Is education a good field for introverts?

[Double J]

This applies to both teaching and administrative positions at all levels (middle school, high school, college).

 

Do you feel the bureaucracy/politics in education might be too much for some introverts to handle?

[Stay_home]

I don't think there are many fields that are introvert-friendly. In education your wit as well as your tongue is not as important as how well you can convey the message to your audience. And someone who's introverted and closed-off will find themselves eventually having to open up due to the nature of the field. It's public service almost; you're dealing with people, people with questions, people looking for knowledge and it's not just about teaching and going home. But being able to speak out on the deficits of education, speaking out on the need of equipment, books and materials - basically being an advocate for your work and for your colleague's work as well.

 

Before getting into law enforcement, I was introverted. I didn't like talking to people, but the job literally forced me out of my shell.

[thejigsup]

I work in education and I personally know no introverted teachers or administrators. You have to be an excellent public speaker and communicate well in sometimes stressful situations. You have to keep you cool at all times and a sharp sense of humor and the ability to ad lib are almost a neccessity. Still, these are things you can work on and I would say keep considering it. Yeah, there is a lot of bureaucracy and cliques in every school system, so just be aware of that before you dive in head first.

[Firiel]

Being introverted isn't necessarily the same thing as being shy, though. It's not the same thing as being a poor public speaker or having trouble staying cool in stressful situations. Technically, introversion is just when you really recharge and gain energy from personal reflection as opposed to hanging out with groups. One of my roommates in college is totally an introvert. She doesn't have a ton of friends, not because she is too shy to make friends, but just because she's happy with a small social circle. She's going into teaching, and she's great at it. If you are a shy introvert who has trouble with social interactions, you are going to have to learn to be more outgoing and talkative, especially with co-workers and administration, but despite the predominance of extroverts in education, it can be a fine place for introverts as well.

[mgirl]

there is a lot of bureaucracy and cliques in every school system, so just be aware of that before you dive in head first.

 

Hi thejigsup,

 

I always like reading your posts.

 

With regards to "cliques", i always find myself on the outside of them. How would one go about handling cliques? Are there really more cliques in the education system?

[tatteredwings]

I am an introvert and I'm also an educator.

 

I'm not here to brag, but I think I'm pretty good at my career -- have been teaching for a few years now, I graduated top of my class in my teacher training program, and since then have received lots of praise from my students, coworkers, and managers in all the teaching positions I've held.

 

I think the big issue is having confidence. You definitely need to have a lot of confidence in the classroom and in the workplace. And if you try hard, you can learn to open up. For me, a big part of achieving this confidence was through my training, which made me feel like I have the proper qualifications to do my job well. In class, I learned that I have to "act" like an extrovert in order to lead the class, speak up, and teach the lesson clearly. My students are usually shocked when I later tell them that outside of class I'm actually quite shy.

 

I think that being an introvert who can act like an extrovert has it's great advantages, because I'm able to tap into the strengths of both types of personalities.

 

If you want to be a teacher, then I say go for it! It is difficult at first, but you can definitely learn to open up.

[BriarRose]

Being introverted isn't necessarily the same thing as being shy, though. It's not the same thing as being a poor public speaker or having trouble staying cool in stressful situations. Technically, introversion is just when you really recharge and gain energy from personal reflection as opposed to hanging out with groups. One of my roommates in college is totally an introvert. She doesn't have a ton of friends, not because she is too shy to make friends, but just because she's happy with a small social circle. She's going into teaching, and she's great at it. If you are a shy introvert who has trouble with social interactions, you are going to have to learn to be more outgoing and talkative, especially with co-workers and administration, but despite the predominance of extroverts in education, it can be a fine place for introverts as well.

 

Exactly. My uncle has been a musician his whole life - plays crowded clubs. He makes a nice living doing so. He it the most introverted person I know. You can learn to separate these things, and to work on them in order to do your job or whatever you need to do.

 

The only thing I would not advocate an introvert to go into would be Sales.

[Batya33]

I think you'll find an amount of bureaucracy/politics in most fields, depends on how you deal with it. I worked within and outside the system and didn't find more cliques in the school system -perhaps if you compare an environment where there is huge turnover with a particular school system that has many "lifers" that might be true.

I agree with "tattered" and Briarrose- you really can have the best of both if you're willing to come out of your shell for teaching/presenting purposes.

[sophie274]

I agree with tattered - and I think when you're in your classroom you can have this "persona" that may not reflect your whole personality. I am much louder, much more "confident" and outgoing in front of my class than I am in a social setting or at a party ... part of that confidence and willingness to put myself out there I think does come from knowing that I have knowledge the students don't have, if that makes any sense. Having that expertise in my subject matter does help give me confidence.

 

But - and for me this is a big BUT - as a teacher (and granted I am in a particular situation as I teach at a boarding school and basically any time I open my door I am interacting with students) I find that I am constantly interacting with other people, colleagues, students, other kids at school, parents ... In spite of all the grading/prep which is not social work, for me it's a job that is very "client-facing" and much more social (I mean, with other people) than many other jobs. I define an introvert as someone who finds that they have to put more into social situations than they get out (that social situations are "work" and sort of negative sum, where an introvert would get out more from socializing than the effort they feel like they have to put in), and so in that sense teaching could be very draining. Sometimes I feel just exhausted and a bit tired of "dealing with" people all day long. I just don't get many moments of quiet solitude!

[Anonymous122]

Like others have said, being introverted doesn't mean being shy or being a poor public speaker. I'm introverted and I'm a fantastic public speaker, I'm also going into the field of education. My status as an introvert doesn't mean that I'll be bad at my job, just that I'll need plenty of quiet, alone time at the end of the day to emotionally recharge. Introversion and being anti-social are two different things.

[Snny]

With regards to "cliques", i always find myself on the outside of them. How would one go about handling cliques? Are there really more cliques in the education system?

Oh my God... yes! I am dealing with it right now because I teach at a smaller school and the boss clearly shows who her favorites are and who are not. Best advice is to stay out of the teacher's lounge. It is a manifestation of gossip on other teachers and students that you're better off not hearing it. Especially watch what you say toward specific teachers because they can twist it against you. Keep in mind that there are gossipers and job politics in every workplace place, not just in a school.

 

I used to be introverted. When I entered the the teaching profession, I had to learn to be more extroverted... especially when it came to getting a job. My first job was at an alternative school. An introvert definitely would not survive in that environment. You will have to learn how communicate with struggling students when they don't understand the concepts you teach. You will also have to deal with the most difficult students and the less supportive parents or they will eat you alive and walk all over like a doormat. Not all parents or students will treat you like trash, but there are some out there who are set in their ways and you need to balance how you handle people and that comes with clear, strong communication.

 

To even get a job in the teaching profession, you absolutely need to have excellent networking and interview skills since the competition is fierce. Watch the news... thousands of experienced teachers are being laid off. If a principal senses that you are not extroverted enough, he/she won't want to hire you. They want to know if you can run a classroom and if you can manage 80+ students a day.

 

I wouldn't say that introverts are doomed from becoming teachers, but they will have to do more work to be an excellent teacher and to stay in the profession.

[mgirl]

Thanks for your post / reply snny. I am currently in a field where i am dealing with parents and families, some of which are 'difficult'. For some people, it's easier to blame the 'system', rather than face the fact that it might be their family member with the problem, not the 'system'.

 

I've already decided that i'm going to work on strategies and communications issues that i may have (may have), in order to deal with difficult parents, which i'm sure i will occassionally encounter. On the whole though, i am a clear communicator and i feel that people trust me pretty much instantly because i am upfront and clear.

 

Some of the downsides to my communication style is that i tend to take things personally at times, can get defensive and can get too close to my job, hence the personalisation. I can also be a little too honest at times, which has done my head in a little.

[thatnameistake]

I am an introvert and a teacher. I think it's really hard for introverts to survive as teachers, but not because of the reasons others have listed, such as needing to "come out of their shells" or having trouble public speaking. In my experience, the problems for introverts are likely to be behaviour management, exhaustion, and surviving in the pecking order. Before I became a teacher I was a temp and worked as a secretary, personal assistant, receptionist and in a call centre. I went to different jobs all the time, talked to people all day every day, and really enjoyed it. I never could have predicted that I would have trouble with teaching, and nobody would have called me particularly shy or introverted. I'm really talkative and confident, and have no problem standing up in front of a group of people and doing a presentation. The important thing to note is that introversion is not about confidence, its about how social interaction makes you FEEL - does it energise you, or does it drain you? This is key.

 

In my previous work, I dealt with people all day, but it was one on one, often over the phone, and my job offered lots of alone time to recuperate while I worked at my computer or took a lunch break. Teaching is a whole different kettle of fish. You are not just in a room of 25 people all day every day, you are responsible for their every move; you are monitoring them, talking to them, listening to them, helping them, sorting out their arguments. Your day is packed with intense communication, a lot of it filled with conflict and emotion. At lunch, you're on the playground, supervising crowds of people screaming around the place, or you're in the staffroom, where you are part of a large group of teachers in an open office environment. Not even in the photocopy room are you alone as there is always someone there singing to themselves or chatting to you about the weather while they staple their booklets or something. I didn't find any of this a problem at first - in fact I loved it. But over time, I became exhausted. Turns out I'm an introvert. I need time alone to recharge - being with people drains me. As a teacher, I would come home from work utterly shattered, and then need to retreat into a corner where I would try to recharge my batteries for the next day's onslaught. I stopped calling friends, stopped socialising, stopped answering the phone, because I needed every ounce of energy to get through the school day. Over time I became more and more worn out, and it began to affect my general well-being and even my health. If you are thinking about becoming a teacher, consider carefully how you deal with situations like crowded parties, music festivals, night clubs and bars. If these kind of situations wear you out, then teaching will probably wear you out, too.

 

My next point is about behaviour management. I was a high school teacher, and everyone knows teenagers can be hard to manage. In order to maintain control in the classroom, you have to be the dominant personality in the room. It's a battle of wills and you HAVE to win the battle, otherwise you've got people jumping out of the windows, chucking stuff around, talking over you and general mayhem. In most schools, teachers get little support from administration, who are usually of the opinion that if you can't control kids on your own, you shouldn't be teaching. Extroverts, for whom life is one big social event where they get to assert their social status, are at a natural advantage when it comes to behaviour management. The problem for introverts is that they are not by nature dominant people. Social dominance, otherwise known as popularity or the ability to intimidate people, is not a trait most introverts have. Of course, their lack of dominance is also a strength - students will adore you precisely because you are not intimidating, listen more and consider the facts before speaking. But this won't help you squash the bullies in your room down into submission. If you are an introvert you will need to find a school that has strict behaviour management policy and promotes things like academic values, politeness and courtesy.

 

The next issue is one which other people have mentioned, and that is cliques. Teachers are cliquey, very cliquey. It's a profession where social dominance is rewarded, and where the most socially dominant survive the best. For people like that, life is a continuation of high school - it's just one big battle to be top dog and rise to the top of the pecking order. For this reason, you are likely to spend a lot of your time in the staffroom asserting yourself, defending yourself and asserting yourself some more. I spent a lot of time dodging bullets from teachers who decided they didn't like my quiet, efficient style. Typically, introverts aren't interested in social status and could not care less about the cliques of staff constantly rearranging their pecking orders by gossiping, b*tching and backstabbing each other. The problem is, you will have to care about it because otherwise you'll find yourself getting pecked to death in their battles. It really becomes tiresome and in some cases can get toxic.

 

So to sum up, while introverts can make some of the best teachers around, and kids will adore you no doubt about it, you will find yourself in a lot of stressful situations where your talents for empathy and deep thought are no help to you at all. Teaching, in my view, is probably not an ideal job choice for an introvert.

[pl3asehelp]

This applies to both teaching and administrative positions at all levels (middle school, high school, college).

 

Do you feel the bureaucracy/politics in education might be too much for some introverts to handle?

 

For real? Being an introvert puts you at no disadvantage to handling bureaucracy and politics. Warren Buffet is worth 40 billion dollars and is considered the most successful investor of this century - you think he got there because he couldn't handle red tape and politics? Ghandi didn't seem to have a problem dealing with politics either - he was so good at it that he helped India win their independence from Britain. Al gore was the vice president of the US - as a politician, he probably had to deal with other politicians from time to time and must have done quite well to get as far as he did. Larry Page founded Google - bet there was some red tape and politics involved there. Wozniak as well and he does quite a bit of public speaking. Many more examples.

 

Misconceptions and misunderstanding about introverts is the norm.

 

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[FYI]

When dealing with the bureaucratic and political playing field, you've got to be able to BS the BS'ers.