Should You Become A School Principal? How to Plan Your Teaching Career

Teacher training has always been a core part of learning how to be a teacher and, in some ways, it’s a process that’s never finished. After all, curriculums are always changing and with those changes come new approaches, tailored to match the subject matter.

Of course, that’s not to downplay the benefits of experience. Teaching is both a job and a skill and teacher mentoring is incredibly important for ensuring that newer teachers are given the support and training they need.

Today we’d like to talk about your options for planning your career path as a teacher and deciding where you want to go. We’ll talk about how to become a school principal as well as the other options available to those who’d rather stay in a more active teaching role. But first thing’s first, let’s talk about YOU.

What Do You Want From a Teaching Career?

Most people who go into teaching do so because they’re passionate about sharing knowledge. To that end, teaching can be an incredibly fulfilling job role as you get to see your hard work change the lives of young people, often inspiring them to find their own passions in life.

It’s important to remember however that, while your motivations for becoming a teacher might be selfless, your career planning should be anything but. A sense of fulfillment is very important in a career but, long term, it’s not the only thing you should be focusing on.

Put simply, while it’s great to think about what you can bring as a teacher, you should also think about what your career is doing for you. After all, you only get one life.

If you just love sharing knowledge with people then you’ll want to look for ways you can advance without stepping out of the classroom. For some that means shifting into adult education and perhaps even stepping into academia if you’re looking to further specialise in your subject. For others it can mean finding higher paying roles within schools, perhaps even taking on some more managerial duties.

On the other hand, if what you’re really passionate about is making good schools then you may want to look at becoming a school principal.

How to Become a School Principal

For many, becoming a school principal is the pinnacle of their teaching career. As a principal you’re not just responsible for individual classes but for the entire school. 

It’s your job to create an institution that works for everybody and, perhaps most importantly, to ensure that all your teachers have the resources they need. Teacher training and teacher mentoring are a core part of the role and that means bringing broad experiences to the table. On the other hand, a principal also needs to be able to handle management jobs – everything from hiring and firing to handling budgets and ensuring that school events are arranged.

It’s a lot of responsibility and schools are generally looking for someone who can handle that responsibility with the care and diligence required.

So what does all this mean in practice?

If you want to be a school principal, then you’ll want a CV that shows that you’re willing to embrace responsibility and that, when you do so, you get results. Generally speaking this usually means having spent a few years as head of your subject, along with being able to show real world, deliverable results in the form of grade improvements.

With all that in mind, it should be pretty clear that there’s a natural trade off. The closer you get to that top job, the further you get from the classroom. If that’s not for you, then don’t worry – there are other places you can take your career.

There’s More Than One Path to Success

If there’s one thing every teacher should know when starting out their career it’s that school management is just one of many possible directions. For example, if you’re looking to earn more money while staying in the classroom you can always consider making the jump from state school to private schools who are generally willing to pay more for teachers with a proven track record of success.

Alternatively you could become a private tutor, helping to coach both children and adults through their qualifications. Remember that there are lots of adults who choose to go back to education in their own time and you could be there for them.

Last but certainly not least, you could become a teaching mentor with Career Navig8r. As we said at the beginning, teaching is as much a skill as it is a job and there’s a lot you have to learn along the way. From managing classrooms to helping children who are struggling, you could provide a much needed guiding hand to a teacher who’s just starting out.

Sign up today with Career Navig8r to learn more about how you could inspire the next generation of teachers!