How Do You Choose Your Next Career After Teaching?
What else could I do?
Would I even be good at it?
What if I make the wrong choice?
If you’ve been having that same conversation with yourself on repeat, you’re not alone.
You’ve reached the point where something needs to change. Teaching, once your passion, now feels more like an uphill battle.
But every time you try to picture your next step, your mind goes blank.
You start to wonder:
Should I stay in education but take a different role?
Could I even succeed in a completely different sector?
Is it too late to start something entirely new?
The lack of clarity is paralysing. You open job boards, skim through roles, and close them again because nothing feels like a perfect fit. You tell yourself you’ll “come back to it later,” but later never seems to arrive. Weeks turn into months. The school year rolls on.
In the meantime, the weight of the decision hangs over you. Sunday nights become heavier. You notice your patience thinning with colleagues, with students, even with loved ones at home.
And still, the question remains unanswered.
That’s the trap: without career clarity, you can’t make a confident decision and without a decision, you stay exactly where you are, even if it’s draining you. Even if you know that it is damaging your health, your wellbeing and your lifestyle.
The longer this cycle continues, the harder it becomes to imagine any alternative.
Not because there aren’t opportunities out there, but because your energy and confidence are being chipped away bit by bit.
...And yet, deep down, you know that if you could just see a clear, realistic path forward, you’d have the courage to take it!
Why Career Clarity Is the Missing Link for Most Teachers
The evidence is becoming increasingly more clear that teacher working conditions are instrumental in poor mental health and wellbeing.
· A staggering 50% of teachers report experiencing at least one symptom of burnout “all the time” this school year (Education Support)
· 78% of teachers and 84% of school leaders report feeling stressed (thosewhocan.org).
· A government survey revealed that 94% of teachers considering leaving cited workload as a key factor (Gov.uk)
· In one school-based survey: 62% were working evenings, 55% on weekends, and 75% said they couldn’t switch off from work at home (National Education Union).
It stands to reason that workload is the primary reason why so many teachers and education workers are leaving the profession.
The uncertainty around “what’s next” isn’t just a personal struggle - it’s widespread across the people in the educational sector as a whole.
Recent reports show that:
48% of teachers have considered changing jobs within the past month, and 34% have thought about leaving education entirely (Teachers Pay Teachers survey, via K12 Dive).
A 2024 Pew Research study found that 3 in 10 teachers were actively looking for a new job during the school year, with 40% considering careers outside education altogether (Parents.com).
But here’s the real sticking point: my own research, surveying over 100 teachers shows that a lack of clarity around the next step is the single biggest reason 3 out of 4 teachers don’t move forward. Even when they know they want to leave, they get stuck in limbo because they can’t decide which direction to take.
And the longer you stay in that limbo, the harder it becomes to make a move at all. Confidence erodes. Energy drains. Burnout deepens. Before you know it, another term, or another year has passed, and you’re still in the same place, wondering if it’s too late.
My Story
When I was in that exact position, I told myself, “I’ll just wait until it becomes obvious.”
Spoiler: it didn’t.
I kept pushing through, convincing myself I could last “just one more term” or “just one more year.” But each time I did, the exhaustion deepened. My mental health took a serious hit. I wasn’t sleeping properly. I was crying in the car before work. The joy I’d once felt in the classroom had been replaced by constant pressure, self-doubt and a feeling of being stuck.
By the time I finally left, I had no plan. No clear direction. Just a desperate need to escape.
And while the relief of leaving was real, so was the fear. I had to figure everything out from scratch, in survival mode, which made the process far more stressful and slower than it needed to be.
That’s partly why I help others now. I don’t want teachers to leave it so late that burnout forces them out before they’re ready. I know firsthand how different it feels when you have a strategy and achievable actions to guide you.
Instead of waking up one morning thinking, “I can’t do this anymore,” and handing in your notice without a plan, you can map out your next chapter while you’re still in your role, giving yourself the space, time and confidence to make a smooth, supported transition.
The Freedom That Comes With Knowing Your Next Step
Imagine replacing all the guesswork with a shortlist of careers that actually excite you, roles you know you’d thrive in, because they align with your strengths, values, and priorities.
You wouldn’t be scrolling endlessly through job boards, hoping something “feels right.” Instead, you’d know which opportunities are worth pursuing and which to let go.
Instead of feeling trapped between “stay” and “go,” you’d have a clear direction and a step-by-step plan to get there. You could focus your energy on preparing for the right opportunities, building the right connections and developing the skills that matter most for your chosen path.
The uncertainty would be replaced with a quiet confidence, not because you can predict the future, but because you’ve taken control of it. Every action you take would feel purposeful. And with that clarity, the decision to move forward would no longer feel risky… it would feel like the natural next step.
How to Exit the Classroom with Confidence
That’s exactly why I created How to Exit the Classroom with Confidence, a free eBook to help teachers like you gain career clarity. Inside, you’ll learn how to:
Uncover your most valuable transferable skills
Match those skills to career paths that align with your strengths
Narrow your options so you can move forward with confidence
Next Steps
Don’t spend another term stuck in “what if” thinking. Download your free copy today and take the first step towards a clear, exciting next chapter.
