To become a teacher in most states and school districts, you’ll need an education degree indicating that you have studied some field relating to education or relating to the subject that you intend to teach. Just as importantly, you’ll need to acquire the knowledge that will allow you to pass the accreditation exam that may be required by the board of education for teaching in your area.
Many colleges offer degrees specifically in education, and you can obtain an education degree at several levels, from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s to a doctorate, with the master’s degree being perhaps the most useful if you plan to teach at a good school and earn a top salary. Furthermore, there are a number of subfields of education that you can get your degree in, such as the following:
Early Childhood Education: Teaching very young children is a specialized skill, and before you can become accredited to teach at this level, you will need to take courses in the specific techniques required for teaching preschoolers at what is sometimes called the birth-to-kindergarten level.
Elementary Education: Teaching elementary school students may be slightly less challenging than teaching students who have only recently learned to walk, but it still requires an educational curriculum and an education degree that emphasizes the proper skills for dealing with young students who are still developing both mentally and physically and who may have attention spans somewhat less developed than those of older students.
Middle School and High School: Middle school and high school students (usually those in grades six through twelve or seven through twelve) are more mature and intellectually developed than elementary school students, but teaching these grade levels provides its own challenges. These are students in the first flush of maturation, for whom social issues are more important than math and English problems, and you’ll need an education degree program to prepare you for their needs.
College: Teaching college is essentially teaching adults like yourself and requires its own set of skills, not to mention a mastery of the subject to be taught. An education degree is less important at this level than a degree in the subject that you are teaching, be it anything from engineering to literature to physical education.
Special Education: Perhaps the most challenging subfield of education, and the one that will require the most specialized education degree, is teaching students who are in some way developmentally or physically disadvantaged. But, a degree in special education is probably the most emotionally rewarding education degree available.
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