I love my job.
It’s fun, energizing, open-ended, social and inspiring. It’s also
challenging, as it requires constant problem-solving, critical thinking
and organizing. It demands patience, creative resourcing, interpersonal
dynamics navigation, role-modeling and time. It boasts the
accomplishment of building foundations of community, life-long learning,
and social success. It asks these skills of me when working with both
children and adults. Any idea what I do?
I’m a cooperative preschool teacher! It is a job like no other, extending far beyond the hours of a preschooler’s classroom time. And thank goodness for that, because a lot of the more challenging elements of the job happen outside of classroom time, including resource building and mentoring families through the dynamic early childhood experience. The role of a cooperative preschool teacher as a guide, visionary and institutional memory of a school is unique – and vital – to school longevity.
Any idea what this job is worth? The majority of my colleagues who teach in cooperative preschools would probably use all the descriptors I used above and more. It sounds like a pretty full job, likely demanding of personal time, and certainly not a job for the faint of heart or weak in spirit. It sounds like a job worthy of a living wage. It sounds like a hard job that could pay pretty well! Yet as I sat in a meeting among fellow cooperative preschool teachers last fall, I heard several people state very candidly they could not afford to work in this field if they were not supported by their spouses and partners. Discounting the variety of lifestyles a room full of people could desire, it bears mentioning that is a pretty heavy statement and reflects on how society values the undeniably important role of early childhood education. I very nearly cried. Is this the real value of the women and men who fill the role of first educator in children’s lives?
I’m a single mom supporting three people on the income of two part-time jobs, primarily the income of my job as a cooperative preschool teacher. Any member who takes a look at the school’s budget distributed monthly to its members doesn’t need rocket science to determine that paying three employees a total of $31,000/year isn’t going to translate to a gold mine, or even a standard that barely fits into the federal income levels for poverty for an individual, let alone a family. More importantly, does it translate to an equitable wage for the work that cooperative preschool teachers do for young children and their families?
With honesty and grace I can tell you that I don’t make anywhere near enough money to put my employer or the members of my employer ahead of my family.
As annual contract negotiations come into view for another preschool year, I think it is time to begin engaging the idea of society’s value on this kind of job, a family’s value on this kind of job, and what kind of employee would be attracted to the existing demands of the job and the existing compensation that accompanies it. Is it sustainable to attract young, energetic teachers to a job which may have to be a stepping stone toward further or other employment for financial security? How does teacher retention factor in to your perception of a school? Is it fair for teachers to subsidize the actual cost of care through inequitable wages and minimal, if any, benefits?
I’m a cooperative preschool teacher! It is a job like no other, extending far beyond the hours of a preschooler’s classroom time. And thank goodness for that, because a lot of the more challenging elements of the job happen outside of classroom time, including resource building and mentoring families through the dynamic early childhood experience. The role of a cooperative preschool teacher as a guide, visionary and institutional memory of a school is unique – and vital – to school longevity.
Any idea what this job is worth? The majority of my colleagues who teach in cooperative preschools would probably use all the descriptors I used above and more. It sounds like a pretty full job, likely demanding of personal time, and certainly not a job for the faint of heart or weak in spirit. It sounds like a job worthy of a living wage. It sounds like a hard job that could pay pretty well! Yet as I sat in a meeting among fellow cooperative preschool teachers last fall, I heard several people state very candidly they could not afford to work in this field if they were not supported by their spouses and partners. Discounting the variety of lifestyles a room full of people could desire, it bears mentioning that is a pretty heavy statement and reflects on how society values the undeniably important role of early childhood education. I very nearly cried. Is this the real value of the women and men who fill the role of first educator in children’s lives?
I’m a single mom supporting three people on the income of two part-time jobs, primarily the income of my job as a cooperative preschool teacher. Any member who takes a look at the school’s budget distributed monthly to its members doesn’t need rocket science to determine that paying three employees a total of $31,000/year isn’t going to translate to a gold mine, or even a standard that barely fits into the federal income levels for poverty for an individual, let alone a family. More importantly, does it translate to an equitable wage for the work that cooperative preschool teachers do for young children and their families?
With honesty and grace I can tell you that I don’t make anywhere near enough money to put my employer or the members of my employer ahead of my family.
As annual contract negotiations come into view for another preschool year, I think it is time to begin engaging the idea of society’s value on this kind of job, a family’s value on this kind of job, and what kind of employee would be attracted to the existing demands of the job and the existing compensation that accompanies it. Is it sustainable to attract young, energetic teachers to a job which may have to be a stepping stone toward further or other employment for financial security? How does teacher retention factor in to your perception of a school? Is it fair for teachers to subsidize the actual cost of care through inequitable wages and minimal, if any, benefits?
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