why:

Balance your work and learning through an online program

The most significant challenge you will face if you want to embark on a teaching career while holding down another job is finding the time to complete your training.

Your training is a crucial step towards your teaching career and usually requires you to uproot your current life in order to move to a university.

However, thanks to the increasing number of online programs available, such as the Bank Street Graduate School of Education, you can now balance your work and your studies.

This ensures you can build the foundations of your new career on a steady bedrock of consistent income, an unruffled personal life, and the ability to study flexibly.

Try online learning jobs

Another crucial string to add to your bow when you are training to be an educator is real-world experience.

The more experienced you are with the basics of creating lessons, communicating with students, and the flow of a typical hour-long class, the more effective you will be further along in your career.

If you are still holding down a full-time job, then you could start by hosting online lessons. This could be as basic as teaching your native language, a particular skill, or hobby – whether it is computer programming or dancing.

By getting used to leading a lesson, your confidence will soar.

Start with temp work

Of course, even after you have received your training and experimented with online lessons, you may still be hesitant about leaving your current career behind completely.

To make the leap between these two careers more safely, you could start by seeking temporary teaching roles. Not only will this put you on the radar of potential employers in the education sector, but it will help you get used to your new way of life.

It may be impossible to do this if you are full-time, so consider cutting back to part-time at your current place of work in order to start pursuing your new career as a teacher.