Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions that a person has to make as this decision will not only determine who the person becomes as a professional, what the person does in life, but also what the person's status is likely to be in U.S. society, namely the person's lifestyle and economic position. Before entering a teacher education program, it is therefore imperative that prospective teachers carefully weigh their decision to become teachers.
REASONS WHY PEOPLE BECOME TEACHERS
To ascertain whether teaching is the right profession for you and subsequently make a smart decision about your future career path, you will need to become aware of the many realities surrounding the teaching profession and to ask yourself if you are cut out for this profession. You will need to weigh the pros and cons of becoming a teacher.
What are some of the reasons why people go into teaching?
Many people choose to enter the teaching profession because, first and foremost, they enjoy being around children and youth and have a strong desire to touch lives and teach a subject that they are passionate about. To many educators, teaching is very noble and rewarding because it serves the community and transforms lives by unleashing potential and setting the path to success, and it provides personal fulfillment and the sense that one is appreciated. Teaching is also very exciting because it requires teachers to tap into their creativity to share their subject area expertise and devise ways for students to learn. Some of the other reasons that influence people to become teachers include job security and flexible work schedules that accommodate the needs of working families.
On the flip side, the teaching profession can also be very demanding and entail challenges that can cause frustration and stress. In particular, because teachers have to wear many hats as facilitators of learning, motivators, coaches, classroom managers, disciplinarians, counselors, guides, role models, and surrogate parents, sometimes these roles and responsibilities, which require practice and skills not typically taught in teacher preparation programs, can become overwhelming. For example, teachers may feel at times that their work is intense and repetitious, that they spend most of their evenings and weekends lesson planning and grading, that their classroom is out of control, that they are losing their patience, that they are not reaching all students, and/or that they lack adequate educational resources or administrative support. This can lead some teachers to become discouraged and eventually burned out. However, for most teachers, such hurdles are only temporary and are truly outnumbered by the rewards that stem from watching children and youth grow and attain their dreams.
Teaching is a special calling. If you are interested in spending time with and igniting the spark of curiosity in children and youth, experiencing the joys and rewards of witnessing intellectual development and learning, sharing the love of learning and passion for a subject, and impacting the future, teaching is the profession for you!
To further explore this career path, it is highly recommended that you volunteer time in various schools, talk with teachers about their experiences, and reflect about your observations and experiences in school settings and how they make you feel.
Individuals who are considering whether or not to enter the teaching profession may remember spending time in elementary and secondary schools as students but may not really know what it is like to be on the other side of the fence working as a teacher for a school system. In particular, pre-professional educators may wonder if employment prospects for teachers are promising and what teachers' work hours, compensation, and work environment are really like.
WHAT ARE THE CURRENT EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS FOR TEACHERS?
The job market for teachers is currently good. It is estimated that, in the next decade, job openings in the area of teaching will continue to increase but will vary from state to state depending on the grade level and content area taught. This increase will result from the need to replace a large number of teachers who are retiring (16%) and novice teachers who are leaving the teaching profession within the first five years of employment (50%) due to dissatisfaction with work conditions, lack of support from administrators, or lack of success improving students' school performance. It is also predicted that employment prospects will be highest in inner city and rural school districts versus suburban school districts because few teachers wish to work in over-crowded inner city schools that lack resources or in rural schools that are remotely located and offer lower salaries. It is further predicted that there will be a greater number of teaching positions available in high teacher shortage areas (e.g., math, science, exceptional student education, and English-as-a-second language) than in other content areas and that minority teachers and male teachers will be in high demand since women comprise 75% of all teachers and men only represent 25% and minorities 11%.
WHAT ARE THE TYPICAL WORK CONDITIONS OF TEACHERS?
The typical work week of a teacher is 35 hours but most teachers work beyond this amount of time outside of school, planning for instruction and grading assignments. Teachers' salaries also tend to be less competitive than those of other professionals with similar qualifications. Nowadays, the average starting salary of a beginning U.S. public school teacher with a bachelors degree is around $39, 600. However, teachers can increase their income by obtaining national board certification or higher academic degrees (e.g., masters or doctoral degrees), chairing a department, mentoring teachers, delivering staff development, teaching summer school, sponsoring extracurricular activities, or coaching. Most teachers work the traditional ten-month long school year and are on vacation for two months during the summer. Those who teach in year-round schools usually work a cycle of eight weeks followed by a one-week break and have five weeks off during the winter. In most states, tenure laws protect public school teachers' job security and prevent teachers from being fired without just cause and due process. Teachers can also join unions (e.g., the NEA, National Education Association or AFT, American Federation of Teachers) to represent their interests and negotiate their salaries, work hours, and conditions of employment with school systems. According to surveys of teachers, most public school teachers in this country feel that their school districts are supportive of their professional development but that they have limited autonomy over what they are required to teach and in selecting textbooks and other educational materials. They also report that teaching can be stressful when class sizes are large, resources are lacking, accountability standards are high, students are not motivated or respectful, and violent behavior occurs.
Teachers who teach in private schools, on the other hand, generally earn less income than public school teachers but, in some states, they are eligible for free or subsidized housing. They also tend to have smaller class sizes, greater control over the curriculum, and students who are more motivated since many private schools have admission policies.
CAREER PATHS IN EDUCATION
Besides teaching, there are numerous career paths that people can pursue in the field of education in the area of administration, school psychology, counseling, library and media services, and/or curriculum development. In this unit, we will explore different career paths in education.
School systems across the nation employ other personnel besides teachers such as principals, assistant principals, nurses, school psychologists, counselors, librarians, media specialists, and curriculum developers and writers. Beyond the world of school, there are also many organizations that employ people with bachelors or masters degrees in education. At the federal level, for example, education specialists can work for the U.S. Department of Education or other federal agencies and in different states around the country, they can work for the Department of Education of any given state. Furthermore, people with degrees in education can also work for textbook publishers or software development companies as curriculum writers, software developers, or textbook representatives or they may elect to work for non-profit organizations that offer educational services. People with advanced degrees in education may also opt to work in a college or university as instructors or administrators.
LICENSING AND EMPLOYMENT
All fifty states in the United States, including the District of Columbia, require teachers to be licensed in order to teach in public schools. This ensures that teachers meet minimal qualifications and standards of competence in the subject area that they plan to teach, as well as in pedagogy and classroom management. How do teachers become licensed in the United States and how should they go about obtaining their first teaching position?
OBTAINING A TEACHER'S LICENSE
In the United States, education is a state responsibility which means that each state is individually responsible for operating and administering its own public schools and for licensing its teachers, as well as other educational personnel. Around the nation, the State Department of Education in each state sets the requirements for teacher licensure, which determines which content area and/or grade levels teachers can teach. Although licensure requirements vary from state to state, in many states, applicants can follow traditional or alternative pathways to certification (the process of obtaining a teaching license).
Typically, around the nation, the traditional route to certification requires applicants to hold a bachelors degree from an accredited teacher preparation program with a specific number of credit hours in a subject area, as well as credit hours in education and student teaching. Applicants are also required to pass various licensure examinations, including competency tests of basic skills in reading, writing, and math, and tests of content-area, pedagogical, and professional knowledge (e.g., the PRAXIS Series). During the initial years of employment in a school, novice teachers will also be observed in the classroom by an administrator to assess their teaching abilities. Furthermore, in many states, prospective teachers who wish to teach in the area of Kindergarten, Bilingual Education, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), or Special Education have to obtain special licenses or endorsements to teach these particular subjects and/or grade levels. Access more information on traditional certification in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
In the State of Florida, the traditional route to certification requires candidates to 1) obtain a Statement of Status of Eligibility which certifies that candidates meet the subject area requirements for the subject that they wish to teach or that they have passed the Florida Subject Area Test and lists any other requirements that are needed for issuance of a teaching license; 2) obtain security clearance, employment in a school, and a Temporary Certificate which will allow them to begin teaching and to have three years to complete the requirements needed for issuance of the Professional Certificate; 3) obtain a Professional Certificate by passing the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations (FTCE), including the General Knowledge Test, Subject Area Test, and Professional Education Test. Access more information about certification in Florida.
The alternative route to certification, on the other hand, typically requires applicants to enroll in alternative certification programs. These programs allow aspiring teachers, who are not education majors, to acquire the professional competencies that they need to teach in a public school system. Alternative certification requirements also vary considerably from one state to the next with some states allowing the option at all times and other states only allowing alternative certification during periods of teacher shortage. Access more information on alternative certification in different states.
Beyond fulfilling the above requirements, in order to obtain teacher licensure, prospective teachers must also undergo a criminal background check to demonstrate that they do not have a criminal record.
OBTAINING EMPLOYMENT AS A TEACHER
Prior to seeking employment in a public school system, prospective teachers should research what the certification requirements are for the particular content area and/or grade level that they wish to teach in the state where they would like to work. If they hold a Bachelors Degree, the next step is to apply for a teaching license with the State Department of Education and to begin researching which teaching positions are available in the school district of their choice. Applicants can search for employment using the placement services of the university where they graduated, as well as State Department of Education websites, online job-search services such as teacherjobs.com, or school district websites. School districts in each state usually maintain a website posting teaching positions that are open in the various content areas and/or grade levels. After receiving a letter of eligibility for teacher licensure from the State Department of Education, prospective teachers should apply for the teaching positions that they identified and begin to prepare for the interviewing process. In particular, they should assemble a professional portfolio (either in the traditional or electronic format) which includes an updated resume, letters of recommendation, field experience and/or student-teaching reports, lesson plans, sample classroom activities, artifacts such as photographs and videoclips, and journal entries and reflections as a pre-professional teacher.
REFERENCES
Niche. (2019). Teacher salaries in America. Retrieved from https://www.niche.com/blog/teacher-salaries-in-america/#:~:text=The%20national%20average%20starting%20teacher%20salary%20is%20%2438%2C617%2C,%2479%2C637%20and%20South%20Dakota%20has%20the%20lowest%3A%20%2442%2C668.
Parkay, F. (2020). Becoming a teacher (11th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Sadker, D. & Zittelman, K. (2018). Teachers, schools, and society: A brief introduction to education (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
