Are you an Alberta teacher ready for a career pivot?
By Elizabeth Bowker, a teacher since 1992
October 30, 2025.
This is for the teachers, especially the Alberta teachers who this week were handed some pretty hard news. It’s a difficult and very important job you have. It’s made more difficult when your work is not valued, whatever the reason. And more difficult still when your classes are large and the needs of your students are varied and complex.
I was among the very many public-school teachers who left within the first five years. I wanted more creative autonomy and I worried that I couldn’t support my two sons alone on a teacher’s salary. I’m still a teacher but I never went back to the public schools. I also didn’t have a plan when I left and I caused myself a great deal of stress as a result.
The stats are varied, but in their totality they are clear: many of you want to make a switch to something new. Teaching is a calling and this can make it difficult to imagine doing anything else, but if you’ve had enough, I promise you, you have options.
This is how we change careers:
· Dream a little or a lot, exercise your Career Imagination. Maybe this is the time for a bigger shift. If the sky were at its bluest, what would you be doing? What would be fulfilling? Is this the time to start your own business, try the corporate sector or teach overseas?
o Think wide. Look outside your current world. Look at things you like and then consider the jobs associated with that thing.
o If you can dream it, you can achieve some version of that dream in truth, dreams are not just for other people.
o Dream about the private sector and dream about working for yourself. If this is the time for change, you can embrace it.
· Identify your skills. As a teacher you have a lot of transferable skills (see below). Be generous with yourself when you list them, you can do a lot of things and you’ve got a great deal of practice doing them.
o Also consider what you’ve learned at home and in the community, and things you’ve learned informally or on your own.
· Upskill to fill your gaps. In 2025 employers are having trouble finding people with people and communication skills, critical and creative thinking and tech skills. As a skilled teacher, you definitely have some of these skills in abundance.
· Exercise your social network. Talk to the people you know, and to the people you don’t know. Let them know you’re looking for work. Ask each one for at least one other contact and one place that might be hiring. Also ask them what they think you’d be good at and listen carefully to what they suggest.
o 70% of jobs are never posted, and as many as 80% of jobs come about through someone you know.
· Remind yourself what you’re good at. It’s your strengths that will get you where you’re going. Don’t worry about the other stuff, it won’t help you.
· Make a plan. Be persistent. Adapt. It can take some time to forge a new career but if you have a good plan and stick with it, you will get where you’re going.
You have a lot of transferable skills
As a teacher you use so many skills. It’s part of why your job is such a challenging one. You can take this list and add to it with specificity or nuance, and make it your own. Consider the things you do at work, but also what you’ve learned at home and in the community, and things you’ve learned informally or on your own. Here are some things you can probably do better than a lot of people who’ve never captivated a classroom:
· Creative thinking
· Critical thinking
· Communication
· Conflict resolution
· Project management
· Event management
· People management
· Collaboration and team work
· Emotional intelligence
· Public speaking
Some teacher-type jobs to consider:
You can do most things if you really want to and are willing to retrain or upskill. This is a list of things that typically suit teachers transitioning to something new.
· You can change it up, still teaching but in a different place:
o International schools – this can be fun and you will often be teaching motivated and interesting students. Usually, you can take your own children with you and enroll them in the school.
o Vocational schools – the Canadian government wants to expand trades training but they need more teachers (and more suitable classrooms). Check wages, benefits and hours. You might make less (or maybe more!), but have more flexibility and more time off for a side hustle or a rest.
· You can stay in the same place, but in a different role: librarian, curriculum specialist, counsellor, administration. These roles might require some upskilling, but you may find it worth the effort.
· Consider taking your transferable skills and trying the private sector. Small businesses are more likely to have a culture you can get behind.
· Teachers often transition in to roles as a corporate trainer, project manager, realtor, stakeholder engagement specialist, event manager, university staff and many more besides.
· You can take your hobby, side-hustle or latent skills and turn it in to a business, making yourself an entrepreneur in the process. You might add to your side-hustle with some coaching, tutoring or something else to make a living. See my post on holding multiple jobs.
Ways to learn more:
· Join us for our live zoom event at noon on November 12 (sign up here) with two sister teachers who’ve variously taught in:
o Public schools
o Private schools
o University and college
o International schools
o Prison schools
o As well as corporate training, stakeholder engagement and more besides.
Bring your colleagues and friends. We’ll be discussing various options for teachers, answering your questions and encouraging you to connect with other teachers thinking of making a change.
· Visit our blog on various career change topics.
· Sign up for our video series on career changes, its launching in mid-November and includes our workbook.
· Purchase one of our two books:
o A Playbook for Reinventing Your Career in a World That Won’t Stand Still
o The Career Imagination Workbook: a companion to A Playbook for Reinventing Your Career in a World That Won’t Stand Still
If this is helpful to you, please share it with others who might also need a little help shifting to something that is going to be the change they need. And please comment below on a change you’ve made or are thinking of making.