Why teaching is plan B and not the first career choice of most job seekers

Remember in the pre-school years, how almost everyone tried to teach their friends and toys, with chalk in one hand to scribble on the blackboard and duster in the other? Many kids still do the same, except they must practise with the laptop, thanks to pandemic-era schooling.

As children grow up, very few stick to "I want to be a teacher", while most of them turn to medicine, engineering, finance, fashion, and other vogue professions of the times. What realisation do students undergo as years pass that taking up teaching as a profession takes a back seat, becomes a plan B, C, or most often not is even on their list?

Sumit Kumar, Chief Business Officer, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship, thinks it may not be a preferred choice due to remuneration and slow growth. "The regular teaching job could also lead to monotony," he said.

Prerna Singh thought the same when she joined her first job as a school teacher, as she couldn't find one at a college due to limited openings during the pandemic.

However, the 26-year-old English teacher at Eicher School in Haryana's Faridabad doesn't feel the same after two years of working. "I didn't plan it, but I definitely don't regret it," she told CNBCTV18.com.

She said, while it's a popular belief that teaching is easygoing, people are unaware of the leg work that goes into it. "It's a myth that teachers take four classes and are done for the day. In fact, on many days, the workload is often more than at corporates, where people keep taking breaks in between. Teachers are on their toes right from 7:30 am to 2:30 pm and then cater to their other responsibilities," she said.

Singh says the children's gratitude for her makes up for it all. "It's a very satisfying profession. Though I haven't spent much time with students offline, it's extremely heartwarming when they tell me about any little difference I've made to their lives," she said.

Moreover, she said if one can make it to a government college/school or even a private school like hers, the pay is not all that bad, and in fact, one can get above-average remuneration once they’ve made a name for themselves in the industry.

TeamLease’s Kumar also said many are still inclined to pursue a career in academics by choice purely for the interest of teaching. “There are many academicians who take up research work which is essential to the growth prospects that adds meaning to their careers,” he said.

Singh also pointed to another trend of corporate employees enquiring about how to make a move towards the education sector in want of better work culture.

Sekhar Garisa, CEO of Monster.com, believes that until a few years ago, the education sector, on the whole, may not have been doing so well in terms of pay parity. Still, with the induction of edtech in India, salaries are growing by leaps and bounds.

“Work-life balance, continuous learning, and relearning are a few other positive factors associated with it. With the flexibility of teaching anytime and from anywhere, the convenience of being able to choose working hours and no age barrier, people having even slight interest in teaching can opt for part-time gigs,” he said, adding that the payment has come a long way from where it was yet a lot of work needs to be done towards making it a lucrative career option.

Kumar also said that due to the emphasis on National Education Policy (NEP) implementation and with the advent of edtech, a lot of academic innovation could take place, which includes curriculum development, quality framework development and implementation, industry connections, student welfare and mental well-being, administrative, etc.

In explaining the skill set that a teacher must have in current times, TeamLease’s Kumar said the ability to connect emotionally and intellectually with learners is important. Since today, learning is dominated by technology — smart classrooms and OPMs — the trainer needs to be comfortable handling technology. Hence digital skills are essential.

Singh also mentioned how being in the education space allows her to discuss “taboo topics” like menstruation, LGBTQ+ rights, and mental health and sensitise students about them.

upGrad’s Mohan is of the view education degree can be a stepping stone to a wide range of occupations even if one doesn't intend to teach in a typical classroom setting.

“upGrad is into the higher education space; therefore, we have built a powerful panel of over 5500 mentors and career coaches who are either working with large corporates, national or international universities, or MNCs and are deeply connected within the ecosystem,” he told CNBCTV18com.

Divided evenly to take charge of content creation, delivery, and alumni support, these industry leaders actively engage with learners, use their professional experiences and trivia to enhance the subject foundation, and also help them with placement support for maximum career acceleration, he added.

Mohan noted that 70 percent of the overall learning experience is designed and delivered through industry experts using graphics, animations, edits, and simulations to make the learning process more engaging and immersive.

Monster.com's Garisa said teaching/training/ mentorship comprise 61 percent of the overall demand in the sector, while the demand for counsellors is also up significantly at 15 percent as of August 2022. Other than these, he said communication skills and content development are among the top skills in demand.

He added that hiring of subject experts, academic content writers, and admission counsellors is rising.

TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship CBO said compensation depends on the role (teaching versus non-teaching), levels (school versus higher education versus research), and sector (private versus government).

Since the demand for academicians has gone up in the last two years due to the wide acceptability of edtech and private education, the experienced teachers are getting 50-100 percent raise, he said.

Meanwhile, Monster.com shared the following data on teachers’ average salaries.