Jobs for Former Teachers: 8 Roles, BLS Pay, Remote Options

2026年11月10日

For teachers in the US

The jobs for former teachers that use the most of what you already do are corporate trainer, training and development manager, instructional coordinator, technical writer, human resources specialist and, if you stay close to schools, principal, counselor or librarian; according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, several of these had a higher median pay in May 2025 than the $72,040 median for high school teachers. A seventh path is less common: leading an education company yourself.

This guide is for US public and private school teachers, in any grade, looking at work outside the classroom. Pay figures come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook; turnover figures from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

In this article

What teachers who leave actually do
Jobs for former teachers: the table
Jobs for former teachers outside of education
Jobs for former teachers that pay well
Remote jobs for former teachers
How to make the move, in six steps
One more option: lead an education company
Questions and answers

What teachers who leave actually do

The NCES Teacher Follow-up Survey tracked the same teachers from the 2020–21 school year into 2021–22. Among public school teachers, 84% stayed at the same school, 8% moved to a different school, and 8% left the profession. NCES reports that this split was not measurably different from 2012–13. Among private school teachers, 12% left.

The more useful number for a career decision is where leavers went. In the same survey, 39% of public school teachers who left the classroom were working in K–12 education in a role other than classroom teaching. About 12% were working in an occupation outside education, including the military. The most common move is sideways within education.

8%of public school teachers left teaching between 2020–21 and 2021–22

12%of private school teachers left teaching in the same period

39%of public school leavers worked in K–12 in a non-classroom role

About 12%of public school leavers worked outside education

Source: NCES, Teacher Follow-up Survey 2021–22 (press release of December 13, 2023, and the Condition of Education indicator “Teacher Turnover: Stayers, Movers, and Leavers”).

Why schools struggle to replace them is a separate topic, covered in our article on the global teacher shortage.

Jobs for former teachers: the table

The table lists jobs whose BLS profiles we opened and read for this article. Pay is the national median annual wage for May 2025; yours will depend on state, employer and experience. For comparison, BLS gives a May 2025 median of $72,040 for high school teachers and $63,820 for kindergarten and elementary school teachers.

Job	What carries over from teaching	BLS median pay (May 2025)	Remote possibility
Training and development specialist	Planning lessons, running a room of adults, checking whether people actually learned	$69,280	Sometimes; BLS notes employers value virtual learning skills, and some roles travel to training sites
Training and development manager	Leading a program, budgeting time, coaching other trainers	$133,000	Depends on employer; usually requires 5+ years of related experience
Instructional coordinator	Curriculum design, observing teachers, using assessment data	$77,440	Mostly school- or district-based; online roles exist with some employers
Technical writer	Explaining complex things in plain steps, writing clear instructions	$90,390	Possible; BLS notes some technical writers freelance by assignment
Human resources specialist	Talking with families, handling sensitive conversations, record keeping	$75,940	Depends on employer
Elementary, middle or high school principal	Everything you know about schools, plus leading adults	$105,870	Rarely; the job is on site
School or career counselor	Knowing students, listening, guiding choices about the next grade or college	$64,330	Mostly on site in schools
Librarian or library media specialist	Research skills, reading instruction, working with every grade	$68,270	Mostly on site

Pay: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, median annual wage, May 2025. The “remote possibility” column is a plain description, not a BLS statistic; BLS profiles do not give a remote-work rate. Always check the actual job posting.

Jobs for former teachers outside of education

A man in his thirties with a laptop and a thick binder of documents highlights pages at a kitchen table in an American home (illustrative image) — Most career changes start at a kitchen table: reading job descriptions closely and matching them, line by line, to what you already do in class. (Illustrative image)

Three of the jobs in the table sit mainly outside schools: training and development, technical writing and human resources. All three reward a teacher’s core skill: getting people to actually learn.

Corporate training

Training and development specialists plan and run programs that build employees’ skills. BLS lists education among the degree fields that lead to the job, and projects 11% growth from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the 3% average for all occupations. Leading professional development for colleagues is strong resume evidence.

Instructional design

Many job ads, especially at companies and online learning providers, use the title “instructional designer.” The work overlaps with the BLS training specialist and instructional coordinator profiles.

Technical writing and HR

Technical writers had a May 2025 median of $90,390, but BLS projects only 1% growth to 2035, so competition is real. A portfolio of three or four short how-to documents usually matters more than a teaching credential. Human resources specialists ($75,940) use the people side of teaching.

Jobs for former teachers that pay well

The table sorts the same BLS jobs by median pay and adds what you typically need to get in. Higher pay usually means a graduate degree or years of related experience.

Job	Median pay (May 2025)	Typical entry education	Related experience	Projected growth 2025–35
Training and development manager	$133,000	Bachelor’s degree	5 years or more	6%
School principal	$105,870	Master’s degree	5 years or more (teaching)	0%
Technical writer	$90,390	Bachelor’s degree	Less than 5 years	1%
Instructional coordinator	$77,440	Master’s degree	5 years or more (teaching or instructional leadership)	2%
Human resources specialist	$75,940	Bachelor’s degree	None listed	6%
Training and development specialist	$69,280	Bachelor’s degree	Less than 5 years	11%

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook profiles, opened November 2026. “Related experience” summarizes the BLS “work experience in a related occupation” field where one is given.

A practical reading of this table. The quickest move with a pay rise is rarely the highest line. For many teachers it is training and development specialist now, with a realistic path to training and development manager after five years. A principal’s salary is higher, but most states require a school administrator license for public school principals, which usually means a master’s degree, an exam and a background check. BLS notes that private school principals do not need a state-issued license; for that route, see how to start a private school in the US.

Remote jobs for former teachers

No official source gives a remote-job share for these roles, so treat promises of “100% remote” with care. Remote or hybrid work is most common in roles that already happen on a screen: online training, course design, writing and some HR work. Principal, counselor and librarian roles are mostly on site.

Before you apply to a remote role, check the posting against this list:

Does the posting say remote, hybrid or on site, and in which states the employer can hire? Many remote employers only hire in certain states.
Is the pay stated, or at least a range? Is it hourly, salaried or per project?
Is it employment or a contract? As a contractor you handle your own taxes and benefits.
Does anyone ask you to pay a fee, buy a starter kit or share bank details before an offer? Walk away.

Thinking less about a new job and more about building something?

NIJIN is looking for one person in the United States to start and lead NIJIN Academy US, as both business head and principal. Teaching experience is not required. You can start on a service contract, alongside your current work, without investing money.

See the Country Head role in the US

How to make the move, in six steps

A woman in her forties reviews printed state rules and a budget at a desk beside a bright window (illustrative image) — A good career move is planned like a good unit: clear goal, known requirements, a budget, and a few checkpoints along the way. (Illustrative image)

Pick two target jobs, not ten. Choose from the tables above, based on what you enjoy most in teaching: designing, explaining, coaching or leading.
Translate your experience into their words. “Taught 150 students a year” becomes “designed and delivered training for 150 learners.” “Parent conferences” becomes “stakeholder communication.”
Collect evidence. A short training deck you built, a unit plan, a guide you wrote for new staff.
Talk to people who made the move. Ask what the first year was like and which skills they lacked.
Fill one real gap. A certificate, a software skill or a graduate course, only if the job postings you want actually ask for it.
Time your exit. Check your contract, your district’s resignation deadlines and your state retirement system rules before you give notice.

For local help, the US Department of Labor’s network of American Job Centers offers employment services in about 2,300 locations, listed in its CareerOneStop finder.

One more option: lead an education company

Two co-founders, a man in his fifties and a woman in her thirties, discuss a written business plan at a round table in a bright shared office (illustrative image) — Leading a school is a team job: someone who knows children and someone who can run the numbers, often in the same person. (Illustrative image)

Every job above is inside someone else’s organization. Some teachers want the opposite: to build the school they wished existed for students who did not fit. That is a founder’s job.

NIJIN Academy is an alternative school in Japan for elementary and junior high school students who do not fit conventional school; many had stopped attending altogether. It opened in September 2023 and is run by NIJIN Inc., founded by Tatsuro Hoshino, who taught at a public elementary school for seven years before leaving to build it. Children join from home through a metaverse campus, take small, discussion-based live online classes, and can also visit physical classrooms.

1,000+children enrolled since September 2023 (cumulative)

52physical classrooms across Japan

About 100live online classes a month

400+students who have graduated or returned to school

Figures are those published by NIJIN.

NIJIN is now looking for a Country Head for the United States: one person who starts and leads NIJIN Academy US as both its business head and its principal. NIJIN Academy is not a franchise; you do not buy a model and pay fees for it.

	Changing jobs	Starting a school alone	Leading NIJIN Academy US
Who decides	Your employer	You	You, working with NIJIN in Japan
Pay	Salary	What is left after costs	As a guide, 10% of revenue (excluding tax); none if there is no revenue
Money you put in	None	Usually your own savings or loans	Optional. Investment is one option, not a requirement
Can you start alongside your current job?	Rarely	Only part-time at first	Yes, on a service contract
Program and online classes	Built by the employer	Built by you	Draws on NIJIN’s model running in Japan since 2023

You can start without leaving your classroom. The Country Head role can begin on a service contract, as a side job alongside your current work. You can decide later whether to become a co-owner of a local company, for example with 20% of the shares for you and 80% for NIJIN; if you invest, the guide is JPY 1 to 2 million from you and JPY 4 to 8 million from NIJIN, agreed together. Either way the compensation guide is the same.

Compensation, as a guide: 10% of revenue excluding tax. JPY 100 million of revenue gives JPY 10 million; JPY 200 million gives JPY 20 million; at JPY 500 million or more the cap is JPY 50 million. These rows show how the formula works. They are not a forecast or a promise of income. If you pay someone to do part of the job, that comes out of your 10%. Every other term is to be discussed in the interview.

Teachers already do much of this job: earning parents’ trust and noticing the child who is quietly falling behind. The role adds the business side: finding families, hiring a team and keeping revenue above costs. For how country-level roles like this are usually paid, see country manager in education: the role and three pay models.

Questions and answers

What are the best jobs for former teachers outside of education?

Among the jobs we checked with BLS, the closest fits are corporate training, technical writing and human resources. Training roles use the most of what teachers do every day.

What jobs for former teachers pay well?

Training and development manager ($133,000) and school principal ($105,870) had the highest medians, but both usually require five or more years of related experience, and public school principals in most states need an administrator license.

Are there remote jobs for former teachers?

Yes, mostly in online training, course design, writing and some HR roles. No official statistic gives a remote share, so use the checklist above on each posting.

What about jobs for former teachers in Texas?

The same occupations exist in Texas, with pay that differs from the national medians. If your goal is to run a school rather than join one, Texas has specific routes for small private schools and learning communities, covered in our guide on how to start a microschool in Texas.

How do I find jobs for former teachers near me?

Start with your own district’s non-classroom openings, since that is where many leavers go. For other jobs, the Department of Labor’s American Job Centers offer free employment services, and the CareerOneStop finder lists the nearest one.

Is the NIJIN Country Head role a job or a business?

It is closer to a business. You lead NIJIN Academy US, and your compensation, as a guide, is 10% of its revenue, with nothing guaranteed. You can start on a service contract alongside your current work, and investment is optional. Location, timing and other terms are to be discussed in the interview.

Do I have to quit teaching to apply?

No. Applying does not require you to leave your school, and the role can start on a service contract as a side job. Check your own district or school contract for rules on outside work.

Build the school you wished existed

NIJIN is looking for one person to start and lead NIJIN Academy in the United States, as business head and principal. You can begin on a service contract alongside your current work. Read the role, and apply if it fits.

See the Country Head role in the US

Where to go next

Sources

Pay figures are BLS medians for May 2025; turnover figures are from the NCES 2021–22 Teacher Follow-up Survey. Please check the originals for later updates.