You say he has a background in manufacturing. Would he be eligible NOW to work in the vocational end of a high school? That might be the best of all worlds.
What's the job situation in your area? How realistic is it that he'll get a teaching job? Here in the South, teaching jobs are moderately easy to get, but up north (where salaries are higher) they're difficult to obtain. Be sure he's training for a job that exists.
Keep in mind, too, that teaching is a job in transition. Traditional classrooms are melting away, while online learning, blended learning and charter schools gain ground.
Don't forget to factor in his benefit package as a teacher. You just can't get those type of benefits anymore, anywhere. He can basically work for 25 years and be paid for the next 40 years after that. Don't forget summers off. All holidays off. All weekends off. A set early out daily schedule. Health and dental. Tenure. Working with other professionals. Sick Leave. Long Term illness insurance. Life insurance. No corporate bullshit. Job security.
A generation ago this was true. When I started teaching, it was already in decline. Today a good half of it is flat-out wrong. My husband has better benefits than I do; about half of my friends have better benefits than I do. Teacher benefits today are kind of low-average compared to other college educated professionals.
What's false:
- No one gets a pension after 25 years of work; at the least, it'll be 30 years. Probably 30 years
and you have to be 62 years old before you can begin collecting, no matter what age you complete those 30 years.
- Health and dental are available -- for a cost, and just like everyone else's insurance, it goes up every year.
- Tenure -- no, people incorrectly call "Career Status" tenure, but tenure really only exists in universities -- the media does seem to perpetuate this falsehood. Public school teachers who have attained Career Status cannot be fired without reason; that is, they have access to due process. Teachers who don't have Career Status can be let go at the end of the school year without a reason; for example, they can be let go because the principal found someone who can coach basketball AND teach their subject (and, yes, that is common).
- Long term insurance is available -- again, for a cost, a very high cost.
- Corporate problems and politics -- I have no idea why people think this isn't part of the school system; it's become progressively worse over the years.
What's correct:
- Summers, holidays, weekends -- yes,
and that's a great benefit. It was especially good when my kids were small and would've needed paid care. It saved us untold money and stress. Having no paycheck in the summer was a fair trade-off for being excused from finding summer care.
- Schedule is set literally three years out -- yes, that's another great perk.
- Life insurance -- yes, if I die today, my husband will get one year of my salary; I pay nothing for this insurance.
- Working with professionals -- yes, the vast majority of the people with whom I work are great and genuinely care about the kids. Those who don't, don't last. 3 out of 5 teachers leave the profession within the first five years; most who leave came into the job with misconceptions about what the job would be like.
- Sick leave -- 10 days per year, not unlike most professionals.
2) You do get credit (a salary boost) in most districts for a master's...with what you pay, he probably will make the money back in 2 to 4 years just on the salary boost, in addition to the fact it qualifies him for the job
3) "If you have a job you like, you'll never work another day in your life"
Check on the masters pay thing. In NC we no longer get a higher paycheck for having a masters, but admittedly we're a state in big trouble as far as education goes.
I disagree with the "get a job you like, never work another day" concept. I love teaching, but it is most definitely still a JOB. I don't know anyone who would do it for free.
Parts of it are wonderful -- choosing books, working with motivated kids, being part of a great team. I love planning and laying out lessons, and I love the actual teaching. But I will never enjoy clocking in before dawn in the winter months, working with disrespectful students who don't care to learn, and grading poorly written papers. Yet those are part of the job -- and every job has some crummy aspects; don't ever fool yourself into thinking you're going to find a job that'll not feel like real work.
My Mamaw said, "If it was fun every day, they wouldn't have to pay you; in fact, you'd pay them."
