Why did I choose Secondary Education:
To tell you honestly, education wasn’t the first course that I took up in college. I started my college life at Emilio Aguinaldo College in Dasmarinas Cavite under the course of Business Management. Just like most of us I guess, I really didn’t know what I really wanted back then. All I know is that I have to finish college with a course that is considered to be flexible and general so it’s going to be very easy for me to land a job. But as time goes by, I realize that being a business manager is not really what I wanted to be and I’m really having a difficult time imagining myself as one, and so I decided to shift to education. Since I was a kid, I remember that we always play a teacher student type of game where I always play the role of the teacher and my siblings are my students. I’m also a type of person who always talk about something, I love talking a lot especially with my friends. Actually, I was also a lector and commentator at our church, so talking in front of a large crowd
About my college education:
The course education can be very boring if teaching is really not your thing. But for me, as teaching or talking in front of a lot of people is what really makes me alive. To be honest, my course and major Filipino is really not that difficult since it is my mother tongue and it is like going back to your early school days again. What is difficult is the part where you need to be on duty on some private or public school since you really don’t have much freedom in choosing the school where you want to conduct your practice. Another thing is the environment of the school, the faculty, and the students. This is the most challenging but fun moment of the course because this is the time where you need to prove to the attending observers, your professors, and yourself that you actually have what it takes to be a good teacher.
To be honest, it took me several times before I pass the license exam mainly because I refuse to attend a review school since I have a job. It is as if you are going to war without enough ammo or not having a concrete plan of attack. After failing twice, I decided to look for a good review school and after that, I nailed the exam. So for you aspiring teachers out there, don't feel to confident because you will never know what's going to came out from those papers. It is better to be prepared and sacrifice some extra time to study to prevent losing more time because you fail several times.
For the first couple of years, what you need is mostly the same set of skills and attitude that is also required in any other course like being hard working, ability to understand things easily, punctual, basically things that will make you pass all of your subject, just like I told you, the theoretical side of education is really not that difficult compared to economics, engineering, or nursing. If there are any special skills that you need in order to succeed in this course is that you need to be very attentive to details. Computing hundreds of quiz and test papers can be very stressful and might affect the accuracy of your computation, so you really need to stay attentive and alert. Another skill that is required in this course is a good pronunciation of words and vocabulary. Filipino language is a very deep language and if you don’t understand or can’t pronounce the uncommon Filipino words, it’s definitely a minus point. So for some people who have problems with their tongue, try to consider finding another course or else you will face a lot of humiliation from your students.
I believe that the most important aspect in this course, the thing that will make you survive is your attitude. How much do you love your career? How you treat your fellow education students, your future co-faculties, your future students, and your principal? Education involves a lot of interaction, and you need how to connect with other people effectively if you want to stay long in this field or else you will have a lot of enemy. Lastly, you need patience, and I mean a lot!
My current job:
I’m currently working as a high school Filipino public teacher at Polo National High School in Valenzuela City.
As a high school Filipino teacher, my job is to teach the students how to speak and write the language properly and with correct grammar. I teach them the importance of our national language Filipino and why they should be proud of it. As a teacher, we are also required to give out short and long quizzes every now and then to test the comprehensiveness of the students. Aside from the quizzes, we are also required to make exams for quarterly examinations. Then we are also the one who will compute for their grades. Computing of grades is something that every teacher should know. Grades must be computed with diligence and caution since parents often rechecked this grades by themselves to see if the computations are correct and that their children receive the correct grade.
Am I using what I learned in college:
Absolutely, since my course is education and we have a specific area of expertise or profession, all that we learned in college will be practical or will be used when we are already employed. This is actually the advantage of having a professional course or a course that requires a licensure exam. Unlike courses that don’t have licensure exams, their choices are very broad and wide. Well for some that is an advantage, but if you’re the type of person who doesn’t really know what he or she wants, it’s going to be quite difficult for you to choose where to apply.
Also the number of competitors or applicants for jobs that don’t require a license is much greater since fresh graduates from different courses may apply. For example there is an opening for a bank teller position. A finance, economics, or management graduate can apply for that specific posting since most banks require only that you are a business graduate. Well going back to what I have learned in college, those are pretty practical knowledge since we focus on how to understand different kind of personalities and to be honest this is a skill or knowledge that we really need in real life. We learned how to deal with different kind of scenarios and to be patient all the time. Being a teacher is practical when you have kids since you no longer need to hire a tutor for your kids.
Everything I do right now is in my curriculum in college. Basically the technical aspect of my course is being used every day like how to compute for grades, how to prepare for a new lesson, and a lot more. This is also one of the good things if your course requires a license since after graduation you know exactly what you will do on your first job. If you are a accountancy graduate and passed the CPA board exam, definitely you know that your first job will be accounting related and that is the same thing with teachers. The hardest part of being a teacher revolves on your personality and attitude and that is something you can’t learned from reading. You need to experience temper and anger in order for you to know how to control your patience, and I can say that my patience was tested several times during college. Trust me you will need a lot of patience when you are already teaching.
How long did it take to find a job:
Even before I graduated in college, I started to look for potential schools where I can spend my few months before I take my LET exam. Then after a month I land my first job at Blessed Trinity in Las Piñas city.
To be honest, it’s not that easy to find a job if you’re not licensed yet since most schools are increasing the required qualifications. They say before that as long as you have good grades and no bad records, it is easy for you to get hired even though you’re not licensed yet especially in small private schools. Today, some schools not only required that you already have a license, they also require or at least preferred applicants who has Masteral degrees.
After several months in Blessed Trinity, I immediately look for another school that is near in our house since the transport time to Las Piñas is very long and traffic is so heavy. After a month I manage to transfer to Polo National High School in Valenzuela. For my second job, the hiring process was much easier maybe because I already have relevant experience. Experience is one of the most sought after qualification every school wants. The more the experience the better as long as you are gaining a lot of knowledge along the way. Still, perseverance is the key in finding your first job because honestly, nobody wants to hire a newbie or neophyte, but of course in the real world they need to hire the newly grads.
Do I recommend studying Secondary Education:
I would definitely recommend this course if you have passion with public speaking, teaching, and influencing the youth to be better. Being a teacher they say is like a hero. A hero means that you give something even without asking anything in return. Because of that, I maybe not recommending this course if you are looking for a high paying job. Maybe you might consider go to business courses or engineering courses where math is the main subject since math really brings money. I’m not saying that the course education is not financially rewarding, because it is, but compared to some other courses like accountancy, engineering, or economics, maybe the salary grade here is a bit lower. Not to mention if you already have a family which forces you to look for a much higher paying career. Most of the teachers that I have met that has ten or more years of teaching experience told me that they stay longer because they can’t imagine their selves having a different job. Teaching is their passion and that is the main reason why they are still teaching right now even though some of them are really old already. Passion is a very important factor in education because if you are not passionate about teaching, you won’t stay long. I also wanted to point out the fact that the Philippines is having a scarcity for teachers. So maybe the love to your country can make you choose to take up education in college.
Employment wise, there is always a big demand when it comes to teachers because of the very limited supply we are able to produce every year. So this is actually a good opportunity for students who are considering taking this course as their chosen career.
Nonetheless, demand for teachers are still there because education is a necessity, the question is where is the demand? Most remote areas in the Philippines lack teachers mainly because of the location and the salary. But in urban areas like metro manila, there is still a good demand for teachers but you got to stay competitive. One thing is of course to pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), another is to continue studying and get Masteral Degree or PhD.
In other countries like Canada, USA, European Countries, and many more, they prefer Filipino teachers because of it's English proficiency and good work ethics. I definitely recommend my course to upcoming college students since being a teacher is a very good career. But if you’re main career goal is to generate more money, then you should remember that in order to do that, you need to climb the ladder. And the ladder here is pretty much slippery because of politics, so you better consider that. Always remember that the demand for teachers will remain as long as education exists, so there is always be an opportunity for education students.
The salary of a public school teacher with full benefits is more than enough if you are single, no dependents, and don’t live beyond your means. But if you already have your own family or a dependent, it might not be sufficient to support all the needs of your family. Not to mention the type of and location of the school where you come from. If you work in a rural area, chances are the salary is much lower compared to the urban area since the cost of living in rural areas are much cheaper. The type of school is also a factor. If you are teaching at an exclusive school, expect to receive a pretty good amount of pay as compared if you are teaching at a small private school inside the town. Nonetheless, if you want to receive a pretty good amount of offer, make sure that you are prepared and make sure that you deserve it before you expect it. In other words, study hard and get good grades, make sure to impress the observers during your practice teaching, and prepare for your first interview first before you assume anything about the salary. But if you think you deserve to get a good salary, I advise you to prioritize teaching in a public school because that
Advice to people who are thinking of studying this course:
If you are planning to take up education as your chosen career you need to ask yourself several questions first before you make any decision.
1. Am I comfortable talking in front of a lot of people?
2. Am I patient enough to handle students at any given situation?
3. Am I too sensitive to gossips and intrigues?
4. Is this is something I want to do for the rest of my life?
5. Am I willing to be relocated to remote areas?
Those are just some of the questions you need to consider before you decide to take up education. Not to mention the major of study you are planning to take.
If your answer is YES to all of the questions, and you’re really sure that education is the career you want to pursue then I advise you to listen to your professors attentively all the time, some of the things that your professors might tell you may seem very common and instinctive to you, but to tell you honestly some of the things that will make you successful in this career are thos
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