In response to Christopher Whittle's question re: why museum educators
might be deserving of a higher salary than classroom teachers...my two
cents worth.
I am not an educator but I am married to one (who IS certified) and have
lived with (through?) 8 years in a museum education position in a largish
science/natural history museum and now, 5 years in the classrom. Both
were/are demanding, labor intensive, and underpaid for the amount of
effort, thought, and time put out.
My observations--
With the museum job, time off was limited to 9 annual staff holidays and
the standard two weeks vacation. During holidays, the large collection of
animals and fish still had to be fed, and cages cleaned, etc. Work hours
were from 8-5 minimum and took over at least two weekends a month year
round and a great many weekday evenings, prime time for a museum's
children's activities and adult programs. Discipline can also be
problematic in the museum clasroom as the teacher doesn't know the
students, is limited in the behavior controls he/she can employ, and may be
further hampered by inattentive or unhelpful chaperones.
The higher salary earned at the museum never seemed undeserved.
In classroom teaching the weekly hours given to planning, preparation and
grading are long and you must deal with each individual student and their
parents but... when you have the longer summer and holiday vacation times
(which are richly deserved) your time is your own.
Teachers generally seem to be severely undervalued.
Elisa Phelps
Curator of Anthropology
Houston Museum of Natural Science
One Hermann Circle Drive
Houston, TX 77030
(713) 639-4674 FAX: (713) 523-4125
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>On Wed, 26 Feb 1997, Mary Day Kent wrote:
>
>> How about a minimum of $5000 more than the starting salary of the local
>> public school system for elementary teachers?
>>
>
>I cannot believe that museum education is more difficult than classroonm
>work. Museums have extensive resources and behavior controls that
>classrooms don't. There is no grading, followup work, dealing with
>student's longterm problems... Classroom teaching requires state
>certification- there arte no certification requirements for museum
>personnel... Please justify why museum educators deserve more than other
>types of educators.
> There goes my shot at a museum education job!
>
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> >What should a small suburban museum in the North East pay its full-time
>> >educator? (This individual has a B.A. plus five years part-time experience
>> >as a museum educator.) The educator is responsible for developing and
>> >implementing public programs, trains and supervises four part-time interns,
>> >is in charge of docent education, does some teaching in the galleries and
>> >some of the tour/program scheduling.
>> >
>> >Thanks for any and all input. You can respond privately if you like at the
>> >address below.
>> >
>> >Bret Bostock
>> >[log in to unmask]
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Christopher Whittle College of Education &
>Box 72119 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
>Albuquerque, NM 87195 University of New Mexico
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Elisa Phelps
Curator of Anthropology
Houston Museum of Natural Science
One Hermann Circle Drive
Houston, TX 77030
(713) 639-4674 FAX: (713) 523-4125
[log in to unmask]
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