Hi, I have a major in chemistry and am currently debating between pursuing a career as a teacher or a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). I’ve got some experience as a substitute teacher, and I really enjoy working in educational settings. However, I’m also drawn to the medical field and the idea of helping people through speech therapy.
I live in California and am trying to weigh the pros and cons of each career path. What are the key differences between being a teacher and an SLP, especially in terms of job satisfaction, salary, and work-life balance? Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated to help me make an informed decision.
Here is a former teacher now an SLP in a school: I must admit, this is the right comment for you.
Having done both, I can say that one of the biggest benefits of SLP is its flexibility. More liberty than I had as a teacher is something I adore. I also agree that working in small groups rather than with 20–25 students at once is beneficial, and you will undoubtedly witness the emergence of friendships and group dynamics within your speaking groups. Compared to what I do now, teaching a large group in a classroom felt incredibly ineffective.
I agree that the expense of your SLP degree should be carefully considered, but in either field, the balance between your annual pay and debt will be difficult, particularly if you work in a school. In any case, head to school for as little money as possible.
In my case, I gave up teaching after three years to enroll in a graduate speech pathology program. The fact that SLPs start at a wage that is $20,000 more than teachers, at least in my district, had a significant role in it. In addition, I simply didn’t think I could teach forever. It wears me out. If I could work with fewer children at a time, I would rather be paid more.
Without a doubt, I would discourage anyone from majoring in education. Majoring in communication science and disorders will open doors for you no matter what you want to pursue because it is required to attend graduate school for speech pathology even if it is not required to teach in many states. I regret not majoring in communication disorders when I first applied to graduate school since I had to acquire a second bachelor’s degree before doing so. I have no regrets about teaching at all, but I believe that working as an SLP will be a better fit for me.
I would wish to add that we aren’t required to have an undergraduate degree in CSD, but are required to meet the prereqs for grad school. For instance, I had a BA in Spanish and a BA in Communication Studies (think interpersonal communication, group comm, organizational comm, etc), and so I had to complete 5 prereq classes for grad school (mostly online, took one while actually in grad school). The number of classes and which classes are needed to fill the gap depends on the undergrad major.
I just advise anyone to do some more research about the field and everything that is included in the SLP scope of practice. While working with kids in a school setting as an SLP is an option, it does not represent the wide range of settings or populations that we see. If you are still interested after more research, see if your university has an on-campus clinic that you can observe when school starts back.
It is advisable to observe a speech-language pathologist in multiple educational settings and with a distinct student body. I mention that so you can have a clearer understanding of our area of expertise. You will probably have to take classes and participate in clinics with populations other than children in graduate school.
I strongly advise you to shadow multiple schools or SLPs. A school is a school. A single SLP is a single SLP. Just as with treatment, they probably organize their sessions in a way that suits them best.
Hello. I had some difficulty with this as well. I am majoring in speech and hearing science at college and will be entering my sophomore year. It would be advisable to observe an SLP. That is what I had done in my final year of high school, along with shadowing and teaching second graders. Although I like both, I could picture myself working in SLP for a very long time. Try shadowing someone to get a sense of what you will be doing; it will be more difficult because of COVID. I hope that was somewhat helpful.
I am currently teaching SpEd and I will be applying to grad schools for Fall ‘21. I think I need to quit teaching because I want to work with kids but I am over dealing with physical aggression. I also think the flexibility of SLP is a good perk and that is coming from SpEd where I am certified to work with PK-21.
I do love learning about languages and how speech is formed.
It is not exactly what SLPs do but it is a huge field with many more components, all of which you need to learn to get your master’s degree. I would advice doing more research about SLP as your post suggests you don’t know what an SLP does.
I concur with you because there are more components to the field, but this is the same reason I got into it, and working with kids on speech and language scratches the itch for me. I love that I get to be an expert on speech and language and think about it every day.
The two have very different career paths as well, which not many have touched on. I have never heard of anyone who, after completing their bachelor’s degree, was unable to gain acceptance into a program leading to a teaching certificate.
Since there is such a scarcity, educators are essentially pleading for more teachers. People pay thousands of dollars to apply, reapply, and relocate for admission to SLP graduate school—if they are accepted at all. The program is extremely competitive. The cost is extremely exorbitant unless you can obtain a lot of money, and most students must complete a year’s worth of prerequisite coursework in addition to the two years of graduate study that include numerous practicum and clinical experiences. While student teaching is a part of teaching degrees, the two programs cannot be compared.