1. Work with Children and Young Adults – Children are a joy to work with. You will laugh almost every day at silly jokes that you come up with as you teach or the funny statements they can make. Children’s energy, imaginations, and fresh insight will be certain to keep you forever young.
2. Lifelong Learning – If you love learning, teaching is a career that uses that passion. You will become an expert in your subject area(s) because there’s no better way to learn a subject than to teach it. Students will ask you interesting questions that you haven’t thought about before, challenging you to learn even more to stay ahead of them.
3. Variety – While most people have jobs that require them to do the same thing every day, teaching offers a lot of variety. You will work with a completely different group of students each year. As you gain experience, you may decide to adopt new teaching methods or to teach a new topic. Best of all you will learn new things from your students every day, not to mention a great deal about yourself.
4. Health Benefits – Many teachers get great health and pension plans. In fact, teachers’ health, vision, and dental benefits are often among the best compared to other industries.
5. Reasonable Hours – Since teachers work on school hours, it’s a great job for anyone with kids. You’ll have more time with them before and after school, which means that you don’t have to worry about childcare or missing their next soccer game.
6. Interpersonal Interaction – Forget sitting in a cubicle all day. Teachers get to interact with students, parents, and other educators on a daily basis. You’ll also have many opportunities to get involved in the community through field trips, after-school activities, and service projects.
7. Job Security – Teachers are always needed. Once you’ve established yourself, you should always be able to find a job. Downsizing and layoffs don’t happen nearly as often in schools as they do in other industries. And contrary to popular belief, teacher salaries aren’t as low as you think, and they can increase significantly over time.
8. Autonomy – Even if you have to teach a specific curriculum, you get to decide what happens in the classroom each day. Every teacher teaches differently based on his/her personality, creativity, knowledge, and beliefs.
9. Vacation Time – You’ll have not only two weeks of vacation for the holidays, but several other breaks throughout the year for public holidays, mid-term breaks, and of course, summer! Even if you teach at a year-round-school, plenty of vacation time will be scheduled throughout the year. This is a great time to travel the world, pursue a hobby, further your education, or even have a seasonal career at a summer camp or national park.
10. Make a Difference – Teachers impact students’ lives in profound ways. Just think back to some of your favorite teachers and how much they meant to you. Teachers can help students discover their passions and develop skills to reach their full potential. You will even get to see the difference you make every day in the classroom as students get excited about learning and improve throughout the year.
This article is by Andrea Erins. Andrea has been teaching 13 years and enjoys writing about a variety of topics related to education. She is the owner of the site Masters in Education.
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