What are the Pros and Cons of Being a Teacher?

If you’re considering a career in early childhood education, you’re likely weighing the pros and cons of the job, which makes sense considering no profession is perfect and they all come with their own unique set of challenges. While teaching may not be right for everyone, for those who find themselves drawn to a career in early childhood education, there’s usually a good reason for it and once they discover the reason, they can’t imagine doing anything else.

Make a Difference

As an early childhood educator, every day that you teach is an opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life. Becoming a teacher means you’ll get the privilege of molding future generations by instilling a lifelong love and passion for learning that will serve them well throughout all of their academic years and beyond. This gives many teachers a sense of pride and accomplishment in knowing that they’re doing something so worthwhile and inspiring.

Career Opportunities and Job Security

The demand for well-trained and qualified early childhood educators remains high, making teaching a profitable and stable career that you can count on for many years to come. With an ECE degree from Athena Career Academy, you can work in a variety of settings including preschools, elementary school, and educational childcare centers.

Great Work Schedule

When compared to other careers, early childhood educators often work daytime hours, which includes a consistent and predictable work schedule. In addition to the family friendly work hours, teachers often get more days off than other professionals, such as certain holidays and time off in the spring and summer.

Fun Work Environment

As an early childhood educator, you’re almost guaranteed to never be bored, as each day brings something fresh and exciting along with it. The great part of being a teacher is that fun is actually encouraged! You get to be creative and innovative as you think of new and unique ways to teach various lessons and skills to a highly motivated audience.

While being a teacher has numerous benefits and rewards, it’s only natural that educators will likely experience some challenges throughout their career, such as:

Difficult Conversations with Parents

It’s not always easy to communicate academic or behavioral issues with parents, as some parents may become defensive or unwilling to address certain issues. This challenge can be greatly reduced by practicing good communication skills and collaboration, such as listening to parents and validating their concerns and then working together to come up with a plan to try and solve the problem.

Feeling Physically Tired

While working with children can keep you feeling young at heart, it can also make you tired. Eating healthy and staying as active as possible will be your best defense against teacher related fatigue. The good news is you will get plenty of exercise as an early childhood educator.

Additional Work Hours

Teachers are dedicated and hard-working people, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there might be some instances when they need to bring their work home with them, such as lesson planning, grading papers, or prepping for a craft project. In addition, there may be some meetings or school events that occur during non-school hours. The good news is, most teachers traditionally work a very friendly schedule compared to other professionals, which can make up for or minimize the dread of those additional work hours.

Is Becoming a Teacher Right for You?

If you’re ready to discover all of the benefits that this rewarding career has to offer, contact Athena Career Academy to learn more about our early childhood education program. We can prepare you for success as an early childhood educator through our accredited program. Set up an appointment with our admission office today!