It depends a lot on the school and the neighbourhood. As I said I teach in a private school, where we get about £10,000 per pupil per year.
My sister teaches in a State school in a pleasant prosperous middle-class area. They get about £3,500 per pupil per year.
My Dad used to teach in a ‘financially-challenged’ inner-city school. The roof leaked.
I did 14 years as a programmer first. I certainly think it helps to have experience outside the education system.
In the US where the teachers get 11 weeks or so off in summer, are they paid for the other 41 weeks, then nothing, or is the annual salary spread out over the full 52 weeks?
It depends on the school system, I believe. Mom’s checks have always been spread over the whole year, but I think someone else made a comment earlier about knowing a teacher who only got paid during the school year.
Mrs. Kunilou is a teacher, and we’ve been married 22 years, so that gives me the right to talk.
First off, the salary. Mrs. Kunilou’s contract is for 10 months, not nine (a little orientation at the start of the year, a little cleanup at the end.) That makes her average paycheck 11% lower, and it also means she’s never had much opportunity to earn much from a summer job. She has two Master’s degrees, which earns her about $1,000 more per year than if she had one.
There are three other things about salary. One is, it doesn’t increase much over the years. Two, some years it doesn’t increase at all. Three, her district’s salary schedule tops out after 20 years, so for the last ten years, the only increase she’s had has been in those years when the district gave a cost-of-living increase. And, as noted earlier, there isn’t as much job security as you think. She was laid off(budget cuts) then rehired (other teachers quit) twice in five years. She walked a picket line the same day she was named Teacher of the Month.
The benefits? Well, she does get a guaranteed pension after 30 years, which beats the hell out of my collapsing 401K, but her medical plan is pretty run-of-the-mill, and the district just upped her co-pay so she’s actually taking home less than last year.
As for all the other stuff, she gets to school 90 minutes before school starts, she leaves 2 hours after classes end, she eats her lunch between classes and she hauls home a briefcase full of work every night.
There’s something else you should know. Mrs. Kunilou teaches in the suburbs, but over the last 15 years, she’s lost one student in a gang shootout, another when a stray bullet him. One of her favorite students was convicted of murder. Several have died from illness or accidents. She’s given our clothes to poor kids and called the social workers when her students have been beaten up by their parents.
She’s been verbally assaulted, physically threatened, and exposed to Hepatitis C when a student clawed her. She’s had to break up fights between students who were bigger than she is, and climbing three flights of stairs everyday helped her get a knee replacement this summer. If there’s an insult that hasn’t been thrown at her by a student, a parent probably did say it.
She continues to do it because she wants to help kids. I know that sounds trite, but it’s true. And there’s one or two kids a year where she actually makes a difference, and once every five years or so, a student comes back and tells her what a great teacher she was. Then she floats three feet above the ground for a month.
So yeah, you can get a few weeks off in the summer. The pay’s mediocre, there’s not much respect (or authority), you have a lot of stress balanced by a few tremendous boosts to your ego.
Well, both of my parents are educators, and they took summers off, but they budgeted very carefully. They also did things like teaching night classes for adults and doing consulting work. Most teachers I knew worked during the summer. BTW, the consulting they do is training for teachers, most of whom paid with their own money - don’t count on the school paying for training.
I happen to be an engineer. It’s a good living - I bet he made enough for a big nest egg, maybe even early retirement to pad it.
The credential requirements are different depending on region. Many have provisions for teaching up to, say, 2 years while you’re getting your certificate.
There’s a journalist at the San Jose Mercury News who was a teacher for a year. You should read his article .
Some people love teaching, but they recognize that it’s not for everyone, so they might emphasize the difficult aspects. I think what concerns me is that you are concentrating on the peripheral aspects (time off, pay, etc.), not what you would be doing every single day. Even if you get the summers off, you still have to be there every day for nine months.
Okay, that has come up more than once, so let me say that I would never go into teaching unless I were sure I wanted to spend 5 days a week with rowdy teenagers. I know the days are difficult, and I would definitely give long, hard thought to what the experience of the daily grind would be like before I ever actually set out to become a teacher. But people have always told me how good I am at explaining things, and I really enjoy explaining things to people. That’s led me to consider whether teaching might be some sort of calling for me.
The reason I’m asking about the compensation is that I think I’d like to have a family someday, and I’m wondering how we’d get by. If I couldn’t count on having enough money, then teaching is out of the question. I know teachers at my high school were comfortable, but like I said, my alma mater was recognized at the state and even national level for its excellence. If there’s no chance at all I’d be able to get into a district where the pay is comparable to what it is there, I may as well forget about teaching.
Hey, you still have to be there for nine months, but at my current job, I have to be there for all but two weeks of the year.
Is this typical? I distinctly remember many of my own high school teachers getting there not more than half an hour before school starts, and I also remember many of the ones who weren’t coaching or mentoring an activity leaving within half an hour of the closing bell.
So if it’s not about the teaching, then what is it about? Discipline?
I’ve wanted to be a teacher for about, oh, ten years, since I was 15. In the intervening time, I was talked into both pre-medical studies and law school by certain family members. Fortunately I came to my senses (eventually) and I’m now at Harvard’s Education school for a Master’s.
Why Harvard? I could’ve gone to UIllinois in Chicago for free, or Boston University at 50% scholarship. I’m choosing Harvard because I love education, but I want to stay the hell away from teaching American kids. I have had about 6 months of volunteer experience teaching ESL in an American high school, and about a year total spent teaching abroad (India) and foreign refugees in the States. I got completely spoiled teaching Asians and foreigners: they are disciplined, committed, respectful, and they want to learn. American children, in general, are not so blessed. Why? Parents, society, wealth, poverty, I don’t know. All I know is that I would be willing to take a low salary to teach, but not the disrespect of the monsters in today’s U.S. schools.
My wife’s teaching career lasted four months, for the same reasons. She could handle the low salary and long hours, but the disrespectful students and indifferent administration drove her away.
Now, I realize I’m generalizing: there are some very good American students. But overall, I find that people in this country doesn’t teach their children to emphasize and respect education the way they do in certain other countries. Two examples: 1) I asked one of my students in India why he (and the others) always thanked me so enthusiastically after class each day. “If my parents heard that I didn’t thank a teacher,” he said, “I would be beaten.” 2) In India, one day each year is set aside for “Teacher’s Day,” and the students put on performances for the teachers. There is no similar “Parent’s Day.” Different priorities, huh? Do I think America should be this way? Sure. Is it? No.
So, I’m getting a Harvard degree in the hopes that I can use the name to catapult myself past the classroom and into consulting or the publishing/curriculum design market. If I do teach here, I will teach adults, not children.
Pardon the length and the rant…the short of it is that even some of the “best” U.S. class environments are difficult, and the worst are nightmarish. No thanks.
Depends on how much you get involved. At my highschool, I believe teachers were required to be there at least a half-hour before classes, though some who didn’t have a class first hour were frequently late. The teachers were also required to stay for at least a half-hour after school, though I’d say at least half stayed longer, either to work on papers or things or because they were coaching or something.
My guess is yes. That or wrangling with administration. It really depends on your job situation though, I imagine. I was in mostly honors classes, and the teachers had way fewer behavior problems to deal with (though there were still a few). When I was in a regular class, there were days when I was astounded by the attitudes of some of the students. As for the administrator wrangling, I’ve known teachers who have spent some of their (already meager) paycheck for supplies because since the football team got new uniforms, money for regular classes wasn’t in the budget.
Teaching was not my first profession. It was my first love, however. I had spent several years in customer service and nursing before finally finding my first teaching gig - which I absolutely loved. It, too, had its moments but what job doesn’t.
For me it’s about knowing I’ve made a difference in someone elses life - the same reason for nursing really. When you have a group of students who detest school and are only there because the courts say they have to be, and make it their goal to make your day as miserable as possible but you can come up with something that will actually make them talk to you about it, talk with each other about it, and even (forbid) do work about it then I have done a good job. When you see that spark of understanding and interest… That is what it’s about.
It’s not the kids that bother me, it’s the lissencephalic management!
I’m sure circumstances vary a lot. I knew a teacher who quit and worked as a software developer. He thought it much less stressful than teaching. And I know someone who went the other way and thought that teachers were just whiners who didn’t know what it it is like in “the real world”.
The above were both in the UK.
I am a high school teacher in Texas. I am in my seventh year of teaching. I teach physics, which means I have pretty good students overall, so keep that in mind.
I absolutely love being a teacher! I can’t imagine doing anything else. I was a very “high achiever” in high school–1st in my class and all that. It’s hard for a lot of my friends and family and even my students to understand why I’m a teacher and not doing something “more important.” I’m never sure how to answer that, because if they don’t already understand that the education of our young people is one of the most important things in the world, then there is no easy answer. But I always try. 
At the end of my first year of teaching, I absolutely hated it and thought I had made a huge mistake! By the end of my second year, I was falling in love with teaching and I knew that I had made the right choice. Now I am in my seventh year and I find that the reason I really love it is that there are always new challenges and there are always ways that I can improve myself and my teaching. I don’t let it become “old” or “routine” to me.
It IS a LOT of WORK! My “official, required hours” are from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. I rarely ever go home before 4:30, and then I have papers to grade and lessons to plan at home. I am also a sponsor for a couple of student groups, so I usually spend one or two evenings per week at the school.
As for summer breaks, we have a two month summer break and several short breaks during the school year. This differs by school district.
As far as salary: Often the lowest-paying teaching jobs are the ones at the nice schools in the affluent suburban areas. These schools are more attractive to most applicants because they tend to have fewer problems (lack of motivation, crime, overcrowding, poor facilities) than urban schools. These affluent schools can offer lower salaries and easily find teachers because they are “better” places to teach.
BTW, I teach in a middle-class suburban area. I do not have a family to support (yet), so money has not been a huge concern for me. Someday that might change. I don’t bitch and moan about making a low salary (for a college-educated professional) because I knew about that before I got into teaching.
[soapbox] HOWEVER, I do find it very perplexing that society pays us so little for the important job of educating their children. Paying higher salaries would attract more people to teaching, which would make finding a job more competitive, which should put more qualified and talented people in teaching positions. I would welcome closer scrutiny of my job performance if it means an increase in the quality of education (and of teacher salaries). Screw those teachers unions that are opposed to holding us teachers accountable for how well we do our jobs! I know that I am a good teacher, so those things do not scare me. Bring it on, please! It’s time to get rid of those teachers that “mail it in.” It’s time we stop paying coaches extra stipends to do less teaching. The golf coach at my school teaches two classes and then leaves at 10:30 to play golf the rest of the day! Really! And for this he gets paid a full teacher’s salary PLUS an extra few thousand dollars stipend for “coaching” (which I’m told he does very little of). Oh, and many of the golf tournaments are scheduled during school days, so he often has to have a substitute teacher (more money down the drain) and his students have to try and teach themselves. Is this how our tax dollars are best spent? I’m not even a parent, but THESE ARE OUR KIDS, for Pete’s sake! Don’t they deserve the best? [/soapbox]
Arcite, if you like kids and you have a positive attitude and a good sense of humor, and if you’re something of an idealist (like me), then teaching can be a wonderful thing. It has changed my life–I have grown so much as an individual because of my experiences as a teacher. But it isn’t something to be entered into lightly. Getting the required college hours in education and in the subject area you want to teach (if other than your degree) will take a commitment of time and money. And being a teacher is a huge responsibility. You have the opportunity to shape the future of your students. Reminds me of something my uncle once said to me, just before he died… “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Oops! I’ve said too much… 
Good luck!
No, I don’t believe Mrs. Kunilou is typical. She’s a special education teacher, and in special ed, every student has their own unique paperwork. A lot of paperwork. She also has more meetings about students than the typical classroom teacher.
**So if it’s not about the teaching, then what is it about? Discipline? **
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It’s about everything BUT the teaching. It’s the discipline, the paperwork, the general lack of respect, the lack of opportunities for advancement (she doesn’t want to be a principal - she got into teaching so she could work directly with kids), and the policies that says she’s responsible for X students that clash with the reality that there aren’t enough qualified teachers or enough money to pay them, so she winds up with 3X.
But people have always told me how good I am at explaining things, and I really enjoy explaining things to people. That’s led me to consider whether teaching might be some sort of calling for me.
That’s a very important first priority. But ask yourself, how do I feel about explaining things to a room full of people who don’t particularly want to be there, don’t care what you’re trying to explain, can’t grasp what you’re trying to explain, are too hungry or too tired to concentrate, etc.
You might find these teacher journals of interest.
Here’s me with my big one semester teaching experience.
The thing I find hardest about teaching is that even good teachers fail more than they succeed. This is especially true if you are in a school where you are surronded by “at-risk” kids. Your job is to teach all kids, even the ones who are too stupid to realize that this stuff matters (after all, they are children, it’s not their fault they are too young to realize just how critical decent math/science/english skills are going to be). This means that above and beyond anything else, your job is to motivate. And this is almost impossible. You do have sucesses–I have maybe four kids this year that I think are interested and involved in the material only because of me–but you have many more failures. But you have to continue to try your hardest even knowing that your best will not be, will never be, good enough. It’s like being a doctor: even if you do everything exactly right and give all you have, some of your patients are oging to die. And I have seen some very good teachers who don’t reacheven half of their students. You have to be able to stand up to a lot of discouragement.
I’ve taught HS in the rural midwest and undergrad business at one of those uberlarge midwestern universities and although they definitely had their moments, I found it to be a hell of a lot of work for what you got, the kids seemed to have precious little appreciation for us, they would just kill you on an evaluation if your weren’t an easy grader and the politics were just unbearable.
I never had a great “love for the kids,” either. The really bright ones were interesting and pretty entertaining, but my disdain for the dim ones was all too transparent.
An aside: these salary numbers being bandied about seem awfully above average. Sure, folks earn that much teaching but that’s near the top of the totem pole, IIRC.
IMHO: don’t go into teaching for the money or the holidays. One principal to the faculty: you only work 180 days a year; don’t take any personal days. Excellent. Go into teaching because you love the kids and want to make a difference in children’s lives whether they actually learn the subject matter or not.
Otherwise, look elsewhere.
As you can probably tell, teacher experiences vary wildly from state to state, county to county, and school to school. I know of one teacher who makes just over 70k a year for doing pretty much jack squat while a teacher in another district made just over 30k a year and went through hell. If you can cherry pick a good district and good school in an area where cost of living is not so high teaching can be a great job. I know of teachers who spend their summers traveling or hanging out by the pool so it can happen.
My experience having been married to a teacher for 15 years…
In general, yes, the pay sucks compared to the private sector, and you do work very hard, especially at first. If you stick it out, however, you make a very comfortable living.
Having lived so close to the situation, let me tell you a few things about the perks of teaching that aren’t often told by teachers.
First, not only do you get summers off, you also get a couple of weeks in the winter, plus spring break, plus assorted holidays that most normal private sector workers don’t get (Veterans Day, Presidents Day, MLK, etc.). Also, when teachers say they didn’t get a raise (I think this is drummed into them by the teacher’s union) that doesn’t mean that they will make the same ammount of money as last year - they have several ways to earn extra money. First there is the normal pay increase for longevity, second is the cost-of-living component, and third is the educational raise (you make more for additional hours or degrees abouve a bachelors). When teachers are talking about getting a raise, they are referring to the first example only. The other thing to consider is that teachers get a pension rather than a return on investment as in a 401K. Here in Colorado, when a teacher retires after serving a full term (30 years?), they are paid something like 75% of the average of their three highest paying years, for life.
I have always worked as a professional in the private sector, and although I have always made more money than my wife, I have no pension (nor will I), I have no job security (laid off twice, one company bankruptcy), I get 3 weeks vacation and 8 paid holidays a year. Whether I get a raise from year to year depends on my performance and the financial health of the company I work for. I often have to work on weekends and am asked to travel on short notice.
Understand also that it is a union environment. If you don’t get great satisfaction from influencing children’s lives, there are very few other rewards that will come to you. Being the best teacher in the school means you make exactly the same ammount of money as the most incompetent teacher (based on the scale). Compared to other unionized jobs (truck driver, factory worker, government employee), you will be paid less, although you get more time off. You will have two sets of politics to play, within the school and within the union.
Ultimately, it is a tradeoff. You will never get rich being a teacher, but you will have the opportunity to lead a richer life, and perform a fundamentally valuable service for society.