teachers or former teachers
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Anonymous
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If you are a teacher would you consider teaching a good job if you have children or do you think it rates about the same compared to a 9-6 job?
For example: Being able to attend in school functions even for a few minutes, bringing & leaving together from school, having the option to leave right after school, etc... Thoughts? |
Anonymous
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As a teacher, I would say that there are both advantages and disadvantages from a scheduling perspective.
The biggest scheduling advantage to teaching, is that once your kids are school age there's going to be a lot of overlap between the times when your kids are off, and the times when you're off. It's not a 100% correlation, because you'll still have things like parent teacher conference days, and professional days, but it's the majority of days and it's a huge benefit. The biggest scheduling disadvantage to teaching, is the complete lack of flexibility. Most schools require that you take leave in half day or full day blocks, which makes it hard to attend things like doctors appointments during the day, and with 1 or 2 personal days a year, things like performances during the school day, or PT conferences, can be very challenging. As a parent, the fact that I can't really receive phone calls during the day, can even make things like scheduling doctor's appointments challenging. As the parent of a child with some medical issues, I can't tell you how much time I've spent playing phone tag with a doctor's office about an issue like dosage for medication, because I can't answer my phone. Also, while the early end time is nice, it comes with an early start time. I teach high school, and my core hours are 7:30 - 3:30. Most days, I'm there later than 3:30, but yes, with some planning, I can sneak out at 3:30 (45 minutes after the dismissal bell) once in a while if I need to. On the other hand, that 7:30 time is set in stone. Finding childcare that early can be very challenging. The lack of flexibility also means that you can't do something like wait half an hour if you're making up your mind as to whether your kid is sick in the a.m., or just go in late if your a.m. babysitter falls through. I just reread your post, and you seem to be assuming that you'd teach at the same school as your kid. Remember that most schools serve a narrow age band. So, most of the years your kids are in school there's no way they'll be with you, and won't be on the same schedule. Even during those few years when you might be in the same building on the same schedule, you'll still need to pay for aftercare (you might be able to get away with your kids in your room before school, but after school you'll have meetings that prevent that). Also, you'll never be able to attend a school function solely in your role as Johnny's mom. Being able to pop into your kid's classroom for the 5 minutes of the author celebration that coincide with your students' recess (not the Halloween party, of course, because you'll have your own) sounds great, but if you're spending that time fielding questions from parents of one of your students, or being scoped out by the parent of a future sibling, it can get old really fast. I think, ideally, most teachers would have non-teacher spouses. Then you get the best of both worlds. You have summer and winter break childcare, and hopefully the other parent can handle the morning, the dentist and any midday phone calls that need to be made. |
Anonymous
| PP nailed it. I have zero flexibility in my schedule to attend DS's events. DH does all conferences, pageants, and parents breakfasts, because he can go in an hour late without issue. I do all snow days and school breaks. |
Anonymous
| I work at a very small private school, so my answers are a bit different. I don’t have flexibility in schedule, but I do get to bring DS (6 years old) to work with me when he’s off and I’m teaching. He also gets to take extracurriculars and camps at my school for free, which is a huge help. |
Anonymous
My wife is a teacher and this is spot on. I have an extremely well paying, flexible job with awful benefits. So, I can work from home or work nights, handle appointments, class events, etc, but we have my wife's FCPS insurance that is fantastic. She's makes a quarter of what I do, but the insurance would cost 2K more a month if we got it through my employer. My wife also contributes 36K in retirement and another 7.5K in dependent care/med flex benefits. We also do another 8K in prepaid VA college plans. So, while her check is a few hundred bucks a month and we basically live on my salary, we are saving tons for retirement and college and can afford good childcare for before/aftercare. With my own retirement plan savings (25K a year), we are actually in a position to retire in our early 50's with a sizable net worth. |
Anonymous
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Teaching offers some flexibility. Yes, you can leave your building occasionally at 3:30 to take a kid to an ortho appointment at 4:30 p.m. No you cannot leave or go visit your child's play or performance or field trip without taking a sick day. You will get lots of sick days and you will need them because of your own kids and because your students will spread their illnesses with you often.
You will work much longer hours than 9-6. That's only 45 hours a week!! First few years of teaching? 70-80 hours a week and you'll cry a lot. But, after the first few years, if you stay in the same school and your admin doesn't switch your grade, you'll be able to get it down to between 50-60. But, you will get 9 weeks vacation in the summer, 2 at Christmas and 1 in the spring. You'll need it. Generally teachers have affordable health benefits but not always. I do and its a big bonus to our family. In my state, pensions have changed radically. I will be able to retire when I'm 56 with 80% of my final salary (which will be 100K so I'm looking at 80K a year for the rest of my life). New teachers in my state have to work much, much longer for severely reduced benefits, in line with social security (we don't collect SS in my state). I can't recommend it in terms of happiness, but a decent salary and decent health benefits with good vacation time is nothing to sneeze at. If you can survive it, it isn't a terrible job. GL. |
Anonymous
| If your kid is in your building you can't lie and take a sick day for a field trip. You would need to take your 1-2 personal days of the year. |
Anonymous
| Also, you'll have to figure out sub plans each time you're out. It's more stressful than when you take off at many other jobs. |
Anonymous
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The lack of flexibility for days off is the worst thing about being a teacher. I have to save any work on my home for the summer (no spouse to take leave) and while sick leave is yours to take, my school culture frowns upon taking too many days too close to each other. And some days, trying to take leave is impossible due to teaching a lesson I can't trust with a sub, or a required meeting, etc. If you have a spouse who can share this burden, it is a lot easier.
That said, the insurance is great and if you actually enjoy teaching, it is a fun and fulfilling job. I had a private-sector job I left 15 years ago for teaching. While my financial future would have a better outlook if I had stayed there, I do not regret my choice because I love my students and feel my work is important. |
Anonymous
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My mom was a teacher and once I was out of the same school where she was teaching, I can think of just two times she attended a school function that was held during school hours.
Of those two times, one was when I was a HS senior and it was the Senior Awards presentation. And only then because we knew beforehand that I was receiving a few pretty prestigious scholarship awards. When we were in the same elementary school, she could usually get an aid to cover to at least run to my classroom and pop in for a bit. Or she could get someone to cover long enough to watch our holiday play/choir performance. Also, don't count on being able to leave right after or soon after the bell rings. In middle school I rode the bus to a stop near the elementary school and then walked over. There were many days where I'd still be in her classroom 90 mins or 2 hours after school let out. |
Anonymous
Getting sick as a teacher is the worst! In a non-teaching job, you usually can put off what you had to do that day. But in teaching, you have to come up with a plan for every minute of the day for whoever is covering you. |
Anonymous
This describes DH's parents to a T. His dad had his own business and made much better money than his mom but didn't have benefits since he was self-employed. His mother was a public school teacher who had really good benefits (health, pension, etc.). They retired early and were able to purchase a vacation home in cash, etc. |
Anonymous
Interesting that she made it senior year. My kid is a senior this year, and not being able to tour colleges when they're in session was a problem I didn't anticipate. I'm a single parent, so my kid has been flying out on his own for those tours. Which kind of sucks. We get 2 personal days a year, and they don't carry over. This year, obviously, one needs to be saved for graduation. |