What Jobs in Education Aren’t Teaching? Overlooked Roles That Support Kids Every Day
The middle school gym smelled like burnt popcorn and old rubber bleachers last month at 8th grade career night, and Lila, my daughter, was dragging her sneakers behind me, staring at the cracked screen of her phone. We’d already stopped at the high school math teacher booth and the local university’s elementary education recruiter table, and she’d mumbled the same thing each time: I like helping kids, but I don’t want to stand in front of 25 people every day. I don’t want to grade papers until 10pm every night. I don’t want to do that.
I get it. Lila has social anxiety that makes large group talks feel like a punishment, and she’d rather sort books than give a presentation to a room full of people. But I also realized, as we walked between folding tables covered in half-sheet flyers, that almost every education-focused booth at the fair was for people who wanted to be classroom teachers. No one was talking about all the other education jobs that let you work with kids every day without leading a whole class.
We almost walked past the student support services table before a woman with gray braids and a bowl of mini Snickers waved us over. Her name was Carla, and she was a school occupational therapist for the district. When Lila repeated her line about liking kids but not wanting to teach, Carla laughed and pushed the bowl of candy closer. “That’s exactly why I do this job,” she said.
Carla works 1:1 and with small groups of kids across three elementary schools, and most days she never has to stand in front of a whole class. She helps first graders learn to hold pencils and tie their shoes. She creates sensory break plans for kids who get overwhelmed by the noise of the lunch room, adjusting desks or giving kids fidget tools that help them stay calm. Last month, she spent three weeks working with a kindergartener who refused to come to school because his uniform shirt felt too scratchy; together they found a soft undershirt that worked, and the kid started showing up every day. Carla leaves her work at the office most nights, she said, no grading papers at the kitchen table. That alone was enough to make Lila lean in and take notes.
After that night, I started counting all the people I know who work in education and aren’t classroom teachers, and I was surprised how long the list got. There’s Mr. Torres, my son’s elementary school librarian, who doesn’t just check out books. He runs an after-school graphic novel club for kids who hate assigned reading, helps teachers track down diverse books for their units, and teaches 5th graders how to fact-check sources for their science fair projects. He gets to interact with every kid in the school, and the only grading he does is the occasional rubric for the school’s annual poetry contest.
My friend Jake used to be a 3rd grade teacher, burnt out after 7 years of managing behavior and covering extra classes when a colleague called out. He now works as a curriculum designer for the state, building structured reading lessons for districts that work for kids with dyslexia. He never leads a full class, but every lesson he writes gets used by thousands of kids across the state. He still gets to problem solve for kids who struggle to read, but he doesn’t take work home on the weekends, and his salary is higher than it was when he taught.
My sister-in-law Sam is an accessibility coordinator for our local intermediate school district, a job most people have never even heard of. Her whole job is making sure every part of school works for kids with disabilities. That means getting audio versions of textbooks for kids with low vision, making sure playgrounds and field trip locations have ramps for kids who use wheelchairs, and training teachers on how to use screen reading software for their lessons. Last year, she worked with a 10th grader with social anxiety to create a quiet exit plan for all his classes, so he can leave when he feels overwhelmed without drawing attention or getting marked absent. No whole-class teaching required.
For parents or caregivers who have kids that love working with kids but don’t fit the classroom teacher mold, the biggest mistake you can make is only pushing teaching as an option. The practical thing to do is simple: next time you’re at your kid’s school, ask the non-teaching staff what their job actually entails, and see if they’d be open to a 15-minute chat with your kid. Most people are thrilled to talk about their work, because almost no one ever asks them. If you’re a current teacher thinking about leaving the classroom but don’t want to leave education entirely, check your district’s internal job board first. Districts almost always prioritize current employees for these roles, and your classroom experience makes you a far stronger candidate than someone who’s never worked in schools.
Lila went home that night and added accessibility coordinator to the list of options she’s researching for her 8th grade career project. We’re meeting Sam for coffee next week so she can ask all the questions she has about what the job is like day to day. She still changes her mind about what she wants to do every other week—last week it was a veterinary assistant, this week it’s education. But that’s fine. The whole point of exploring careers when you’re 14 is figuring out what fits you, not locking in a decision forever.
The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this whole process is that education is so much bigger than just classroom teaching. Every kid who walks through a school door needs a whole team of people to help them thrive, and there’s a spot for every kind of person on that team—even if you never want to stand at the front of the room.
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