I know someone (no, it’s not me, just to be clear) who has the blues about her job. Its part time, but the pay is quite good and she recieves full benefits. That kind of job is hard to find, I gather. She would like to work somewhere else but, due to various factors, can not presently give up the part-time/full-benefits combo.
She has experience as a teacher in a public school system. That’s pretty much the entirety of her professional job experience.* I asked her whether there might not be the possibility of teaching “part time,” as in, just teaching for half a day. I could swear I remember some of the teachers when I was a kid having schedules like this. But she says this is unheard of–at least in public schools, there is no such thing as a part time teaching position.
Is she right, though? Anyone ever heard of a part time teacher? Perhaps at private schools?
Or anyway, anyone know of some sweet part-time-plus-benefits job just laying around here somewhere in Orange County?
-FrL-
*She has a BA in Emergency Management and Disaster Planning, (prepared her for public school teaching quite well…) and further work experience as an agent for the Transportation and Security Administration, though this wouldn’t probably count as “professional” experience so I don’t imagine it helps her in a quest to land a decent part time job other than to show that she was gainfully employed for that period of time.
There is substitute teaching, but I am not sure it comes with benefits. I certainly don’t recall any part-time teachers when I was in school. Colleges have many part-time lecturers. Some are grad students, some are retired, some teach one course, usually at night, because they have special expertise and some are actually full-time, getting part-time pay to save money. Sme years ago, I read that at the University of Quebec at Montreal, 48% of the teaching is done by “part-time lecturers”.
My mom worked as a part-time teacher for years. It was a small rural school where the principal was also a teacher, and she taught during the times he was doing principal work. I don’t know how common this is, but take it for what it’s worth.
Well, it’s very common here in Nova Scotia. It’s called a “job share” and you can choose to work anywhere from one day/week to 4 days/week, or mornings only, afternoons only, and so on. Sometimes people work 50% - Monday, Friday, every second Wednesday, or some other arrangement like that. The only stipulation is that only one of the two people job sharing can hold a permanent contract. The other is considered a term teacher.
This is in the UK, so not directly relevant, but my mother was a permanent part-time teacher for years at our local high school. She taught Typing and Shorthand (which became Office Practice and Word Processing as time passed and the curriculum changed); a limited number of students taking that subject meant the school only needed her for a couple of hours a day (and not every day at that) so that was what she worked. We lived nearby, and with kids of her own to bring up, it suited her fine.
I’d imagine that if the same things apply in the US, the availability of a part-time position would depend on the size of the school and subject taught.
My wife has such a job – well, except for the full benefits part – at a place she and her cohorts call “teacher heaven.” The thing is, it isn’t at a regular public school; it’s at a special center that houses different programs for the public school system. In my wife’s case, she teaches in a program for kids who need maybe one or two classes to graduate. The students are required to put in a certain number of hours in the classroom and pass their tests; then they can graduate with a high school diploma.
It’s a perfect setup for us: she works three or four hours a day, four days a week, and has nowhere near the stress level she had as a regular teacher.
We have several teachers who share the job, but I believe that the setup is usually 2 days/3 days–or maybe they share one day a week for 2.5 each. My neighbor does it.
Geez, I google “Teacher Contract Sharing” and the first thing that comes up is someone looking to share a contract right here in Orange County.
Its 3rd grade, and my friend taught seventh and eighth grade, so maybe there would be certification problems (?) or something, but still, if there are signs and portents in this world, then I’ve stumbled upon one.
There are part-time public school teachers. Whether or not that option is available solely would depend on the School Board and its rules.
I had two types of part-time teachers in my high school. First one worked three years and got the fourth off PAID. He earned 3/4 of a normal wage, but got an entire year off every four. A good deal. The next was the more conventional part-time teacher. Worked afternoons only.
Are there charter schools where you are? My boyfriend is a part-time teacher at a charter school and loves it. He doesn’t get bennies, but he basically wrote his own schedule and is blissfully free from most of the administrative nonsense that goes with working for a public school. He doesn’t even have to hold a teaching certification–the principal is allowed to hire anyone he feels would be a good teacher.
A word of warning, though: I don’t know about the situation in Orange County, but where I come from, public school teachers are about at the bottom for benefits, among all full-time jobs. I can’t imagine that part-time teachers would have it any better.
In CA, Public School teacher get amoung the best benefits around, and better than average salaries- not that they are over-paid or anything.
But yes, there are PT teachers. Many Instructors in Community Colleges are PT. I even taught a course.
And there is Substitute teaching which can be anything between sit at home and do nothing (and get paid the same) or work 40+ hours a week. In most school district I know of, she could sign up as a Sub, telling them she is available on just these certain days. How much work she’d get (outside of the flu season), I don’t know.
The school district I’m hoping to work for next year has part time positions for certified teachers. It is a program for non-traditional high school students that attend school in the evenings. The pay and benefits are comparable to a regular teacher’s salary for the hours that are worked. She could look into those sort of programs. Many of my teacher friends take part time work in the summer tutoring, some privately, some at test-prep companies like Kaplan, etc. Though I doubt these jobs offer any sort of benefits.
It’s not that she can’t cope. She just thinks its a hopeless situation–that it’s not worth even trying, because it will not work. I’m hoping to convince her otherwise.
