So you’re thinking of leaving teaching? But what would do as an alternative?

It’s no secret in education circles that being a teacher bears little resemblance to what it was like 20 years ago. The pressures on teachers have certainly never been greater, with shrinking resources, increasing numbers of student behavioural and educational issues and massive emotional pressure. Then there’s the threat of redundancies that hit the headlines recently as schools struggle with shrinking budgets. It’s no surprise that conversations on X (Twitter) often seem to revolve around how long you’ll stay in teaching and what you could do as an alternative.

Have you thought about a MagiKats educational franchise?

With a MagiKats educational franchise you deliver private tuition by way of small, fun (and yes, we really mean fun) workshops. The primary focus is on maths, English and reasoning although you do not have to be a maths or English teacher and the materials tend to benefit all areas of a child’s education. MagiKats provide teaching materials which support the National Curriculum in England and Wales, and the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland, across all ages from 4 to 16.

As the owner of a MagiKats franchise you run your own business, employing mentors to help deliver the private tuition, whilst you manage the sessions (and cherry-pick the teaching you most enjoy doing!).

In addition to the teaching materials, MagiKats also provides you with software, processes and marketing materials and lots of support. It’s a well-established franchise that has won a number of awards and our support ensures you are well prepared for the trickier bits of running your own business.

Why did you go into teaching? 

Most teachers we know joined the profession with a love of working with and inspiring youngsters, helping them to succeed and making a difference. As a teacher you probably also enjoy being in a classroom and being involved in the art of teaching and learning, and the challenges and rewards that this very hands on and relevant profession provides.

At MagiKats our franchisees feel the same. They enjoy teaching and helping the young in their community to reach their full potential. They love seeing what a difference they can make to youngsters who might be struggling to keep up or have confidence issues, or helping a bright child who needs challenging in order to achieve what they’re really capable of.

Why are you leaving classroom teaching?

Sadly, there are so many reasons that seem to be driving teachers away from the professions. From classroom sizes, additional workload, never-ending parent emails, lack of support and resources and not being able to help children who desperately need support are all things that take their toll. And we’ve heard so many teachers say that they’re emotionally and physically exhausted and desperately need to reclaim some work life balance!  

At MagiKats, you are your own boss, so you set your own hours and targets and can work as flexibly around your other commitments as you wish. Our workshop sizes are kept small, and each student gets individual support. In other words, you set the pace, you decide how many students to work with and you decide how many mentors you take on to support you.

Your teaching targets are about helping each child in the area they need help with rather than trying to cram them with what they need to know so that the exam results reflect well on the school. You can even remain in school part time whilst your MagiKats business builds – helping to manage cash flow and take away the financial worry that is often involved when making a big change.

Your transferable skills

As a teacher, you have a number of transferrable skills that include organisational skills, leadership, communication and presenting skills, the ability to explain things, to deal with families and to be flexible. Apart from knowing your subject, you also understand the National Curriculum and things that children struggle with - and that’s just to start! We suspect you are probably highly motivated, want to do well and enjoy new challenges and learning new skills, all of which is great because all these skills will stand you in good stead as a franchise owner.

Is now the right time?

Of course, this is a subjective question because only you know whether now is the right time for you to change course in your career. What we can say is that the demand for private tuition has never been higher and this is unlikely to slow down. The Sutton Trust regularly report on private tuition trends and in 2023, their findings were that 30% of young people aged 11-16 report having had private tutoring, up from 27% pre-pandemic, and the joint highest figure since reporting began when it was 18%.

We don’t need to remind you of the almost constant headlines, like that by Forbes in January 2024, which was entitled, “The Epic Crisis Facing Education In 2024” and which opened with the paragraph “The systemic issues in education are becoming too massive to continue ignoring. Burned-out teachers, embattled administrators, overburdened counsellors and support staff stretched to the breaking point: it’s a recipe for disaster. And it’s catching up with us.”. And whatever you might think of the various different headlines, there seems little doubt that many schools are in crisis, and this is not a problem that is going to be solved any time soon.

If you are interested in finding out more about a MagiKats educational franchise, please get in touch. We have a process we go through that takes a little time (not too long) and can discuss the appropriate time for launching a new educational franchise business. Of course, we can also answer any other questions you might have. So, if you’re thinking of leaving teaching, we might be just the alternative that you’re looking for.