Do you agree? I read a few articles about it this morning and I think I agree, but I wanted to hear from actual teachers. Would you have benefited more from your student teaching experience if it was paid? Do you think expecting student teachers to work without pay is unfair or outdated?

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After reading through all these responses, I am on the fence now. I came in thinking absolutely no doubt it should be paid, to well, I can see the other side now. I will say if anything the expectations of student teachers should be better defined, I have heard stories where they were not supported at all, that isn’t how it should be.

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Absolutely true about little support, although I will say my experience was quite good and I got to do more than just observe, but actually teach a little. However, Finland has nailed it when it comes to attracting excellent teachers (you have to pass an exam, similar idea as the LSAT or MCAT to even be accepted into a collegiate teaching degree program), with great salaries and a rigorous support system for new teachers as they move from graduating to their first class and throughout at least the first year of teaching!

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As someone who recently went through the gauntlet of student teaching in a graduate student program the only way i was able to swing it was to seek a position as a teacher while still attending graduate school classes. this trial by fire (especially during and post covid) would've been a lot more feasible had there been more subsidy aimed at the profession not only in the form of student loan financing, scholarships grants etc. but in the format of paid intership whereby one wouldn't have to be a full time teacher learning on the job while still maintaining all the demands of a graduate course curriculum equally as essential to learning the profession. Frankly the profession has more than enough standards to meet to be rigorous and the teacher shortage right now should be a CLEAR indication of just how dire the situation is as a result of our failure to properly invest in public education and pay viable salaries / wages. as a country we don't treat education as what it actually is: a key part of infrastructure just as any physical road system, power grid, internet network, healthcare system, or sewer and water treatment facility. None of these frankly should be run as for profit enterprises (though many are) and neither should education, It is a necessity which cannot be under invested in and subsidized by the taxpayer since the benefit is direct and the problems solved a mandatory and basic need for any civilization as they always have been.

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Student teachers should absolutely be paid. It's an internship. One that requires professional attire, long hours, and results in a career field with high stress, even longer hours, and low pay. Why anyone would make the choice to become a teacher at this point is beyond me. Considering the looming massive teacher shortage, if we don't entice young people into the field the U.S. educational system will continue to degrade. I'm in my 40's and I am still the youngest teacher at my school.

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KMS1, you bring up a good point, and in a way it’s sort of related to what I mentioned earlier about changing the overall model for teacher education. I have found as a veteran teacher that career mobility is not what it is in other fields. For a lot of schools, the “bottom line” really is the bottom line. Why hire someone on step 10 of the salary scale when you can hire a recent graduate on step 1?

I’ve also mentioned in other threads, much to the chagrin of the “college at all costs” crowd, that life experience when you’re young is at least as important, if not moreso, than studying in a classroom. I’m sure this isn’t unique to education, but teaching is not a good career field to jump into blindly. You invest a lot of time and money into getting certified, and a lot of people get a very rude awakening when they actually get into a classroom.

If we really are serious about education as a country, I think we need to look into tangible practical ways to attract talented and committed educators into the profession. Rather than just make a blanket decree that we should pay people for their last semester of college, perhaps we get creative with districts in need and transition student teaching into a more traditional internship with an actual path to employment. I agree that the current model is a hindrance to anyone transitioning into teaching later in life.

Another step we need to take is to depoliticize our K-12 educational system. The reality that we all know at this point is that a public school district is a ladder to climb for those seeking power, whether it be via administration or elected school board positions. Granted, there are structural hierarchies in any organization in any industry, but it’s exacerbated by the purely political nature of school oversight. We all complain about it, but any time someone suggests changing it, they’re cast out as heretics. Whether we like it or not, it will change. I’d just prefer to do it while we still have some say in the matter.

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Many other internships are paid. I don’t know why student-teaching shouldn’t be. The issue is who gets the bill.

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I personally don't think it should be paid. It's a good way to weed out who's there for the long-run and who's not. Plus I doubt a lot of schools could afford it, and they probably need the student teachers the most

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I don’t think teachers need to jump through any more hoops than necessary. Just wanting to be a teacher tells a lot about a person. Not paying someone for so much time could actually scare people off and send more qualified candidates away from the profession.

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I can hear the argument about it not being paid but the idea that the student teacher pays full tuition for a semester of doing work and the college comes and "checks" on you a couple times is preposterous.

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I had to pay full tuition for student teaching. It’s not a freebie from the college.

Maybe not paid but some type of college or government aid to help pay for that semester of student teaching since it’s hard to work a lot during that time. I know that draws anger from some who say they should not have to help pay for someone else’s college debts so please don’t respond with any of that, just answering an opinion question.

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I began teaching at the age of 40. I had to quit my full-time job with benefits (and a great salary- but that was my choice) to work for free for three months with no guarantee of a job afterward. I had to Uber for a month before I found a sub job that paid little to nothing.

Of course I would’ve benefitted from a paid internship! Everyone would. The problem is who pays for it? If the schools had to pay, they’d just stop doing it.

As others have already mentioned here, the current teacher shortage is only going to get worse, and there doesn’t seem to be too many incentives for young people to choose teaching as a career. But we also have to admit that there is a huge contingency of people in this country that WANTS our educational system to fail, so I don’t really see any solutions in the short-term.

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We've got a teacher shortage*. An unpaid student teaching is a barrier to entry to the profession. More to the point, it's a barrier to the entry of qualified, certified people to the profession--we're already seeing far too many back-door ways to hire "teachers" who haven't actually qualified as teachers, and we're generally paying those people for "student teaching" without a cooperating teacher already. It's a no-brainer that we should be paying people who go through a traditional teacher training program for their actual student teaching. I have serious doubts about the judgement of anyone who says otherwise.


*--It's not really a teacher shortage as it is that the compensation and working conditions aren't sufficient to convince the qualified teachers we've got to teach, but from the point of view of hiring, "teacher shortage" is a decent shorthand.

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Student teachers should be paid and at the bare minimum it should be accounted for when counted for years of experience when giving salary steps.

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MSMT1- states are paying for school interns including teachers, where have you been?

I did a partial salary paid internship. I had all of my own classes, while still being a full time student. It was pretty brutal and little to no support.

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I remember resenting the fact that I had to pay tuition for the six credits I was earning by completing my student teaching internship while also leaving my job and associated salary for that period. Student teachers should at least receive a stipend or a tuition waiver for those credits during the internship period. Know your value! The free student teaching continues to manifest throughout a teacher’s career with all of the other responsibilities teachers are asked or required to take on. We’ve been programmed to say “Sure, I’ll do that” rather than first ask “How much does it pay?”

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I say no. While student teaching is *like* an internship, it is not, in fact, an internship. Interns, generally speaking, eventually take on their own responsibilities and projects. To at least some extent, interns function as employees and alleviate someone else's burden. Student teachers, I'm sorry to say, don't do that. They actually become the cooperating teacher's responsibility. If anyone should get paid for student teaching, it's the co-op.

Student teaching is not a job. It's professional practice. It isn't a direct in-road to employment as many internships are. The district and co-op teacher bear most of the risk with very little reward. The student teacher himself is really the only one who truly benefits in this scenario.

Now, if we were to change the model of student teaching to resemble true paid internships, then we might have a conversation. If we were to place teachers in schools with needs in their area of specialization, have them work with a mentor as they do now, but becoming more and more independent over time, to the point where they are actually able to fill a vacancy, I could be swayed in favor of paying student teachers. Under the current system, however, I can't see exactly what we'd be paying them for.

Some districts /states do pay interns (teachers, school psychologists, school social workers). Michigan is one of those states!

Might as well just bring back slavery. Who do these people think they are asking to be compensated it for their time.

My sister is visiting. She lives in MI and told me that student teachers get 10,000 to student teach. She retired from k-12 and now works to place students in student teaching positions part time and teaches. I also know that 3rd year psychologist get paid during the last year of their internship in schools as well, they get 30,000 bc they’re in high demand.

No one to this point has specified who cuts the check. Be that as it may, I don't understand the "barrier to entry" argument. Student teaching is the 8th semester of college. I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't pull any all-nighters during student teaching. Yes, there was evening prep work and some events scattered throughout, but I had way harder semesters than the one where I student-taught. I don't see how not getting paid for one semester is a "barrier to entry" when the first seven were not.

Student teaching is a demanding job that requires dedication and hard work. Paying student teachers:

1.⁠ ⁠Values their work
2.⁠ ⁠Provides financial support
3.⁠ ⁠Attracts and retains talent
4.⁠ ⁠Fosters professional development
5.⁠ ⁠Promotes equity and fairness

Paying student teachers recognizes their contributions and helps them succeed in their teaching careers.

I appreciate you actually providing an answer. I will say that forcing cooperating school districts to pay student teachers will likely kill student teaching. Even a prorated salary would cost them tens of thousands of dollars, and I'm sure the unions would start manning battle stations.

As far as the state government goes, I'm not a fan of adding yet another layer of spending. to an already bloated system. Also, while I doubt districts would go for paying student teachers, at least under that system there's direct accountability to the "employer." I still contend that student teachers aren't providing a direct service to the state.

I am in favor of the universites themselves chipping in to help their students, especially given the exorbitant cost of a college education. I think that's a far better option than taxpayers footing the bill. Whether that takes place in the form of a scholarship or a tuition break, you won't get any argument from me.

Yes, it should be paid. They are working, not volunteering. I think the quality would be better with pay

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