Monday, March 30, 2009

STATUS OF TEACHERS

STATUS OF TEACHERS

Prestige, salaries, and supply of teachers are all interrelated factors. Their relative positions are major concerns for future and present teachers. Generally, when the supply of members of a given profession is scarce, demand and salaries increase; when the salaries of a profession are high, professional status is high; conversely, when salaries are low, so is professional status.

The Prestige Factor

Prestige refers to the estimation an individual or group occupies in the eyes of others in a social system; it connotes that individual’s or group’s status within the society. A few studies of social status and occupational ratings are available that shed some light on the social status of teachers. Perhaps the best-known studies of occupational prestige are those conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), affiliated with the University of Chicago. In 1947 NORC asked 2.290 persons throughout the country to rank eighty-eight occupations. The study showed that school teachers ranked thirty-seventh in prestige, and college professors outranked others in the teaching profession. A related study of ninety occupations with similar populations was conducted by NORC in 1964. In the later stude, teacher ranked 29,5 moving up 7,5 places. Since most other professional occupations also tended to show gains in prestige, however, the new atatus of teachers must be qualified on a comparative basis. In a 1970 survey of 650 people who provided prestige ratings of more than 500 overlapping occupational titles, the highest average score was 81,5 for physicians and surgeons and the lowest was 9,3 for a shoe shiner. Elementary school teachers were rated 60,1 and secondary school teachers were rated 63,1 both above the 90th percentile. About the same level of prestige for teachers was reported in a 1977 summary of research on occupational status.

Although a combination of factors determines prestige, in our society in come is closely related to prestige. As teachers salaries increased, the occupational rating of teaching also rose. It is still evident, however, that teachers do not receive salaries in keeping with the ratings they receive on occupational status scale. In addition, there is evidence that the occupational prestige of elementary and secondary teachers declined somewhat between 1964 and 1980 as teachers salaries failed to keep pace with inflation.

Pay Scale And Trends

In 1930 the average teachers salary was $1.420; in 1950 it was $3.126; in 1980, $16.001. By 1984 this figure had risen to $22.019. The most rapid growth came between 1960 and 1970, a period of rising teacher militancy. During this period, teacher salaries rose faster than the rate of onflation. Today, it is not uncommon for some experienced teachers to earn $40.000 to $45.000. In addition, there are opportunities to work in after-school programs and summers for supplementary income and to advance to administrative positions with annual salaries well over $50.000.

Decline in purchasing power

However, there is another side to the picture. While the average salaries of teachers more than doubled between 1986 an 1984, prices increased at an even faster pace. Between 1972 and 1082 annual salaries for teachers increased from $10.342 to $20.536, but in terms of the purchasing power of 1972 dollars, the 1982 average salary amounted to only $9.015. Teacher salaries declined in purchasing power at a rate of nearly 1,5 percent a year between 1972 and 1982. (Of course, similar trends were experienced in virtually occupations; the average workwer lost ground during this ten-year period).

Salary Levels And Differentials

Teaching pay varies considerably among and within states. The range for that year was more than $20.000, from $15.895 in Mississippi to $36.564 in Alaska. Average yearly salaries in the three highest-paying states (Alaska, Michigan, and New York) were nearly twice as high as those in the three lowest-paying states (Mississippi, Arkansas, and South Dakota). Of course, comparative living costs must be taken into account. It is much more expensive to live in Alaska, for example, than to live in the Southeast.

Salary differences within states are wide, especially in states where average state pay scales are high. For example, in Niles, Illinois, the average teacher salary in 1983 was approximately $10.000 more than the average for other Illinois, teachers. In southern states where average salaries are low the range is narrower, but there are still considerable differences. In Georgia, for example, if you pur down your roots in Cobb County your maximum salary in 1980 was more than $5.000 lower than the salary maximum for Atlanta teachers.

The greatest variation in salaries is based on years of experience and education. Teachers with more years of experience and more education earn more than those with less of either. Thus teachers salaries in Chicago in 1983 ranged from $13.770 for new teachers with a bachelor’s deggre to $29.268 for experienced teachers with a year of graduate credit beyond the M.A. degree. Equivalent figures for Detroit were $15.027 and $36.315, respectively. As shown, the salary schedule negotiated for 1981 through 1984 provided $13.226 for a first-year teacher with a B.A. and $27.056 for a teacher at the highest level of experience and education.

Although a teacher at the top of salary schedule (based on experience and graduate degrees or certificates) can earn an attractive salary considering that the academic year is only about ten months long, starting salaries still tend to be low. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to see how beginning teachers in many school districts can support a family adequately or finance graduate education on basic salary of $14.000 or $15.000 a year. Recognizing this problem, many political and educational leaders are working to in crease initial salaries as well as those experienced teachers in order to attract and retain high-quality teachers. In particular, some states are providing additional funds so that all school districts can raise beginning salaries to a state-determined minimum.

Comparison With Other Fields

A good way to measure the economic position of an occupational group is not compare its salaries with those of other groups of workers having similar years of education. These four groups have consistently started at an annual average salary higher than teachers, moreover, the gap between these four groups and teachers has widened since 1965.

In addition, the price of goods and services increased faster than teacher salaries between 1967 an 1983. prices rose by over 300 percent during this period, but teacher salaries increased by less than 250 percent. We also should note that while the median family income in the United States for 1982 was $23.895, the average teacher salary was only $20.536. average teachers salary as a percentage of median family income declined from 93 percent in 1972 to 82 percent in 1978. However, this trend reversed in 1980, and average teacher salary increased to 86 percent of median family income in 1982. Furthermore, of some 2,1 million persons employed as elementary and secondary school teachers in 1983, almost 1,4 million are women. Note, however, that where the teacher is a married women (about two-thirds of the female teachers are married), we can assume that their spouses generally earn similar or higher salaries. Thus their combined incomed incomes are likely to put a great many teachers in the top five percentilies in the country, having family incomes of $50.000 or more.

It also should be kept in mind that teachers have many opportunities to increase their salaries by taking on additional responsibilities. For example, many teachers receive significant payments for coaching athletic teams or supervising other extracurricular activities, and teachers also again in both salary and prestige when they are appointed to serve as administrators, curriculum developers, staff development specialists, master teachers, or in other specialized positions. In the past few years there has been some movement toward developing both career ladders, which enable outstanding teachers to take on additional responsibility, and merit pay plans, which provide higher salaries for superior classroom teachers.

As we will illustrate in the concluding section of chapter, the quality of education and the situation of teachers have become important national concerns in recent years. In many states, governors and other political leaders as Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, have developed plans for substantial statewide increases in teachers salaries. As a result of these developments, teacher salaries probaly will increase significantly faster than inflation during the next few years.

Supply and demand

From 1950 until the mid-1960s the schools were bursting at the seams with record enrollments that had their beginning in the post-World War II baby boom. These high birtrate groups had to rely on teachers born during the low birthrate years of the Great Depression-a trickle of teachers for a flood of students. Thus a wisdespread shortage of teachers developed in the 1950s and early 1960s.

However, the pattern was reversed in the late 1960s, and a general oversupply of teachers was available in the 1970s and early 1980s. This surplus of teachers reflected two major interrelated factors.

First, the U.S. birthrate fell steadly from 1955 to 1973 and then remained low, leading to a decline in schools. Second, the college-age population increased as the baby boom generation grew up, and many of this generation entered teaching, partly because there had been a shortage teachers. By 1969 there was an “excess” of 16.000 beginning teachers, and by 1974 the number of surplus beginning teachers was more than 60.000, with several additional thousands no longer even applying for jobs.

It should be noted that in certain subject areas the teacher shortage has persisted through much of the past fifteen years. These fields include special education, bilingual education, and early childhood educationa-which were expanding rapidly despite general enrollment decline-and science, mathematics, and industrial arts-in which financial rewards were far better in business and industry than in teaching.

As college students, teacher educators, and state government officials realized that there was a substantial oversupply of teachers, enrollment in teacher education programs decreased in the 1970s. the number of education degrees awarded to new teachers fell from 176.614 in 1971 to 108.309 in 1981. reflecting the same trend, the percentage of college freshmen intending to become teachers declined from 22 percent in 1966 to 5 percent in 1982. If recent trends continue, this number will decline to 77.270 in 1988- 44 percent of the 1971 figure. However, some colleges and universalities reported an increase in teachers education enrollment in 1984, for the first time in ten or twelve years.

As of 1985, however, it appears that the overall trend is again being reversed: there is likely to be a significant shortage of teachers by the late 1980s. reasons for predicting an improvement in the market for new teachers during the next ten years include the following:

1. The number of students graduating annually from teachers-preparation institutions has been drastically reduced.

2. A “mini” baby boom is beginning to develop as the original baby boom generation grows up and produces its own children. As a result, school enrollment will increase after 1985. this will substantially increase opportunities for elementary teachers beginning in 1985, and for secondary teachers beginning in 1992.

3. In many communities a significant proportion of the current teaching force will be reaching or approaching retirement within the next ten years. Some observers perceive this as a “window of opportunity,” during which time well-trained new teachers can be prepared to function in the schools.

4. The recent rise in national and local concern with the quality of education (discussed elsewhere in this book) may lead to reductions in class size, expansion of preschool education, greater emphasis on science and mathematics, and other changes that require an increased number of teachers.

5. Population in the United States has shifted from the Frostbelt states of the North and East to the Sunbelt states of the South an West. In addition, immigration from Mexico and elsewhere also has increased the population of the Sunbelt. Both these phenomena have created teaching opportunities, particularly in the Southwest.

6. Among the more positive responses to the supply-demand gap in teaching has been a movement to help teacher education students prepare for careers other than those in schools or classrooms. In conjunction with programs leading directly to a teaching certificate, many colleges and universities are offering interdisciplinary majors that blend the liberal arts withan educational-studies major to prepare students for a broad range of careers. These new career programs frequently reduce or eliminate teaching-methods requirements and substitute courses of study that can lead to one of several fields or career options, such as adult education, consulting and research, state or federal agencies, community organization and development, vocational guidance, youth-serving organizations (for example, Boy Scouts), and private-sector training.

However, it is very difficult to predict exactly the market for new teachers in the future. In addition to uncertainties regarding enrollment and programming in the schools, market opportunities on the demand side will depend on whether developments affecting salary and other teaching conditions encourage or retirement and resignation. On the supply side, several factors may increase the number of new teachers: improvements in teacher salary vis-à-vis other jobs; efforts to recruit and provide financial support for students in teacher education; the extent to which certified teachers who left teaching or never obtained a job may return to teaching; a decline in opportunities in law, business, and other fields; and related developments. Despite these uncertainties, it is likely that opportunities for teachers will improve over the next decade. The most recent estimates prepared by the National Center for Education Statistics indicate that by 1990 the supply of new teachers will be only about 75 percent of the demand.

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