Why Retired Teachers Love Working With Sylvan Learning

There are plenty of reasons why teachers love working with Sylvan Learning, the leading provider of personalized education for K–12 students. Flexibility, a proprietary curriculum and seemingly endless support are all reasons why Sylvan presents a unique opportunity for educators at a time when teachers are leaving the profession at a historic rate, including for early retirement.

According to a survey conducted by the National Education Association, in the wake of the pandemic and facing increasing burnout, 55% of teachers indicate that they plan to leave the profession earlier than planned. Sylvan gives these teachers a lifeline, allowing them to stay in the profession they love, providing a flexible alternative while making teaching enjoyable again.

This is especially true for retired teachers.

Here are a few reasons retired teachers love working with Sylvan.

Sylvan Lets Teachers Focus on What They Love Most — Teaching

Jim Hodges, a Sylvan tutor in Indianapolis, Indiana, recently retired after 27 years of teaching high school physics and math. Knowing he would go crazy sitting around the house all day, Hodges was exploring options for part-time work to keep himself busy when a friend suggested he look into Sylvan.

“The main thing for me is that teachers love teaching their content area, and at Sylvan, we get to do that,” said Hodges. “And we get to do it without all of the other things that are asked of public school teachers. I'm not doing preparation at home for 10 or 12 hours a week. I get to focus on teaching. That makes a huge difference.”

Taking the burden off educators is one of Sylvan’s hallmarks. Sylvan writes all its own curriculum in-house based on research and field testing — curriculum that is continually reviewed to keep up with the rapidly changing education landscape. So Sylvan teachers don’t have to worry about curriculum, as it’s provided for them, along with all the necessary course materials and lesson planning. 

“Some teachers, when they retire, they miss the kids,” said Emily Levitt, Sylvan’s vice president of education. “They want to come back and teach a couple of days a week, but they don’t want all the extra work that comes with it. We provide that. They don't have to lesson plan. They don't have to deal with parents. They don't have to grade anything. They can just come in and do what they love most, which is teach.”

Sylvan believes that education should not be “one-size-fits-all,” which is why it developed its proprietary Sylvan Method™ — a personalized approach to education. And to deliver a highly personalized experience, the brand believes that a teacher’s focus should be on the individual student, not all the minutiae required behind the scenes. This presents a perfect setup for retired teachers.

“I don't grade papers,” said Hodges. “All the meetings teachers in public schools have to attend each week? We don’t have those. Sylvan takes care of all the extra stuff that cuts down a teacher’s ability to help students that really need it. So it gives you the opportunity to continue to do what you love, which is the actual teaching of your subject matter, and allows you to continue to make an impact in young kids' lives.”

Sylvan Maximizes What Matters Most to Teachers — Impact

Barb Solfest, a Sylvan tutor in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, always wanted to be a teacher. As a child, she would set up her teddy bears and dolls around a small table and pretend to teach, reading books to them and handing out assignments.

“Growing up, education was very important in our home,” she said. “My grandmother, who was a teacher, lived with our family, and my siblings and I had a lot of interaction with her and my parents. I just always loved learning and seemed to have a natural knack for being able to communicate ideas to kids.”

It was both a love of teaching and a desire to make a positive impact in students’ lives that kept Solfest coming back to education despite multiple career changes throughout her professional life. 

“When I'm not teaching,” she said, “I really miss it. I love working with kids and watching them learn and bloom in their education. It gives me a very positive vibe in my life. It gives me something to look forward to.”

After working on and off with Sylvan before retiring, Solfest made teaching part-time with Sylvan a part of her retirement plan so that she could still spend time doing what she loves and continue to positively impact students — all while living the lifestyle she chooses in retirement.

“I enjoy making a difference in kids' lives,” she said. “I enjoy teaching them. I enjoy seeing the spark in their eyes when they finally figure out something. And they can progress easily with Sylvan because Sylvan focuses on what kids are missing in their education and how it fits in with what they already know. I enjoy being part of that. I like making an impact on students' lives and knowing that by going to Sylvan, they're going to have success in school, and later on in life.”

Sylvia van Walsum, a Sylvan tutor at a center in Oakville, Ontario, taught biology, chemistry and environmental science in the 1980s before moving on to a career in business and office administration. But she never lost the love for teaching and for the impactful moments shared with her students.

“I love to see that light bulb come on in my students when they suddenly get a concept,” said van Walsum, who now teaches reading, writing and math. “When my younger reading students suddenly understand what rhyming is and can't stop telling me new rhymes they thought of, or they start to decode words or properly understand and enunciate sounds — that eureka moment of the light bulb going on is what makes it so rewarding for me.”

Whether it’s a lifelong teacher or one who left the field to pursue other endeavors, Sylvan welcomes them with open arms, giving them the opportunity to continue connecting with students and making an impact in young learners’ lives.

Sylvan Gives Teachers What They Need Most in Retirement — Flexibility

Van Walsum works four days a week at Sylvan with mornings, Fridays and weekends off. Solfest teaches Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. until about 6 or 7 p.m. Hodges works Monday through Thursday — about 17 or 18 hours a week, he estimates. Hodges and Solfest enjoy teaching in person at their local Sylvan centers, while van Walsum prefers to teach remotely from home. 

This is all to say that, more than anything, retired teachers are drawn to Sylvan for the flexibility it provides, allowing them to build their own unique schedules while living the lifestyle they want in retirement.

“I’m able to pick my own days and times that I'm available to teach, and I can change that when necessary if life events come up,” said Solfest. “I like the fact that it’s flexible. I like that I have a little extra income — for me, that means vacation money. And I like that when I go in to teach, I'm usually not teaching for long periods at a time. I don't have the long days that teachers in a school would have. It’s just been a great experience.”

For many retired teachers, Sylvan is exactly what they’ve been looking for.

“It's the greatest part-time job you can have,” said Hodges. “Sylvan is so appreciative of what you do every day. We get to teach our content without all of the other things that are asked of public school teachers. And you still get to have those relationships with kids. It's all the good things about teaching rolled into a part-time job. It’s been a thousand times more rewarding than I ever thought having a job in retirement could be.”