Are Today's Teachers Underpaid?

by Allison Landa

Aristotle called teaching "the highest form of understanding."

These days, it's also one of the country's largest career fields. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, education is second only to the health care industry in terms of its number of employees. According to the BLS, there were approximately 13 million people working in the education field in 2004 — and that since school attendance is mandatory for all students under the age of 16, half of these jobs are as teachers for grades K-12.

These positions range from kindergarten to elementary, middle, and high school, and each has its own requirements in terms of training, licensure, and psychology. More advanced grades require more specialized teacher training, since high-school teachers most frequently focus on a specific discipline. High school is considered an especially booming field, as baby-boomer secondary school teachers continue to retire and enrollment growth slows.

While rewarding in many ways, teaching is sometimes considered an underpaid profession. Salaries, of course, range depending on a variety of factors, including location and socioeconomic makeup of a given school's student body. According to the BLS, poor and overcrowded schools in the inner city, as well as rural school in remote locations tend to offer relatively low salaries and have trouble attracting qualified teachers.

What's more, the makeup of public schools is changing: According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, more than one-third of today's public school students are minorities, and by the year 2025, that figure will increase to 50 percent. In contrast, only 13 percent of teachers nationwide are minorities.

However, the BLS says that salaries for qualified teachers in urban schools look to be on the rise. In addition to a large increase in education funding at the federal level — and in particular for teachers in lower-income urban areas — some states have begun programs to improve early childhood education. This funding boost is expected to increase applicant interest in teaching jobs in impacted locations, and is a concerted effort to compensate for the funding shortages that have impacted education in recent years.

Other rising initiatives to boost education funding at the state level were reflected in "The Governors Speak 2006", a report from the National Governors Association in which at least 37 U.S. governors said their education budgets were projected to either be in balance or have a surplus. Teacher quality and compensation are the most common goals, according to the report, with 58 percent of governors adding that they also sought to improve their state's high schools.

So is there a shortage of qualified teachers? What makes a teacher qualified, and why are they valuable?

In the late 1990s, experts were predicting a huge shortfall of qualified teachers, saying that 2.2 million new teachers would need to be hired by 2010 in order to make up for the shortage.

Then, in 2001, the No Child Left Behind law was passed to ensure teachers would be sufficiently qualified. According to the U.S. Department of Education, being deemed highly qualified means three things: having a bachelor's degree, having full state certification or licensure, and proving knowledge of each subject taught. These qualifications help to produce competent, professional career educators.

Teachers seeking to advance their careers and gain professional skills, along with improving their compensation, might consider continuing their education. Getting an advanced degree such as a master's will improve your chances at getting hired for many teaching positions, most of which require specialized skills. According to the BLS, the total number of bachelor's and master's degrees granted in education has spiked steadily.

Some of the best-paying places for teachers include the state Nevada, where there is a relatively low cost of living; the city of Greenwich, Conn., which is fairly well-to-do; and in the Washington D.C./Northern Virginia area, where the socioeconomic climate and school makeups vary widely and the population is fast-growing.

With an increasing need for teachers and salaries showing signs of being on a definite rise, the education field is projected to continue to grow far into the foreseeable future. Experts say many teachers may also be pulled from a reserve pool that includes substitute teachers, career changes, and teachers who are completing their degrees or alternative certification programs. One thing is certain: There will always be a need for qualified, motivated education professionals. Whether you're looking to change lives in the classroom or work behind the scenes on the management side, now may well be the time to start investigating the possibilities for your next step in education as a career.

(Find out more about our Education Degree Program, Education Careers and Professions, and Online Education Degrees.)

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Allison Landa is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, Calif. She received her master's degree in creative writing at St. Mary's College of California.