On the spectrum of professional experience for K-12 teachers, I am decidedly on the greener side. Although I knew I had a passion for teaching before entering college, I always had the idea in my head that teaching K-12 education It wasn't a real or proper profession. for an Ivy League engineering graduate like me.
However, instead of industry or academia, I joined the stream of my peers entering the world of business management consulting. I stayed in this position for only three years before returning to school to teach, but my brief stint in the business world brought me into the classroom with a perspective that allowed me to see all the ways teaching is treated as a vocation rather than a career and how this affects school teachers.
Teachers lack the structure and professional development of other industrial and professional jobs, and this matters because it is a major factor in creating a failed public education system. Compared to what I myself have experienced and learned from colleagues and former classmates in the consulting, finance, and technology industries, it appears that this lack of opportunities for career advancement within K-12 education discourages a talented, motivated workforce. and diverse, which in turn inhibits the long-term success of the education system.
Stated more concretely, one of the most glaring problems facing K-12 education in the United States is teachers being perceived as saints and martyrs due to the realities of their working conditions, rather than as serious professionals.
We are no longer in consulting, Toto…
In my short time in the consulting world, I got a glimpse behind the curtain at how different industries operate. I learned about the enormous scale of manpower, human capital and strategic investment that is needed to make an organization successful. As a recent college graduate, I was fortunate to work at a company that had a “Up or out” culture and provided clear structures and routines for ongoing professional feedback, networking and skills development. I also had great mentors who pushed me to think about what I wanted in a career and shared their experiences and advice to foster my professional growth.
Within public education, growth options are found almost entirely outside the classroom, whether through administration, teacher training, or curriculum development. A common path some teachers will take to advance is to return to school and earn an administrative credential to become a principal or assistant principal, but it is a major pivot and career change.
While I also have incredible mentors in teaching, when I asked my closest mentor for constructive professional feedback before taking a sabbatical, all she did was implore me not to stray from the classroom and pursue leadership, most likely due to the aforementioned ways that teachers try to advance and move in the field of education.
Clearly, there is very little formal growth inherent or possible within teaching, which I believe impacts the retention of a diverse and highly qualified educational workforce. Bringing my perspective as a young professional to a high school, I have been endlessly frustrated by the disparity between what I want and what I am inspired to achieve and what the system allows me to reasonably get out of any effort I make.
Feeling stuck
Another thing I've found difficult about this topic is that simply being a teacher doesn't say much about your job description; does not provide any information about their particular working conditions, responsibilities, expectations, or compensation because they vary widely from school to school, not to mention across the country.
Although I have only worked in one school, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with math and science teachers from all over the country. From the poorest rural schools to the most elite boarding schools, I am increasingly bothered by the lack of an incentive structure or clear paths of professional growth within the teaching profession that I can meaningfully verbalize on a resume or letter of application. presentation.
Other fields offer structured opportunities for career growth in various ways, including, but not limited to, some type of organizational hierarchy in which promotions lead to greater compensation and different responsibilities. While this type of internal promotion and investment and workforce development is not the case in all corporations or industries, in the teaching career it is practically non-existent.
Public school teachers are often geographically limited by pensions, so crossing state lines means losing hard-earned retirement benefits. In some states there are portfolio or observations required teachers must complete to receive tenure, but salary increases are not always a guarantee. Once you have taught for a certain number of years, enthusiastic teachers can work incredibly hard for at least a full year to receive ai=DChcSEwjntrmhgM2IAxWkMggFHVBrAK8YABAAGgJtZA&co=1&ase=2&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9Km3BhDjARIsAGUb4ny7N_Iw4xHh03uM40RgDYz2xXPLaP7KndRuQ1HaxS2q4KwLoME3wBcaAgUoEALw_wcB&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVeD2RWUO6hADlGQqyXk91oji8m7pd_yzJ0Eb8IcYPJwCvgF199HF4OK9NU59cWwg_qyJjhq9EzkNBhI12mG3g6fki7Umxr21AgjBEG5wqz1eaKHmBvw&sig=AOD64_1LCb5N9yZ39SNlsKSqvd_FQ6NXuw&q&nis=4&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwjR5rKhgM2IAxUXhIkEHQb5DyEQ0Qx6BAgXEAE” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>National Board Certificationbut first they have to pass the test and once again the reward may differ depending on the state. California has a stipend for those who achieve this distinction but no real increase; In many states, it is a purely symbolic title with no financial compensation.
Meanwhile, in my previous work industry, many of my colleagues were able to seek a more supportive environment where they could receive competitive compensation and grow in their careers. Clearly, not all companies or other jobs have these opportunities, but even the ability to change employers to achieve upward career mobility is complicated for teachers. All of these hidden factors built into the decentralized education system can prevent teachers from having the same level of fluid movement between schools and districts that their similarly educated peers in professional industries are accustomed to. Ultimately, this hinders educators' ability to navigate a job landscape in a way that promotes their professional growth and overall professional development.
Put your money where your work is
Many industries operate on the basic principles of rewarding talent for sustained, positive performance. In the many fractured systems that make up the broader American education system, talent and effort often lead only to heartwarming grades, the occasional staff pizza party, and more responsibilities with a shrinking margin of effective compensation. With the lack of growth opportunities in this career, is it any wonder that recruiting and maintaining a diverse teaching workforce is an issue for our schools today?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing this problem. Districts and schools, whether public, private, or charter, receive funding differently and have different methods of allocating their budgets. But when considering how to fix schools or taking stock of the current and future state of public education in the U.S., policymakers and stakeholders with some ability to make changes in their schools or districts should not discount the effect of developing a more solid vocational training route. advancement for teachers.
If we don't build a better system, one that rewards the extra work and extra duties that come with being a teacher, we risk further creating the feeling that being a teacher seems like a dead-end job, and although some educators have reached After come to this conclusion and leave the field, I hope that I and other colleagues can feel the necessary growth and support we need in our careers to remain in the classroom.
