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Many of us have that one teacher who made a particularly positive impact on our lives – who inspired and encouraged us, helping us to discover our passions. For 55-year-old Sylvia McCoy from Northeast London, that person was her maths teacher, Mrs Goodman.
“She was the one who really pushed me,” Sylvia says. “She even helped me through my English O-Level.”
Mrs Goodman had such an influence on Sylvia that even after three decades – and a fulfilling career as an engineering manager – Sylvia still remembered her former teacher when she was considering a career change.
“I thought, if I could do [what she did for me] for somebody else, that would be so fulfilling,” Sylvia explains.
So, last year, Sylvia began her training with the help of Now Teach, a professional network for career changers moving into teaching. We caught up with her to hear about her journey so far.
“I’d always wanted to go into teaching [...] so, I thought, why don’t I just do it?”
For 30 years, Sylvia worked as an engineer for Ford, who recruited her out of university. And her time there involved plenty of variety. As well as travelling around the world (working in Portugal and Brazil), the mother of three took on many roles – from designing electric radios to marketing and managing money.
But tragically, in 2017, Sylvia was widowed. “At which point,” she says, “my daughter was going through her GCSEs, one of my sons was going into his, and I had a nine-year-old. I was trying to manage a family and a full-time job, which meant [things like] doing grocery shopping at two o’clock in the morning.”
Needing to free up more time to focus on her family, Sylvia took early retirement by applying for a redundancy package in 2019, which was accepted. But over the coming years, as her two eldest left for university, she began thinking about her next steps.
First, Sylvia tried purchasing and renovating property. But while this proved lucrative, it didn’t offer her the stimulation she was looking for. “It just didn’t do it for me,” she explains. “There was no real mental engagement there.” So, instead, she considered the possibility of turning a lifelong dream into a reality and becoming a maths teacher.
She says, “I’d always wanted to go into teaching but could never really justify it from a financial perspective. But now, I was retired and financially stable – so, I thought, why don’t I just do it?”
“Now Teach normalised the fact that I was 55 and applying to become a teacher”
Unfortunately, Sylvia’s first steps into the world of teaching weren’t very smooth. After logging on to the government website to apply for her teacher training, she was confronted with pages of information and no real way to navigate through. “I just couldn’t get any traction,” she says. “I tried to apply to several courses, but it was like stabbing around in the dark.”
Soon afterwards, however, Sylvia saw an advert for Now Teach on Instagram and joined one of their webinars, where she registered her details. The next day, someone from their team got in touch.
Sylvia explains, “I told Now Teach everything I’d been through on the government website, and they said, ‘Yeah, we can help you with that.’ It’s just so nice to have someone solve a problem for you. They spelt out all the different ways you could get into teaching and laid the different options out clearly. I was a little bit lost, and they held my hand through it.”
Now Teach is a charity that supports career changers moving into teaching. They offer guidance and connect them with schools, universities, training providers, and a strong professional network.
“I’m not blowing my own trumpet, but I’ve got two degrees, done internal auditing, and raised a family of three almost single-handedly, but that government website stumped me. It really did. And I think if I hadn’t stumbled across Now Teach, I would’ve turned away. It was just too hard.”
Sylvia continues, “Above all, Now Teach normalised the fact that I was 55 and applying to become a teacher. Not even normalised – they made it seem better than normal. They helped me feel like I was actually bringing something to the table. As in: you must do this because you have all this experience. You must pass it on.”
“I thought, wow, if this is it, I’m in!”
Sylvia is currently undertaking her postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE), a qualification that combines academic learning with in-school practice. She says, “My first experience in the classroom as a teacher was fantastic. It’s hard work, I’m not going to lie, but it’s really fulfilling.”
Reflecting on one of her favourite memories so far, Sylvia tells us about one class from her first school placement.
She says, “I was teaching simultaneous equations, and some of the kids had their heads down on the desk, not wanting to listen – not engaging or writing in their books.”
Once class was over, Sylvia held the students behind and explained that their behaviour was unacceptable. “I just spelt it out as a parent would,” she says. But a few months later, when it was time for her to move on to her next placement, the students presented her with a special surprise.
Sylvia says, “I got a pile of cards, and some were handwritten letters from those same boys. They said, ‘Miss, we’re so sorry if we upset you at the start. We didn’t know what we were missing out on.’
“They really poured their hearts into those cards. I’ve kept them in a special folder and put them aside because they mean the absolute world to me. I thought, wow, if this is it, I’m in! It was such a pull at the heartstrings.”
“Knowing that I’m pouring knowledge back into my community makes such a difference”
As she nears the end of her teacher training, Sylvia looks back on her journey so far. And while the path to becoming a teacher has been rewarding and satisfying, it hasn’t been without challenges. One of these, she says, is the mental load, especially after her career break.
“It’s a bit like going to the gym, isn’t it?” she says. “It hurts at first, but when you see the benefits, the pain gets forgotten. But the intensity of trying to juggle university and school with normal life has been challenging.”
However, the rewards have far outweighed the hurdles. For Sylvia, one of the most gratifying aspects is that she’s not teaching out of necessity but a genuine desire to give back to her community.
She says, “It’s nice to have the feeling that I’m doing something I don’t have to – but want to. And knowing that I’m pouring knowledge back into my community makes such a difference. Because even though I’ve travelled around the world, the school I’ve just accepted a job at is next door to the hospital I was born in.”
And for any later-life change careers out there, Sylvia has this to say…
“This is the profession for you because you’re at the peak of your cognitive abilities. You can apply everything you’ve picked up on your life journey to teaching now. The skills you might have learned as a parent and the technical skills you’ve acquired in your trade have grown and developed. So now is the time to apply them.
“But don’t do it alone; find someone at Now Teach to help. They gave me a little more self-belief and just made it possible. They said that age is just a number in this context, and actually, yours is a bloody good one!”
To find out more about becoming a teacher in later life, take a look at our career change guide. And you can learn more about Now Teach and what they can offer you by using the button below.
Are you interested in becoming a teacher? Or have you already taken the leap? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.