Try teaching

Shortly after Lehman Brothers collapsed in mid-September and the financial world took a decidedly grim turn, the Training and Development Agency (TDA) for Schools set up ad hoc events in Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street and attempted to convince bankers about the joys of teaching. Over 200 people signed up.

"We wanted to move quickly when it became obvious people were facing possible redundancies," says Giles Field of the TDA. "It's not unprecedented for people to move from finance to teaching, but undoubtedly the number of enquiries has increased considerably over the last 12 months."

The TDA reckons it's seen a 13% increase in applications from bankers in the year to September 2008 over the same period last year, and that City types are ideal candidates to take up roles as secondary maths, science or business studies teachers, where there is an ongoing shortage.

This is all very well, but aside from the relative stability the job offers, how would bankers feel exchanging their City salary for the 25k starting salary of a teacher in London?

Keri Doling worked in corporate banking for Lloyds TSB for nine years and gave it up to start her postgraduate certificate in education in September.

"I'm doing it for more altruistic reasons," she says. "Finance is something you go into straight out of university, often under the pressure of parents and peers. Teaching gives me more personal satisfaction than working for a bank and I feel I'm giving something back."

Field says that candidates who make the switch are usually aged between 35 and 45 and that they come from a mix of banking, accountancy or IT departments of investment banks.

Salaries for classroom teachers can rise to 61k for those with 'advanced skills', while a head teacher in inner London can earn up to 107k, according to the TDA. However, the lowest salary for a head teacher is a mere 42k. Pay is worked out on a complex sliding scale based on the individual school and the teacher's experience and level of expertise.