Teachers from industry: 'I stopped finding my old job a challenge'

Until last year, Vivian Pleydell was the manager of a health food shop. Now, at the age of 48, she has decided to switch careers and will start work as a science teacher in a comprehensive school in September.

Ms Pleydell, who has just finished a year's PGCE course training to become a science teacher (she has a degree in biology), will start teaching physics, chemistry and biology at Grays school in Essex next term.

It will be a far cry from her former job as a shop manager with the health food chain,Holland and Barrett – but she relishes the challenge.

"I might have done it earlier but I had three young children and it just wasn't possible financially," she said. "Now they have grown up and they are all in their twenties. That meant I was more able to survive on the £600 a month I got from the Teacher Training Agency while I was training."

One of her daughters became a teacher herself and has been able to pass on tips and advice to her mother.

"She helped me but the university have been very good about it as well," Ms Pleydell said. "I'd thought about it for a couple of years before I took the plunge. Teaching is a lot more stimulating than working with the general public. Children are a lot more fun than the general public."

Most of the students on her course at the University of East London were also aged over 30 and looking for a career change, she said.

"A lot of them had children," she added. "The majority of people were over 30 – so, yes, I suppose there are a lot who think of switching to something like teaching at that age. I was the only one who had been a manager.

"I did quite a lot of soul searching before I made my final decision but I always like things to be a challenge. Having done other things and having lived with children for 20 years, I think it did help me prepare for the job that lies ahead.

"I think I changed because I stopped finding my old job challenging. Teaching is different every day and it is far more challenging. In some ways, the switch is not as difficult as I expected it to be. I've done my practical training and passed and got my certificate and I'm looking forward to the start of the new term."

Which is not something she feels she could have said about her old job.