(ThySistas.com) If you’ve been considering a career in teaching, you’ve probably already weighed the pros and cons extensively, but you might’ve overlooked a few essential aspects, especially if you’ve been solely focused on monetary benefits. Becoming a teacher can be a fulfilling and lucrative experience if you work hard at obtaining the necessary credentials and experience to obtain an ideal position with a reputable educational institution. Whether you’re thinking about teaching preschoolers or college students, here are five benefits to a career in teaching that shouldn’t be ignored:
1. Extensive Job Opportunities
Every city, town, and county in the nation needs teachers on an ongoing basis. Of course, a teacher with a higher level degree (i.e. – a master of education in adult and continuing education) will have a better chance of avoiding unemployment, and will usually receive higher pay, but if you’re willing to settle for a lesser job in the
interim there’s never a shortage of schools to choose from.
2. Excellent Benefits and Desirable Salary
Although teachers don’t make the best salaries in the world, with an average annual income of more than $56,000 it’s certainly good enough to cover your bills and provide an adequate savings/startup capital for your independent business ventures. You’ll also get perks like paid vacations, great overtime pay, an abundance of hours, substitute opportunities, and valuable experience as an educator that serves as a shiny star on your resume.
3. Helping Shape a Better Future
One of the less tangible rewards of being a teacher is the satisfaction of knowing that you’re having a positive impact on the long-term success and well-being of your students. Due in part to your input, they’ll be growing intellectually, learning valuable skills and facts that will ultimately shape the person they become in the future. Pushing the next generation forward is a great feeling and a chief motivating factor for many aspiring teachers.
4. Ease of Relocating
As mentioned in the first section, teaching jobs are practically ubiquitous, so if you ever decide to get up and move you should have no problem finding a first teaching job in your new area. This is especially true for teachers with exceptional work experience and/or educational credentials that set them ahead of their peers.
5. Ideal Part-time or Secondary Job
Finally, even if you’ve always had a different dream or goal in mind other than becoming a teacher, serving as a local or online educator is an excellent way to make a side income without devoting too many of your weekly hours to the profession. You could even take on a part-time position while you work on furthering your career via an online MEAD degree program.
6. Comparing it to Alternatives in Terms of Job Requirements
In closing, one final bonus reason to consider a career in teaching is that it’s a very comfortable and routine job. You never have to worry about encountering something drastically unexpected, hazardous, or physically challenging. So long as you show up on time and provide a kind and edifying experience for the students, you’ll have no problem enjoying a relatively cushy job.
Staff Writer; Laura James