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K-12 Science Education
U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Office.
Science teaching has changed radically in the past ten to fifteen years. Rather than giving hour-long lectures, with limited knowledge retention by the students, many teachers now have a more interactive approach to teaching, including:
- Limiting lectures to ten to fifteen minute chunks, interspersed with interactive discussions
- The use of clicker technology, whereby the class can be instantly polled to assess understanding of a subject
- Group and project-based learning
- Hands-on learning
K–12 teachers in the public school system must have a teaching certificate, which usually requires a master's degree in education. A teaching certificate is not required to teach in private schools.
Public versus Private School
Choosing between public and private schools is ultimately a
very personal decision — both have pluses
and minuses.
Advantages of Public School Teaching
Teaching at a public school is a relatively secure job as
there will always be a need for teachers. Because teachers are part of a
union,
the salary ranges and annual increases are usually predictable, which
eliminates a lot of uncertainty. There
can also be a good degree of mobility between grades and schools within a
school district, so public school teachers have many options.
Disadvantages of Public School Teaching
Public school teachers can have less autonomy and
flexibility to choose what and how they teach because of increasing
efforts to
measure success using standardized testing.
This can result in teachers feeling a need to teach to the test in an
effort to improve test scores. In addition, many public school teachers
report
that they do not have time to interact much with their colleagues, so
peer-learning can be limited during the school year.
Advantages of Private School Teaching
Because private school teachers do not need a teaching
certificate, they can start teaching sooner and without the expense of
obtaining one. Many
of the best private schools have internship programs, through which
potential
private school teachers can learn about teaching at a private school
over the
course of a year. Most private schools do
not participate in standardized testing, so there is less pressure to
teach based on the test and more autonomy and flexibility in content.
In addition, many of the best private schools
encourage and provide time for the teachers to interact, learn from each
other,
and strategize, for example, about how to help a student who is
struggling in his learning.
Disadvantages of Private School Teaching
Most private school teachers do not belong to a union, so
there is less clarity in salary ranges and potential annual raises.
There is
also less job security and it may be harder to move between schools.
Because there
are usually fewer private schools than public ones in any community,
most
private school positions are coveted slots that can be more competitive
to
obtain than public school positions, although the best public school
positions
can match the competitiveness of private school positions.
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