Overwhelmed teachers with unmanageable workloads are ditching the classroom in favour of online learning – making up to £100,000 per year.
With the number of educators abandoning the career reaching a five-year high, according to a report by Think Tank Britain, it is no wonder that employees are seeking alternative routes to realising their dreams.
Two such teachers, Brook Edgar, 29, and Louis Provis, 31, have revealed why they gave up traditional teaching and have embraced video.
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They both work for MyEdSpace, a digital platform aimed at making education more accessible with live stream lessons and tutoring at affordable prices.
Founded two years ago by Sean Hirons and Kharis Yanakidis, the site already has 6,000 users and millions of views across videos on maths, English, chemistry and more.
Educators like Brook and Louis are backing the online platform and it’s easy to see why.
The average starting salary for a teacher in the UK sits around the £30,000 mark but on MyEdSpace, educators can boost their monthly earnings by up to £70,000.
“When I started teaching, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional toll it would have on me,” said Brook, a physics teacher from Ireland.
“I cried a lot during my first few weeks.
“Managing the pupil’s emotions, alongside the stress of trying to remember to print everything, managing bad behaviour in class, and the pressure that impending OFSTED inspections created was just too much.
“I couldn’t even find time to go to the toilet, as I’d always see pupils doing something they shouldn’t be in the corridors and I couldn’t just walk past and ignore it.
“I saw teachers in roles more senior to me, who were consistently working 13 to 14 hours a day, were very stressed, had no work- life balance and I just thought ‘this isn’t for me’.
“I love teaching but the traditional classroom and school environment, coupled with bad behaviour, meant I wasn’t actually teaching a lot of the time.”
Since joining the company, Brook has once again fallen in love with teaching.
She said: “I feel really in tune with MyEdSpace’s ethos of offering high-quality education that is affordable.
“All children should have access to great learning and I like that I’m part of something that is enabling this.
English teacher and former head of sixth form Louis, from Birmingham, has doubled his salary since swapping to live streaming lessons.
The 31-year-old taught over 1,000 pupils in his first four weeks.
Louis, from Birmingham, said: “In my most recent role, I was coming to the top of the pay scale and the only way for me to increase my salary would be to take a leadership position, which would take me out of the classroom more and more.
“I love teaching.
“It’s why I’m in education. It’s incredibly rewarding.
“I was helping my friend create content for his Youtube channel in my spare time, so when I saw the job with MyEdSpace it seemed a perfect fit.
“A teacher streaming online educational content.
“I am without a doubt earning more than I was before. My base salary is just over 50% more with bonus opportunities, too.
“It’s not all about money but it’s quite disheartening to think you’ve nearly reached your top earnings by 31.”
Parents also benefit from the digital education alternative.
The average cost of private tutoring ranges depending on requirements but can be priced at up to £60 per hour, according to Teachers To Your Home.
In comparison, MyEdSpace sessions work out to £5 per hour.
The platform speaks to a generation that was raised on social media by utilising live video streams as its key tool.
At the moment, it offers lessons in English, biology, chemistry, physics and maths with over millions of views on clips so far, with more topics planned for the future.
Students can also engage in real-time conversations through a chat feature during a live stream lesson, asking their tutor questions or discussing lesson content.
The average student sends 20 messages on average per lesson – showcasing a high level of engagement from users.
Teachers are chosen out of hundreds of applicants based on their experience, teaching approach, academic prowess and their ability to engage children through online learning.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to excel,” said Sean, one of the co-founders.
“However, the current education system has many gaps – millions of children are struggling and are disengaged in school.
“Their parents are unsure of how to help children catch up.
“Most of them can’t afford to spend thousands of pounds on personal tutors for their children across the key subjects.”
Co-founder Kharis added: “We didn’t want to create just another online learning resource.
“The education system’s shortcomings demand much more radical thinking.
“We focused on building an online learning platform which doesn’t compromise on quality of education and that talks to children through content and language that they relate to – modelled on the world of online streaming that millions of children enjoy and engage with every day.
“We want to ensure top-tier education is within reach for everyone by offering prices more than 10 times cheaper than traditional tuition.”
