From high-school teacher to learning designer

Where he was

Tom taught biology at a public high school for twelve years. He loved the classroom and was worn out by everything around it: the marking at midnight, the class sizes, the summers spent planning instead of resting. He’d started to dread August the way some people dread Sunday nights.

He knew teachers moved into instructional design. He didn’t know how, and every job post seemed to want “corporate experience” he didn’t have.

The call

Tom booked in late August, a week before term started. He’d already decided to teach one more year, so we planned around that: a career change that fit inside evenings and one weekend morning a fortnight.

What we worked on

The first job was translation. “Differentiated instruction for 32 students” became “designed learning for mixed-ability audiences at scale”. His unit on genetics, with its pre-tests, activities and assessments, became a case study with before-and-after scores.

We picked one tool to learn properly rather than five badly. He built two short e-learning modules over the autumn: one on lab safety and one onboarding course for a fictional coffee company, so hiring managers could see him work outside a school.

We also practiced the question every former teacher gets: “Why are you leaving education?” His first answer was an apology. By December it was a plan.

The move

He accepted an offer from a healthcare training company in December and started after winter break, with the school’s blessing. He designs onboarding courses for clinic staff, which, he points out, is still teaching biology, just to adults with more coffee.

What was harder than expected

Saying no to his old principal, who offered him a department head role to stay. It was a genuine promotion, and turning it down felt ungrateful. We spent most of one session on it. He kept the relationship and still helps the school with its science fair.