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We all know that there are "emergency" areas where it's relatively easy to get a job. I hear special education, the STEM fields, etc. are good for job seekers.
But are there areas that aren't "especially hard hit" when discussing job potential? Even if it's not super-easy to get a job, are there fields where you have a decent shot at getting a job if you seek one out? I hear English is pretty competitive, but what about history, geography, government, etc?
The soft sciences are much harder to get a job in than the hard sciences. Just be glad you aren't looking at elementary, those are the hardest jobs to get.
The orphan positions, where there is usually one or maybe two teachers per school who teach the subject, such as family consumer science, vocational ed, business ed, and foreign languages, are feast or famine. When one of those positions empty they often really struggle to fill them but finding an opening, if you aren't willing to relocate, is a crap shoot. The problem is that finding a vacancy is dependent on one specific person deciding to no longer hold that one job. Usually when those jobs are filled they are done looking for someone with that certification for over 20 years.
We all know that there are "emergency" areas where it's relatively easy to get a job. I hear special education, the STEM fields, etc. are good for job seekers.
But are there areas that aren't "especially hard hit" when discussing job potential? Even if it's not super-easy to get a job, are there fields where you have a decent shot at getting a job if you seek one out? I hear English is pretty competitive, but what about history, geography, government, etc?
I'm speaking of secondary level education.
Just a warning. For STEM it's location, location, location. Here in Michigan, there are 12 applicants for every chemistry opening and it is not unusual to have 150+ applicants for a math opening in a good district. There is a shortage of STEM in the inner city but that's because no one wants to work in the inner city not because of a shortage of STEM teachers. The shortage of STEM is on paper only not real. There is a shortage of people who hold single subject certs in STEM but I find that schools don't want to hire us because our certs are not flexible. They'd rather hire people with the lesser general science cert, which is legal in Michigan to teach all STEM, because they can teach anything whereas someone like me can teach chemistry with my chemistry degree. I only fit in one place. They fit anywhere. If you want to go STEM don't major in one subject. Get a general science cert so you can teach any science. That's more valuable to schools than subject mastery.
Here the only real shortage is languages like German. I have a friend who was pulled out of retirement to teach German because of this shortage. She could have fought it but she liked the idea of collecting her retirement while working part time so she didn't.
Nowadays, secondary schools are trying to get the most bang for their buck. I am dually certified and teach two different subjects. They are basically getting a two for one deal with me, but as Oldhag said, they'd have a heck of a time replacing me because of my subject areas.
Math/Science or Language Arts/Social Studies are good combos.
I agree, the more you can add to your licence the more marketable you will be to a district. Even if it's not a second subject area, the ability to coach a sport, supervise a group, etc. will help.
Thanks for the responses, everyone. Gives me some food for thought. I could get certified to teach social studies and government, I'm just not sure if I should send more time and money to get another subject area, and which one to pursue.
Spot on. Schools want to hire someone with composite science, that can teach in all areas. Unfortunate. I think there is a huge difference between chemistry, bio and physics, and would prefer my kid's chem teacher to have a chem degree. Charter schools are usually able to offer this. They want teachers with a masters in their subject, not a masters of teaching. Education has become a nightmare. Don't do it...
I'm special ed, and NCLB, requires a secondary sped teacher in a resource roomto be Highly Qualified in AAAALLLL the subjects!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivorytickler
Just a warning. For STEM it's location, location, location. Here in Michigan, there are 12 applicants for every chemistry opening and it is not unusual to have 150+ applicants for a math opening in a good district. There is a shortage of STEM in the inner city but that's because no one wants to work in the inner city not because of a shortage of STEM teachers. The shortage of STEM is on paper only not real. There is a shortage of people who hold single subject certs in STEM but I find that schools don't want to hire us because our certs are not flexible. They'd rather hire people with the lesser general science cert, which is legal in Michigan to teach all STEM, because they can teach anything whereas someone like me can teach chemistry with my chemistry degree. I only fit in one place. They fit anywhere. If you want to go STEM don't major in one subject. Get a general science cert so you can teach any science. That's more valuable to schools than subject mastery.
Here the only real shortage is languages like German. I have a friend who was pulled out of retirement to teach German because of this shortage. She could have fought it but she liked the idea of collecting her retirement while working part time so she didn't.
My district actually has an official list of "critical needs" teachers. Maybe you could check and see if the area you want to work in has something similar.
We all know that there are "emergency" areas where it's relatively easy to get a job. I hear special education, the STEM fields, etc. are good for job seekers.
But are there areas that aren't "especially hard hit" when discussing job potential? Even if it's not super-easy to get a job, are there fields where you have a decent shot at getting a job if you seek one out? I hear English is pretty competitive, but what about history, geography, government, etc?
I'm speaking of secondary level education.
There are none. The market is still glutted.
Any district that has any job openings is not a good one to work for.
Any district that has any job openings is not a good one to work for.
There are lots of openings in Fairfax County and Prince William County in Virginia every year, both of which are considered by most employees to be good districts to work for.
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