Change of career?

Hi, please bear with me as this may end up being a little long winded...

I went to university in 2010 and did a year studying History and Politics, I was unable to return for my second year as there was no space in halls for anyone other than first years and I was unable to afford to rent anywhere with such short notice as I had just finished my temp job. I moved back home and started an ILEX Law course which is something I had also been interested in. I have completed my second year of this and have been working at a Solicitors for three years now with a recent move into a different department. For the last two and a half years it has kind of been dawning on me that I really don't want to be doing this job forever. Although it's great if you are seriously into it, I'm just not convinced that I can be stuck in an office for the rest of my life.

I have always been very interested in History and I keep coming back to the idea of being a History teacher. It has always been something I have considered and over the last couple of years it has developed into something I know I would love to do.

My problem is that I am now renting a flat with my long term boyfriend, we have pets, bills and a car all of which I need to ensure I can continue to cover my half of the cost of no matter what I am doing. Ideally I would be happy to apply to go full time at my local university and quit my job, but a student loan wouldn't cover all of my outgoings, I could get a part time job but even then it's a bit dicey.

I have looked into the Open University which is a possibility as I could continue to earn whilst I study, the only pitfall of this that I can see is the PGCE. This is a year where I wouldn't be earning unless I had a part time job and again I don't know if it would be enough.

I have seen careers advisors but they don't seem to help only tell me what I already know, I assume it isn't impossible as lots of people have a change in career and if I'm going to do it, I want to do it before it's too late, I'm only 24 at the moment but I do feel as though time is getting on.

I am wondering if anyone has done anything similar and how they have got on? Do they know anyone who has? Is it possible? Etc... Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

greenbeans123

Hi Stephiejane. There are routes to earning whilst qualifying as a teacher such as the School Direct Salaried. These places are few and far between when compared to unsalaried, and obviously competition for them is high. Schools tend to choose people they know for these coveted places (e.g. if you've worked as a HLTA or unqualified teacher/instructor for them previously).

I'd been out of Uni and earning for about a decade when I decided to take my PGCE. I did what so many have done and moved back in with my parents. I couldn't have afforded it otherwise as it's really hard (some say almost impossible) to do even a part-time role whilst doing PGCE.

You can also look at what extra bursaries are available...due to having extensive subject-related experience I got a bursary that gave me an extra £9k which was useful. I only found out about this/received it after a term though.

Change of career?

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