When you are looking to pursue a career in education, you might be wondering just where to begin. A career in education can be so much more versatile than working in a classroom, although that is an extremely fulfilling calling to take on as well. Depending on what career path you want to take, you might need to earn further advanced degrees in addition to your initial education degree.
If you want to pursue a career in education, there are steps you can take to make your dream a reality. Here are a few things you can do to become an educator.
Discover the Right Job for You
If you want to become a teacher or pursue some other role in the world of education, you must first find out what job in education you hope to pursue. You might wish to become a teacher with your own classroom working in a school. Perhaps you are proficient in a particular subject area like maths or science and wish to become a teacher in that subject.
Other roles in education include those that contribute to the development and implementation of curriculum. For such jobs you might need to have a master’s degree or higher, depending up the subject matter and level at which the curriculum you wish to develop is at.
Education administrators are also vital contributors to the proper management and running of educational institutions like schools and universities. These are roles that require the ability to handle a wide range of responsibilities including, but not limited to, health and safety, finances, and staff management. This is another job that might require more education. Most administrators benefit from the skills and knowledge that they obtain when they earn a master’s degree.
There are a large amount of careers that you can pursue in the world of education that have their own degree and qualification requirements. To learn more about such jobs, click here.
Obtain the Right Qualifications
Once you have decided upon the type of job in education that you wish to pursue, you need to do some research to see what type of qualifications and degrees you will need in order to get the job you want. While you don’t need an advanced degree to be a teaching assistant, most jobs in education will require you to obtain the appropriate qualifications.
If you want to be a fully qualified teacher at a school, you must take the necessary steps. Whatever type of teacher you wish to be, you will need to earn a Qualified Teacher Status in order to teach. This can be done by enrolling and completing a programme for Initial Teacher Training. While this qualification isn’t technically a requirement if you wish to become a teacher in the UK, it will definitely make you a stronger candidate for employment at a school.
While this is the simplest way to become a teacher, there are a number of different career paths that you can take in the world of education. Those who are just starting out in education and who have not yet earned an education degree or qualification, might wish to work as a teaching assistant until such a time that they are fully qualified to teach. This is a great way to get in the classroom and learn first-hand what it takes to be a teacher.
Other jobs, like the ones described above, might require further education on your part. You will need to first decide what level of education you wish to work at and then go from there. For instance, if you want to work in a university setting, you will need to do a bit more than someone who wishes to teach at the primary or secondary school level.
It isn’t always necessary to earn advanced degrees like a master’s or PhD, but ultimately such degrees will make you a stronger candidate for roles at higher education institutions.
If you hope to use your education degree to work in an education-related role as opposed to at a school or university, this might also take more education. Jobs like being a community education officer or a career advisor are better filled by those with applicable experience and specific education that can show a proficiency in a specific subject matter.
Develop the Necessary Skills
As with any job, there are a number of specific skills that every good educator, no matter what specific role they fill, should look to develop. The demands of working in education are many, and those who choose to pursue such jobs should do all that they can to prepare themselves for those demands. This requires taking the time to develop certain skills that cannot be taught in a classroom.
First and foremost, anyone working in education must have excellent communication skills. You might initially think that a teacher’s communication is only going to be concerned with his or her students. While you will certainly be primarily communicating with your students, you will also need to be capable of effectively communicating with other groups of people too.
Parents of your students will expect consistent communication and will very likely have questions for you pertaining to their child’s progress or shortcomings. You will also need to be able to effectively communicate and coordinate with your fellow teachers and co-workers. Furthermore, you cannot hope to be an effective teacher without having good communication with the leadership at your school.
Aside from being a good communicator, you will also need to develop other skills. Patience is going to play a major role in your job as an educator, especially if you choose to become a teacher in the traditional sense. Creativity will also come into play as teachers need to be able to keep students engaged and interested in the subjects you are teaching. Moreover, because there truly never seems to be enough funding to go around, you will need to have the ability to do a lot with a little, something that will take a fair amount of creative thinking.
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