Science Teacher
Career Area: Education and Training
Occupation Group: K-12 Teaching
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Science Teacher earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $45,213
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $48,950
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Teaches in the natural science fields for elementary to secondary school students. Most science courses taught prior to high school are general, with specialization occurring later in high school. Teachers may teach specialized courses in physics, biology or chemistry. Other topics taught include physical science, computer science, astronomy, and geology.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 1080 | +3.4% |
| Nationwide | 22667 | +3.5% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Science Teacher is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
- Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
- Building Effective Relationships: Building relationships is about your ability to identify and initiate working relationships and to develop and maintain them in a way that is of mutual benefit to both yourself and the other party. Good relationships are the key to getting things done and are essential when your success is dependent on others.
- Physical Abilities: Physical Abilities, which refers to the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs. These abilities often require strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Teaching: Working experience of teaching, which is defined as imparting knowledge to an individual or class, or instruct someone as to how to do something.
- Lesson Planning: Working experience developing or implementing teachers' description of a course of instruction for a lesson.
- Biology: Biology is the natural science that involves the study of life and living organisms, including their physical and chemical structure, function, development and evolution.
- Chemistry: Chemistry is a branch of physical science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter.
- Physics: Knowledge and working experience of the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Science Teacher that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- Tutoring: Working experience of Tutoring, which is the act of teaching or instructing, or remedial or additional teaching, designed to help people who need extra help with their studies.
- Assessment Data:
- Managing Student Data: A student information system (SIS), student management system, school administration software or student administration system is a management information system for education establishments to manage student data.
- Group Instruction: Experience leading a group of learners to construct their own knowledge models in a socially collaborative environment.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 61% |
| 3 to 5 years | 30% |
| 6 to 8 years | 5% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Science Teacher
- Middle School Science Teacher
- High School Science Teacher
- Biology Teacher
- Chemistry Teacher
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