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I am currently a sophomore at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts. I would really love to become an elementary or middle school teacher, but everything I've read suggests that it is damn near impossible to find a teaching job in the United States right now. I would really like to be employed, so should I rule out education as a career option? Are things really better for science/math/ESL/special education, and by how much? Does the market show any signs of improving in the near future? I will probably go to grad school so perhaps that will buy some time?
EDIT: Also, is it true there are no teaching jobs in New England?
Get out while you can. Seriously. Unless you support NCLB and RTTT and think Michelle Rhee is an educational goddess. If you do, then you should be golden.
I am currently a sophomore at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts. I would really love to become an elementary or middle school teacher, but everything I've read suggests that it is damn near impossible to find a teaching job in the United States right now. I would really like to be employed, so should I rule out education as a career option? Are things really better for science/math/ESL/special education, and by how much? Does the market show any signs of improving in the near future? I will probably go to grad school so perhaps that will buy some time?
EDIT: Also, is it true there are no teaching jobs in New England?
There are still plenty of jobs where I am, at least for specialties like ESL and Special Ed, math, etc. However, it really is a crappy job.
I am currently a sophomore at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts. I would really love to become an elementary or middle school teacher, but everything I've read suggests that it is damn near impossible to find a teaching job in the United States right now. I would really like to be employed, so should I rule out education as a career option? Are things really better for science/math/ESL/special education, and by how much? Does the market show any signs of improving in the near future? I will probably go to grad school so perhaps that will buy some time?
EDIT: Also, is it true there are no teaching jobs in New England?
When I graduated, slightly after the stone age, the job market sucked, as did the economy. Only one person from my graduating class got a regular teaching job the first year. Did I mention her dad was a principal? What we all did was sub during the day and work a job, like retail or waitressing, at night. I ended up being told to apply for openings at three different schools in the spring for the following year and took the one at my favorite school. Every new full time teacher I met over the next couple of years got hired that way. The principals, of course, loved it because they got known entities this way. It's frustrating but if you have good classroom management skills you'll get hired, it just may take a year.
I am currently a sophomore at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts. I would really love to become an elementary or middle school teacher, but everything I've read suggests that it is damn near impossible to find a teaching job in the United States right now. I would really like to be employed, so should I rule out education as a career option? Are things really better for science/math/ESL/special education, and by how much? Does the market show any signs of improving in the near future? I will probably go to grad school so perhaps that will buy some time?
EDIT: Also, is it true there are no teaching jobs in New England?
Whether there are jobs or not, I would not suggest that anyone go into teaching today. Too much politics, too much paperwork, not enough actual teaching.
Whether there are jobs or not, I would not suggest that anyone go into teaching today. Too much politics, too much paperwork, not enough actual teaching.
^This.
I have been working some very long hours and unable to get to my paperwork. It's going to come back and bite me in the patootie soon and I'll be written up.
It's a tight job market. I left a job on my own with 9 years experience and a clear CA SPED credential to move to NYC (and clear out my retirement funds). Didn't care for NYC, left and came back to California. I was shocked at how difficult it was to get interviews. With my experience, credential in Mild/Moderate disabilities and references, I honestly thought it would be easy to get a job even though it was an otherwise tough job market. I spent three months of the school year unemployed before finally landing at a charter school in December.
I have a friend who has a single subject ELA credential and she can't find a job to save her life. And I know of someone with a Math credential in the same boat.
There ARE jobs that are out there. But, it is more like the private sector than ever before in that you likely have to "intern" get your foot in the door. Find a specific school or district and try to volunteer or do a low paying job to become a familiar name/face. If you just complete a million applications on edjoin or the district web sites, you're probably wasting a lot of your time. A great number of jobs are posted because the districts are required to post them. In reality, they already have an in-house candidate (finishing their credential) they know they will hire. With hundreds or thousands of applications, they often will not even look at your application in much detail.
For anybody interested in getting into education, I strongly suggest finding a way to spend a lot of time on public school campuses to get a feel for what is going on. You could volunteer, try to be a paraprofessional in a SPED classroom or just try to observe some classes. Just contact schools and/or districts, let them know you're interested in getting into teaching and would like to get involved in some way. It may cost you a few bucks for a live scan, but may save you a lot of time, money and grief if you decide it wasn't what you thought and wish to explore different career options.
I can't speak for the northeast, but I have some experience with the southeast and midwest. Even though people say "incompetents" get a SPED endorsement just to get a job, I'd go that route. The caveat is that I'd only recommend that if you like teaching for the sake of teaching. If you don't believe you have the patience or concern for that segment of the student population, then don't do it. If you care for ALL children special education is a great way to get your foot in the door in parts of the middle of the country and the southeast. I live in Virginia and the local high school had to market our of state for a SPED teacher and a math teacher last year. I know they filled one of those spots with a teacher from Rhode Island.
Teach SPED for a few years and get a dual endorsement at the graduate level in SPED and the subject/grade level of your choice. You will be a commodity at that point. After teaching SPED you may be surprised and find passion teaching that population. The other option is moving to a position you find more to your liking as an in house applicant with the right credentials, since you've been teaching SPED. Also, I would take the comments that it is a terrible job with a grain of salt. Certain districts and student populations may make the job worse, but there are many worse corporate yes sir jobs that are much worse. I know after I entered grad school and got some experience I loved it. Summers are still more of a vacation than other jobs even though some years you may take 1 course to further your training. I worked at a medium-maximum security prison for three years and teaching is MUCH, MUCH better. I guess it's all perspective.
I am currently a sophomore at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts. I would really love to become an elementary or middle school teacher, but everything I've read suggests that it is damn near impossible to find a teaching job in the United States right now. I would really like to be employed, so should I rule out education as a career option? Are things really better for science/math/ESL/special education, and by how much? Does the market show any signs of improving in the near future? I will probably go to grad school so perhaps that will buy some time?
EDIT: Also, is it true there are no teaching jobs in New England?
I've spent the past twenty years teaching science (mostly physics) in large public high schools.
Take the advice offered by several others here and seriously consider a different career. The current incarnation of public education will not become teacher-tolerable within the foreseeable future. Since NCLB, it has gotten worse each year and will continue to erode until it becomes so bad that a severe teacher shortage develops, and that may require a decade or more.
I've truly enjoyed teaching, but that becomes less and less a part of the job each year. The amount of ignorant, time-consuming, counterproductive micromanagement from legislators, bureaucrats, and administrators increases by the week and will only continue to grow and devour the spirit of everyone in the classroom.
I've spent the past twenty years teaching science (mostly physics) in large public high schools.
Take the advice offered by several others here and seriously consider a different career. The current incarnation of public education will not become teacher-tolerable within the foreseeable future. Since NCLB, it has gotten worse each year and will continue to erode until it becomes so bad that a severe teacher shortage develops, and that may require a decade or more.
I've truly enjoyed teaching, but that becomes less and less a part of the job each year. The amount of ignorant, time-consuming, counterproductive micromanagement from legislators, bureaucrats, and administrators increases by the week and will only continue to grow and devour the spirit of everyone in the classroom.
You've been warned.
I tend to agree with this and with much of what others have said here. Question is, what does that mean for kids in future years? Eventually, to whatever degree it hasn't already happened, people are going to put low pay + uncertain job security + difficult workplace environment (defiance from students etc) together and decide they don't want a career offering all of that. Which means there will be almost nobody of any value/competence getting into teaching.
There are lawsuits against school districts stating their kids are entitled to good teachers and the district did not provide good teachers. But, what if there are no good teachers? You can't force people to become teachers. If there are no quality, competent people willing to be teachers, there is no way for any district to provide all of its students with good teachers. That seems to be lost on all the folks who want to keep coming up with new regulations etc that make teaching hell at times...
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It's not teaching any more...
