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What Can Be Done to Make Teaching an Attractive Profession? Shane Keith Old Dominion University

What Can Be Done to Make Teaching an Attractive Profession?

As a profession, teaching is behind in its ability to attract qualified applicants. The competition for high quality teachers is fierce. Schools have been forced to find new ways to not only attract but keep new teachers. Because of the No Child Left Behind Act that President Bush signed in 2002, states need to have “highly qualified” teachers for all the core academic courses. This needs to be accomplished by the end of the 2006-2007 school year, or states face a loss in federal funding (King, 2006). Because of this urgency, the time is now to face teaching shortages and attract and keep quality professionals. A competitive salary, hiring incentives, and especially more support and consideration for the hardships of new teachers would all make teaching a more attractive profession and help end the problems with finding “highly qualified” teachers.

The most logical way to entice a potential teacher is with a competitive salary. The problem is that for starting teachers, the salary offered is below what they could receive in the business sector. In 2003-04, the estimated starting salary for teachers with a B.A, was $30,496. Beginning salary for accountants that same year was $41,110 and for computer science graduates, $49,691 (Solomon, 2005).

Institutions of public education need to stay more competitive. One of the ways is to not base pay on years of experience, but instead on the need for the particular position. For example, there are fewer applicants for positions teaching physics than there are for positions as English teachers, because someone with a physics degree can earn a lot more in the business sector than someone with an English degree could earn in a field outside education, therefore, the physics position should offer higher salary than the English position. The current pay schedule does not account for this.

More importantly, salaries should be higher for teachers overall. Doctors and nurses have jobs that are very important for our society, and they make high pay. What teachers do, could be argued, is just as important, if not more important, given that all Americans receive an education, and the quality of this education determines the intelligence and ability of our future nation.

Along with salary increases, states should look at ways to offer other rewards to potential teachers. Signing bonuses are a common incentive. These are usually given with the requirement of working as a teacher within the system for a given number of years. More creative ways to offer rewards include helping with student loans, making mortgage subsidies available, and even something small such as offering free or discounted health club memberships.

Private businesses have tried to help with the recruitment of quality teachers. Bank of America offers mortgage loans of up to $252,700 to teachers nationwide. This allows the purchase of a house with little to no down payment (Siskos, 2001).

Competitive salaries and added perks such as bonuses and other incentives will help, but more is needed. The main problem in attracting and keeping qualified teachers is job satisfaction. One third of all new teachers leave the field within three years. Close to half leave teaching after five years (National Education Association, 2003). This kind of turnover costs more than schools can afford. Studies done by the Texas Center for Educational Research state that turnover costs as much as one and a half times the departing teachers salary. Part of that cost is the training, bonuses and benefits that have now been lost with the teacher (Kraus, 2005). With all this considered, it is important to do the things needed to keep new teacher in place.

One of the biggest complaints of new teachers is that they feel lost. There is not adequate guidance and mentoring in most schools. Often, the first year teachers are given the most difficult and challenging students, full loads with little time to prepare, and more than a fair share of extracurricular assignments is areas like coaching and club activities (Columbia Group, 2006). Christina Knowles, a high school English teacher in rural North Carolina, says about her first year teaching:

They made me in charge of the yearbook, which, besides football, is the only thing people around here care about it. (The students and other teachers) all have in their minds how they want this book to be, yet no one wants to help. To make things worse, the staff of students I got to produce this product was an overcrowded class including a kid who dropped out of school, four kids who would come to class stoned, two students who chased me on the highway, a group of five who tried to get me fired, and a bold young man who would do things like spray paint on paper in my classroom while substitute was there or leave an unwrapped condom on my desk just to embarrass me. That was just one of my classes (Knowles 2006).

To help with this, the school systems should make sure that new teachers are not given the most challenging courses. Beginning teachers still need to learn how to run an actual live class full of students. For the first couple years, teachers should have reduced course work so that they can learn their craft at a pace that will not overwhelm them. They should be given time during the day to plan and ask questions of more experienced staff. An organized and structured mentoring system should be in place to help new teachers. Guidance and support are the basic things needed to keep teachers content with the job.

With the timeline established in the No Child Left Behind Act, the problems with attracting quality teachers needs to be solved immediately. To do this, every state needs to offer a competitive salary, more and better hiring incentives, and a strong support system for new teachers. This is possible, but it my take a major change in national mindset.

References

Columbia Group. (2006). Realistic assignments for new teachers. Retrieved September 19, 2006 from: http://www.columbiagroup.org/retention3.htm

Johnson, S. M., et. al. (2001, September/October). Retaining the next generation of teachers: the importance of school-based support. Harvard Education Letter. Retrieved September 12, 2006, from http://www.edletter.org/current/support.shtml

King, L. (2006, April 24). Richer areas more successful in attracting qualified teachers. USA TODAY. Retrieved September 19, 2006 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-04-24-education_x.htm

Kraus, L. (2005, 15 March). Attracting teachers starts with retention. Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved September 19, 2006 from http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/15/op/op08p.html/?print=on

National Education Association. (2003, 29 January). Teacher retention key to teacher shortage crisis. NEA Communications. Retrieved September 23, 2006 from http://www.nea.org/nr/nr030129.html

Siskos, C. (2001, May). B is for bonus – attracting new teachers. kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine. Retrieved September 19, 2006 from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1318/is_5_55/ai_73828271

Solomon, L. (2005, Winter). Recognizing differences: let’s reward good teachers. Education Next. Retrieved September 23, 2006 from http://www.tapschools.org/newsroom.taf?page=tapnews443_recogdiff

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:

1. Which of the following is NOT an incentive mentioned in this paper? A. Fitness club memberships. B. Zero down payment for mortgages. C. Payment for moving expenses. D. Hiring bonus.

2. Which of the following is NOT a problem faced by first year teachers? A. Getting the most difficult students. B. Overbearing mentoring system. C. Receiving unfair share of extracurricular activities to oversee. D. Too little time to prepare for classes.

3. Which of the following is closest to the average starting teaching salary? A. $20,000 B. $25,000 C. $30,000 D. $40,000

4. When is the deadline for complying with the No Child Left Behind Act in acquiring “highly qualified” teachers for all positions? A. 2006-2007 school year. B. 2007-2008 school year. C. 2008-2009 school year. D. 2009-2010 school year.

5. About what percentage of teachers leave the profession about five years? A. 10% B. 25% C. 35% D. 50%

ESSAY QUESTION:

There are a few hiring incentives listed in this paper, and school systems nationwide have used these. Many schools have come up with new, unique incentives for new employees. In a well-organized essay, choose three to five creative incentives schools could use and why they might be effective in attracting new teachers.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION ANSWERS: 1. C 2. B 3. C 4. A 5. D

SIDEBAR by Steve Moore, copyright 2006 Universal Press Syndicate