Why So Hard?

It's been interesting returning to education after some years in business. The prevalent messages from government suggest that the profession is crying out for experienced staff to return. However, this process is extremely difficult.

Previously, I have worked at Head of Department level for some 15 years of my 20 plus teaching career before moving into local authority and, ultimately, independent teaching and learning consultancy. I built a business around this consultancy with a number of colleagues. Eventually the company diversified to such an extent that it moved away from my core skills and experience. This led me to seek to return to education.

I now do a mixture of part-time teaching and consultancy. However, it has taken over 18 months to get to a position where I am able to make anything like a reasonable living. I chose the supply route to get back into teaching. In spite of the fact that I had delivering consultancy up to a few years before my return, agencies I approached said that education consultancy did not count as teaching experience. Given that I hadn't been in a teaching position for some years, they did not consider me as fully qualified and I would have to undertake some refresher training. I found this rather disconcerting given that I'd spent many recent years training, mentoring and coaching teachers . I initially looked into  refresher training but, contrary to what media adverts suggest, the TDA offers nothing unless you are in a high demand subject like science or IT. Other options require you to take the independent route and pay for a course.

Eventually, I found  couple of agencies that would take me without retraining. This has enabled me to build up a network of schools keen to use my services as a cover teacher, and, interestingly, to be headhunted by other agencies. At the same time, I have been able to lay the foundations of an independent consultancy. After nearly two years, it looks like I will finally be able to apply my skills fully and also make a reasonable living. I am sure that many others confronted with a similar challenge may simply have felt the effort required to get back in simply not worth it and their skills and expertise lost to the profession.