Do you enjoy learning about other cultures? Perhaps you love to travel or you have a weakness for history. If any of these characteristics sounds like you, you might be considering becoming a social sciences teacher. As a social sciences teachers, you may teach a wide array of classes, including geography, history, sociology, economics and even psychology. Before you pursue a career as a social sciences teacher, however, you should examine the pros and cons of this field in order to make certain becoming a social sciences teacher is right for you.

Pro: Delve Deeper Into a Subject You Enjoy

The obvious pro to becoming a social sciences teacher is the fact that it allows you to get more deeply involved in a subject you are interested in. If you are a history buff, getting to share this history with your students can be a truly exciting experience. In fact, if you allow yourself to get fully immersed in the history you are teaching, you will likely find every day to be a thrill as you recreate history for your students. Similarly, discussing geography and other cultures on a regular basis can certainly be a whole lot of fun.

Con: Less Job Security Than Other Positions

One of the downsides to becoming a social sciences teacher is the fact that there is less job security with this teaching position than with other positions. While there is a general shortage of science and math teachers, the same is not true with social sciences positions. While it would be incorrect to say that the market is flooded with social sciences teachers, the reality is that you will come up against a bit more competition when searching for a job in this field than you would in other teaching areas.

Pro: Preparation is Relatively Simple

As a social sciences teacher, you will generally find that less advanced preparation is needed than with other areas, such as with science. After all, there are no experiments to set up when teaching history. Similarly, you likely won’t find yourself spending hours after school grading papers as is the case with English teachers who need to grade numerous essays. At the same time, it is important to note that being an effective history teacher means doing more than simply lecturing to a class full of students. Rather, those teachers who dress in costume, bring in cultural artifacts and show interesting movies are the ones who enjoy the greatest success.

Con: Planning for Many Classes

A potential downfall to becoming a social sciences teacher is that you might find yourself having to plan for several different subjects each day. Whereas a math teacher may teach Algebra I all day long or an English teacher may teach 9th grade English all day, you might teach US History one class period, World History the next grading period, Government the following period and then Sociology the last period. Planning for a wide variety of classes can become frustrating and difficult at times.

So, what is the bottom line? Simply put, if you have an interest in the social sciences, working as a social sciences teacher can certainly be quite enjoyable. It is important to remember, however, that an effective social sciences teacher will find ways to submerge his or her students in the subject as much as possible. Similarly, you need to be prepared to create lesson plans for a number of different subjects each day.