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I dont disagree with the previous posters. What I find in general:

1) private schools pay much less, about $10,000O a year less,
there are some very well paying independent schools and elite
prep schools, but even the bbetter private schools ina city will
pay about $36,000 a year compared to $45,000 a year in cities
like Houston, San Antonio an Austin.

2) You have to do a LOT more, private schools can request and
demand you do anything and usually your contract supports
this and there is no one you can go to outside the school if you
believe a request is unfair. In the past before the recession
private schools paid less but to be competitive they had more
relaxed expectations, that isnt true anymore. Private schools
now that its a buyers market and they can and do get whatever
they want.

3) Most private schools are secondary income for a second wage
earner in the home. While many of them are very professional
teachers, the job is not a make it or break it necessity for them.
I was surprised that many of them were on staff because their
kids got free tuition at the school, and really their "job" was
more a school discount than an actual need for a job.

4) You have no protections, none of the teaching associations
can or will help you, and your only real recourse if you cant
resolve the issue yourself is to go to court, and many private
schools win, because the contract is essentially nothing more
than at "at-will" agreement.

5) Students are much better behaved, and you have far fewer
the number of Sp.Ed students as private schools can be
selective in who they admit. Most students even if they have
minor or mild learning difficulties will have ample resources
available outside the school, essentially they have issues but
they are high functioning.

6) You can NOT phone it in, this is probably the biggest
problem/issue. You cant show up put in some video for
"Discovery" channel online and give a worksheet, private
schools expect you will have high quality top notch, engaging
and innovative lessons EACH AND EVERY TIME. The day you
hand out a worksheet as your lesson is the same day that your
principal will email you that evening about "parent concerns"
regarding your teaching approach. About the closest you can
get to a blow off day is giving your students a test.

7) You support staff will very likely be much smaller. There is no
central office or tech support, as much as you may dislike them,
you need to be comfortable with being on your own, admins will
supervise they will not support, help, assist you. You need to be
a one person master, and ring leader of whatever your teaching.
If you want to do something, you better be able to do it on your
own.

8) While resources will be adequate for what you typically
encounter, dont expect funding for anything more. You wont
want for office supplies but forget about ordering a special
software program, or desk set, maps, or lab equipment. You will
be expected to largely make do with what you have and what
you get. In subsequent years you may be able to make requests
but dont expect anywhere near everything. Private school
teachers typically spend more out of pocket (and with a smaller
salary) because their lessons have to be engaging, etc where as
a public school teacher can just run off a worksheet if the cost
of a lesson out of pocket is prohibitive.

9) You will spend FAR FAR less time on "assessments" your
school will likely have a graduation assessment either internal
or external, but the amount of time on benchmarks and
intermediate grade assessments is what you make it, you do see
larger private schools that will have a start of year end of year
assessment but you dont spend weeks practicing for it.

10) One issue most transitional teachers have is the power of
their principal, in a private school your principal is not just a
manager in the chain of command they are god, a lot of
teachers dont recognize the difference until it is too late.

There really isnt much difference between private schools and
independent schools. Independent schools are a form of private
school that is not reliant on an outside source of funding or
governance. So while a parochial (religious) school may be
financially independent they often are subjective to the
governance of a religious organization. Likewise a school that
has no outside political or religious affiliation if they are reliant
on funding from outside resources than they are not
independent schools. Independent schools essentially get to
make their own rules and policies on their own terms, as
provided by professional (debatable) educators, unlike private
schools who have to at least in part follow directives of
outsiders who are likely not professional educators.

1/03/15, what are they like to teach in? wrote:
> Is anyone a private school teacher?
> There is an opening in a school near me.
> What are the pros and cons?
> How is a private school different from an
> independent school?

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