Forty-year-old seeks teaching position; am I kidding myself?

August 31, 2008 5:56 PM

Can a forty-year-old woman get a job as an English teacher in the public education system when so many twentysomethings are in competition for the same jobs?

I'm going to be forty this coming May, and I'll have my English BA and my Illinois Secondary Education certification in April, 2010. I already have a Bachelor's in Speech and Theater from Northwestern University (1991), and spent the time between one school and the next in the "workforce" (five years as a professional actor/opera singer, a few dismal years in advertising, and then four years as the webmaster for WTTW (Chicago's PBS station) and WFMT (Chicago's classical radio station).

I look at my co-Secondary Education in Language Arts (previously known as "English") majors, and I worry that my age will work against me.

In my favor, I'm extraordinarily unlikely to become pregnant and leave the workforce. More in my favor, UNLIKE most of my classmates, I can read, write, and spell; I know the difference between "its" and "it's", "there" "their" and "they're", "affect" and "effect", and any other number of the things you're supposed to know when you graduate high school. I'm also able to look for jobs in other states; I have no dependents and don't own a home in Chicago, and the Illinois certificate transfers to most states.

In their favor, time is on their side w/r/t staying at the job--in twenty-five years they'll be forty-seven, while I'll be at mandatory retirement age. There are many other factors in their favor (e.g. many speak Spanish fluently), and I'm sure there are plenty of others of which I am not aware.

Is this going to be a black mark against me when I start interviewing for teaching positions?

posted by tzikeh to Education (14 answers total)

I hire teachers for an alternative education program. About 50% of the teachers I've hired in the past few years have been 40+.

Stress your maturity, your enhanced world view, your stability, your likelihood to stay in one location for a while, your experience with young people (your own or in other work settings), the stability of your family situation (less likely to leave due to having a baby)......

My opinion of most of the very young people that I interview is that my students would pretty much eat them alive. I look for someone who has some confidence and strength.

Hang in there, you'll find a job.
posted by HuronBob at 6:08 PM on August 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

What Bob said. I worked in student administration for a teacher education program for 5 years (until 2 years ago). Mature aged students seemed to do better with employment than straight out of school graduates. Exceptions included students who had flaws not connected with age (illkempt, unfit students of any age, nervous students, arrogant students). Most teachers in this area don't seem to stay in the job long enough to get long service leave, so 25 years is not expected. 5 years is exceptional. Oh, and in this country, a huge shortage of technological adept teachers. Any of our students who showed aptitude in that area seemed to be sucked into that as a subject to teach, even if their specialist area was in the humanities.
posted by b33j at 6:25 PM on August 31, 2008

Yes.

I'm a college professor in English, and see a lot of secondary ed students come and go. It's very very common to see young students go out to student teaching or first jobs, and run screaming. A lot of my graduate students have been people scared off from high school teaching after only a year or two.

I think HuronBob has it: Emphasize that you're in it for the long term, and can deal with students and administrators in a mature way.
posted by LucretiusJones at 6:30 PM on August 31, 2008

I don't think its strictly your age that will work against you - its your relatively late entry into the profession that may be a obstacle. You're going to find yourself competing for positions with twentysomethings with experience, which is a hard thing to compensate for, particularly if they hold similar degrees/credentials. For example, I'm a little younger than you, yet have over a decade of teaching experience - I imagine that would be an advantage over someone just starting out when interviewing. I think your best strategy would be to emphasize what other talents and experiences you can bring to the classroom.
posted by blaneyphoto at 6:32 PM on August 31, 2008

Yes!

You should be excited about being 40 and becoming a teacher. The opportunities are really limitless. Teachers who start after transitioning from a different career tend to be more fearless in the classroom, more encouraging of students, have a higher degree of promotions despite their relative lack of experience and have a much lower amount of turnover versus younger teachers.

Go you!
posted by parmanparman at 6:44 PM on August 31, 2008

I'm a late twenty-something English teacher in a private school, and many of my recently hired colleagues are your age or even older - in fact, my principal frequently hires retirees from public schools who don't want to leave teaching but who want to collect their pensions and a salary for a few more years. Obviously, you won't have their experience, but your age can be a real benefit in the hiring process. I agree with all of the positives mentioned above, so I'll just mention a couple of negatives my employers screen for when considering "mature" hires. First, they worry about people who may have been higher-ups in their previous careers being able to revert to being subordinate to curriculum supervisors, department heads, and so on. My school is also pretty invested in technology, so make sure to emphasize that you're up to date on that stuff (which you surely are if you're on Metafilter!). Go for it with confidence, and good luck.
posted by katie at 6:57 PM on August 31, 2008

Best answer: Oh, and one more thing - your theater experience might be a big help as well. Schools often need a teacher who is qualified to teach a Theater Arts class and/or to direct school plays and musicals, so if that interests you I would stress that in your applications. Your work experience in that area will surely set you apart from the majority of the twenty-somethings (and thirty-forty-fifty somethings) you're competing against.
posted by katie at 7:02 PM on August 31, 2008

One of the few good things about the teachers unions is that everyone gets paid (basically) the same based on time put in. So good news, you won't have to worry about not getting jobs because the younger kids will work for less. Bad news, you're all working for less. Good news again, Chicago Public School teachers make a very good living. (Of course it's not as much as they want, but we all want more, don't we?) And if you get into a good school (one that has educating students as a priority- it's shocking how many don't...) you'll have a great time.

Another reason your age will work for you- many new teachers that I've known have had to have a tragedy year or two at some other school before they really understand how to run a classroom and command respect. Your experience should help you hit the ground running. Also, your work experience should make handling the workload much easier. I think that's a huge aspect of having an enjoyable teaching career.
posted by gjc at 7:05 PM on August 31, 2008

Most public schools want to hire young women because they're likely to quit before they have to get a raise, since they were probably in college for the Mrs degree anyway and are gonna start baby-making. Private schools may be your best bet.
posted by dagnyscott at 7:10 PM on August 31, 2008

Maybe this is wishful thinking, but it seems to me that schools want to hire the candidate that they feel is best, and they don't worry as much about the extraneous details, such as your age, your likelihood of getting pregnant, or the ability to use it/it's correctly (which I would hope ALL candidates would do).

When I was interviewing as a straight out of college applicant, my thoughts were always "Young woman with no experience seeks teaching position, am I kidding myself?" And things worked out in the end. Everyone has pluses and minuses, but I really don't think your age will be a huge factor.
posted by jetskiaccidents at 8:06 PM on August 31, 2008

IAAHST. It's your enthusiasm, 'worldly' experience, and classroom management that will carry you through, nothing to do with your age.

And dagnyscott's comment should be disregarded as ignorant of and insulting to young teachers everywhere.
posted by TDIpod at 10:08 PM on August 31, 2008

Best answer: I'm an admin at a K8 school in the Chi-town burbs. You don't have to worry about your age. As you start applying, don't forget to play up your theater and web work. Schools look for multi-taskers. You could be teaching RLA, but doing the play on the side. You could also be contributing to the school's online presence. Schools are looking for value. Many couldn't afford a drama teacher/web geek. Someone like you who can do these on the side will have an advantage.

The fact you're older is a plus as others have mentioned. A younger, 20 something means they'll bring immaturity to the job, as well as lack the types of office/workplace skills that are hard to measure.
posted by rryan at 8:01 AM on September 1, 2008

In addition to being less likely than twenty-something to get pregnant, you're also less likely to say, "Screw it! I'm going to law school." Go for it!
posted by HeroZero at 9:31 AM on September 1, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for all of your support, MeFites. I've been very down about this recently and needed some facts -- those of you in Education really helped me out. I don't know anything about how interviewing for a teaching position goes yet, but I'll keep in mind that I should play up the other things I've done as well. I've also worked in marketing for a theater company that's relatively well known in Chicago, so that could work for me too.

Many thanks again!
posted by tzikeh at 11:08 AM on September 1, 2008