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[hellomarcy]

I have 11 years of K-12 public school teaching experience in secondary science. Three years ago, I moved to California, where I eventually earned a Clear teaching credential (which means that I am credentialed to teach for life, as long as I pay the necessary fees every few years), but I have also had to move from district to district on temporary contracts due to uncertain budgets. I am tired of the job hunt every summer.

Do you think it's crazy for me to pursue a PhD in Education? In the course of writing my MS thesis, which I just completed recently at a local state university, I discovered that I love academic writing and research and need more intellectual challenges than a public school teaching position can provide. To be in the best position financially and academically when I am done, I am looking only at top education schools (e.g., Stanford) and will attend only if I am fully funded.

What do you think? I'm a recently divorced mom of two (4 and 6 six years old), but I'm sure this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I'm ready to send off applications next month.

[runwithscissors]

Read this before making any decisions:

http://chronicle.com/article/Bootstrapping-My-Way-Into-the/129640/

[msparticularity]

I'm in education, and our field is actually pretty decent--particularly in the STEM fields. As a woman you would be in a particularly advantageous position, both for full funding and also on the market. Also, pay in our field is easily $10,000 per year higher than in the humanities--although possibly not a lot better than what you're getting now, given your qualifications. I was making $44,000 a year in the early part of the last decade, and now make just over $55,000--with more for summer school and overloads if I want the.

That said, as a former single mom myself, I would suggest that you not even consider going anywhere that you wouldn't have a good support network. I was living in the same city as my daughter's father, her aunts, and my parents--and I remarried partway through--and even so it was one long juggling act that I could never have survived alone. Further, even with decent funding you're not going to be able to support yourself and two children without maxing out your student loans. I'll be paying just over $300 a month on mine for probably the rest of my career, although I definitely still think it was worth it.

So, this isn't nearly as crazy as it would be if you were in a different field, but you really need to be aware that it's not necessarily compatible with single parenthood, either--at least if you move somewhere new. 

[lohai0]

Poly_mer would probably know more than I about science ed in particular, but my little corner of STEM-ed (math) still has a pretty respectable market.

[oldfullprof]

We hire them.  Ed Administration seems a little hotter at our place.  They turn over.  The El Ed people have been there forever.  I'm not in this area myself, but can observe it.

[hellomarcy]

Thank you all, especially msparticularity. Your words were especially encouraging.

I think I'll be okay. And, if worst comes to worst, I have my teaching credential. It's not that I dislike classroom teaching or that the salary is poor ($68,000 is on par with or better than some assistant professors); it's just that I'm not passionate about it anymore in the way that I am now with academic research and writing. I mean, I could spend hours reading journal articles just as easily as I could reading the seven-volume Harry Potter series (which I did within a one-week span last summer).

I also feel like it's now or never. Next year, I'll be 33 years old, and I'll have enough years of classroom teaching experience (on the front lines or in the trenches, as we like to say) to be valuable as an educator of future educators. At the same time, I'll have enough years of work left in me when I finish my PhD to be valuable as a researcher.

I'd like to hear from more of you in STEM-Education fields. It's neither the humanities nor the sciences, but it's not quite 100% education either. Thanks!

[lohai0]

I'd like to hear from more of you in STEM-Education fields. It's neither the humanities nor the sciences, but it's not quite 100% education either. Thanks!

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