A Norwich teacher who gave up his former career to make the leap into education is encouraging others to follow in his footsteps.
Daniel Meston, a maths teacher at Thorpe St Andrew School, says he has no regrets about leaving his job in financial services in 2012 to pursue a 'rewarding' teaching career.
'Choosing to switch careers wasn't an overnight decision and required some consideration and planning, but it was completely worth it – I've never looked back,' he said.
'There are few careers that can be so meaningful and rewarding as teaching where you can be so integral to shaping the lives of others. When I take the time to reflect on my job it makes me incredibly proud of the work I do each day.'
Mr Meston's testimony comes as a Department for Education (DfE) survey revealed half of people in the East of England (48pc) would choose a new career if they had their time again.
The study, conducted for the department's Get Into Teaching campaign, found almost a third (30pc) of those polled would look for a more fulfilling role, 33pc were seeking a job that would be better for their physical and mental wellbeing, and an equal percentage said they would switch career for a more stable income or better paid role.
Some 41pc of people in the region felt they would make a good teacher, and gave reasons such as being good at explaining things (43pc), enjoying working with young people (34pc) and thinking they could make learning more fun (39pc).
Mr Meston said: 'For anyone considering a career move into teaching, I'd strongly recommend you find out more and take the next step. Your experience from a different field could be exactly what a classroom needs, with the unique opportunity to bring to life subjects and life lessons that impact students well beyond their school years.'
The DfE says that the interest in teaching among those at a 'career crossroads' was highlighted by the number of registrations of interest in teaching from people looking to change their career – in January 2018 almost twice as many potential career movers than students and graduates registered interest (10,952 versus 6,079).
It surveyed more than 3,000 people nationwide for the Get Into Teaching survey.
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