Employment opportunities for teachers are directly tied to enrollments. By 2005, enrollment is expected to grow to 55 million. The fastest growth will be at the secondary level, where enrollment in grades 9 through 12 is expected to grow 21 percent over the 1994-2005 period, from 13 million to 38 million. Because of the projected increase in enrollments, the increase in teaching jobs is expected to be 26 percent over the 1994-2005 period.(The average rate of growth for all occupations is projected to be 14 percent.) Historically, the number of teachers employed has always continued to increase even during periods of declining enrollments.
Middle and Secondary School Teachers
As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market for elementary and secondary teachers varies by geographic area and by subject specialty, and currently school districts have difficulty hiring qualified teachers in mathematics. Recruiting Trends Survey 1995-1996, a University of Michigan survey of education administrators in 294 public school districts, found that mathematics positions were one of the most difficult positions to fill. Both inner city and rural areas have difficulty attracting teachers. Mathematics teachers are in demand generally at the middle and secondary level, but if you are willing to relocate, your outlook for finding a teaching position at the elementary and secondary level improves dramatically. Overall employment of elementary and secondary school teachers is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2006.However, employment at the secondary level is expected to grow faster than average. Of course, one of the influences on the availability of teaching positions would be pressures from taxpayers to limit spending for education.
Post secondary
As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for college and university faculty is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2006 as enrollments in higher education increase. This increase is due to projected faculty retirements as those faculty who began teaching in the very late 1960s and 1970s reach retirement age. Additionally, college enrollment is projected to rise from 14 million in 1996 to 16 million in 2006, an increase of 14 percent. Between 1996 and 2006, the traditional college-age population will begin to grow again, spurred by the leading edge of the children of baby boomers reaching college age. As these enrollments start increasing at a faster rate in the late 1990s, opportunities for college faculty may begin to improve somewhat. Still the Occupational Outlook Handbook reports that there is keen competition for faculty jobs because of the growing number of Ph.D. graduates competing for these jobs, the trend of hiring adjunct or part-time faculty due to the financial difficulties of colleges and universities, and reduced state funding for public higher education.
STRATEGY FOR FINDING
Your strategy for finding a mathematics teaching job will vary depending on your degree level, the grade you wish to teach, and the type of school where you plan to work. Different strategies will be required for finding jobs in a public school, private school, or in higher education. There are some common strategies, however:
Find out where the positions are listed. For most general employment, only20 percent of the listings nationwide are published, leaving 80 percent to be discovered by other means, such as the networking techniques. But for teaching positions, especially those in public schools, all positions are advertised. This is because schools receive some federal funding and thus are required to widely publicize job openings and conform to federal guidelines for hiring.
Take a proactive approach to locating the listings that appeal to you. Make a regular routine of checking newspapers at your local or college library. Your college career office or education department will also have listings or possibly a database. If you have access to the Web (and many public libraries can provide that access), you can check regional and national postings. Keep a notebook listing your favorite website bookmarks and return to them on a regular basis. Take advantage of job fairs for educators. There are annual job fairs listed in your college career office that will be both regional and national. Find out the requirements to attend these fairs. This is a great opportunity to talk directly with principals and superintendents.
In most cases, when you arrive at the job posting site, you can print the pages you have identified as meaningful to your job search. Occasionally, you will find some sites that do not allow the printing of Web pages.
The proactive approach also requires researching teacher supply and demand of the geographic areas you're interested in, identifying the schools within that geographic area, and calling the school districts to find out how and where the positions are posted. Don't neglect the professional associations listed at the close of this chapter that might post positions for members.
Varying state licensing standards, which make it difficult for teachers to move from state to state, further complicate the job market. Although some states have reciprocity agreements, teachers often must undergo additional training to qualify to receive a license in anew state.
Step 2 Prepare your job search materials and techniques. These include:
- Your resume
- A cover letter
- Interviewing skills
This article will be a good resource for the resume and cover letter, and you'll find we've included some samples of each. Have your resume fine-tuned and ready to be submitted at a moment's notice. Sometimes you might hear about positions that have a deadline within twenty-four hours!
Write a cover letter that focuses on the benefits of hiring you and describe show your credentials match with the employers needs. The hiring official reviews your credential packet and compares it with the qualifications outlined in the position description. If there is a match, then you will likely be asked to be interviewed. The final goal is getting an interview with the hiring official-and of course, being hired too!
Register with your college's credential file service. These credential files contain your resume, recommendations, and other pertinent information that would help you qualify for teaching positions. There may be a small setup fee for this credential file. If there is, think about the advantage of the convenience of credentials being in one location and being mailed from a central location. When you begin your search, the credentials can be sent as a packet directly to the school or superintendent that is advertising the teaching position.
The interview is a conversation between you and the hiring official, and this conversation allows you let the hiring official know why you are there, what you are looking for as a math teacher, and what you have to offer your students and the organization. In addition, you have the opportunity to support the information you wrote in your resume and cover letter. This article offers some detailed tips on successful interview strategy. The more interviews you have, the more skilled you become at interviewing and the greater your chance of gaining a teaching contract. Putting your education to work gives you a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
Steps
Use networking to your advantage. Make sure those in your personal and professional network know that you are seeking a teaching position, what your interests are, and the geographic area in which you wish to work, so that they can keep you informed of any positions that might become available. In addition, while attending professional conferences or meetings, start networking with your colleagues by asking what might be available at their institutions. The best sources of information for schools seeking to fill a position are the recommendations of colleagues and former teachers. These recommendations are considered referrals when the candidates' credentials are reviewed by the search committee.
Networking is an art, and it is easily abused. You never know when you might need those contacts again. In many cases, you'll encounter your network contacts at conventions, training sessions, and workshops during your career.
Strategies for Finding Public School Jobs
Send a cover letter and resume to the schools that interest you. The state departments of education provide listings of all public schools in each state which give you the name of the superintendents, principals, personnel officers, or other administrative contacts. Not only do these listings give the names but the telephone numbers and addresses are listed as well. Check with your career services office for these directories published by the state Department of Education.
Strategies for Finding Private School Jobs
Private schools seldom advertise positions in newspapers in order to have a more select pool of candidates and to maintain a lower public profile than their public school counterparts. Finding a job teaching math in private schools requires more research work and diligence than looking for teaching positions in public schools. You'll need to check with your library or career services office for a directory of private schools.
