A much-publicised DfE survey found that 40,000 teachers left teaching before retirement in the 2021-2022 academic year. This represents 9% of the workforce and I was one of them.

After 26 years as a teacher and school leader and presuming that I would be a teacher until retirement at 67, leaving was a huge step for me. I had, however become increasingly aware that there are more and more people changing jobs multiple times, and whose careers had made significant twists and turns. They, like me had also found that experience gathered along the way was invaluable in subsequent roles, I certainly know that the experience my career has brough it very relevant to the work I do now and provides knowledge, expertise and understanding highly relevant in coaching and consulting. Making the change has been great for me, but an important first step was the realisation that a job is no longer for life.

Thinking back to the statistics around teachers leaving, I was prompted to look again at the 40,000 leavers (9%) statistic. I wanted to se how this compared to other professions, I also wanted to look at how transferable skills are relevant and valuable and finally to consider what someone considering a change in direction should bear in mind and how they can be supported in their decision making.

Leaving the Profession – is it Just Teaching?

There is no doubt that teaching is a tough job and that teachers and school leaders, particularly in the last few years faced significant challenges. Workload, the political landscape, pay, performance targets, behaviour or pupils and relationships with parents and high stakes accountability form Ofsted are real concerns for those in the teaching profession and frequently, and quite understandably cited as reasons for leaving. But are teachers the only professionals looking to move on? It would seem not.

Career change has become increasingly common in recent years, and not just in education. Across the UK and indeed globally, a traditional “job for life” from school, college or university followed until retirement is no longer the norm and hasn’t been for some time.

In 2022. Open Study College, in a survey of 2000 UK workers found that those aged 25-34 have, on average, already worked in six different roles whilst older adults approaching retirement, had only worked in an average of seven jobs during their entire working life.

The survey found the most common reason behind changing jobs was the desire for a higher wage, followed by moving for better career progression and finding work in a new location. Others also opted to change jobs to either take on a bigger challenge, move to something less stressful, or go somewhere with better training opportunities.

When I was at university, the other career I considered was accountancy, which prompted me to investigate career change statistics for those in this profession. In June 2023, The Account Online published an article stating that over a third of accountants of 250 surveyed were considering leaving the profession in the next 5 years. Reasons cited for planning to leave included poor work life balance, particularly in the 25 to 44 age bracket.  Whilst 90% overall said they enjoy their role, and 56% said they were prompted to want to leave due to spending too much time completing manual tasks.

In 2022, Alight, a major company supporting companies in payroll & HR carried out an “International workforce and wellbeing mindset study”. They surveyed 10,000 UK employees working full or part time in companies with more than 100 employees. Respondents represented multiple age groups, across a broad array of industries and in a variety of work setups (including fully remote, in the office and hybrids of the two). Roughly half of UK employees (49%) said their employee experience “met their expectations” while another 25% say it is below their expectations and only 26% say it exceeded expectations. More than one in (27%) said they dread going to work or starting their workday and only 21% say they are likely to recommend their company as an employer. According to this study, only 35% of UK employees rate their professional or career wellbeing highly and almost three-quarters (71%) reported suffering from moderate to high levels of stress.

Significant figures here showing dissatisfaction and stress evident through these surveys across a variety of industries. No surprise therefore that many are seeking change of career.

Changing Jobs Made Easier

The study by Alight also showed that people were able to start to plan for a future career and that other paths are also emerging for those planning a change. 28% of those polled said they have a “side hustle”, such as an emerging coaching business, sales income or other small money-making enterprise, with 86% saying this side venture is completely different to their current career. One in four of those with a job on the side began doing it to build up additional skills and contacts, which they can then hopefully turn into a job.

A survey of 2,000 professionals by Robert Walters HR found many people are ‘career cushioning’, which refers to someone setting the groundwork to leave a role because of uneasiness about their current position. This survey showed more than a third (37%) of workers are taking steps to look for a new job. When asked what they had done in preparation to move, two thirds (66 %) said they had monitored the job market and almost half (43 per cent) had updated their CVs, while a third (33 %) were actively applying for jobs. The top reasons for preparing to move were: lack of job security (72 %); turbulent economic conditions (55 %); internal changes within their business (45 %); and low job satisfaction (33 %).

The Open College research showed that people were more able to change jobs due to a wide variety of options available to support people switching careers. For example, it is now easier to access training through distance learning, meaning people can retrain and change their career path even while they are already in a full-time role.

So, it seems that there are many changes across careers going on and that this is due to challenging conditions in roles as well as the availability of options to train.

For those going into teaching, options are very varied. These include apprenticeships and other ways to work and be paid during training. Child care costs can also be supported, which is a huge benefit. Financial support in the form of a parent learning allowance & a childcare grant which covers 85% cost and up to £323 for someone with two children.

Transferable Skills

So, in this world where careers include many jobs – what skills do we need? The World Economic forum “Future of Jobs report” May 2023 is a fascinating read. It includes data from 803 companies, collectively employing more than 11.3 million workers across 27 industry clusters and 45 economies from all world regions.

The fastest-growing roles relative to their size today are driven by technology, digitalization, and sustainability. Most of the fastest growing roles are technology related roles with AI and Machine Learning Specialists top the list of fast-growing jobs, followed by Sustainability Specialists, Business Intelligence Analysts and Information Security Analysts. Renewable Energy Engineers, and Solar Energy Installation and System Engineers are relatively fast-growing roles, as economies shift towards renewable energy.

Looking to the future – over the next 10 to 15 years, large-scale job growth is expected in education, agriculture and digital commerce and trade. Jobs in the Education industry are expected to grow by about 10%, leading to 3 million additional jobs for Vocational Education Teachers and University and Higher education Teachers. Jobs for agricultural professionals, especially Agricultural Equipment Operators, are expected to see an increase of around 30%, leading to an additional 3 million jobs. Growth is forecast in approximately 4 million digitally enabled roles, such as E-Commerce Specialists, Digital Transformation Specialists, and Digital Marketing and Strategy Specialists.

As for the skills that will be needed and are values by companies, the top 10 are:

  • Analytical Thinking (a cognitive skill)
  • Creative thinking (another cognitive skill),
  • Resilience (a self-efficacy skill)
  • Flexibility, and agility (self-efficacy skills)
  • motivation and self-awareness (further self-efficacy skills)
  • Curiosity and lifelong learning. (a further self-efficacy skill)
  • Dependability and attention to detail
  • Technological literacy
  • Empathy and active listening and leadership and social influence (attitudes relating to working with others)
  • Quality control.

Quality control is an example of a skill particularly important to a limited cohort of businesses. Interestingly, management skills, engagement skills, technology skills, ethics and physical abilities are generally considered to be less important than cognition, self-efficacy, and working with others. The whole nature of management is said to be changing, with the growth of coaching styles of leadership.

Should I Stay or Should I go?

Know that you are not alone if you are considering a change or job. A career of many jobs is very much the norm. If you’re a deciding what to do, you may want to start by asking if it is possible for you to stay in your current role and to thrive. Are there any changes you can make in your current role, or that you can be supported with that will enable you to return to enjoying it – presuming you once did, and that there was a good reason for your choice to pursue that role in the first place.

How can I stay and thrive?

What would you need to change? How could this be done? If you’re saying its not possible, what might you be assuming? Have a look at the expectations. Are these real or perceived? Are they your own, extremely high expectations? How do you feel about this?

What about boundaries? Could you set some working boundaries if work/life balance is your issue? Key phrases, like “Don’t let Monday steal your Sunday” and looking at your own mindset may help.

Is it time for a Change?

Apart from asking yourself these questions, it can be useful top talk to someone independent, outside work. Someone neutral, so not a family member who will often, through very best intentions give advice that comes from a place of care but may come with some assumptions as well as being as they see you, through their lens. They may see your current role as part of your identity. They may also worry about you.

Someone totally independent, maybe someone you know from a while back or separate to your work. Alternatively, a coach can help you by listening closely to what you are (and maybe aren’t) saying, by noticing any body language and by asking some inciteful questions that will spark deeper thinking and discovery.

Next Steps

The brilliant part of many of our jobs, and this is particularly true of teaching, is that many professionals have such a superb range of transferable skills. Anyone in teaching will, for example, recognise many of the skills listed in the top 10 above in themselves. These are great transferable skills that are learned and enhanced in teaching, making teaching a valuable profession in my opinion, whilst teaching is rewarding in its own sake, bringing a strong sense of purpose, it also provides growth in a vast range of transferrable skills desired by a range of industries.

Finding what you want to do can be exciting and terrifying. Have a think about the type of work you want to do. How much structure do you like? How much responsibility?

Go back and ask, what is your dream job?

Ultimately, you are looking for the balance between four things:

  • What you love and what brings you joy,
  • What the world needs,
  • What you’re good at and
  • what you can earn from.

If a job scores highly in one and not at all in the others, you are unlikely to be satisfied. It can be a trade-off, something very well paid but brings you no joy. Similarly, loving a role but earning little or nothing may not be an option. It can be helpful to decide where you sit with each of these and where you want the balance to be.

Again, that conversation, with yourself and someone who offers no judgement can be helpful.

So, what will you do? Is it time for a change? I’d love to hear from you.