Careers in adult education

aphorist · Post by **aphorist** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 6:45 pm

I know Maus said in another thread that s/he has taught adult education classes, and enjoyed it.
Does anyone know how much demand there is in this field? Is it feasible to do this as a full-time career, or does it work better as a side job?
I would be interested in teaching computer classes--if I could become more comfortable with public speaking. I don't have much experience with adult ed, but I took a web design class in college, and I felt at the time that the teacher had a much better deal than most of her colleagues. Instead of having to stand up and lecture for an hour and a half, she sat at her computer and explained what she was doing while the students sat at their computers and followed along (with the radio playing in the background). The homework was easy to grade. Also, she only had an M.A., while a Ph.D. was the minimum for liberal arts professors.

Shandi76 · Post by **Shandi76** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:11 pm

@Aphorist - where are you based? In the UK it would probably very much be a side job, but I don't know what the situation would be in the USA.
As someone who works in post-16 education, I'd also like to say that the teacher probably did not have as easy a job as you think...
If you want to improve your public speaking skills, teaching will certainly help

I was quite shy when I started Lecturing, but after 10 years I am very comfortable with it and enjoy being the centre of attention.
What is your day job? What skillset do you have that would make you employable and enable you to pick up a couple of hours work teaching an evening class at a college? In the UK getting temp / part-time hours at a College is very much dependent on who you know: we don't tend to advertise these externally. So you need to do a bit of networking to get a class and see if you enjoy it.

aphorist · Post by **aphorist** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:10 pm

@Shandi76 I'm in the U.S., California to be specific. Jobs in higher ed seem to be scarce everywhere.
I'm currently unemployed. I'm competent with computers and I think I might enjoy teaching (under the right circumstances), but my only credential is a B.A. in English, so I would probably need a master's, even to teach at a two-year college.

Shandi76 · Post by **Shandi76** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:24 pm

I would recommend doing a Masters. It was my route into teaching.

A lot of my colleagues only have B.A.s (I'm at a 2-year college), but that is rarely the case for new hires.
How academic are you? If you want to work in HE rather than at a community college you definitely need a PhD but it is a tough call because there are far more PhDs than posts available, and it makes it harder to get a job outside academia. There is also much more of a focus on research than on the quality of the teaching.

aphorist · Post by **aphorist** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:43 pm

I got excellent grades, but I opted against going to grad school for English. Although I enjoy intellectual pursuits, I'm more of a fox than a hedgehog. Then there's the fact that academia is very competitive, especially in the liberal arts. But I know I'm not telling you anything new there!

S · Post by S » Sun Feb 06, 2011 5:17 am

@aphorist I have had some co-workers who taught programming courses at a college's "lifelong learning center" (this one). I don't know what the compensation was, but for them it was definitely a side-income thing. The classes were typically one full day class on a weekend or broken up into a few shorter sessions. I don't think there was any graded homework, but there was definitely some work required to come up with a lesson plan, presentation, in-class programming exercises, and out of class suggested assignments. Neither of them had an advanced degree, just a lot of real-life knowledge from actually doing the subject matter. I'm not sure this is the kind of teaching you mean though.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:12 am

I had a friend who worked in Adult Education. She taught a class in making books. Not in writing them, but in making books out of unusual items. An art class. She did not have a Masters degree. She also had a day job.
I thought about teaching a class myself. I went down to ask and they handed me an application. The requirements didn't look academic in nature. I never filled it out. I may do it one day.

aphorist · Post by **aphorist** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:30 pm

Thanks for your perspectives, @S and @Piper. So far this sounds more like a weekend job than a full-time one, but demand probably varies quite a bit from region to region, too.

Maus · Post by **Maus** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:15 pm

@aphorist

Maus here, and BTW I'm a "he".
All my "adult education" gigs have been part-time, side gigs or have been a part of my current job as a staff attorney for a non-profit association.
Usually, teaching has involved either a class on some criminal justice subject at the local university for about $4K per semester (4 hours of instruction and 1 hour of office time per week, plus prep and grading -- worked out to about $16/hour); or an 8-hour continuing education seminar on some criminal justice issue for a flat fee of $120. The latter only really works once you've developed reuseable materials; and neither is a good way to ensure a reliable income.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:48 am

I think adult ed is naturally all part-time. I mean, you don't get tenure, you're not a professor or lecturer on the academic side. You don't become a regular employee with benefits. But if you teach a lot of classes, you could have a lot of quantity of work and possibly that could equal a full-time job in hours.

aphorist · Post by **aphorist** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:57 pm

@Maus

Thanks for sharing those specific numbers.
Sounds like adult ed could be a nice gig for someone who has already achieved ER and wants to supplement their income...but not an ideal way to get to ER.