Becoming a teacher is a great responsibility, whether it is coaching someone how to play an instrument better or lecturing a group of class about history, the journey towards this career is long and hard. However, this doesn’t mean that it is unattainable, because here, we will provide you with the basic guide of how to become a teacher.
Select a field to study
Before you teach someone, you must first study and understand everything about a certain field you have chosen. There are different career paths and academic fields to take and really, it is all up to you what you choose. If you want to inspire people with songs and teach them how to handle instruments, maybe music would suit you most. If you are passionate and want to teach different skills or trades, then you can teach vocational courses after completing your studies. There are different possibilities right here, and everything should be decided by yourself.
Enter a Bachelor’s Degree
A bachelor’s degree isn’t needed if you don’t want to become a licensed teacher, but it is highly recommended to still seek one to gain additional understanding of teachers in general and acquire more credentials for future use. Universities and colleges offer general education courses and some are offering courses that are focused on certain fields like music, culinary arts, philosophy, history, etc.
Student teaching
Student teaching is crucial before going out into the real world and becoming a teacher. While you’re on your course or degree, you will be given opportunities to use your learnings and apply and teach it to other students, and mostly they are levels or grades lower than you. This type of simulation is important to prepare you for the real deal, and it does it perfectly and gives more than enough reason to enter a bachelor’s degree.
Certification test
Even after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, you still can’t become a certified teacher without taking a certification or licensure exam. Teachers with the same field and level all take the same examination, and the contents of the test or exam are curated to much the level or grade they want to teach.
Normally, it would take someone four years to finish this goal, but if you want to improve your credentials and knowledge, you may opt-in a specialized course and even take a master’s or doctorate degree. However, taking the latter mentioned route would take a lot of time, and you will wait for even more before teaching students or people you have in mind.
Different countries and states have their own guidelines for the certification or licensure exams but this guide covers the general journey that a teacher should partake in.