How can a great classroom teacher find a geat job not in the classroom?

April 8, 2011 12:52 PM

Where can someone who cares about children, especially those who are disadvantaged orwith special needs find a job outside of the classroom?

A good friend of mine taught special education for many years, but is burned out on working in a classroom. He's 30 years old and the job search is going well, I don't think he wants to join the Coast Guard, but he's looking into it! He does a lot of volunteer work with kids and summer camps and the such and really has a passion for it, he just needs to get paid for!

I've helped other people find jobs, usually it turns out the industry has specific job boards that are great or has "secret codes" so to speak. Keywords that help you find the kind of job you would like.

Kind of as an add on consideration, how do you translate classroom experience into the more social services language? I hope that makes sense.

So how do we go about this? Where do we look? What do search for?

posted by stormygrey to work & money (5 answers total)

Check out the jobs listings for your county and surrounding counties. They may have a listing for a job that is related to your field's field of interest without requiring a MSW or LCSW. I just checked my county and found a listing for a Summer Camp Leader for Adaptive Recreation. The person would be doing age appropriate recreational activities for children with disabilities. This particular example is a summer position, but you never know what you might find.
posted by onhazier at 1:46 PM on April 8, 2011

Would he consider being an admissions consultant for an independent or private school for children with special needs? They have to understand the school and the program and evaluate prospective children and families and see if they are a good fit.
posted by spec80 at 2:27 PM on April 8, 2011

Maybe a professional Scouter? It would be a job that involves kids and teaching skills would be useful. There won't be a ton of work with special need kids but there is still some. From the website you can check for some opening in entry-level jobs in the area.
http://www.scouting.org/Jobs.aspx
posted by Deflagro at 3:13 PM on April 8, 2011

As an example of one alternative path:

My mother was a primary school teacher for most of her life, and got burned out with classroom work. Now she works one-on-one with kids with Specific Learning Disabilities. She had to do about two years of training, but it was part time and she could combine it with work. She travels around schools (the private schools will pay her directly and provide the service to the child for free) and also works with some kids privately at home, where their parents pay. It's not a great deal of money, but she survives and finds it much less stressful than the classroom was.
posted by lollusc at 7:10 PM on April 8, 2011

In AZ, my wife is an autism therapist. She is contracted through a company that is paid by the state. She loves her job and has been doing for years. She has really made a difference with these kids.
posted by gregjunior at 1:21 PM on April 25, 2011