Should You Leave the Classroom? Questions to Ask Yourself Before Considering New Careers for Teachers
- Sean G. McCormick
- Sep 30
- 8 min read
This article is brought to you by the Special Educator's 10-Minute Transition Toolkit.
Find your niche, run your first session, set your price, and grab a ready-to-use coaching contract. Designed for special educators exploring executive function coaching.
Teaching has long been regarded as one of the most rewarding and most meaningful professions.
As far back as the days of Socrates, who famously said,
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel,”
we’ve recognized the power of teachers to transform lives and ignite passion in the students they teach.
Unfortunately, those flames are beginning to falter.
The National Education Association recently released a survey showing that roughly 55% of all educators in the United States are thinking about leaving the profession sooner than they had expected.
There are disproportionate increases among Black and Hispanic/Latino educators, with 62% and 59% of these groups, respectively, feeling the urge to change careers.
There are plenty of factors behind this sad state, from staff shortages that result in an increased and unbalanced workload to classroom management problems and poor overall compensation.
If you’re a teacher who’s wondering if you should leave the classroom, and if so, what kinds of alternative careers in education exist, then this post is for you.
We’ll tell you when it’s time to consider new careers for teachers and answer the biggest question that’s likely on your mind: “what other jobs can teachers do?”
How Do You Tell if You Should Quit Teaching? 7 Questions to Ask Yourself
Teaching is a calling.
But sometimes, even the most heartfelt callings become too much to bear.
If you’ve found yourself Googling, “Should I quit teaching?" or scrolling Instagram looking for alternatives to the classroom, you’re not alone.
Things like:
rigid schedules
lack of work-life balance
uninspiring day-to-day tasks
can make even the most passionate educators wonder if it’s time for a change.
If you're feeling stuck on this crossroads between duty and passion, let's explore some questions that may help you decide if leaving is right for you.👇
Question 1: How Do You Feel on Sunday Night?
Be honest: does Sunday night fill you with a sense of dread? That telltale knot in your stomach?
If you’ve stopped looking forward to school weeks and view each Monday as a battle to be endured, it’s time to listen to those feelings.
It doesn’t mean teaching isn’t a noble profession.
Rather, it may no longer a good fit for you.
Question 2: Are You Experiencing Physical Problems?
Many of us view burnout as purely a psychological issue, one marked by things like insomnia, anxiety, and depression.
These are all symptoms worth paying attention to, of course, especially if you’ve been dealing with them for a while and can’t attribute them to any factors outside of your teaching career.
However, if you’re also beginning to experience unexplained physical symptoms of burnout, that should be a major red flag that something needs to change.
According to the American Educational Research Association, teachers in the United States are 40% more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety than those in other professions.
In addition to anxiety, teachers often report burnout symptoms like:
appetite changes
weight gain or loss
fatigue
irregular hair loss
If you start noticing any of these signs, to any degree, it may be time to start thinking about other jobs for former teachers.
Question 3: Where Do You See Yourself in 10 or 20 Years?
Do you want to be a teacher forever, or does the idea exhaust you just thinking about it?
If picturing your "future self" doesn’t align with your current career, it’s worth exploring alternate paths.
Life is too precious to spend in a role that doesn’t spark something fulfilling in you.
Good news?
Your teaching skills are incredibly transferable.
From training and development roles to executive function coaching, the skills you’ve crafted in the classroom open doors to countless possibilities.
Question 4: What Does Your Work-Life Balance Look Like?
Newsflash: If you're planning your bathroom breaks and marking 30 essays until 11 PM every night, there’s a good chance your work-life balance has left the chat.
Teaching is notorious for its relentless "always-on" energy, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Careers exist where you can still tap into your passion, connect with others, and have time for yourself.
Question 5: Do You Have a Countdown Calendar for the Next Vacation?
Is the highlight of your year crossing off days until spring break or summer vacation?
Look, tough days are normal in any job, but if the entire year feels like one long race to the edge of a cliff, it’s time to stop and reflect.
Work shouldn’t feel like a punishment with short bouts of freedom sprinkled in.
Question 6: Are You Still Feeling Fired Up, or Just “Blah”?
Here’s the thing about passion versus duty that nobody tells you.
Duty can keep you in a job for years, but passion won’t stop gnawing at you when it’s not being fulfilled.
You've already invested countless hours and years into teaching, but it’s okay if that passion isn’t there anymore.
Thinking about leaving doesn't mean you’ve failed. It just means your passion deserves a new outlet.
Question 7: Why Did You Google This Question in the First Place?
Seriously. What brought you here?
Was it sheer exhaustion?
Frustration?
Financial worries?
Fear of losing yourself in a career that no longer fits?
Whatever your reason for searching, hold onto it.
It’s a clue leading you toward your next chapter.
What Other Jobs Can Teachers Do?
After going through the questions above, you may have settled on a decision:
teaching is no longer the right fit for you.
And that’s okay!
If you’re ready to leave the profession, but aren’t ready to quit work entirely, you still have plenty of other options at your disposal.
As a teacher, you likely possess countless transferable skills like
communication
problem-solving
teamwork
critical thinking
organization
and so on...
These skills lend themselves nicely to other career paths.
The world truly is your oyster, but here are a few options you may want to consider as you make the switch. 👇
Staying in the School, but Not as a Teacher
Like working with students, but not in the classroom?
If you’re tired of making lesson plans and dealing with classroom behaviors, you may want to consider an internal move.
While you will likely need to upskill by gaining additional training (or even another college degree), you might want to consider options like becoming a:
school and career counselor
instructional coordinator
administrator
substitute teacher
For some of these, you may experience a decline in pay, but it may be worth it if you’re able to find a career that you view as more rewarding or engaging in some other way.
Freelancing
Want to work for yourself?
For many teachers, the drive to leave the teaching profession comes not out of a lack of passion for working with students or developing curriculum, but the rigidity of a school schedule.
In that case, you may want to think about what other talents you have that could be transferable to other fields.
For instance, if you’re a strong writer, you could pursue a freelance writing career.
If you still want to teach, you could work as an online tutor.
Or you could even moonlight as an event planner or life coach!
If you decide to go down this route, spend some time thinking carefully about your skills, likes, and dislikes to help you find the ideal fit.
Curriculum Writing
As a curriculum writer, you’ll spend your days writing, implementing, and evaluating content taught in classrooms around the school districts you serve.
You could do this in a freelance setting or work for a company like McGraw Hill or Pearson.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to limit yourself just to the K-12 curriculum, either.
In this role, you could write curricula for adult education courses, vocational programs, or even college classes.
Executive Function Coaching
If you’re still struggling to find a good fit, and the questions about leaving teaching hit a little too close to home, there’s one other occupation that likely rises to the top:
Executive function coaching.
Leaving the classroom doesn’t have to mean abandoning your purpose entirely.
A passion for teaching can and often does evolve, and one way to channel that fire into a career that's more personally meaningful and productive for you is by becoming an executive function coach (EF coach).
One EFCA graduate, Alison Eber, taught for 15 years in the classroom before transitioning to starting her own executive function coaching business that has grown into a thriving practice that now includes group coaching, workshops, and a team of coaches serving over 40 students.
EF coaching is an emerging field that allows you to help individuals (students and adults alike) develop critical life skills like planning, focus, and organization.
The best part? It offers the flexibility and earning potential that teaching so often lacks.
In our 2025 industry report based on EFCA Graduates of the certification program, we found that EF coaches make an average monthly income of $2,000 - $4,000 per month, with top coaches earning $10,000+ per month.
Here are a few reasons why executive function coaching is one of the best jobs for former teachers:
Flexibility: Work your own hours, from wherever you want.
Control Over Your Work: Choose your clients and tailor your services to your strengths.
Strong Earning Potential: Many EF coaches earn significantly more than their teaching salaries.
Impactful Work: You still get to help people thrive, minus the bureaucracy.
Not sure where to start? Consider our 10-minute transition toolkit to help you get started.
It’s a quick, no-strings-attached resource for understanding what EF coaching is and how you can get started.
Then, if you’re ready and serious to build your profitable EF coaching business, you can get EF Coach certified in our certification program where you’ll learn how to find clients, structure sessions, launch your practice, and more!
The Bottom Line
Figuring out whether to leave teaching is rarely a black-and-white decision. It’s messy, stressful, and emotional.
Here are the 7 questions to ask yourself when considering leaving teaching:
How Do You Feel on Sunday Night?
Are You Experiencing Physical Problems?
Where Do You See Yourself in 10 or 20 Years?
What Does Your Work-Life Balance Look Like?
Do You Have a Countdown Calendar for the Next Vacation?
Are You Still Feeling Fired Up, or Just “Blah”?
Why Did You Google This Question in the First Place?
Hope this helps! 🤙🏻
This article is a part of the larger category of:
Related Articles:
Want support in transitioning from teaching to Executive Function Coaching?
Consider joining hundreds of educators and professionals who have completed our executive function coaching certification and are building profitable executive function coaching practices using their teaching experience.
You'll gain all the tools, templates, and techniques you'll need as a coach, plus you'll make new friends and have a community you can rely on to grow and learn. Learn more.
Here is one of our favorite reviews. You can read all recent reviews on this page.
About Me
Hey! I'm Sean 👋
I'm a former public school special education teacher who realized that executive function skills are more important than knowing when George Washington crossed the Potomac.
Since then, I've made it my mission to teach anyone who will listen about how to develop these key life skills.
In 2020, I founded Executive Function Specialists to ensure all students with ADHD and Autism have access to high-quality online executive function coaching services. We offer online EF coaching and courses to help students and families.
Realizing I could only reach so many people through coaching, in 2021 I started the Executive Function Coaching Academy which trains schools, educators, and individuals to learn the key strategies to improve executive function skills for students.
In 2023, I co-founded of UpSkill Specialists, to provide neurodivergent adults with high-quality executive function coaching services.
When not pursuing my passions through work, I love spending time with my family, getting exercise, and expanding my brain through reading. You can connect with me on LinkedIn.