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Hi all

Hoping this becomes a useful thread to more than just me.

I'm currently a teacher at a remedial primary school in South Africa, and I've been given notice that my contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the year as they "want someone more experienced".

As a young male teacher with a ton of sporting experience, I get a lot of responses when I hand in my CV at other schools. Problem is, after this year, I'm not sure I want to teach any longer, and am looking at exploring my options outside the classroom. I just don't know that I'm the best person to be teaching these kids.
There's another catch, too - I'm technically deaf, and have to wear hearing aids to hear anything at all, which sometimes kills my chances after the initial responses. I actually had to remove all references to my disability to get interviews the first time I put my CV out after qualifying.

I qualified with a BSocSci (History and Psychology) and then did my Postgraduate Certificate in Education for the intermediate and senior phases (Grades 4-9, or 9-15 year olds). In practice, this means I can teach up to grade 7 as high schools tend to want to hire those who can do from grades 8-12 as opposed to just the first two years of high school. Outside of teaching, though, it's incredibly difficult to get a real handle on what my options are with these qualifications - I've entered every possible search term I could think of to try to narrow down which careers it would open and it's pretty darn vague. Honestly, I think the biggest problem is earning a degree is about equipping you with a set of skills rather than unlocking a particular career path, and it's up to you to figure out how to apply those skills in providing a good or service that's of value to society. Without the capital to start your own business, however, you have to find your niche working for someone else, and fitting your skills to job descriptions really is a frustrating exercise!

One of the things that is a big plus for me in getting teaching jobs is my coaching and refereeing experience in rugby, soccer, and cricket. The first of these codes is one I've actually represented South Africa in - Rugby is my absolute passion, and if I could find a way to make a job of it, I would. I actually sit on the committee for South African Deaf Rugby as the Player Representative, and given the highly amateur nature of Deaf rugby at present, I do a lot of ad hoc work on the social media pages, networking with potential sponsors, public relations and so on. Might open a few more options there.

Teaching is a relatively safe and stable option, even if not the best paying, however. The starting salary is decent and you know there will always be a need for teachers. Taking a hit in salary would be rough, as my wife and I have been building ourselves up from scratch, and we wouldn't last long on our savings in the event that I wasn't earning enough to cover costs whilst looking for the next thing.

So it comes down to this, really - is switching careers a worthwhile thing? And, given the little information I've posted above, are there any likely options I could shift sideways into, at first glance?

Thanks!

I'd definitely try a career change: both my parents are teachers and I've met some other teachers in my time, most older teachers regret not trying different jobs in their time (my Mother in particular says that, if she could go back, she'd have gone into some form of CSI type thing with her BSci in Chemistry). If you don't take this option to try something new you'll regret it for your whole life.

As for what you could go into, that's up to you. Your at a point where you could try something completely different just for a new experience and then, if it doesn't work out, fall back on your teaching options.

Just as a starter question about your education. Are you saying you have a Bachelors of Science in History and a Bachelors of Science in Psychology? Or is "History and Psychology" a specific major?

If it's the former, you might try something down the path of psychology. Either maybe going back to school for a more advanced psychology degree along the lines of being a Therapist or something of that nature, or maybe you could go for something more along the lines of a business degree. Psychology and it's application to personnel management is a big deal nowadays. This would give you opportunities in basically any company's HR department. Even better if you are bilingual with any major languages.

Your being deaf shouldn't be an issue. Especially if you have hearing aids, and as long as they allow you to function within normal parameters it shouldn't be an issue. But like anything of that sort, it shouldn't be broadcast until it's relevant as you've discovered.

Thanks for the responses!

@Grey Templar: I majored in both History and Psychology for the same degree - UKZN required two majors to be taken for undergrad degrees. I did both for 3 years, and actually took some electives in Industrial Psychology as well.

I speak English fluently, with South African Sign Language as my next best language. I can read Afrikaans, but speaking other oral languages is now a bridge too far for me as I can't identify new words with my hearing any more.

As someone who is a trained educator, maybe you can glean some kernel of useful information from my meandering experience:

I bootstrapped myself to university after having spent a few years on the streets/barely surviving between 18 and 22. This was at 28. The education program was a real joke, even though it was from a prestigious university. I found out why. You're not really supposed to learn anything much about teaching from people who haven't taught in more than 10 years in a de facto classroom. Locally, out situation is messed up because there is an absolute glut of teachers and boomers aren't retiring. So young teachers are meant to wait at their parent's house for the phone to ring... a few times at month at first.

I even bought a car to commute to suburbs in order to widen my prospects, but to very little avail. Long story short, I was now 35, 36, and I was looking at a path that would probably grant me tenure around my 50s, because of the field(s) I was in. Everyone wants to teach history. Ethics and Religious Culture classes are being jettisoned and morcelled to fill other teachers' schedules, thereby cutting costs.

It really depends on your age, but I would say, try to pick up a trade as well. Because of your higher education, you could move up the ladder much faster than some who are more limited in their horizons. Any extra education you have to approach with a very critical eye towards ROI. Don't fall into the trap of overspecialisation, like we do here. It' not because you have a post-doc that you'll suddenly get more jobs.

Personally, I consider I was lucky that my wife owned a business and allowed me to work for her. She trained me, I enjoyed it so much that I learned more and more of the trade and was able to create more business opportunity for her.

Thanks for the thoughts, Mathieu. I'm definitely starting to lean towards the idea of a trade, though I worry about the capital needed to do so.

Getting the skills is also difficult even with the cash needed to pay for training, as most technical schools in SA were closed down after the ANC took over in the 90's. We're starting to really feel the effect of that in the current generation of school leavers - youth unemployment is reportedly as high as 50%.



I'm still looking for a job for next year, and I think if I can't get a school position by the end of this month, then finding an alternative is going to take on some serious urgency.

I've started writing for Phonak, the hearing aid manufacturer, which should help ease the bills a bit, though it doesn't cover them completely, not by a long shot. Perhaps the idea of content creation is one to run with, however?

Expect to have long years of hard work ahead of you, but few paths are as rewarding as making it truly on your own as a content creator.

We try to foster as many young artists as we can, but you can see the insecurity in their eyes and you quickly get a feel forthose who'll last and those who won't. And it's hard to quanitfy objectively.

I grew up hearing the platitude of "do what makes you happy." I've come to realize that it's actually "do what will allow you to enjoy things that make you happy."

 Grey Templar wrote:
Just as a starter question about your education. Are you saying you have a Bachelors of Science in History and a Bachelors of Science in Psychology? Or is "History and Psychology" a specific major?

If it's the former, you might try something down the path of psychology. Either maybe going back to school for a more advanced psychology degree along the lines of being a Therapist or something of that nature...

Don't know about South Africa, but worth noting that in most of the world it is brutally, brutally difficult to get work as a psychologist. It's a massively oversubscribed degree track. In the UK, if you don't have a 1st and a very high pass MSc you're never getting into anything clinical and you've little chance of getting anywhere at all without doing more very specific postgraduate courses (in educational psychology or whatever).

EDIT: This is not to say people shouldn't try (plus I don't think anyone should commit to any non-vocational study because it gets them a job, anyway, it should primarily be to learn) but if we're talking about a possible career change because you're not sure you want to continue in another trying to jump into psychology would be very bold indeed.

nfe wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Just as a starter question about your education. Are you saying you have a Bachelors of Science in History and a Bachelors of Science in Psychology? Or is "History and Psychology" a specific major?

If it's the former, you might try something down the path of psychology. Either maybe going back to school for a more advanced psychology degree along the lines of being a Therapist or something of that nature...

Don't know about South Africa, but worth noting that in most of the world it is brutally, brutally difficult to get work as a psychologist. It's a massively oversubscribed degree track. In the UK, if you don't have a 1st and a very high pass MSc you're never getting into anything clinical and you've little chance of getting anywhere at all without doing more very specific postgraduate courses (in educational psychology or whatever).

EDIT: This is not to say people shouldn't try (plus I don't think anyone should commit to any non-vocational study because it gets them a job, anyway, it should primarily be to learn) but if we're talking about a possible career change because you're not sure you want to continue in another trying to jump into psychology would be very bold indeed.

Theres lots of things you can with a psychology degree though, right? Mental Health care and support working, mental health charities, Prisons, Police forces, Social Care. Hell, having a good understanding of mental health could be a advantage in getting a job as a Police Constable, mental health is a big part of what the Police and similar roles (Prisons, Immigration etc) do.

I have a friend who works for the UK Border Agency as an enforcement officer (deportations etc) and he tells me mental health and mental health awareness is a big factor in his role.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:

nfe wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Just as a starter question about your education. Are you saying you have a Bachelors of Science in History and a Bachelors of Science in Psychology? Or is "History and Psychology" a specific major?

If it's the former, you might try something down the path of psychology. Either maybe going back to school for a more advanced psychology degree along the lines of being a Therapist or something of that nature...

Don't know about South Africa, but worth noting that in most of the world it is brutally, brutally difficult to get work as a psychologist. It's a massively oversubscribed degree track. In the UK, if you don't have a 1st and a very high pass MSc you're never getting into anything clinical and you've little chance of getting anywhere at all without doing more very specific postgraduate courses (in educational psychology or whatever).

EDIT: This is not to say people shouldn't try (plus I don't think anyone should commit to any non-vocational study because it gets them a job, anyway, it should primarily be to learn) but if we're talking about a possible career change because you're not sure you want to continue in another trying to jump into psychology would be very bold indeed.

Theres lots of things you can with a psychology degree though, right? Mental Health care and support working, mental health charities, Prisons, Police forces, Social Care. Hell, having a good understanding of mental health could be a advantage in getting a job as a Police Constable, mental health is a big part of what the Police and similar roles (Prisons, Immigration etc) do.

I have a friend who works for the UK Border Agency as an enforcement officer (deportations etc) and he tells me mental health and mental health awareness is a big factor in his role.

Oh certainly it could be useful in a broad range of careers, but I'm not convinced it would be a particular help (over any other degree) in getting into them.

Like a lot of degrees, the value of psychology isn't doing it so much as doing it well. Anyone who gets a good degree at a good university in any subject proves their mental faculties for lots of future careers. They would at English or Philosophy too.

Psychology is more over-subscribed than philosophy or theology. OTOH it's less oversubscribed than English.

If you want to go into civil engineering, neither psychology nor theology nor English is a good preparation. The plus of psychology over the others is that it contains scientific research and maths, which gives the graduate a great set of skills for framing problems, working with data and so on.