From the workshop to the classroom – 4 ways turning from a tradie to a teacher is an excellent career move.
Trades and teaching are 2 noble professions in short supply across Queensland and for those with the desire to make a switch, it's possible to have a career in both.
See below for how a particular tradie has turned to teaching and is playing it smarter not harder with their tools in hand.
Shorter pathways to a degree
Trade certification is a valuable commodity when obtaining a teaching qualification. Many universities will recognise prior learning through on the job experience and formal qualifications that can subtract months and thousands of dollars off the degree process.
Ben McAnulty is a sheet metal worker turned Industrial Design and Technology teacher who completed his studies through Central Queensland University. A number of his bachelor units were recognised for prior learning through his trade, seriously decreasing his timeline to obtaining his degree.
'Taking those units off shortened the degree and was a huge incentive for me,' he said.
'Work allowed me to drop back to part time and I studied externally. Doing full time study and not much else… was hard yakka but worth it.'
Family first – guaranteed work hours
As every tradesperson will attest to, when a job needs to be completed, work takes priority. Often with trades, this involves working away from home, night shifts and extended overtime. This can impact the planning of holidays, availability for family and overall quality of life.
For Ben, it was the consistency of school hours and term holidays aligning with his wife’s schedule that further enticed a shift into teaching.
'I wanted to be able to take camping trips and holidays with my family and the set timeframes allow that,' he said.
Maintaining a healthy body
Tradespeople in the prime of their career set an example as physical specimens of strength and stamina. Often recognisable by the shorts and sock tan lines and calloused palms of a sturdy handshake, it’s a noble and demanding profession. As with athletes, years of lifting, squatting, reaching, hammering, twisting, pulling, holding and turning does take a toll on the body that is hard to maintain and even harder to reverse.
Ben McAnulty made the deliberate decision to step off the job site and utilise the years of trade skills in the classroom to enable a more limber, mobile and painless future with his family.
'Seeing blokes in their 50s whose bodies were pretty taxed, I remember thinking, in 20 years, will I still be able to do this?' he said.
Share the passion
As with working with apprentices on the job-site, a career in teaching for tradespeople is an opportunity to influence and inspire the future generation of skilled workers in those trades. The benefit of reaching the children in the classroom is the ability to share the passion of your trade to students who may not be academically inclined and inspire them in to future career possibilities they may not have realised for themselves. Rather than continue to toil in the workshop and on the job site, Ben now finds joy in empowering the future generation to keep the craft alive.
'Coming from a trade background, we hold the kids to the same expectations in the classroom as the job site. They’re learning disciplines we’d teach our apprentices and setting them up with real certifications they can use when they leave school. It really makes a difference,' said Ben.
If you’re interested in turning your trade into a teaching career, take a look at our
Trade to Teach Internship Program today.