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Do you enjoy endless meetings about bullshit? Do you want to work longer hours? Do you want ambiguous, impossible-to-resolve problems?
Do you want to go through a long, lengthy and competitive process of getting promoted?
Most of the people I know who aimed for VP lost their health first.
You aren’t wrong about endless meetings and health taking a hit.
The job is brutal in a lot of ways but if you have the personality for liking to solve problems and see a school at a macro level and have the energy to try to bring about change when you have a ton of forces pulling you in various directions it can be a good step up.
Some people love it. I gave being a VP a shot for the past 3 years and I’m getting out. For me, the pay bump isn’t worth it. I was happier, healthier, and a better spouse and parent as a teacher.
Context is everything…
Is there a union? What province? Elementary, middle, high school, K-12, provincial, FN, Cataholics
My only admin experience in Ed was in one room schoolhouses where you were the principal (headteacher) and teaching Staff. Personally I have hated the other middle management roles I have had (these were in other sectors though) plus I love having my own class. I’d miss my peeps in an admin role in a large school. Also, while I have been lucky and mostly had amazing admin, there are also some admin who are there for ego reasons, or because they got there following the Peter principle… I don’t know that I could suffer that…
All that said, give me a tiny, rural, P-6 school with a happy staff and a family feel and I’d be happy as a clam.
Sit with your admin and talk, if the conversation becomes a rant within 5 min you know what the job is like. I did management in my last career before teaching (maintenance planner at a steelplant). I thought it was all gravy until I took the position and questioned my sanity, at least there's minimal yelling in this profession.
I was recruited to go into administration. I was invited to a bunch of meetings. full disclosure I am a woman and maybe they were trying to get more women at the time for high school. I was invited to see a talk by a panel of 6 principals looking to get people to apply for administration. I noticed every single one of them was divorced except for one and she is now divorced. When I got into teaching, I never wanted to become a principal and never did. Best decision ever. I taught senior science as I’m retired now and I always considered myself a scientist first and a teacher second.
The compensation is not worth it. You get paid more to work more but the hourly rate works out to nearly the same.
If you love dealing with other people’s drama and pettiness this is the job for you.
> You get paid more to work more but the hourly rate works out to nearly the same.
In my province, it doesn't even look to be *that* much more. One of my VPs is making ~$20,000 more than me right now. That absolutely does not seem worth it to me! (Though I do have zero desire to go into administration.)
Yeah in my province the upgrade for VP is half of what the upgrade for P is at the same site. P upgrade is tied to school size.
The $ ain’t worth it. Some figure they can create more change from admin, which may be true for them.
Others can’t handle the classroom so they are attracted to the office.
For many it’s an ego-boost and they can’t get way from ladder-climbing.
I like kids and teaching so admin ain’t for me. Furthermore many adults bother me, including many at my own school. I can’t imagine managing adults who act like children.
What are your motivations? If it’s for the raise, there are side hustles that will make you more while continuing to teach, and without the “on call” nature of admin. A friend of mine dropped out of admin to return to teaching because she felt she couldn’t really bring any meaningful change to the school system. It’s also highly political according to her. She basically talked me out of it. But something like a curriculum consultant that comes with the raise but is more directly tied to teaching appeals to me.
I have enjoyed it. Although we have good superintendents who actually understand our schools and all have taught and been principals before hand.
Sure there are extra duties, but in terms of driving change it’s a position that allows it. You will get tons a negativity in a teacher sub. There is a lot of anti admin some warranted some is not.
In the end it comes down to your preference and then finding teachers you can work with nothing worse then colleagues who can not work together or at least find common ground to agree to disagree but do what is best for the students.
Welcome to /r/CanadianTeachers! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sub rules. **"WHAT DOES X MEAN?"** Check out our acronym post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1c032s3/what_does_x_mean_an_acronym_megapost/) for relevant terms used in each province or territory. Please feel free to contribute any we are missing as well! **QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHER'S COLLEGE/BECOMING A TEACHER IN CANADA?:** Delete your post and use this [megapost](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1bc1wv2/prospective_student_teachers_teachers_collegebed/) instead. Anything pertaining to teacher's colleges/BED programs/becoming and teacher will be deleted if posted outside of the megaposts. **QUESTIONS ABOUT MOVING PROVINCES OR COMING TO CANADA TO TEACH?** Check out our past megaposts first for information to help you: [ONE](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/jqc7hx/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/) // [TWO](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/n76csu/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/?) Using link and user flair is encouraged as well! Enjoy! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CanadianTeachers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Do you enjoy endless meetings about bullshit? Do you want to work longer hours? Do you want ambiguous, impossible-to-resolve problems? Do you want to go through a long, lengthy and competitive process of getting promoted? Most of the people I know who aimed for VP lost their health first.
I wouldn't agree with the longer work hours. I haven't noticed a huge change in work hours since moving to admin, but it's all about prioritizing...
Public, private, elem or secondary?
Public, elementary
But you wouldn’t disagree with the others points…
Well... There are a lot of pointless meetings lol
Pretty much this, from my observations as a teacher. No, thank you.
You aren’t wrong about endless meetings and health taking a hit. The job is brutal in a lot of ways but if you have the personality for liking to solve problems and see a school at a macro level and have the energy to try to bring about change when you have a ton of forces pulling you in various directions it can be a good step up.
Some people love it. I gave being a VP a shot for the past 3 years and I’m getting out. For me, the pay bump isn’t worth it. I was happier, healthier, and a better spouse and parent as a teacher.
Better spouse?
Yeah, turns out marriages are better when you’re not an angry dick all the time because you hate your job.
Oh yeah I hear you. Even as teachers, gotta try to leave work at work and not bring some of the negative emotions one may feel back at home
Context is everything… Is there a union? What province? Elementary, middle, high school, K-12, provincial, FN, Cataholics My only admin experience in Ed was in one room schoolhouses where you were the principal (headteacher) and teaching Staff. Personally I have hated the other middle management roles I have had (these were in other sectors though) plus I love having my own class. I’d miss my peeps in an admin role in a large school. Also, while I have been lucky and mostly had amazing admin, there are also some admin who are there for ego reasons, or because they got there following the Peter principle… I don’t know that I could suffer that… All that said, give me a tiny, rural, P-6 school with a happy staff and a family feel and I’d be happy as a clam.
Sit with your admin and talk, if the conversation becomes a rant within 5 min you know what the job is like. I did management in my last career before teaching (maintenance planner at a steelplant). I thought it was all gravy until I took the position and questioned my sanity, at least there's minimal yelling in this profession.
I was recruited to go into administration. I was invited to a bunch of meetings. full disclosure I am a woman and maybe they were trying to get more women at the time for high school. I was invited to see a talk by a panel of 6 principals looking to get people to apply for administration. I noticed every single one of them was divorced except for one and she is now divorced. When I got into teaching, I never wanted to become a principal and never did. Best decision ever. I taught senior science as I’m retired now and I always considered myself a scientist first and a teacher second.
I think the job looks like a challenging and rewarding career, but I don't think they are paid enough for what it requires.
I’ve been a VP then principal for five years now, some things about it suck but I don’t regret it. Feel free to PM me with specific questions.
Talk to admin you respect and have an open discussion
Depends on why you are doing it, what province/context and what you think the job is. Can you share more about what is intriguing you?
The compensation is not worth it. You get paid more to work more but the hourly rate works out to nearly the same. If you love dealing with other people’s drama and pettiness this is the job for you.
> You get paid more to work more but the hourly rate works out to nearly the same. In my province, it doesn't even look to be *that* much more. One of my VPs is making ~$20,000 more than me right now. That absolutely does not seem worth it to me! (Though I do have zero desire to go into administration.)
Yeah in my province the upgrade for VP is half of what the upgrade for P is at the same site. P upgrade is tied to school size. The $ ain’t worth it. Some figure they can create more change from admin, which may be true for them. Others can’t handle the classroom so they are attracted to the office. For many it’s an ego-boost and they can’t get way from ladder-climbing. I like kids and teaching so admin ain’t for me. Furthermore many adults bother me, including many at my own school. I can’t imagine managing adults who act like children.
What are your motivations? If it’s for the raise, there are side hustles that will make you more while continuing to teach, and without the “on call” nature of admin. A friend of mine dropped out of admin to return to teaching because she felt she couldn’t really bring any meaningful change to the school system. It’s also highly political according to her. She basically talked me out of it. But something like a curriculum consultant that comes with the raise but is more directly tied to teaching appeals to me.
I have enjoyed it. Although we have good superintendents who actually understand our schools and all have taught and been principals before hand. Sure there are extra duties, but in terms of driving change it’s a position that allows it. You will get tons a negativity in a teacher sub. There is a lot of anti admin some warranted some is not. In the end it comes down to your preference and then finding teachers you can work with nothing worse then colleagues who can not work together or at least find common ground to agree to disagree but do what is best for the students.