"There are lots of jobs out there for people with the skills that we have as very experienced teachers." 

After 30 years in teaching - working across EYFS, KS1, forest school leadership and running pre-schools - Anne had loved every bit of it: learning new things, supporting others, and being in "the thick of it" in the classroom. But last year, burnout caught up with her, and she found herself asking, "how much longer can I keep going?" For the sake of her own health and wellbeing, she knew this wasn't the right path for her moving forwards.

Now working as a Learning and Participation Officer for a national heritage charity, Anne has swapped exhaustion for early morning walks by the sea, beach meditation, and evenings that finally, actually end. She's letting go of her fixer instinct, learning to sit on her hands, and discovering that things don't have to be hard to work. 

In this episode, we also talk about:

• The surprising range of roles open to EYFS teachers
• Wondering what comes next after decades in teaching
• Why age doesn't rule anything out
• Slowing down to speed up
• Going through it together, not alone
• Learning to put yourself first
• Landing a competitive role in the heritage sector
• Meditation and beach walks as daily non-negotiables
• The variety - and energy - of life in a new role
• Letting go of the overachiever and learning to rest

Links:
Project Management Fundamentals Training

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

"I wouldn’t have known how to even get going.”

After 15 years teaching reception Hannah loved the job but found herself craving a new challenge. Ready for a breath of fresh air, she just didn’t know what that next step might look like.

Now lecturing at a college, Hannah has found a different rhythm entirely. There's room to listen to a podcast and drink a coffee on the drive between placements, colleagues who've come from all kinds of backgrounds rather than just teaching, and a pace of life that finally leaves some space to breathe.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Not knowing where to start
• "Riding the rapids" when considering career change
• Balancing a career move with salary expectations
• Not waiting for the "perfect" moment to leave
• Leaving teaching positively
• Support from bite-sized career change content
• Transferable teacher skills in similar roles
• Subject expertise in a new role
• A varied week: assessing and teaching
• Life as part of the college ecosystem

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

"I can have an impact on hundreds (of children) through the teachers I train and develop." 

After seven years in teaching - including several as Head of Maths - Becca reached a familiar tipping point: a passion that had quietly turned into exhaustion, and a nagging sense there had to be more to life than work. She recognised herself in the "indecision roundabout" from an Academy workshop, and knew that without taking an exit, she'd stay exactly where she was. 

Now working in Learning and Development, Becca has her days back in a way she never expected. With the commute gone and a four-day week, she's got the energy for evenings out and weekends that actually feel like weekends. She's also discovered she can still make a difference to the children she used to teach - just from a different angle, at scale. 

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Using part-time supply teaching to create space to think
• Navigating the grief of leaving a childhood dream job
• Why the CV and LinkedIn training changed everything
• Boosting confidence for interview
• Accessing a new vocabulary through the Project Management Fundamentals training
• Using LinkedIn to catch fast-moving roles
• Trading a reliance on school holidays for genuine work-life balance
• Rediscovering hobbies after teaching
• Staying motivated on the career change journey

Links:
Project Management Fundamentals Training

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

 "It's really hopeful, it's really positive - and it's so much better than teaching."

After 11 years in the same secondary school - training as an RE teacher before moving through humanities and eventually leading PSHE - Rachael hit the burnout so many teachers recognise: slow-building, then impossible to ignore. As a noise-sensitive introvert, she realised the problem wasn't ability, but fit - and that the parts of the job she loved (leadership, communication, managing people) didn't require staying in a classroom.

Now a Suicide Prevention Officer with Papyrus, Rachael has her evenings and weekends back - closing her laptop Friday and not thinking about work until Monday. With control over her own calendar and meaningful work that doesn't consume her, she's found something unexpected: excitement about the week ahead.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• The personality mismatch she didn't see coming in teaching
• How leading PSHE opened the door to a completely different career path
• Turning job hunting into a structured, focused process
• Learning to trust flexibility after years of rigid routine
• Why foundational work - values, finances, a skills audit - speeds everything up
• How the Academy community kept her going through the hardest parts
• An interview that felt right from the start
• The variety that comes with the new role
• Feeling connected in a national organisation ("it doesn't feel like it's as big as it is")

Content warning - this episode discusses suicide prevention as part of Rachael's professional role. Please contact Papyrus for support if you're worried about a young person.

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

After years as a primary class teacher and PE leader, Lauren knew it was time to leave. The decision came down to her health and wellbeing, and stepping away from teaching meant stepping into real uncertainty - trying different things, juggling multiple roles at once, and figuring out what she actually wanted.

Now working with young people as a Programme Manager across the creative industries, Lauren has found a role that gives her everything teaching couldn't - variety, creative thinking, and the feeling that she's finally using her brain in the way she always wanted to.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Navigating a "squiggly" exit from teaching
• Working as a chaperone in TV and film - and what it revealed
• When task-switching gives you energy
• Attending our free summer event before joining the Academy
• Putting theory behind practice with the Project Management Fundamentals course
• Using mindset resources to make the transition well
• Growing in confidence on LinkedIn
• Using the interview booklet to reframe transferable skills
• Early worries - and how they played out
• Highlights from the first year
• Moving from fixed-term to permanent - and what's next

Links:
Project Management Fundamentals Training

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

"Two emotions can exist at the same time. The grief can exist with the relief."

Bex went into teaching straight out of university with her identity firmly attached to it. Quickly finding the environment ‘all-consuming’ and ‘energy depleting’, she spent 12 years in and out of the classroom - always getting pulled back in as she struggled to separate from a career she’d worked so hard for. Following a period of self-reflection, and taking some time to ask who she actually was outside of the job, Bex decided it was time for a new adventure.

Now a Junior L&D Adviser at an accountancy firm, Bex has found something she didn't expect: calm. She works hybrid, has time for yoga, her dog Percy, and the people who matter to her - and with CIPD Level 5 on the horizon, she's excited about what comes next rather than feeling trapped.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Why leaving doesn't mean you've given up
• Getting caught in the "part-time teaching trap" and why it doesn’t work for everyone
• Living for the holidays whilst in teaching
• Finding structure during a career break
• Using LinkedIn to make purposeful connections
• Variety in an L&D role
• Enjoying a less hectic work environment
• Adjusting to desk-based work after years of being on your feet
• Asking the right questions at interview - including the ones that feel scary
• Shifting away from the "job for life" mindset that teaching can instil
• Getting to know yourself

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

"I don't think I would have been out of teaching by now had I not joined.”

After 20 years in the classroom - 13 in secondary and 7 in primary - Steph had reached a point where she was really ready for a change. She felt stuck, and not for the first time; she'd tried to leave eight years earlier and given up, resigning herself to staying put in the classroom. This time, with the right support around her, it was different.

Now a Learning Designer in the civil service, Steph is five months in and already feels like a different person. Her friends have all said it - her confidence is back. With hybrid working, flexi time, and the ability to close the laptop and actually switch off, she's no longer using every holiday day just to recover.

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Community support - and why it makes the difference
• Why it’s not ‘just’ about the CV
• Uncovering your values - and using them to filter your job search
• Translating your teaching experience 
• Targeting roles that value equivalent experience over specific qualifications
• Upskilling opportunities once you're in the role
• What a Learning Designer actually does day-to-day
• Stakeholder management in L&D roles
• “But what about the holidays?”
• Building project management skills
• Changing your environment as the fastest route back to confidence

Links & Resources: 

Project Management Fundamentals

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

"I just think you're not trapped. You have options." 

Kate left teaching after 23 years in the secondary English classroom - not with a plan, but with the certainty that something had to change. Long-term supply work gave her breathing space but not direction, and by the time she found the Adventures After Teaching Academy, she was no longer burnt out, just lost. Having already invested time, money and energy into courses that hadn't moved the needle, she wasn’t sure about joining at first. But hearing others further along the journey made her feel, for the first time, that this is where she needed to be.

Now a Learner Success Coach, Kate spends her days supporting apprentices through deadlines, personal crises and everything in between - all entirely remotely. With control over her own calendar and holidays where she's truly switched off, she's built a working life that actually fits around her family. Losing the subject expert identity was an adjustment, but she's gained something she hadn't had in years - time to read for pleasure, go to the theatre, and follow her own interests again. 

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Supply teaching as your lifeboat
• Why CVs aren't one and done
• The project management course that changed everything
• Feeling in limbo - and the power of seeing others make it out
• Resilience in the career change process
• What an AI-driven interview actually looks like
• The pastoral heart of a Learner Success Coach role
• What genuinely supportive workplace feedback feels like
• Taking time to unpick your identity outside of teaching
• Enjoying flexible working!

Links & Resources: 

Kate’s LinkedIn Profile

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

"Once I'd made that decision, I just felt like a weight had been lifted."

After 13 years in primary education - taking on the roles of phase leader, assistant head, and eventually acting head - Iain hit a wall. The workload became unmanageable, and he was signed off with work-related stress before handing in his notice in May without anything else lined up. Returning to a lovely new school in September, Iain quickly realised that the education system just wasn’t for him anymore and joined the Academy Spring Track in the New Year. 

Now Head of Programmes and Impact at the Hull KR Foundation - the charity arm of a professional rugby league club - Iain is using every skill he built in education, from curriculum design to stakeholder management, in a role that genuinely excites him. The role is just as varied, but with less pressure and more flexibility,  and for the first time in years, he's not counting down the days to half term. 

In this episode, we also talk about:

• Going off sick and navigating what comes next
• Traps we fall into that convince us to stay (when it’s not right for us!)
• Finding a new role that aligns with your values
• How the CV course and interview prep booklet helped at short notice
• Overcoming interview imposter syndrome 
• Picking up new skills quickly 
• Surprising teacher transferables
• Taking ownership of a newly created role
• It’s okay not to want to be in education anymore
• Leaving well

Links & Resources:

Hull KR Foundation

If you're looking for step-by-step support to find and secure a new job or start your own business, check out the Adventures After Teaching Academy which will help you successfully leave the classroom! 

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨

 "I feel like a nicer partner, a nicer mum, a better friend."

After 17 years teaching PE at the same school, Lucy had begun to feel the weight of an environment she describes as an "exams factory" - constantly performing, constantly visible, and increasingly exhausted by the relentless pace. Knowing she had transferable skills but unsure how to package them, she joined the Adventures After Teaching Academy and committed to the process: weekly calls, CV support, and slowly building the confidence to put herself out there.

Now a Project Support Officer working within the Civil Service on the UEFA Euro 2028 tournament, Lucy is thriving in a role that sits perfectly at the intersection of her organisational strengths and her love of sport. With hybrid working, genuine trust from her manager, and the freedom to do the school run, she's rediscovered her energy and is enjoying the balance that comes with a different way of working. 

In this episode, we also talk about:

• The surprising crossovers between teaching and project support
• Hybrid working, flexible hours and being more present with family
• Learning to work without micromanagement
• Fixed-term contracts and the opportunities that follow
• Navigating the Civil Service application process
• Why every setback is still moving you forward
• Accepting the career change journey and remaining committed to the process (whilst also being kind to yourself!)

If you're looking for step-by-step support to find and secure a new job or start your own business, check out the Adventures After Teaching Academy which will help you successfully leave the classroom! 

Wondering what might be next for you? Take the Teacher Career Change Quiz to match your amazing transferable skills with a new job pathway ✨