• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Universities.com

Universities.com

Subscribe Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • Careers
    Psychology Clinical Psychology Degree Master in Forensic Psychology Child Psychology Degree Speech Therapy Degree
    Marketing Marketing Degree: Is It Worth It? Digital Marketing Degree Business Marketing Degree Is Marketing a Good Major?
    Criminal Justice Best Forensic Science Universities Criminal Justice Degree Criminology Degree Online Criminal Justice Degree Homeland Security Degree Law Enforcement Degree Forensic Science Degree: Is It Worth It?
    Trade Schools How to Become an Electrician HVAC Certification How to Become a Plumber Electrician Trade School What is a Trade School?
  • Best Universities
    Best Bachelors Universities Legal and Law Art and Design Trades and Careers Human and Social Sciences
  • Rankings
    Best Universities by Major Agriculture Majors Business Majors Computer Technology Majors Education Majors
    Best Universites by State Florida Texas California New York
  • Learn
    10 States with Massive Teacher Shortages 10 Things to Do Your First Week of College Does College Prepare Students for Jobs? How To Become an English Teacher

How To Become a Teacher Later in Life

April 6, 2022 by Jeannine Black

middle-aged teacher with student

The Current State of Teaching

It’s well known that teachers are leaving the classroom in unprecedented numbers. According to a February 2022 National Education Association (NEA) survey, 55 percent of educators across the industry (teachers, along with bus drivers, food service, admin, etc.) are contemplating an early exit from the profession. 

The pandemic complicated and intensified the working lives of an already stressed and stretched teaching community:

  • Working from home while caring for their families for the first year of lockdown
  • Then returning last spring to anxiety-filled classrooms and everchanging demands
  • A revolving door of illness and covering colleagues’ classes when substitutes weren’t available
  • Uncertainty about their own health and safety

This has added up to mental health issues for teachers and students alike. For educators, it’s been an unimaginably challenging couple of years.

Teaching as a Second Career

I found myself at a turning point in life–a ten-year-old at home and divorce on the horizon. So in the summer of 2005, I decided to become a teacher. 

I had worked in business management, marketing, and advertising through the years and knew there would be opportunities in Silicon Valley. But at that point, I had volunteered in enough classrooms to know many dedicated, magical teachers and had seen firsthand the impact of those invested teachers on both the students and their families. This more relational way of being in the world called to me, so I turned my attention to acquiring my teaching credential.

The first thing I needed to do was get into the classroom to see if I had what it takes! I contacted the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and looked through the options for “meeting the basic skills requirements” to work in the classroom. 

I chose to take the CBEST—California Basic Educational Skills Test—and once I passed, got fingerprinted at the local sheriff’s office and had the results sent to the schools where I signed up to substitute teach. 

With a Bachelor’s Degree in English, I knew I wanted to get my single-subject English credential, so I selected four possibilities: 

  • Two public high school districts
  • A public K-8 district (where a single-subject credential is adequate for teaching middle school) 
  • A private all-girls’ high school

Feeling fairly certain one of those would be a fit, I began the search for a nearby teaching credential program. 

Finding The Right Teaching Credential Program

I investigated two online schools and visited my local state university’s teaching program. I learned that online programs move through one course a month and require a local partner to complete the student-teacher requirement. 

I thought this pace would be too intense, so I went with the in-person option, and enrolled in the university’s program, which conveniently offered classes from 4-9pm, supporting the schedules of people teaching on an emergency credential or working as a substitute.

The program took me two academic years to complete, as I was raising my son and working while taking classes in the evening, but it can also be done in one, full-time year. 

-Jeannine Black, high school English teacher

During the time I took my credential courses, I worked as a substitute teacher. This experience had several benefits:

  • Helped me familiarize myself with the various district and school cultures
  • Helped me understand the different student ages I might prefer to teach
  • Gave me the opportunity to develop professional relationships with people who would one day become my colleagues. In fact, I made a friend in my credential classes who has taught English on the same campuses with me for 9 of our 15 years as teachers!

The Post-Covid Teaching Landscape

Covid has produced a new way of seeing ourselves as workers. Working from home, people have had time for self-discovery and, for the first time, people have discovered their basic needs without much social influence, especially their interests beyond work. 

There is a sense that we are our greatest resource, deserving of a balanced life and self-care. It’s no wonder some have decided to leave established careers, including teaching: a job where, on any given day, ten plates are spinning at once:

  • Classroom management
  • Managing absences
  • Planning
  • Grading
  • Meetings
  • Professional development
  • And many more…

As a consequence of the pandemic, teachers have become frontline workers, at odds with the wants and needs of parents, administrators, and the government. As teachers were, in some states, called to return to the classroom before vaccines were available.

So, in this time of career migration, or the “Great Resignation”, teaching is a growth field with the opportunity to influence how the next era of being an educator is shaped. The stressors of the status quo are being addressed in district boardrooms nationwide. 

Who Makes A Great Teacher?

I’ve known many interesting people who came to teaching as a second career—engineers, actors, physicists, writers, corporate executives, artists—and I believe there are some real advantages to teaching later in life. 

For one thing, we have more experience with people, conflict resolution, consensus building, politics, and for many of us, raising our own children. Teaching requires many skills, but it is, before anything else, about relationships:

  • Establishing rapport
  • Communicating clearly
  • Leading and accepting leadership
  • Knowing and admitting our limits

As for the financial question, everyone knows teachers are underpaid, and I won’t dispel that belief, but the lure is retirement. Since starting pay is based on education level + years of service, with stipends for advanced degrees, it’s not rock bottom and only gets better. Looking down the road, though, teachers are fully vested in most state retirement systems after just five years. 

A final benefit? The glorious weeks of summer. It’s not the full three months we once had when school began after Labor Day, but there are usually 8 full weeks of freedom to travel, explore hobbies, walk on the beach, teach summer school, and get some professional development in before we go back and do it all again.

Jeannine Black
Jeannine Black
High School English Teacher | + posts
  • Jeannine Black
    #molongui-disabled-link
    National Teacher Day: 20 Gifts Teachers Actually Want
  • Jeannine Black
    #molongui-disabled-link
    How To Become An English Teacher

Filed Under: Careers, Education

Related Popular Posts

  • Highest Paying MEd Careers in 2022

    Highest Paying MEd Careers in 2022

  • How I Went From Teaching To Being A School Administrator

    How I Went From Teaching To Being A School Administrator

  • Ultimate List of Master’s Degrees in Education

    Ultimate List of Master’s Degrees in Education

Primary Sidebar

Blog Search

Categories

Find Online Schools
Sponsored Content
Universities.com

Established in 1996, Universities.com is the trusted source used by millions of people to make informed decisions about their education. If you’re thinking about a college, university or advancing your degree, then you’re in the right place.

Resources
  • Search Colleges
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Ranking Methodology
Financial Aid
  • Search Scholarships
  • Ultimate Scholarship Guide
  • Scholarship Advice
  • 13 Best Scholarships for Women
Support
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Cookie Settings
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
© 1996-2021 Universities.com. All rights reserved.