Education is a fundamental element of any industrialized nation, so it is only natural that qualified teachers are in demand all over the world. In the US, there were more than 3.8 million teaching jobs in 2004, including preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school teachers. If you are looking for a career that is experiencing good growth and high job availability, then qualifying for teaching jobs may be a suitable career option for you.
If you find pleasure in helping people learn, then qualifying for teaching jobs may be in your best interest. Teaching jobs are found in a number of settings, each of which has different requirements to work in those particular teaching jobs. In some cases, you may be required to earn a two- to four-year degree and pass a certification exam, and in other cases, your work experience may qualify you for certain teaching jobs. There are no federal requirements for teaching jobs that occur in schools, so requirements for teaching jobs in schools are often dictated by local or state law.
If you’re considering teaching jobs in schools, your state likely requires you to earn a four-year degree and pass a certification or licensing exam. However, teaching jobs in early childhood education will sometimes only require a two-year degree with certification. If you don’t want to take a certification exam to become licensed, some school districts will allow you to become a substitute teacher with only a bachelor’s degree. There is also the option in some areas that have difficulty finding qualified people to fill teaching positions, where you can get a teaching job in an area of specialization as long as you have a degree in that area. If you are considering teaching jobs in schools, you may also need to understand that you will be subject to a background check.
If you’re not necessarily interested in traditional teaching jobs in schools, there are other types of teaching jobs available to you. You can work in areas of training, tutoring, adult education, and more, which are teaching jobs in non-traditional settings. However, the area of greatest growth in teaching jobs will continue to be in schools.
As student enrollment in schools slowly increases, older teachers will leave their jobs at the same rate, so growth in teaching jobs is expected to be fairly steady over the next 10 years. Teachers who can be mobile will have the best chance of finding teaching jobs. Vocational teaching jobs are also expected to grow in the coming years, as schools now offer many specialized programs to their students.
If you are interested in teaching jobs in school administration or policy development, you will need to prepare by earning a master’s degree. However, earning the advanced degree is usually made simpler through teaching jobs that offer tuition reimbursement as a benefit along with health insurance and pensions.
Read the rest of the article here: Teaching Jobs.