Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Musings of the Week
Dr. Potter expressed concern yesterday about the statistic that 50% of teachers leave within 5 years. Personally, I'm not really surprised by this statistic and don't see a realistic way to change it in the future; if anything, it will probably get worse. The thing is, I don't think that this statistic is unique to teaching. People change careers all the time, in all professions. I don't have any statistics to back it up, but I have a feeling that other professions show the same type of statistics about leaving rates. A lot of science teachers are actually disgruntled engineers. In all honesty, I don't know if I'll be part of the statistic or not. I'd like to think that I'll be teaching for a long time, and am very excited about it, but don't know where or what the future will take me/bring. I could end up starting a business or being a stay-at-home-mom. Who knows? It'd be nice to stay that I'm committed to staying in the profession, but who knows what will really happen?
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8 comments:
Good point!
I have met an awful lot of people who say, "You are going to teach? I did that for a year." And then they go on to say it was too hard, they didn't feel effective, they didn't like the students, they wanted more money, or they just weren't interested. I think the people who stay more than a year or two and then leave just move happily on to other jobs but it doesn't mean they had a bad experience teaching.
Probably the statistic is more appalling for people who are from generations where they expected to have one job, work 9-5 until age 60, get a gold watch and a retirement package and have their company and social security take care of them in retirement.
Not stuff that I feel like has anything to do with me or my generation (though I could be wrong about that).
(-:
I think it's more than people "just switching jobs." Teaching is hard, and it's one of those jobs where you can be great at it through all your classes and training, but you don't find out if you're actually GOOD till you're finally "on your own" in front of a group of students.
In a way, I think you're right about the switching careers thing. As people are leaving the profession, new people are entering. I also am not sure if I want to commit my life to teaching, but I hope that while I do it, I can make a difference and a positive impact in students' lives.
Lisa
You make a very good point. Society has changed so that people do not feel "stuck" in careers anymore. I think technology may also play a role (some jobs are becoming obsolete and need to change with the times).
Teaching is hard (it gets easier but never easy), and I left the K-12 field after 7 years, one big reason was that I was feeling burnt out and not challenged anymore. I believe both of those are fairly common reasons why some teachers leave the K-12 field.
Lisa,
I agree with you that there there is much more mobility in jobs than there used to be. The concepts of job security and company loyalty are pretty much extinct. But teaching is a bit different for two reasons: 1) the pay is not very good, and 2) it is not very prestigious. I think many people get teaching certificates as a backup (if they can't find the hob they want), or as a transition period (until they find out what they really want to do with their lives. Many of us are here because we want to make a difference. Unfortunately, I don't think we're the majority.
I think people leave teaching for the same reasons that people leave other careers. Perhaps they do not really understand what teaching entails or maybe they don't know themselves well enough to know what gives them fulfillment. Or maybe they get out of it what they want and decide to move on. Also, they may not have realized what "low teacher pay" really means in terms of life style. Personally, it wasn't until I was in my 40's that I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. As an engineer my pay was higher, my hours were shorter, and the prestige was greater, but engineering did not make me feel like I was "making a difference" or give me the satisfaction that I feel at the end of most days now. So far, at the end of my second year, I love teaching and plan not to be one of the statistics. I teach with a former attorney who feels just like I do. Having said that, however, teaching is very hard, and I think more should be done to help new teachers when they are first starting out. I believe student teaching should be at least a year, and that mentors at your first full time position should be given an hour a day to work with you. At the least, new teachers should collaborate as much as possible with experienced teachers in their subject area and new teachers in any subject area to get the support and help they need. Keeping in touch with your MAC colleagues after you graduate is a great source of support too.
hey hey,
i just wrote a really long response to your comment, and it didn't even post. aaahhh! i love technology! anyway, my point was that i agree with your unsureness. wow, that's a word - who knew?! anyway, i can barely make it through four months of a summer job. my mom says that may be because the whatever job doesn't reflect my interests and skills. still though, i don't see how i am expected to just know what i want to/will be doing for, uh, the rest of my life. it's like you wake up one day and graduate or turn a certain age and should TA-DA! know exactly what you want from existence. i usually tell people that i might start out teaching and do that until i'm forty, then i'll try something else. or the other way around. whatever we choose though, i think we'll all be pretty tight teachers even if it's only for a few years.
Hey Lisa,
Awesome post! I see a lot of other people commented so I'll leave just a few quick thoughts. I really like your perspective on the statistic. Life happens and things change everyday. I feel that our experiences are definitely going to influence our perspectives on teacher. Either way, we will end up where we should be, so there is no point in worrying about it now! (hopefully, that will still involve teaching!) So you're right. There is no use in stressing about it, and the statistic seems less threatening when you compare it to the other careers and their dropout rates!
Have an amazing day and see you tomorrow :)
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