Career: Postsecondary Teachers
A professor stands in a darkened auditorium before 150 scribbling students and projects images of paintings on a screen, commenting on each. In a small room on the other side of campus, a graduate student writes an equation on a chalkboard, asking for questions. Across town, a teacher surrounded by a gaggle of adults lifts the hood of a car to describe the engine. These scenes may differ, but the instructors share the same career: they're all postsecondary teachers.
Postsecondary teachers instruct students in a wide range of academic and career-oriented subjects beyond the high school level. Such teachers include college and university professors, career and technical education instructors, and graduate teaching assistants.
“It's essential that you enjoy working with students and that you are passionate about the material you're presenting.”
Pranav, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Are You Ready To...?
- Design and teach classes
- Demonstrate technical tasks and laboratory experiments
- Grade papers
- Conduct research and publish papers
- Stay on top of new findings in your field
- Advise students
- Attend meetings
It Helps to Be...
Someone who enjoys working without much supervision. You'll have a lot to do, but how and when you get it all done will be left largely up to you.
Make High School Count
- Do paid or volunteer work as a tutor, camp counselor, or coach.
- Study psychology and English to develop your spoken and written communication skills.
- Get involved in theater, debate, or speech to practice speaking in front of groups.
- Pay attention to your own interests to for clues about what subjects you might enjoy teaching later on.
Did You Know?
- Some professors teach class in the virtual world of Second Life.
Outlook
Government economists expect jobs for postsecondary teachers to grow much faster than the average for all careers through 2016. However, many of these new jobs will be part-time positions.
Schools that focus on career training, such as community colleges and technical institutes, should provide the most new jobs. Also, teachers who prepare students for the hottest careers will find the most job openings. These fields include business, health, nursing, and biology. On the other hand, expect a lot of competition for full-time professorships at colleges and universities.
Compensation
Postsecondary teachers' salaries and benefits vary depending on many factors. While tenured professors at private universities can earn more than $100,000, part-time teachers at two-year schools might be paid less than $1,000 a course and receive no health benefits.
Those fields that pay the best outside the academic world usually pay the best within it. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that, for 2008, the average salary for law teachers was $101,170, while that of education teachers was $60,080 Postsecondary vocational education teachers earned an average of $50,870. Many faculty members add to their base salary by consulting, teaching additional courses, conducting research, and writing for publication.
