Environmental Studies Jobs in Education and Academics: Earnings
Earnings for environmental educators will vary by the sector of the economy in which they are employed. Read on to learn more about starting wages in education (middle and high school, higher education), nonprofit, and government (federal, state, and local) organizations.
Middle and High Schools
Information about middle and high school teacher salaries at public schools is readily available through the school advertising the position. If a job advertisement does not include salary information, don’t hesitate to contact the school directly. General info about teacher salaries is published by the American Federation of Teachers and is available on their website (aft.org). Look for a table titled “Actual Average Beginning Teacher Salaries.” At the time of publication, the beginning salary range went from a high of $39,259 in Connecticut to a low of $24,872 in North Dakota. The average beginning teacher salary in the United States was $31,753.
Higher Education
Several factors affect the salary of environmental educators working in higher education. A few of these include the region in which the institution is located, whether the campus is in an urban versus rural setting, and the type of institution. For example, you will find variation among the average salaries paid at a community college versus a four-year university versus a comprehensive, doctoral-degree-granting institution. The Chronicle of Higher Education regularly prints articles about salaries. Copies of this publication are widely available on most college campuses, or you can visit their website (chronicle.com). You may also talk to your current or former adviser about starting salaries.
Nonprofit Organizations
Earnings for educators working in the nonprofit sector are sometimes lower than what is offered to teachers who are employed in traditional classroom settings. Salary survey information for nonprofit environmental educators is not available as such, but pay will vary with the level of supervisory responsibility, type of organization, number of employees, annual budget, scope of organization, and geographic area. Starting salary information available currently (late 2008) indicated that pay ranged from $11,700 plus room and board at an environmental camp to $37,200 at a national non profit organization.
Federal Government
New college graduates with a bachelor’s degree, no matter what the job title, can expect to obtain jobs at the General Schedule (GS) 5-7 level depending on academic achievement. Base salaries for these levels in 2009 was $28,623 to $34,740. GS pay is adjusted geographically, so many jobs pay a higher salary. If you would like to find out more about federal government salaries, visit the Office of Personnel Management’s home page at http://usajobs.opni.gov.
State Government
Job titles relating to environmental education will vary by state. And there will be multiple types of jobs within a state that require this kind of work. Therefore, you will find a wider range of salaries than at the federal government level. Your best bet is to find some sample job titles and descriptions that interest you, then check with the state employment office to find out the starting salary levels for those jobs. Information is available online, but each state arranges its employment information differently, so it may require patience on your part. Don’t hesitate to call the state employment office to obtain starting salary information once you have a job title or two that interest you. Section A lists the employment page for every state website.
Local Government
As with state government environmental education jobs, in local government the titles and salaries paid will vary. Contact the local governments (county, city, town) where you think you might like to work and talk with the human resources manager about job titles and related salaries, or check to see if employment information is shown on the local government’s website.
Career Outlook
Employment of environmental educators varies by employment setting. Traditional educational opportunities are expected to grow, and government employment is also expected to grow by about 10 percent. Review each of the sections below to learn more about the career outlook for the various sectors of the economy in which you may be interested.
Middle and Secondary Schools
The Occupational Outlook Handbook indicates that the number of open teaching positions will vary from good to excellent depending in part on school location and subject taught. Science teachers will be in demand, especially in western states, through the year 2014, while employment for secondary school teachers in general will grow as fast as the average (18 per cent to 26 percent) for teachers from kindergarten through the secondary grades.
Higher Education
Employment for college and university educators is supposed to grow much faster than the average (27 percent and above) through 2014 according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Please be aware that competition for full time and tenure-track jobs will be keen. More than one-third of this group of teachers works part-time in education. Some do so by choice, but an increasing number are forced into this category by a variety of changes taking place in the way colleges and universities operate.
Nonprofit Organizations
Official statistics for environmental education jobs in the nonprofit sector are not available. What we can tell you, though, is that we found thousands of job listings as we researched this blog/guide. Many were entry level and looked like reasonable places to begin a career in environmental education in a non traditional setting. Use the information in this section to explore the reality of finding employment in this sector.
Government
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s information on Tomorrow’s Jobs (bls.gov.oco), federal employment is projected to increase only slightly as more jobs shift to state governments and the use of private contractors continues.