For many people, the thought of a career change remains just that – a fleeting thought. But for Philip, it became an all-consuming idea he couldn’t forget.
He had a well-paid corporate job with a major energy company, where he’d worked for 14 years, and on the surface everything looked great. “But it didn’t offer me any sort of satisfaction at all,” he says. “Then I had my own children and they started to learn to read, and that feeling, when your children start to learn things, is a great feeling. I thought: ‘What would it be like if I was doing this with more than two children?’ That really sparked something for me – I couldn’t stop that thought.”
Philip quit his comfortable job for the unknown, with the aim of becoming a primary school teacher – something his parents had tipped him for years earlier. “Right after I passed my teacher training [a one-year School Direct teacher training programme], my mum and dad both said: ‘We saw you becoming a teacher when you were very young,’” he says. “It just took me a little bit longer than most!”
He and his wife – who was working full-time for the energy company he’d recently left – successfully juggled childcare alongside his teacher training, allowing him to graduate at the age of 40. The switch from doing a job he knew well to starting afresh was a shock. “It was hard, but it’s the same as any new thing you take up, to begin with you know you’re not going to be able to do it very well. But the more you learn, the more you refine your craft.”
With 32 children in his class, lessons can prove challenging. “I dealt with lots of demands in my old job – there was a huge daily pressure to be successful. But teaching pressures are different – there are lots of plates to try and spin at the same time. I had a child whose dog died the other week - those are the unexpected things that get thrown in and you’re like: ‘OK, I need to keep an eye on you for the next few days.’”
But there are significant benefits, he says. “The feeling when kids understand things – sometimes for the first time – is incredible. Sometimes it’s a handful of kids who ‘get it’ in that moment, sometimes it’s all 32 of them! And that’s an amazing feeling, it’s worth more than any salary.”
The ongoing pandemic was a challenge that his fellow teachers rose to, he says. “The majority of teachers at my school hand- delivered letters to every child in their class between March and June. They said things like: ‘I miss you, hope you’re getting on well at home and I’m here if you want to call or email me.’ We all took precautions and wore masks and gloves – I think I hand-delivered about 25 letters over two days, which was a 10-mile walk.”
As for teaching during lockdown, he says: “We set up an online platform with Google Classroom and set work for the children to complete, but there was no pressure because obviously some families were going through very difficult times.”
Understandably, there has been an outpouring of appreciation in recent months for the work teachers do. “I think a big thing this year that’s hit home is the respect parents now have for teachers, having had children at home since March.
“I think maybe parents took for granted how much we do – it’s not just helping children read, write and learn maths, it’s the whole social element and pastoral care. I’ve had so many letters of thanks.”
Parents are not the only ones to have noticed the life-changing impact teaching can have. “My career change inspired my wife and she started her own teacher training in September,” Philip says.
“I honestly think it’s a career that rewards you on a daily basis. Sometimes one child will say something and that’s what makes you want to get up the next day and get to school as quickly as you can. That’s how I feel now – literally every day, I want to go to school as quickly as I can because I love it.”
To find out more visit: getintoteaching.education.gov.uk or call the Get Into Teaching line on 0800 389 2500
This advertiser content was paid for by the UK government. All together is a government-backed initiative tasked with informing the UK about the Covid-19 pandemic. For more information, visit gov.uk/coronavirus
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