4 Hidden Risks of Becoming a Teacher
If you are going to become a teacher, do it with both eyes open.
Teaching is considered a safe and stable career choice and for many that may be true. However, there are several hidden risks that no one talks about.
1. JOB SECURITY
If you work in a state without unions or tenure then you should know the tremendous risks you are facing to your career. There is more than one heartbreaking story of a teacher who was let go from his or her school after several years at the whims of administration.
There is no due process and no protection for teachers in these conditions. Worst of all, if you have a pay guide, the longer you are at a school, the more expensive you become and the more attractive it is to replace you especially if you possess endorsements in saturated fields.
Without tenure you are at the mercy of administrative and bureaucratic interests. Few schools are loyal to their teachers and, in the face of tight budgets, are always looking at the bottom line.
If you are in a state with tenure laws then, until you attain tenure, you can be let go for any reason or no reason. It does not matter how good your evaluations have been. It doesn’t matter how much time you have volunteered or how much you have done for the school.
I have seen excellent teachers denied tenure even despite the objections of their administrators. I have also seen terrible teachers coast and get tenure with no fuss. Unfortunately, schools are governed by a Byzantine opaque institutional logic. Beware.
2 SALARY DECREASING
I understand and respect the optimistic vision of many new teachers. However, their excitement sometimes blinds them to considerations like salary and benefits. Often when you graduate you just want to start making money and a first year teacher’s pay in some places isn’t too bad.
However, there are multiple problems with teacher salaries, the pay gap compared to other professions is larger than it has ever been. A big reason for that has been decades of underfunding which is a trend that doesn’t seem to be going away.
That being said, you might look at a teacher pay guide and decide that it is not so bad. Unfortunately, a salary schedule is only valid for the length of the contract. When the contract expires, the tiers can be changed, adjusted or even frozen. It is unfortunately too common to have teachers pay completely frozen for years. One school district near me had teachers pay frozen for FIVE long years while negotiating a contract. Remember that as inflation goes up, that frozen teacher pay is effectively a pay cut.
Other issues are rising health insurance costs. Some teachers are required to pay a portion of the costs and these often rise every year at alarming rates. I was personally affected by this when I wanted my gross pay rise over several years while my net pay decreased!
3 REGION LOCK
If you have hit the jackpot and have been fortunate enough to obtain tenure in a great school with great pay then there is still another risk that you may have to worry about. Getting tenure and climbing up the pay scale is great but if you ever need to move far enough away that you can no longer work at that school then it will be impossible or at least extremely difficult to command that same salary.
Why would another school hire you and give you credit for 10 or 15 years of experience when they can higher a recent graduate for a lot cheaper? If you have high needs endorsements then it is possible that you can get to a bargaining table but that depends on the region you relocated to.
4 WORSENING CONDITIONS
I started teaching over two decades ago and I have seen three recessions. The dot com crash, the 2008 housing crisis and now I am living through the pandemic. After each one, regardless of the composition of the government, the teaching profession took a hit. This meant worse wages, supply squeezes and bigger classrooms.
The profession that I entered is much different than what it is now and it has not improved for the better. Things could turn around but I see no indication that is true. As a matter of fact, both parties are supportive of the expansion of charter schools which are notorious for terrible working conditions.
These are some risks to consider when entering teaching. If you choose to become a teacher then make sure you go in with both eyes open.
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