Teaching job in Hawaii?

Question

Really want to be a teacher (if i dont become a Pro Wrestler) and i really want to live in Hawaii, So i guess my question is, is that is it hard to find teaching jobs in hawaii or how hard is it to find a teaching job peferablly Honolulu?

Answer 1

The University of Hawaii does not graduate enough education majors to fill the teaching slots in Hawaii. Probably hundreds of teachers are recruited from North America every year. A former dean of the UH School of Education told me that about 20% of those teachers recruited from out of state will still be teaching in HIDOE schools in five years.

How hard is it to find a teaching job in Honolulu? Well, let's talk about how vacancies are filled under the HSTA contract. If a school has a vacancy, they are supposed to advertise that vacancy in one of about four transfer postings for teachers currently in the HSTA, between February and April or so.

In fact, if a principal has a position that is filled by a new teacher still on probation, that position is supposed to be posted so that tenured teachers who want it can bump the new teacher from the position they hold this year. If a teacher transfers to a position they accepted in posting one or two, then their position is posted in number three or four.

The last gasp is about May, when teachers leave HSTA positions to take administration positions (different union). So the jobs that are available for new graduates and out-of-state recruiting, are the positions freshly vacated by new administrators, or the positions that could not be filled in the four rounds of transfer postings. Those hires will be made in May and over the summer. The school year starts at the end of July.

By now, you're guessing some of the reasons those new teachers from out-of-state don't stick around. Another is that these new teachers are often hired to fill vacancies that do not match their qualifications. Therefore, the HIDOE does not have to pay you for that graduate degree that does not match what you are actually doing. Also, if they do give you credit for those graduate hours, they may not give it to you for the first year that you teach. They only give experienced teachers from out-of-state credit for a few years of teaching experience, as well, when calculating salaries.

Independent of those issues, when their salaries are adjusted for the cost of living, Hawaii's teachers may still be the worst paid out of 50.

So, you have a classroom full of students who are used to seeing teachers come and go. To them, you are basically disposable. They can be pretty darn rotten to you, without consequences that are particularly meaningful to them.

I've heard teachers complain that if they send kids to the office for outrageous behavior, the kids come back after a few minutes, and the principal tells the teacher that they need to work on relationships. I've heard teachers complain that it wasn't the racist behavior and statements of the students that got to them. It was the way the adults in the school tolerated all of that.  

But you know, you really aren't going to go far if you complain about all of these things. The teachers that are from here have been dealing with the same issues for 10, 20, 30 years, and they really hate to listen to the whiners.

And some folks find out in a hurry that living in Hawaii ain't a picture postcard. I bought some furniture the other day from a couple that were moving back to California. They said, "We've been coming here for thirty years, but we never knew how hard it was to make a living here until we moved and tried to find jobs!"

Elementary teachers and special education teachers always seem to be in demand. English and math teachers see some turnover because they're the ones juggling the hot potatoes known as No Child Left Behind. You'll have get a credential from a nationally or regionally accredited teacher education program, and take a series of expensive exams in the Praxis Series.

Good luck!