With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires that every public school teacher in the US have a bachelor’s degree, America began to suffer from a severe classroom teacher shortage. Professionals in other areas of education–administration, library science, guidance counseling, and physical education coaches–are also in great demand.
Those interested in pursing teaching degrees can qualify as early education, elementary or middle school teachers with elementary education teaching degrees. In order to teach high school, you will need a bachelor’s degree in the subject which you would most enjoy teaching, and a teaching certificate in secondary education. Those who are interested in teaching children with special needs can get teaching degrees in special education.
From Teaching To Administrating
Teachers who accumulate enough classroom experience may eventually advance to becoming principals or school superintendents. And with enough administrative experience, someone who began with a classroom teaching degree might eventually become involved in his or her state’s educating department. Many of those with teaching degrees have gone on to become writers of textbooks in their favorite subjects.
After getting their bachelor’s degrees by completing four years of undergraduate courses, a year of education courses, and doing student teaching, those pursuing teaching careers need to take certification exams in the states where they wish to teach. Some states, however, now offer “alternative route” teaching certification, which may allow those who did not take any post-graduate teaching courses in teaching to qualify for certification based on having their having bachelor’s degrees and appropriate life experience.
The Educational Fast Track
Many US institutions of higher learning, in order to accommodate the tremendous need for teachers, have begun allowing those with bachelor’s degrees in other areas to get fast-tracked on the way to state teaching certification. These programs also help those who want to leave careers in other fields for teaching to qualify for teaching degrees by providing them with direct teaching experience.
With the explosion in the number of Internet users, online teaching degrees are now more common than ever. Many prominent universities now offer accredited teaching degree programs online, and it is possible to get either a Master’s Degree in teaching or in education, with emphasis on a variety of specialties, including Distance Learning–online education.
Undergraduate degrees available online, for those who already have teaching degrees and would like to become proficient in more areas, include degrees in English, psychology, political science, computer sciences, math, and more.
