Switching careers and taking a job in teaching can boost your social status, according to the charity Now Teach.

According to a survey of participants in Now Teach - which was set up to encourage middle-aged professionals to move into teaching - nearly two-thirds felt that their status has increased since they entered the classroom.

Of the 61 Now Teach participants surveyed last month, 64 per cent reported that their status in the eyes of others had gone up since becoming a teacher. Sixty-three per cent meanwhile said that their self-worth had gone up. 

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Lucy Kellaway, the co-founder of Now Teach - who left her job as Financial Times journalist to train as a maths teacher - said: “I had expected a rise in self-worth to come from doing something as worthwhile as teaching.

“But I’m amazed and heartened to discover Now Teachers, many of whom used to do high-status jobs, have experienced an increase in status by dint of moving to a career that has traditionally suffered from lower status.”

Now Teach said their survey figures contrasted with data from YouGov for the labour market as a whole, which found that 32 per cent of people are dissatisfied with their career - equivalent to over 8.3 million people.

According to the YouGov figures, only 28 per cent of people who are dissatisfied with their career say they are proud to tell people about their work.

Nearly a third of those who are dissatisfied have no plans to change career and believe that in ten years they would be in the same or similar job - equating to about 2.3 million people.

Katie Waldegrave, executive director of Now Teach, said: “Evidence shows that dissatisfaction with work is a social issue. Studies have linked low job satisfaction to low productivity, while a lack of meaningful work is associated with poor physical health as we age. If you are dissatisfied with your career, making a change can have a real impact.”