Sunday, January 30, 2011

Educational Organizations

The teaching profession is one of the most organized occupations in the country. This is due to the unifying organizations of (NEA 3 million members) National Education Association and the (AFT 1 million members) American Federation of Teachers. Both of these organizations help protect teachers with tenure, they also work to improve work conditions and salaries of those same teachers. The system works through a collaboration of all teachers that have a representative to voice the opinion of the teachers needs. It is up to you as to what organization you would like to join each has there different benefits. The NEA offers free legal services, and training opportunities on issues from technology to academic freedom. The NEA also elects pro-education candidates that promotes legislation beneficial to teachers and students. (www.nea.org). On the other hand you have the AFT which supports education reform. The AFT supported national standards of teachers, charter schools induction programs that enable new teachers to work with master teachers. The AFT is very similar to the NEA except it is on a smaller more localized scale. Both of these organizations provide literature "education week and teacher Magazine"these journals keep teachers informed about their agencies and up to date on their teaching world. For aspiring teachers you can find out useful information at WWW.inspiringteacher.com this is a great way to network with teachers who can help with any of the early teaching troubles you may have. If i had to choose today i would go with the AFT because it is a smaller scale and it looks out for the development of aspiring teachers through their mastery programs.