Full Careers

I am looking into teaching as a career. I was told to get my b.a. in human services then masters in teaching.?

Will this give me the opportunity for different career options if I realize teaching is not for me. I am looking for a career change being a single parent and 40 its hard because I also need to work.

Public Comments

1. This would take you a very long time to complete (4 years for a BA and 2 or more years for a masters. A masters would not give you ability to teach (QTS) but only a MA in education. I recommend looking at the www.tda.gov.uk website and checking out the course options there. If your a single mum and mature student then maybe check out the options which allow you to train and work at the same time such as the school centred initial teacher training (SCITT) route or the registered teacher programme (RTP). What do you want to teach? If you choose a shortage subject (inc DT, ICT, english, maths, modern languages) then you can earn up to £9000 as a bursary from the government. This is also on their website. I'm looking into this not myself let me know if you want to talk about it, i'd like to chat to someone going through the same as me.
2. Before you commit to teaching, I would STRONGLY suggest you get some real experience in a real classroom to help you decide if teaching is truly for you. Volunteer in the level you're interested, talk to teachers, administrators, parents, paraprofessionals, etc. Get a good picture of what the job truly requires. You might even want to consider substitute teaching first. Teaching is so much more complex and challenging than what's portrayed in the media or from what we remember teachers did as kids. Like the previous poster has stated, it's going to take many years of school before you begin earning a paycheck. Student teaching is a full time job in itself. I've seen some single mothers in student teaching and they often struggle because of the demands of student teaching, working, and taking care of their kids. It's like having three full time jobs! Good luck!
3. It depends on what state you live in. Some states are more difficult than others. (ie California and New York are very difficult) It also depends on what you want to teach. If you want to teach high school or middle school I would get a BA or BS in one subject. If you want to teach elementary you should major in elmen. Education, if possible. My school called it Liberal Studies. Basically your learn a little about everything. Once you have your BA or BS you need to see what the requirements are to get credentialed. In some states you just have to have your masters. In others you need to pass a few very expensive tests as well as complete a year long credentialing program. I know it is a lot to think about. So first google your states education department. It will help you a lot.
4. That is what I'm doing. I am about to receive my Bachelors in human services. I am then going to get my MAT. I wanted to go into some sort of counciling and human services (preferably with kids), but not psychology or social work. I would rather access, guide and help as a first line; I don't want to be the one to treat problems and provide long term help. My fiancee is a change of career teacher, and he pointed me to school guidence councelor. I didn't want to be a school psychologist or school social worker, and I didn't want to teach, but this sounded good to me. It would let me do exactly what I want to, and let me help kids. In Michigan, there are two ways to be a school councelor. You can get a guidence councelor license through a masters in guidence counceling: this way you are a councilor but not a certified teacher. You can also get a guidence counceling endorsement on a teaching certificate: this allows you to ba a councilor and a certified teacher. I am going for a MAT and teaching certification (and I never wanted to be a teacher) with teaching endorsements in psychology and guidence counciling. This gives me teaching certification, even though I wouldn't actually be teaching any classes, and allows me to be a guidence councelor. If this scenerio is similar to yours, then it is a very good option. However, if you actually want to teach classes and not guidence counciling, then it will probably NOT be the best option for you, unless you already have the B. A. in human services or the time to get your backup done first. The MAT does not provide any subject area courses. Any education about the subject you want to teach, you have to have done before the MAT program (i.e. with the human services degree). The human service degree gives you the subject area requirements for psychology, but not much else (at least as far as teaching subjects). If you wanted to teach anything other than psychology (which I hope so: you wouldn't get hired anywhere with just psychology), you would have to take extra classes beyond those for your human service degree. You would be taking an extra year of classes before your MAT inorder to meet the subject area requirements for any other subject you wanted to teach. If you already have (or are almost done with) a human service degree, you would probably be best to take the extra classes and then get your MAT. Also if you wanted to go into school guidence counciling and not actually teaching a regular class, it is a good option as well. I would say that if you do not already have a bachelors degree, then getting a non-teaching bachelors degree followed by the MAT for teaching certification is the best option you can do to keep other doors open if you don't want to teach. That way, you still have a bachelors degree in a field to fall back on (with a masters that can't hurt you). Just make sure that the non-teaching bachelors degree will meet the subject requirements for what you want to teach or you will be taking extra classes. Saying that, a MAT program is a lot of work, time, and money. It is probably not something you would want to do if you were not fairly certain teaching is what you want to do. If you have an interest in human services and want to do that type of work without actually being a classroom teacher, being a guidence councelor might be an option to consider if you haven't. Also be aware that (in most states) you will have to do a semester of full time student teaching every weekday during the school day. This may limit your ability to work. All of the specific requirements vary greatly by the state you are in at the university you get your MAT at. Check the departmant of education for the state you are in and the university you want to get your MAT at for specifics that apply to you. Also be aware of the time to do this, depending where you are in the process: Bachelors: 4 years Making up subject area classes: 1 year? MAT: 2 years: this includes 1/2 to 1 year of student teaching.
5. I agree with the person who said to get into the classroom to see if teaching is for you. Check your county's website to see what you need to do to substitute. Usually it's about 90 credit hours or something to that extent. Know that substituting is NOT at all the same as teaching but it will give you an idea of the discipline problems that you'll have to deal with along the way. Plus, it is a great way to start mastering your classroom management. Getting a masters in teaching after getting a BA in human services can give you that option to try something else if you don't like teaching. So that is a plus. Another plus would be that you get paid more for having a masters. The downside is the length of time this is going to take. Another person, I see, has already mentioned that. Also, I see your a single parent. How old are your children? I am a teacher and the first year is HARD. You are tired ALL the time or so it seems. It gets easier as you go on but there is a lot you have to do at home and work will go home with you quite often. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but it's very tiring and your job never seems to be done. There is always something to do. I just want to make sure you know of everything that you may face. I wish you luck though!