Now that I am coming to the end of my teacher education there are a lot of different things weighing on my mind. The first and obvious thing I am nervous about is finding a job. It is scary to think about answering interview questions and submitting resumes for a job I am so passionate about. There is also the competition factor and the fact that there will probably be hundreds of other students graduating this year that I will be up against. I have to try and figure out what makes me so special and different from all these others in order to find a job.

Another major question weighing on my mind is whether I should teach primary or early childhood. I am really struggling with this decision because certainly their are elements of both that I really connect with. The beauty of doing a dual degree is that I have more options but it also makes it harder to decide where I'm heading. I figure to try and make this decision I should probably make a list of all the things that I love about both jobs and then go from their.

Pros for early childhood
- creativity is a major player in most early years classrooms more so than in primary
- more flexibility and freedom to develop the curriculum around students interests
- great structure of collaborative planning and team teaching
- Community focused and high levels of family engagement
- no national testing
- setting a foundation and love of learning that can set students on the right path for the rest of their education
- massive skill shortage and change of government subsidies means there are many early childhood education jobs available. 
- I am passionate about teaching in the early years

Pros for Primary school 
- Generally a greater opportunity for infusing technology into the classroom
- Greater in school support network, more teachers, more opportunities for advice
- Can see students progress through school and maintain a relationship with them for longer than your may in ece.
- clearly developed union support
- Many of my university peers are heading towards primary school education
- maybe one day I could instigate change and a shift towards the structure that I love about ece.
- there are many lead teachers to help with curriculum areas such as maths, English, science ect.
- the sorts of conversations and topics explored in the upper primary levels and very inspiring and enlightening.
-the days are longer but time seems to pass so much faster with the set up of primary classes
- I am passionate about teaching in the early years

 Ah! I just don't know even listing my favourite things about each makes me love them a little bit more. I realise that it may be possible to do both but I am sceptical about how this would go. I have also been thinking that maybe I would like to do a masters some day and that throws me as well because I don't know how that would fit with being a full time teacher. 

i think ultimate goal would be to work in a school that has both early childhood and primary education but unfortunately i don't know many schools like that around where I live.

So my question to you is what would you do in my position?

Labels: decisions, ECE, education, primary education, teaching