Education Requirements to be a Teacher
Teachers are an essential part of educational institutions. If you choose this career path, a variety of job options are available. You can be a teacher in preschool, elementary, high school, college, or graduate schools as well as teach in special education schools or vocational education schools. You can also become a private tutor or put up your own school.
To become a teacher, you must attain the education requirements, training, and licensure required.
The first education requirement is to finish high school. Almost all colleges and universities require a high school diploma for admission.
The next education requirement is to choose a college or university and take a bachelor’s degree from a teacher education program, most preferably one that is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council. If you want to become an elementary school teacher, you will be taking education courses and then take minor courses in the subject you choose such as mathematics, science or arts. To be a secondary school teacher, you will major in the subject you want to teach and take additional courses in education. In many education programs, you will need to do student-teaching internship before you graduate.
When you finish your undergraduate degree, the next step would be to get certification and licensure. If you graduate with a non-education degree and want to become a teacher, you can take alternative teacher certification programs. Pubic school teachers need to be licensed but this is not a requirement in many private schools. For vocational education teachers, experience and training is important and some states provide licensure to those without bachelor’s degrees but show expertise in their field.
To become competitive in the field and be more qualified for higher paying teaching jobs, advance your knowledge and experience in the field. Even though this is not an education requirement, you can pursue advanced degrees such as Master of Arts in Teaching. You can get voluntary national certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards or seek certification for a variety of areas. Join professional organizations and attend trainings and seminars.
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