For and against public schools

When we think about teachers, the first image which comes to our mind is a public school. Lots of young teachers prefer to start their career there and some of them spend at schools all their life. Nevertheless, other people have an extremely negative attitude towards public schools. So let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of working there.

What are the pluses of work in a public school?

Confidence

There is no doubt that work in public school can provide certain stability. There is little chance that you will be fired or you will lose your salary. So for many people, this aspect is really significant in choosing a workplace.

Career prospects

Actually, there are a lot of opportunities for career development. Apart from various certifications and teacher`s categories, one can become a head teacher or even a principal. Moreover, you can work not only as a subject teacher but to teach in different clubs and to be engaged in other extracurricular activities.

Freedom

Surely, the public school teacher has a certain curriculum, but they are absolutely free to create unique content of their lessons. Here educators can express all their teaching talent, creativity and willingness to improve pupils` lives. Public school teachers can organize contests, weeks of foreign languages, make projects, organize drama, discussions and reading clubs. So it’s a great chance for teachers to make most of their job.

Professional growth

Such a crucial thing as professional development is guaranteed in public schools. Here one can find various free conferences, seminars, webinars, master classes. It’s obvious that these things are integral parts of the life of a highly professional teacher.

Knowledge of the school programme

Most school teachers work as tutors as well. And as a rule, the majority of pupils need to improve their academic successes at school. It means that mainly you will work upon the school programme. Working at school, teachers know it perfectly and can easily meet pupils` parents’ requirements and achieve great results.

Youth

Children and teenagers are great sources of energy, curiosity, new information, and knowledge on modern trends. Teaching them one can see the world from another angle, keep up with the times and stay forever young. This is the real happiness for a teacher, isn’t it?

What are the minuses?

High level of stress

Mostly the high level of stress and anxiety of public school teachers is connected with the fact that they work with large groups of students and most of them are unmotivated. So their main goal is just to attend the lesson, not to really explore the world and get new information. In this case, teachers should do their best to increase the level of student’s motivation, make the lessons outstanding and unique. Besides, it’s crucial to take care of yourself, set a strategy to reduce stress, keep the work and life balance and think positively.

Language decline

Working in public school teachers mainly deal with elementary and pre-intermediate students. As a result, their speaking skills may decline, some words can become a passive vocabulary and general knowledge of the language can be not so up-to-date. To avoid it teachers should make their professional growth the first priority. Even an extremely busy teacher can find time to watch Youtube videos, listen to podcasts, take some courses or just talk to native speakers.

Paper work

Unfortunately, the stereotype that school teachers spend the night checking essays, tests and filling journals isn’t a stereotype. Nowadays apart from checking homework, teachers must fill in an electronic journal and in some regions there is a paper journal as well. Two or three times a year teachers have to fill in the information in the education quality assessment system. For the majority of teachers, this type of work is really demotivating and exhausting.

Lack of free time

Despite summer holidays and several short holidays during the studying year, public school teachers have a real lack of free time. It happens because apart from their classes teachers have to do lots of extracurricular activities like class hours, teachers`councils, meetings with parents. However, it`s possible to have more free time by using time management strategies, planners, to-do lists and setting the right priorities.

Difficult pupils

In modern public schools, there is a tendency to keep all types of students in one group. So during a lesson teachers have to work with young geniuses, slow learners, pupils with dyslexia and other peculiarities. There is no doubt that it’s a really challenging work, but even in this situation, one can find some great tools for effective work.

Freedom, but not absolute

We have already mentioned that public school teachers have a unique opportunity to create their own reality at the lessons. But, unfortunately, they have to work due to the fixed timetable, they are attached to one particular place and routine. Such limits can negatively affect teachers`creativity, mood and may lead to emotional burnout.

So, as everywhere, there are certain advantages as well as disadvantages in public schools. You should choose what is really close to you and what can give you real satisfaction from the work.