After leaving the university, many college graduates face the reality that there are no enough jobs for everyone. Some, especially those holding impressive transcript of records, are tapped by their respective alma maters as part-time instructors.
This group, because they are not regular employees of the school, do not receive the benefits that the other employees get like leave credits, Christmas bonus, 13th month pay, etc. However, there are other benefits that part-time teaching gives to fresh graduates. Here are some of them:
1. Access to school facilities
The library, the museum, the hospital and the dental clinic are some facilities that help us build and improve both our body and our soul. Most schools extend their services only to those who are connected with the institution. This, is, therefore one huge bonus for those who are no longer students.
2. Community affiliation
Some schools can really be brutal in the contract they offer to their part-time instructors. A contract stipulating that “there is no employer-employee relationship between the school and the instructor” is demoralizing to a neophyte.
However, no matter what the contract says, part-time instructors can build friendships with fellow instructors, other employees and students. Hence, they build their own network of friends. This is a lot better than being jobless and being away from where the real action is happening, i.e., the workplace.
3. Self-confidence is enhanced
Teachers, always, have a ready audience: their students. Hence, they make it a point that their students do not lose interest in the classroom activities and in the teachers themselves.
Teachers are performers. Aside from the endless reading and researching they do, they likewise do public speaking.
Teachers also tell jokes. And these jokes have to be updated constantly in order not to bore their students. In the process, they discover a lot of possibilities within themselves that were unknown to them before. Teaching, whether regular or full-time, builds a teacher’s confidence.
4. Resume starts to build up
A job applicant’s teaching experience can be impressive to future employers. On the other hand, if a part-time teacher decides to stay in the same institution after he/she finishes graduate school, the advantage is hers/his. Administrators usually go for those who have been with them. This makes sense. It’s like the part-time instructor is constantly having a teaching demonstration throughout his/her two-semester or two-year stint as a teacher. It has been said that teaching is like wine: one gets better through the years. And school administrators know this.
5. Part-time teaching gives income
To become a full-fledged university instructor, one must possess the right qualifications, e.g., a master’s degree. Most part-time instructors pursue graduate studies while teaching. They send themselves to school by paying for their own tuition fees.
The income they get from part-time teaching may not be very impressive but at least it gives them the chance to be independent from their parents and to improve themselves as persons, as teachers or as future job applicants.
Part-time teaching therefore, is valuable in making a person. In general, the status and the money are of less importance compared to the benefits that part-time teaching can give to a young professional. It may just be the springboard toward a better career.