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Some universities offer courses for high-performing high school students. These include advanced placement classes, but sometimes they are not integrated to any existing curriculum or standards.

I am currently a postdoc with no teaching duties, but I am thinking of teaching one of aforementioned classes (due mainly to financial reasons). I am wondering if pedagogical experience in a such a setting may be viewed in favor in the future when I apply for a position (in higher ed) with teaching components.

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  • What sort of career do you want?
    – Buffy
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 13:59
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    Related: What is the importance of postdoctoral teaching experience for US tenure-track jobs?
    – cag51 ♦
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 15:44
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    but I am thinking of teaching one of aforementioned classes -- To what extent are you confident that, if you applied, then you would be selected to teach such a class? I ask, because my experience (and knowledge of other people) in matters related to this is that being selected for something like this can be very challenging if you are not able to offer much beyond simply having an advanced degree and research experience in the subject (neither of which is in short supply near most universities). But maybe the situation where you're at differs from my experience.
    – Dave L Renfro
    Commented Jan 21, 2022 at 15:58
  • It might be valuable for other reasons. Feynman said that teaching helped him in those times his research was unproductive. He could feel that at least he was still teaching and helping the university that way.
    – Dan
    Commented Jan 22, 2022 at 13:23

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My opinion is that teaching experience is beneficial for almost any profession and will almost always be seen favorably. My own teaching experience taught me a lot:

  • Public speaking/presenting
  • Thinking on the spot/critical thinking
  • You need to assess and evaluate your own knowledge
  • When your approach doesn't work as expected for some students, you need to be able to adapt your methods, so more/all students can learn from you.

These can be valuable life skills in general, but especially since you mention you want to a future position with teaching components, having this experience will definitely be a plus.

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