Can anyone tell me how to transition from an attorney law firm job to teaching?

[Anonymous]

How long did it take? Did you need to go back to school? If so, which programs and/or certifications would you recommend? What about job security? What was the salary like? Was it easy to find jobs? Do you enjoy it?

[Anonymous]

If you want to be a private school or charter school teacher you might not need to go back to school. If you want to be a public school teacher, yes, you need a teaching degree (either traditional program or a fast track program). You are probably looking at 2 years of full time school at night. In terms of certification for public, the ones most likely to land you a job are the following: special education, Spanish bilingual, math or science. You can look up salaries online, but for someone with a new teaching degree, they'll put you at a BS year 1 (they won't count your law degree as it has nothing to do with teaching in most public schools), so maybe 45K a year to start? Job security is not what it used to be and if you aren't good, they will fire you at year's end. I've seen 4 teachers fired for low performance, including tenured teachers, in the last 3 years. It was not easy to find a job, but I love teaching very, very much. I do put in 60 hour work weeks, but I don't mind. I used to do 70-75 so 60 feels like a good compromise. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Can you make 60k? The job really isn’t a joy... I work in private and there are no consequences anymore. Parents are entitled as are the kids and make demands and complaints all the time. Admin is at the mercy of full pay/big donor families. You have to be willing to play the game to last.

[Anonymous]

Go shadow a teache for a day and then reconsider teaching. Do you need the money or do you have a spouse with a high paying job? If you don't need the money, it is better to be a private school teacher. Discipline problems including vaping in class are out of control in public schools right now. There are often no real consequences if a student cusses at you, physically fights with another student in class, etc.

[Anonymous]

We are in APs and so many of the teachers my kids have had do teaching as a second career. Lots of former accountants and lawyers.
You can do a two year teaching program and the second year you will be student teaching. So it’s a year out of a paying job from what I’ve heard.

[Anonymous]

Hello and ignore the tired and burned-out!

Teaching is a wonderful job. You will work very hard and reap very big rewards (none of them financial). Contact your closest university and see what it would take to get a Master's in Education, once you've identified what type of teaching you'd like to do and where you'd like to do it:
Elementary School? Middle School? High School? Private school, Public school, International School? Special Education? Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages? Specialist Teaching (art, music, physical education....)
Can you work AND go to school?
Is there a career-switcher program at your local university?

A couple of links which may be helpful to you:
https://work.chron.com/become-teacher-after-being-attorney-19250.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/12108040/Lawyer-to-teacher-Meet-the-career-changers.html
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=191946
https://www.teacher.org/how-to-become/

Best of luck to you! You can make a real difference and investment in the future!

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

This is a huge jump. Make sure you really want to do this. Take the reality check. Go online and check out the entry level pay for the public school systems around you. It likely will mean a significant pay decrease for you. Private schools generally pay a lot less than public but the benefits of private school can be a better work environment and fewer work days so those are benefits that aren't to be overlooked. I am a career switcher. I began at private school and now teach in public school. I am glad I made the jump but even after almost 20 years I am making less than 1/2 of what I was making before I made the move and the job has gotten a lot more difficult.

You need an extended period of subbing to help you determine if you're cut out for the job. Go online and check out the sub requirements for your local public school system. Apply and jump through the hoops to be accepted. Being approved as a sub doesn't mean you automatically get calls so don't worry that the approval process will mean you get called immediately. Get approved, this takes a few weeks because you need the background check, etc., then pick out 2-3 weeks minimum when you can sub. Do not choose at times like the first two weeks of December. Yes, it may work well for your work schedule but you want to be subbing when the teaching is real and the schedule is stable, not chopped up with a ton of enrichment concerts and such. You want to choose a time like the end of January through March/April when the schedule is stable and we're all hard at work getting through the curriculum in anticipation of state testing. May/June are also probably not good because of state testing. When you're subbing, talk to the teachers around you so you get a feel for what the job entails and whether it will be a good fit for you.

If you are interested in teaching in public school, then test the waters in middle school and high school. It likely will be very difficult for you to get certified in elementary for public school so you want to be subbing in the grade levels you most likely will be able to get certified for.

Teaching is not for the faint-hearted and despite your passion for it you need to take off the rose-colored glasses and take a good hard look at the profession before you make the jump. At my school we have had some former attorneys cycle through. In general they had a tough time because they were rigid, wanted to work in a silo, and basically did not play well with others. I don't know if we just got bad eggs or if these are traits common to your current profession but think hard about what you're doing. Are you flexible? Will you take criticism personally or will you let things roll off your back? Can you multi-task? Can you work with a wide range of people, from veteran teachers to newbies just out of school to high maintenance parents or absent parents, and be respectful to all of them? Are you collaborative? Will you accept input from others?

Finally, there are some good career switcher programs around. Take a look and talk to the programs to get a feel for what you will need to do from their perspective. Get your transcripts mailed to you and have them evaluated by the DOE for your state (you will need to tell the state what you want to teach). The career switcher programs can help with this. Good luck.