I have worked on the outside of the education system for 8 years now. When I left full time teaching I started working with schools providing courses and advice about their use of ICT in subject teaching.

Providing professional development for teachers in this area is much needed- there is much to do and schools move only slowly, a few teachers in the fast stream with many preferring to teach in ways that they know and feel comfortable with.

In the UK schools are organised into county areas and education services, together with professional development, are often provided by the local authority. The independent provider has to work with and around the local authority services and sometimes it can be tough to get work.

So, if teaching was what you did, and now you provide services to schools and teachers, you have to learn new skills and marketing gets to be an important issue. Learning to market one’s services is where I am now at. Getting into gear is what I have to do.