Example Career: Economics Teachers, Postsecondary

Career Description

Teach courses in economics. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

What Job Titles Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Might Have

• Economics Professor
• Instructor
• Professor
• Professor of Economics

What Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Do

• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as econometrics, price theory, and macroeconomics.
• Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
• Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
• Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
• Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
• Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
• Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
• Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.
• Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
• Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
• Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
• Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
• Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.

What Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Should Be Good At

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Should Be Interested In

• Social - Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

What Economics Teachers, Postsecondary Need to Learn

• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.