<p>I am a parent! Soon to be an empty nester. Currently living overseas not working but really keen on teaching in CA as both kids there. </p>
<p>Education wise I have an MBA from Baruch in NY and bachelors in Accounting. Have worked in banking for ten years then decided to stay home with the boys since spouse travelled a lot. </p>
<p>My passion has always been education, love kids! How do I go about getting a teachers certificate quickest possible? We will be repatriating to the US in
June.</p>
<p>Lots of teachers in my family. We’ve been looking into this a bit lately. Daughter (who has an Arabic degree) loves being a camp counselor so much that she is considering teaching so she can have a double career combining teaching and camp.</p>
<p>If you can teach in a much-needed area, you might be able to start teaching while you are earning a teaching certificate going part time- with the school district paying for your classes.</p>
<p>You might be able to teach at a private school without a teaching certificate, especially if you took a lot of math back when you were working on that accounting degree.</p>
<p>There are many programs that can get you certified as a teacher in one year. Check into these now; some of them run June to June. Some are partly or mostly on-line. I’m sure you know it is best to get your certification in the state you plan to be working in. This site is helpful for certification requirements: <a href=“http://certificationmap.com/[/url]”>http://certificationmap.com/</a></p>
<p>The teaching ceritifcation varies dramatically from state to state - so it really matters where you live. Many states have quick certification programs designed for those transitioning from other jobs (i.e., second-career teachers); however, there are states like mine where a traditional teaching certification is the only route - even our private schools really prefer certified teachers.</p>
<p>I’m an empty-nest parent who is almost finished with the certification process in my state. I, too, have a post-graduate degree - in chemistry - and yet I still needed to take 10 classes for certification. Since I’m working and going to school part-time, it’s worked out well (even though it seems like I’m always writing papers or taking tests.) </p>
<p>Some of my kids’ best teachers were the ones that came to teaching after persuing other careers. I think my son’s physics teacher who started out as a lawyer did it through an alternate certificate program at least to start with. (I know he told us at Meet the Teacher night, but the details are fuzzy in my mind now.) As others have said, requirements vary from state to state. Another option is to teach in a private school. I know my prep school considered having a teaching certificate a minus not a plus. I had a number of friends who taught straight out of college (without teaching credentials) at private or parochial schools.</p>
<p>Excellent resource JHS. In my state, ALL applicants for the alternate route to teacher certification MUST be residents of the state. Since the OP lives overseas, she would not be a resident of CA. She may need to find out if this is a requirement first.</p>
<p>Mathmom: my daughter’s prep also saw a certification as a negative, even if the candidate had amazing life experience…can’t understand how they turned down terrific science and math teachers just because they were certified; they actually turned down an MIT grad without an interview</p>
<p>To the OP: I did this eons ago when I left Wall Street…go for it if you can!!</p>
<p>I don’t know whether the prep schools around here consider certification a minus or not, but if they did it would probably be because the most aggressive suburban districts pay significantly more than any of the private schools (at least if you are not taking advantage of tuition discounts for your kids). The schools in those districts are far from bad places to teach, and a lot of their hiring is experienced, successful teachers from other districts or private schools. So teachers with certification are a lot more likely to leave a private school for a public with higher pay.</p>
<p>Good point, JHS. Pixel, are you planning on teaching high school? If so, what subjects? Our local Cal State is the go to place for those in our area of San Diego to get certified. The problem is that it takes a while to get into the program. Those who want to fast track their certification go the private route. More expensive, but saves time.</p>
<p>You could teach at a community college with your current qualifications. You might even be able to teach the lower level business classes at a four-year school. Isn’t an MBA considered a terminal degree? A way to get your foot in the door is to apply to teach as an adjunct.</p>
<p>UC-Irvine has a really good certification program. I do not know whether you can take a couple of classes on-line that can be applied later, but I would start at their website.</p>
<p>You might also try teaching at a for profit school. I know a few local accountants who have taught in “Heald Business” types of schools. The folks I know are good communicators and pretty solid technically (accounting, computing, medical related technology). Might be a good way to get your feet wet.</p>
<p>pixeljig- Do you want to teach elementary school or Middle School or HS? In Ca public schools you need a multiple subject teaching credential for elementary school. A single subject for above. I think most of the Cal states have credential programs. Also many private universities also have programs. Where is Ca are you relocating?
Private schools will hire teachers who do not have a Ca teaching credential.
To teach preschool you need a certain number of ECE units from a CC. Of course those jobs are very low paying.
<a href=“California Educator Credentialing Examinations”>California Educator Credentialing Examinations; here is to a link for the test I think you must take before applying to a credential program
you might also look into what the requirements are to sub in Ca
<a href=“California Educator Credentialing Examinations”>California Educator Credentialing Examinations;
another link that might be helpful</p>
<p>As a b-school professor (and someone who was oveseeing our professional association for a recent set of 5 years), I want to strongly encourage you to look at 4 year colleges for adjunct positions. They are begging for accounting professors and your background is more than enough. For AACSB accreditation, all schools need to maintain a certain number of PhDs teaching their courses, but really most supplement with MBAs and those with accounting designations. </p>
<p>And if you really prefer young people, freshman are not much different than most highschoolers! :)</p>
<p>Pick your state carefully if you want to work in secondary. My undergrad was Poli sci and I have an MBA. When I looked into this 3 years I had several years under my belt as a college adjunct and several years as a parapro in elementary grades when I was young all of which I enjoyed and great “reviews” from both peers and kids, but I really wanted to work with teens, not college age kids and I was told I still needed to go back and pick up some BA classes and then about 15 months of Master’s level classes (3 full semesters) to get a secondary. I said “no thanks, I’ll stay in my current career.”</p>
<p>I’ve applied for our state’s certification program but don’t know if, due to my age, I’ll be accepted. Hope so. I think it would be a great career.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the suggestions, will look into some of the options. </p>
<p>CA is where we are going to be, that’s decided. I like the idea of teaching accounting at a CC. No elementary school for me, though I am open to secondary math.</p>