Is there a high demand for history teachers?

Answer 1

No, none what so ever. . . As you can read about in the papers or watch on the news, teachers are being given the very short end of the stick. WI, OH, and TX are currently being reported to be making huge cuts to teachers (TX is getting rid of 100,00+) or battling government about making even less money and paying more for benefits (i.e. Senate Bill 5 for WI, OH, and soon to be IN).

I live in KY and graduated from the University of KY in 2008 with a Master's in Secondary Social Studies. I currently work as a Special Ed Instructional Ast and its one of the worst jobs in the education field. I have worked this job two years and have still been unable to find a Social Studies position even with my foot in the door. The two main reasons I am constantly told for the lack of jobs or hiring:

1. I have my Master's degree: Principles, Administrators, Board of Edu members all tell me that since we are in this financial crisis that teachers with their Master's and who have little experience are passed over in the hiring process because a Master's degree requires schools to pay those teachers more. The irony is that ALL teachers must get their MASTERS within 7 years of starting their teaching career. I chose to get my Master's first because I have heard too many Horror stories from other teachers how stressful it is to juggle teaching, getting your MAster's, and dealing with personal life.

2. I selected the wrong content area to major in: Social Studies is the most flooded subject area in education. Not only is it easier than math, science, English but it is also more enjoyable to learn about in college. Also, Social Studies includes anthropology, geography, psychology, and sociology. So a teacher who wants to teach psychology would have to major in psych and minor in history.

Since graduating three years ago, I have seen the education systems in KY become worse and worse. When I started getting my Master's, the class size was generally 23-26 in high school. Now I talk to my current teachers and the sizes have increased to 33-36. This is just one of the current problems in education. Cut the teachers and shove more students into a classroom. I am sure this helps the teachers with grading their work, organizing classroom materials, classroom management, and watching out for students who may be dealing with issues at home. Good luck to those who are in Education because I don't see it getting better anytime soon.