Getting a Degree in Secondary Education

Teaching Secondary Education

Secondary education or high school teachers are usually subject-specific instructors who help enrich student understanding, provide a beneficial environment for learning and discovering, and prepare graduating seniors for a successful college experience. High school teachers must be experts in their fields, as well as good resources and references for further study for students; they must know how to motivate, offer advice and criticism, and ask tough thoughtful questions to pupils entering into adulthood.

Earning Degree and Certification in Secondary Education

Students wanting to teach secondary education must enroll in an academic major at an accredited college or university and receive a 4-year degree in conjunction with a state certification. Because secondary education instructors have to be authorities on the subjects they teach, many master’s programs in teaching will require that the applicants receive teaching endorsements from their undergraduate majors. Though a teacher’s certification makes it possible for an educator to work in any field, it is likely that he or she will teach only subjects closely related to his or her undergraduate degree.

State or National Requirements

In order to teach at a public high school in the United States, applicants must have both a bachelor’s degree as well as state certification. Some states require a certain number of credits in the undergraduate work to be education-focused, but even in these cases, many schools allow applicants to teach while earning these required credits.

Licensing programs often include a basic academic aptitude exam recognized by the state of licensure.

Though they do not require any kind of licensing, private high schools usually demand that prospective instructors have earned one or more degrees.

Academic Requirements

Depending on the type of high school applied to and the intended focus, individuals may want to earn a master’s degree in addition their undergraduate work. Most master’s in teaching programs are 1-2 years long and require a certain number of hours serving as a student-teacher. To apply for most master’s programs, students may be required to take the GRE or some other advanced academic exam, along with receiving an endorsement from the undergraduate major. Many master’s in education programs include certification.

Certification programs in other subject areas can range from 6-weeks to several months, depending on the intensity. Many of these certification programs can be found online or through community colleges and focused career colleges.

If an individual studies secondary education in either an undergraduate or graduate program, some of the core courses might include:

• School and Society
• Dilemmas of Teaching and Learning
• Introduction to Multicultural Education
• Creating Classrooms for All Students
• Field Experience or Student-Teaching

Additionally, a secondary education applicant will likely take course series that deal directly with his/her focus. Some possible focus series are:

• Teaching English and Language Arts in Secondary School
• Teaching Mathematics in Secondary School
• Teaching Sciences in Secondary School
• Teaching World Language in Secondary School

Further Education and Other Prospects

Students pursuing doctorate’s degrees may continue to teach secondary education, but often will further research in pedagogy in high school classrooms