Secondary School Teacher

What a Secondary School Teacher Does

Secondary school teachers work with students near the end of their educational career, preparing them for graduation, jobs, or further study in higher education. As a result of their positions, secondary school teachers can often make a lasting impact in their students lives by encouraging them to be life-long learners beyond graduation day. In addition to running an efficient classroom, secondary school teachers can act as mentors for their students, giving them advice concerning a number of issues. Secondary school teachers develop courses, lead class activities, grade papers and tests, maintain discipline in classrooms, and evaluate students' progress throughout the year. They meet with parents and other administrators, they help students develop their own interests, and they often follow-up with former students once they've graduated. Secondary school teachers typically specialize in one subject area, such as physics or history, and they sometimes continue their own education in these areas, attending conferences and publishing books and papers in their respective fields.

How to Become a Secondary School Teacher

Secondary school teachers typically have a bachelor's degree in their area of concentration, such as history or mathematics, and also a certification or dual degree in education. This background gives them the basic knowledge and skills to teach in many public school systems. Secondary school teachers at private schools usually have advanced degrees in their subject matter, and may or may not have a background in education, though such a background could be useful as well. In order to be eligible to teach, you must also demonstrate that you have some experience in the classroom. If you took education courses, or majored in education, you most likely will have at one point or another shadowed a teacher or guest-taught in a school. Those who do not have this experience should consider alternative methods of certification, which often allow you to substitute teach as you take education courses. These are just as viable methods to gain the right background in order to make you a suitable teaching candidate.

Career Outlook for Secondary School Teachers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for secondary school teachers will increase by 9 percent from 2008 to 2018, though teachers who specialize in the sciences, bilingual education, and mathematics will be in higher demand. This average growth is a result of the overall, but slight rise in enrollment expectations through that same time period, though various regions will have better enrollment numbers based on immigration, economic, and government spending trends. Job openings will also depend on the rate of retirement among current teachers, which is expected to rise. According to the Bureau, in May of 2008, the median yearly salary for all teachers ranged from $47,100 to $51,180, with the top ten percent earning as much as $80,970. The American Federation of Teachers reports that new teachers with a bachelor's degree earned $33,227 in the 2005-2006 academic year. One attractive aspect of teaching is the relative job security: once a teacher earns tenure, he or she can expect to be employed until retirement.