Paraprofessionals Are the Future of the Education Profession
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder argues that paraprofessionals represent an enormous untapped resource and that creating career pathways for paras could transform education staffing.
Key Takeaways
- Paras are undervalued and underpaid - They do critical work in schools but receive minimal compensation and no career advancement
- Career ladders would transform the pipeline - Para-to-teacher pathways could solve staffing shortages while elevating experienced school employees
- Invest in paras - Better pay, training opportunities, and advancement paths would strengthen every school
Transcript
paras are the future of the education profession and the para stands for paraeducator or paraprofessional but i think we need to start rethinking the distinction between paraeducators and educators and recognize that paras are the future of the education profession people going to college and majoring in education and getting traditionally certified and entering the profession are getting rarer and rarer that is no longer one of the main pathways into the profession in a lot of schools that people find that it is easier to decide if teaching is right for them by being a paraeducator first and alternative certification programs and you know district run programs really are responsible for a lot of the new people coming into the profession especially for career changers and i think we have a tradition in the education profession of not valuing paras enough, not seeing paras as peers, but as maybe people to boss around.
I think we've got to change that.
And especially when it comes to safety, we've got to make sure that we're never putting our paras in the position of being punching bags, right?
Or being defenders between a violent student and everybody else.
We have to recognize that paras are part of our profession.
And in a lot of schools, paras outnumber classroom teachers, right?
Just depending on your special education, situation and your staffing.
I mean, most of the new educators who have come into the profession in the last 30 years as we've hired a lot more people have been paras, right?
So I think we've really got to think differently about paras.
We've got to recognize that paras are going to be an increasingly important part of schools moving forward and the education profession moving forward.
And as a career pathway, really, this is better than the traditional teacher certification program pathway.
And like to me, in retrospect, it seems silly.
that we would have people go all the way through college majoring in education and only then at the end find out if they actually like working in schools.
And, you know, it makes so much more sense to me that we would make it easier for people to try that out, to try out working in schools and then make it a natural career pathway.
to get into the classroom as a teacher.
So I know we have lots of paras on here.
Let me know what you think.
And I especially want to know what would make you feel respected and supported as a paraeducator.
If you want to take next steps and become a certified teacher, what would encourage you to do that?
And what are you looking for in a school?
Leave a comment and let me know.