Job opportunities

Schools in the United States and Canada need many thousands of new teachers each year. Teachers who retire or go into other lines of work create most of the openings.

The demand for teachers in the United States varies somewhat by teaching field, grade level, and locality. For example, there is generally a demand for teachers in the fields of mathematics; special education, which is designed for handicapped or gifted children; and vocational education, which prepares students for skilled jobs. There is also a demand for nursery-school teachers, school administrators, guidance counselors, librarians, and psychologists. The United States as a whole has an oversupply of elementary-school teachers and of secondary-school teachers in such subject areas as English, foreign languages, and social studies. But many small towns and the poor sections of large cities need teachers in these fields.

At one time, almost all elementary-school teachers in the United States were women, and almost all college and university teachers were men. But this situation has been slowly changing. Although women still far outnumber men as elementary-school teachers, men now make up about 15 per cent of the total. At the same time, an increasing number of women have been hired to leach in U.S. colleges and universities, where they now fill about a fourth of the teaching positions. In U.S. secondary schools, slightly more teaching jobs are held by men than women.

Changes in the number of job openings for teachers depend largely on changes in the birth rate. For example, a sharp increase in the U.S. birth rate during the late 1940’s led to rising enrollments and a teacher shortage in the 1950s and early 1960s. But the birth rate then dropped sharply, reducing school enrollments. As a result, many qualified college graduates could not find teaching jobs in the 1970s and the early 1980s.

Employment practices. In most public school districts, the local school board is responsible for hiring teachers. Most boards sign a contract with every teacher they hire. In the contract, the board agrees to pay a certain salary for the teacher's services. The contract covers a specified period of time, after which a new contract must be signed. In many school districts, a teachers’ union or other professional organization also signs a master contractwith the school board. This contract covers not only the teachers who belong to the organization but also all other teachers in the district, including any new teachers the school board hires. Before signing the contract, the organization tries to obtain from the board the highest salaries possible and other benefits for the teachers. The master contract is good for only a certain period of time. A new contract is then signed, after the teachers' organization and the board has again agreed to its terms.

Most colleges and universities in the United States and Canada grant teachers tenure - that is, they automatically renew a teacher’s contract after a trial period of satisfactory service. Most school districts in the two countries also grant tenure to public-school teachers. A number of states have laws that prohibit school boards from dismissing tenured teachers except in proven cases of inefficiency or misconduct. In states without such laws, school boards can dismiss teachers when their contracts expire.

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