I started a Teachers Pay Teachers store a couple of years ago. I created some useful and not so useful products and made a bunch of sales. I thought that this was a great “side-hustle” to make money doing what I was already being paid to use. My store is not robust, because I only made things I intended to use in my classroom. Everything is going well currently until I came to the realization that I may be part of a bigger problem.
You see Teachers Pay Teachers is an excellent platform that gives the illusion that it is empowering teachers and districts by offering a marketplace for great resources. A top place for teachers like you to get resources for the classroom (at a price of course). It’s also an outlet for any one tied to education (presently or formerly) to make side money. There is nothing wrong with the platform itself, it just represents a portion of the problem of capitalism merging with public education.
What’s the Problem?
Everything I have said so far has been pretty praise worthy but here are some of the underlying issues I have become to discover with TPT.
- Teachers don’t make enough money, so sell them things that may improve their craft.
- Better solution: Pay them more AND/OR provide them the resources they need to improve student outcomes. Many Districts frown upon TPT because they want teachers using the District Resources which may be subpar.
- Teachers don’t have enough time to make quality resources, so they can pay for them.
- Better solution: Stop complaining about teachers without providing adequate resources. Can you imagine how the TPT market would crash if a teacher was set up with all they needed to be successful?
- Teachers’ districts don’t have access to quality resources.
- Better solution: Fix this. We would never hire a plumber to represent our company without giving them the tools they need to succeed.
- Teachers can make money on Teachers Pay Teachers, but Teachers Pay Teachers will take a cut.
- The fine print makes earning income on TPT a little bit more difficult after the many fees they take. Especially if you don’t pay the annual fee as a seller.
- Unless you treat it like a business (full time) your resources are terms and conditions are definitely being violated.
- Let’s say you own a business. You find one day that it is common and oft accepted by even entire school districts to steal your product. Sure this should probably be expected to happen in the digital world, but hey shouldn’t there be something done to protect the sellers’ work?
Am I Still Selling On TPT?
The short answer, yes for now. I will keep my store up, but I am slowly transitioning to offer my products for free (or donation) outside of the platform on Ko-Fi. If we want to really empower teachers, we shouldn’t be viewing them as clients to market to but sharing the best resources. Education shouldn’t be a competition or a market, but it has become just that. And we have just elected an administration that will usher in more of this.
