What Does The Data Say About Teachers Over 50?
According to data the UK teaching workforce is getting progressively younger. In 2010 there were 122,000 teachers over the age of 50 representing 22% of teachers but since then there has been a 5% decrease. There have been attempts to reverse this trend; the charity Now Teach have helped to generate an uptick in the proportion of teachers who are over 50. Unfortunately it was recently announced that government funding for their programme has been withdrawn. What is clear is that more teachers over 50 are leaving the profession rather than retiring from it!
When we compare the UK teacher workforce to that of the rest of Europe there is marked reduction in teachers over 50. In fact the UK has one of the lowest proportions of teachers aged 50 or over. This is a disappointing trend as many teachers in this cohort have fantastic skills and a bank of experience that would make them extremely valuable to schools.
What Is Happening To The UK’s Over 50’s Workforce?
There has been an increase in inactivity from both men and women over 50 a trend the government and major employers are keen to reverse. There is now new impetus for organisations to harness the opportunity presented by longer life expectancies by recruiting career changers in their 50s. The way we currently live is not designed for people with a 100 year life span and as time goes on the well established pathway of education – single career and retirement is starting to crumble. Lynda Gratton’s bestselling book ‘The 100 Year Life’ suggests that the future of work will be made up of people following plural careers, with their skills and not their job titles becoming their unique identifiers. This change is born out in statistics.
The employment rate gap between people aged 35 and 49 years and 50 to 64 years, has significantly decreased driven by an increase in the employment rate for those aged 50 to 64. At present there is no defined blueprint to follow and we are calling on major employers to develop ways to retain, retrain and recruit people in this age bracket.
5 Reasons Why Career Change In Your 50s Can Work
As An Over 50’s Teacher, You Present An Opportunity
People over 50 often possess a wealth of skills and knowledge that businesses struggle to find. Your experience means that the contributions you could make can be essential to the success of a business. In many sectors, there is a skills gap which exacerbates the challenges faced by employers. Therefore businesses are waking up to the potential of harnessing the power of the over-50s because you present an untapped opportunity to boost productivity and benefit the economy.
Don’t forget you are agile with valuable experience and experience counts. You have developed a huge number of soft skills as a teacher honed through years of working in high pressure environments with a diverse range of stakeholders and people from different backgrounds. Your people skills will be second to none and the experiences you have banked give you a pragmatic perspective on challenging situations. The fact that you have worked for a long period in education means that you have been very responsive to change and therefore be confident that a career shift is something that you can pull off at this stage in your working life.
You Can Find Fulfillment & Follow Your Passions As A Teacher Over 50
This is the time in your life when you can start to focus on the things that really matter to you. It can be hard to figure out what to do next. However, research does indicate that as people age the importance of their own personal values being encompassed in their work becomes paramount. As a teacher, you have an innate desire to help others to benefit society and perhaps you may feel a calling to charity work or alternatively your desire to learn new skills may be a driving force. There are now growing calls for companies to offer retraining packages for workers in their 50’s a point born out by the fact that one third of the UK’s workforce is made up of this age bracket.
You Can Hunt For Increased Flexibility
One of the primary reasons for changing career in your 50s is to carve out more flexibility and get more equilibrium between work and life outside of it. Teaching is a hard and complex job built around an extremely rigid school term and timetable. This lack of flexibility can become a problem for teachers in their 50s who are looking for more variation. Finding work that offers more flexibility even if it is lower paid can enable you to find better balance in life.
Flexible working arrangements are very important for people over 50. At present 32% of UK workers over the age of 50 work in part-time positions and 12.9% actively use flexitime. A Department for Work and Pensions survey in 2015 found that flexible working is the number one workplace factor that people aged 50 and over say would help them to work for longer.
You Can Renew Your Motivation & Energy
If you have been in the same job for many years then you may be looking to expand your experiences. The possibility to build on your portfolio of skills may present you with new levels of ambition and a feeling of rejuvenation. Many of you who use our platform are ambitious and want the chance to develop new skills. A survey by Osborne and Clark showed that 69% of 50 years olds felt optimistic about learning new skills and 62% were ambitious and wanted to better themselves. So the prospect of learning is an exciting and important proposition. Continuing to work can also make an important contribution to your health and wellbeing providing you with a sense of self worth and the opportunity for continued socialising. Remember that teaching is a people orientated profession and the need to be part of a community may still be important to you.
How Recruitment Is Changing For Those Over 50
Unfortunately, age bias is felt by 36% of 50 -70 year olds as a disadvantage when applying for jobs. But slowly organisations are starting to actively diversify their workforces by adopting inclusive hiring practices to appeal to older candidates and tackle the issue of ageism head on.
How To Identify Jobs Advertised By Age Friendly Companies.
Although it is not always explicitly referenced in adverts there are some things to look out for when it comes spotting age friendly employers
- The role offers flexible and part-time options.
By clearly advertising flexibility it makes it easier for elderly people to apply. This also increases the number of women that apply.
- Full and part-time salaries are listed in the advert.
- Benefits packages are clearly referenced
- Use of certain phrases in the job specification
Words like ‘knowledgeable’ are more age friendly than ‘innovative’ or ‘pioneering.’
- A focus on skills and behaviours or using applicant tracking systems like Applied that focus on skills based anonymous hiring.
- Transparency when it comes to the application process.
- Providing of contact details for enquiries.
So older workers can ask questions before the interview stage.
- Clear reference that candidates can ask for adjustments to the interview process
Overall although career change in your 50’s can seem like a daunting prospect there are options out there. And as more and more organisations wake up to the huge potential of this demographic, the opportunities for remaining economically active will increase.
Further Reading
If you are thinking about a career change, some of our previous blogs have valuable insights:
Changing careers after teaching is not quitting; it’s about embracing change and personal growth. Your skills, experiences, and passions can lead you to new and exciting opportunities. Read more in: Thinking Of Quitting Teaching? Why It Could Be An Exciting New Beginning
If you are facing the prospect of redundancy, this blog addresses your rights: School Redundancies – Why does it happen and what are your rights?
Flexible working can be an attractive proposition after full-time teaching: Flexible Working in Schools & Other Industries
Supply teaching is another option that can give you a better work/life balance: Supply Teaching
We are here to help you, if you need more tailored advice and support, please email us with your phone number and a convenient time for us to call you. info@didteach.com
