Lauren Eliason discovered her desire to teach while working as a lifeguard at a small neighborhood pool. On lazy summer days, the children would pull up chairs next to her, and Eliason would spend her time playing games and swimming with them.

These experiences encouraged her to pursue an elementary and inclusive education major at Syracuse University. And in May, Eliason will graduate from the School of Education and start looking for a job, facing both a high national unemployment rate and a low full-time job placement rate.

According to a recent SU report, which studied a total of 1,090 2006 and 2007 alumni, the School of Education has the lowest job-placement rate of any college at SU, at 47 percent.

But Eliason said she isn’t too worried about finding a job, and isn’t afraid to go wherever there are open positions.

‘I may seem more confident than I am really,’ she said jokingly. ‘Obviously my roommates sit around and have little breakdowns about where we’re going to go. But I think that happens to everyone.’

Despite the report’s findings, the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2008-2009 report predicted employment of teachers will grow by 12 percent in the next seven years. It says in the next decade, job prospects will be ‘good to excellent.’

As for the here and now, students continue to worry. Raquel Susman, a senior elementary and inclusive education and Spanish major, said students looking for a job are anxiously awaiting the recruitment days and career fairs this spring where many teachers are hired.

‘It’s kind of just waiting for that,’ she said of the spring recruitment period. ‘You’ve always got to think ‘what if I don’t get hired there? What’s going to happen?’ No one wants to end up in August or September… without a job.’

Kelly Chandler-Olcott, director of the English education program in the School of Education, said she is preparing her students the same way as before. She said she expects them to find jobs when they leave school.

Chandler-Olcott said students might have more luck finding a job if they stay in the Syracuse area or move to a state with a shortage of teachers, like Florida.

She also said students hoping to improve their chances at finding a job take specialized classes. Some study to become a literacy specialist or special education teacher in order to attract more offers, Chandler-Olcott said.

The curriculum in the School of Education mandates that students become certified in both special and regular education, Eliason said.

‘I think it’s a thing of the future,’ she said. ‘More kids are getting labeled. And their parents are going to want them to be included.’

Susman said she came to SU because it offered the dual program, and other universities she looked at didn’t have one.

She first decided she wanted to work with needs-based students during high school. She joined a foreign club and taught Spanish to fourth and fifth graders at a school including children in a special education classroom.

‘When I did that we had to create lesson plans and figure out what we were going to teach them and how we were going to do it,’ Susman said. ‘I was very successful at that. I thought this would be really great to do this for the rest of my life.’

But Susman won’t be looking for a job after graduation. Like approximately 47 percent of School of Education alumni, she plans to attend graduate school. She’ll study through SU’s English education program.

She said she wanted to finish her master’s degree now, because it is required to become a permanently certified teacher. She will stay in school a year longer, and in the meantime, hope the employment situation will improve.

‘I’ve heard the situation is not good. But I guess since I’m going to be in grad school I don’t really worry about it for right now,’ Susman said. ‘A couple of my friends are going to grad school just because they’ve heard from other teachers ‘stay in school as long as you can.”

Jennifer Walters, associate director of Career Services, said there will be an increase in students going to graduate school. When the economy worsens, more students choose to attend, she said.

She stressed the importance for graduates to look at temporary positions, which add to their qualifications.

‘In general terms, it’s a tougher job market, but it’s a workable job market,’ Walters said. ‘I think students have to be prepared to send out more applications and just do everything they can. Think about what Plan A and Plan B are going to be.’

Adbrow03@syr.edu

Published on February 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm