Global Educator Empowerment

The Private School Survival Guide for Teachers

Thinking about teaching in a private school? Just started teaching in a private school? Been there. Don that! That's why I'm writing this article as one educator to another.

• If you are coming from a public school, you will find several differences between teaching in a public school and teaching in a private school.
• The differences are even more pronounced if you take a teaching position in a boarding school.
• If you have never taught at all, then the following article wil raise points and issues for you to consider.

Canva generated this picture of students working on their tablets.

Students who want to be there

Teachers want to teach. We love our subject. We want to share it with our students.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to teach when you are more concerned about maintaining order in your classroom than you are with actually teaching. When you have a large class of, say, 30 or 40 students, maintaining order is an ever-present issue. On the other hand teaching a small class of, say 12-15 students, allows you to engage your students more or less constantly. It is very difficult for students not to be engaged when the size of the class is small.

This video illustrates teaching using Harkness tables.

Students attend private school because their parents want

Conducting a job search for a private school position via the Web is efficient and practical compared to the way we used to have to do it years ago. These days you can find job listings on the Web, gather information, apply for jobs, and even interview. Let's explore these options in more detail.

Find Job Listings

Without a doubt, the advantage which job seekers in the 21st century have over previous generations is being able to do it online. The Internet allows you to learn about any job opening the minute it is posted online. The same applies to niche employment such as teaching and administrative positions in private schools. At the very least, most schools will have an employment link on their sites. There may not be many listings depending on the time of the year. However, bookmark the employment links for schools in which you have an interest. Job boards and agencies provide online listings as well. Bear in mind that there are peak times in the private school job search process. Typically, November through February is the time when your colleagues are out in force there looking for jobs as well. Most private schools like to have contracts for the next academic year signed and sealed by the beginning of March. As a result, you will probably find the highest number of online listings beginning in the fall.

This video discusses finding a teaching job. While it is aimed at public school teachers, the

This is another article in a series that focuses on how to apply for private school employment. You are probably reading this, and thinking that applying for a job at a private school is just like applying for any other job. In some respects you're right. The actual application process will be similar. However, the questions which you will have to answer will require in-depth responses. Also, you will have to supply three references which the school will call if you make it to their shortlist of candidates. Understand these differences and distinctions so that you can beat out the competition. Yes, private school teaching positions are very competitive in most areas of the country.

When you apply for a private school teaching or administrative position, you will encounter several ways of presenting your personal data and information. If you are instructed to complete an online application or a downloadable application form, that resolves the issue of making your application easy to read. The school will have removed all those decisions from you and the other applicants.

Here is an example of an online application used by a Chicago private school.

On the other hand, if you are faced with a free-form situation with little or no guidance from the school as to what to present, or where the school expects you to write short answers or essays, then the tough choices are yours to make. The guiding principle for

Most of us job seekers don't have very much experience with interviews. I know that from my many years of being one of those people who interviewed applicants for positions at the firm I worked for back then. It was always obvious to me which candidates had prepared for their interviews, and which had not.

Personally, I remember being in the same boat myself. As I recall, I was unhappy with the position I held. Honestly, I cannot remember the reasons why I was unhappy, but I started looking for a new job. I emailed my resume replying to a couple of openings and managed to land an interview for one of them. I never prepared for the interview. I simply turned up and winged it. I just assumed that my resume would show who I was and what I offered. How wrong I was! It was the worst interview experience I have ever had. I had no clue about what the job entailed or what questions to ask. Now, since I don't want you to have a similar experience, let's review some of the things which you can do to prepare for your successful job interview at a private school.

What kind of questions will be asked?

I know that the title of this article is Asking Good Questions. So, you are probably asking yourself why questions which the interviewer will ask are relevant. Good question! The interviewer's questions are relevant because you can use them as

It can be very frustrating and demoralizing to search endlessly for a job and not find one. That's the reality, unfortunately, of this post-recession job market. Common sense would tell you that well-qualified, credentialled, experienced teachers should be able to find a teaching job in fairly short order, say 90-120 days, right? Wrong. That's the sad truth about the current economic conditions. Here's why.

Many school districts have cut teaching positions.

It has been hard to avoid hearing reports in both national and local media about cutbacks in public school district teaching staffs. Public school districts depend on real estate taxes for most of their revenues. They also expect their state legislatures to contribute additional funding. However, these traditional sources of revenue have been shrinking at an alarming rate. Even with the usual kind of accounting maneuvers, such as delaying expenditures for maintenance projects and upgrades of systems and infrastructure, school districts still find themselves in the uncomfortable and extremely unpopular position of having to cut teaching positions. Increasing class size is another outcome of these financially hard times.

As a result, thousands of teachers are actively looking for jobs. TMarket conditions have intensified the competition for the limited number of jobs available in both the public and private school sectors.

Colleges and universities have reduced their teaching staffs.

A quick scan of Inside Higher Ed will reveal the tough employment environment in higher education. If you are tenured faculty, hopefully, you still have a job.