4 Great Paying Second Careers for Teachers

Teachers have many marketable skills: communication, leadership, organization, patience, and creativity. If you’re struggling with classroom burn-out, retiring, or simply looking for a change, you can leverage your teaching skills and expertise in a lucrative second career. Here are four well-paying careers perfect for experienced teachers.

School Administration

Image via Flickr by Northern Ireland Executive

Not ready to leave the school system, but need a change (and a raise)? Consider upgrading with an online Master’s in Educational Leadership and take on an administrative role. School administrators are empowered to affect change in how schools work. If you want to create a high-performing school, close achievement gaps, and improve communication with constituencies, this is the perfect role for you. School administrators earn, on average, $15,000 to $40,000 more per year than teachers do.

Museum Curator

Image via Flickr by Monica Arellano-Ongpin

If your post-secondary education included studying history, art, or paleontology, you’re well suited for a career as a museum curator or museum collection manager. These roles involve managing art and artifacts, supervising exchange or loan programs, participating in research, and designing the museum’s educational programs. Additionally, teachers’ public speaking skills are essential to successfully fundraise for the museum.

Most curators and managers earn more than $50,000, but salaries soar to around $85,000 for some museum curators holding a master’s or PhD.

Educational Publishing

Image via Flickr by John Liu

Teachers are de facto textbook experts and ideally suited for various roles in educational publishing. If you want to change the face of textbooks in your subject of expertise, consider becoming a textbook author or editor. These roles include creating content, improving existing content, quality control, fact checking, and pitching ideas for new products and materials. Having a strong foundation in English is a significant asset. Author and editing jobs in educational publishing tend to pay about $55,000 per year.

If you have the gift of gab and know how to communicate passion, consider working on the marketing and sales side of academic publishing. These jobs often pay more than $55,000 or offer commission-based compensation.

Private Tutor

Image via Flickr by Tulane Public Relations

If you’ve longed for the time and opportunity to teach students one-on-one, you’ll love being a tutor. Parents and tutoring companies look for teachers with a knack for helping the most discouraged students become confident learners. Tutors can choose to work for a private firm or an online tutoring organization, or they can pursue self-employment.

Online tutoring is a growing industry and organizations often recruit experienced teachers to tutor via Skype. This is a perfect option for retired teachers looking to earn extra income while maintaining a flexible working schedule.

The most in-demand subjects are reading, writing, math, and English as a second language. Tutors are generally required to help students with assigned content, design individualized learning strategies, and develop tutoring material. While tutoring pays about the same as teaching or a little less, it offers a solid income for part-time or post-retirement work.

Don’t sell yourself short. The skills that make you a great teacher are the same skills that will make you successful in your next career.

Tags: careers

Category: Featured, Student News