Whether you are a new teacher or considering making a move
to a different school, the process of finding the right fit can be
daunting. There are a lot of
possibilities out there and it can be difficult to determine the best place to
start. This inspiration for a move can
be from anything such as wanting to increase your impact to having a philosophical
difference of opinion with your administrator.
Alternatively, you may be in the hunt for your first job and you are just
exploring the waters for the first time.
Regardless, this is a very important decision that will influence your
ability to impact kids and your career trajectory. In fact, finding the right school for you
will actually likely dictate whether remain in the teaching profession.
As I’ve mentioned in a past post, teaching is
an incredibly high turnover profession and much of it has to do with teachers
not finding the right fit. Thus, before
getting started, I recommend establishing a sense of what you want and care
about.
While there are a number of things that you can think about
when making this decision, the following are few examples of things that you
can think about when determining what is important to you in a new teaching
job.
Leadership of the
school: making sure you have a philosophical match and can maintain a good
relationship with a school leader will have a great impact on how effective you
will be as well as your own satisfaction.
Do you want someone that runs a very tight culture with a lot prescribed
procedures and rules or do you want a leader that allows each teacher to
determine their own approach?
Values: you want
to make sure you fit in well with what your school believes and their approach
to operating around these values. Think
about what is important to you in culture and philosophy.
Professional
development practices: how a school develops professionals will have a
substantial impact on your career. You
may want to think about your 5 year goals and what experience or learning as a
professional you will need to do to get to a place where you want to be.
Leadership
Opportunities: you should think about whether you want to grow into
leadership roles down the line. Whether
it is to become a department chair or a school leader, thinking about where you
want to go will determine if a school organization will provide you with the
pathways to achieve the kind of opportunity that you are seeking.
Past results: thinking about how the school is performing
will give you a good sense of what type of situation you will be walking into. You may be inspired to help a school turn
around a situation or perhaps you want a place that is already on an upward
trajectory.
Governance: The
way a school is governed can have a major impact on the teaching
experience. You should ask yourself how
much freedom you want your administration to give you around things like budget
and hiring.
Compensation: You should determine what your salary
requirements are for a job.
Understanding this will give you a big perspective on where you should
be looking
Location: Thinking about your willingness to relocate
or even how far you want to commute on a daily basis will have a substantial
impact on how you think about your search.
Defining this on the front end will help you quickly narrow down your
possibilities
By determining on the front end what you want will save you
a substantial amount of time as you navigate the process.
