BP Human resource management

Before you start out on a teaching career, the first thing you must do is check what professional certificates and forms of education are required of a teacher at the level and in the field you wish to enter in your locale. While regulations differ widely from place to place and from institution to institution, any new teacher will need to be able to show the education and training expected by their intended employers.

To learn the licensing and certification requirements for most public K-12 schools you should check with your local department of education or go online to sites like http://www.uky.edu/Education/TEP/usacert.html. By checking these requirements you can learn the expectations placed on you by your state and by the standard public school expectations.

When looking into employment by private schools your challenge may be quite different, or merely the same only worse. Private schools often are more interested in academic excellence and appropriate job related experience, many having doubts about the worth of "educational programs" when in depth subject training might serve better. Specialized schools like Montessori schools have their own training programs to teach specific educational methods and theories also. But the common public school assumption of certification and educational training can still be seen at many schools. In competition with public schools, private schools can end up doubling down, expecting a prospective teacher to meet both the certification standards of public schools and the academic and experiential qualifications as well. Read all job descriptions and school boilerplate closely to determine what the expectations of your desired employer are likely to be.

The rule of thumb applied to most college level teaching jobs are that you need an MA in your subject to be hired by a junior college, and a PhD to be hired by a four year college or a university. These rules, however, are bent in very many ways. TAs, assistants, and other support teachers not on tenure track may be of a lower level of training than expected for their school. Likewise there are exceptions made for those with exceptional real life experience. This particularly applies to those in the arts and in trades, where the educational background may have been acquired through apprenticeships, studios, or through direct on the job involvement. A highly successful writer, law enforcement officer, or welder may serve as a professor in some programs on the basis of applied knowledge and skill rather than academic background.

There are also routes to professional teaching that allow alternate routes to be followed. In areas suffering a severe teaching shortage a qualified applicant with a strong BA and experience in teaching or tutoring may be considered by a public school even without certification. Likewise a successful substitute who has given good service can become a candidate for a permanent hire.

The safest assumption, though, is that to become a teacher in grade school you need a BA, often in education, and a secondary set of training preparing you for an internship and testing. Ultimately that translates into the equivalent of a graduate degree plus licensing to teach K-12. There are many programs, online and off, that will offer to prepare you for certification. Look for one with a strong reputation. There are advantages to coming in with a strong subject background other than education. Schools are desperately short of excellent subject teachers. The combination of a strong academic background in a subject with graduate level work in education allows you the maximum flexibility and the school the best value both in terms of expertise and in terms of parent approval.