A new study by the National Center for Education Statistics sets the record straight on common misconceptions about the teaching profession. Highlights of the study, which surveyed teaching experience and preparation among 1992?93 bachelor?s degree recipients, include:
? Teachers are satisfied with their job. Nearly all graduates (93 percent) who were teaching in 2003 expressed overall satisfaction with that job.
? Teachers are very satisfied with their job. On other measures reflecting job satisfaction, 90 percent of 2003 teachers reported that they would choose teaching again, and 2 in 3 (67 percent) said they would remain a teacher for the rest of their working life
? Teachers rarely leave the profession because of low pay. One-fifth of teachers who left teaching by 2003 cited raising children or other family demands as their main reason for leaving. Other common reasons for leaving teaching were to take jobs outside of education (18 percent) or nonteaching jobs in education (15 percent), because of low pay (13 percent), and ?other? (22 percent).
? New teacher turnover is relatively low. A wide range, between 17 and 75 percent, of 1992?93 college graduates changed occupations within 4 years of receiving their bachelor?s degrees, when grouped by occupation held at the 1-year point. Teachers were among the least likely to change occupations in this time period, at 18 percent.
Kate Walsh, the president of the National Council on Teacher Quality,
said it best. ?What was surprising is how cheery the [teachers?] responses were. Education groups, including the unions often cite teachers? unhappiness in order to pressure districts and states for concessions.”
