My S will soon be graduating with BA degrees in English and Communications. He is considering going to graduate school to become a high school teacher in VA. Does anyone know the best path for this? How long does it take to get a graduate degree in teaching? Are there one year programs? Can you get your masters degree, teach high school for a while and then go on to get a doctorate if you want to be a college professor? I was looking online at GMU and Shenandoah University (both relatively close to where we live) and found the info a bit confusing. This is just one option he is considering so just exploring at this point.
Thanks in advance for any guidance you may be able to provide.
Does his current college have a school of education or teacher training program? He should be able to find helpful information there, and at his school’s career center, as well.
One of my ds graduated with a BA in history from a VA state school (W&M), and completed her masters in education there the following year. However, it wasn’t a 1-year program. She took grad-level classes as a senior, and her master’s degree program also included a full year of classes/student teaching as a grad student. Two summers of study/student teaching were also required, one immediately after graduation, and one the following summer.
You are right, this is confusing! It’s not clear if this program is do-able in one academic year or 12 months or what. Fortunately, SU has two campuses, and the elementary, middle, and secondary licensure programs have multiple start dates, so your son should have decent options there. I say drop them a line and get more details.
The SU licensure program is graduate level, and most of the credits would apply toward an MS Ed. degree at SU, so about half of the work of that MS Ed. would be done. SU offers a couple of Ed. D. programs which could lead to some kinds of jobs in higher education, but probably not to faculty positions. If your son wants to be a college English/communications professor, he might want to scope out places that offer MS/MA and doctoral programs in those areas.
@frazzled1 His current school offers advanced teaching degrees-if you have an undergraduate degree in education. I’ve told him to go to the career center, so hopefully he will do that and they can provide some guidance.
@happymomof1 I’m glad I’m not the only one finding it confusing! So I assume if you want to get your doctorate at some point you should get a MS/MA instead of a MS Ed.?
I was not an education major, so I went straight to grad school after (in fact, I moved in to start a week after I graduated).
I applied to programs that would allow me to get my teaching license along with my masters. I ended up going to William and Mary because it was a 1-year program. I started the program right after I graduated from undergrad: two short summer semesters, fall, spring, and I was done!
I was also accepted to the UVA grad program, which is where I wanted to stay (I went there for undergrad and loved it), but it was two years. I could have graduated a semester early, but that would have meant graduating in December and I didn’t want to do that.
I know there are quite a few people I have worked with who got their masters from VCU. I also know a few others who just got their post-bac from University of Richmond.
I’ve heard some people saying to not get your masters before you start teaching, but I have now met a ton of people from UVA, W&M, JMU, VCU, and other places and no one in those programs (the years of the people that I met) had a problem getting a job. It might not have been the exact school or grade level, but that happens.
Sorry that was long; I hope it was at least a little helpful!
Depending on where he would study for his PhD (and the specific subject area), he might not need a separate MA/MS program before enrolling for that degree. Some are direct admit and the students write (or don’t write depending on the program) an MA/MS partway through.
Lots of teachers end up with more than one master’s degree because of the differences between a MS Ed or MAT degree (primarily professional training and theory of education) that may be part of the initial teacher licensure process, and an MA or MS in the specific subject area.
@nahnah12 You said that some people advise not to get your masters before you start teaching, but how do you do that if you just have a regular undergraduate degree, say in English, not Education?
Thanks for your detailed reply above! I really appreciate it.
The older advice about not completing the MA before starting to teach has to do with the way salaries are determined in public school districts. Someone with a BA and no experience is the cheapest to hire. Here is the payscale for Fairfax County: http://www.fcps.edu/hr/salary/pdf/fy16/FY16194dayTeacher.pdf Starting with an MA makes the person a bit more expensive, and can prove to be a barrier for some school districts with tight budgets. The SU secondary licensure certificate program is 21. This means their grads can be hired at the first step (BA+15) and are almost as “cheap” as a teacher with only a BA.
@acollegefan Personally, I knew that since I was going to have to spend money to get my teaching license, I was going to go ahead and get the masters degree so I could get a bump in salary to help pay back the loans I would have to take out. Also, I had never heard to not get the masters first because the districts around me don’t not hire new teachers with masters, so it wasn’t an issue. Because of that, I only looked at places where I could get a masters degree along with my license. I graduated with an M.A.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction.
I know University of Richmond has a certificate (I think that’s what it’s called) program, so if you didn’t major in education but don’t want the masters, you can do that. I only know of one person who has done that and she has moved a few times (to three different states in the past five years!) and she has not had a problem finding a job. I know that’s just one person, though! I’m sorry that I don’t know of any other schools that have just the certificate program, but I’m sure there’s plenty out there!
I’m not sure if I missed something, so I apologize if this has been answered, but if he isn’t too keen on teaching high school why is he looking into being a high school teacher? This is my seventh year teaching, and I’ve taught in a variety of grades/districts due to a move and my endorsements (I can teach elementary through high school). This job can be rough enough if you love it; I can’t imagine getting through a few of my years if I didn’t absolutely want to be a teacher! And I absolutely would not have gotten my masters in anything education if I didn’t think I’d be a teacher for many years (depending on what school I ended up going to, my degree would have been in curriculum and instruction or elementary/social studies education).
@nahnah12 He would really rather be a college professor, but is unsure about getting his doctorate. I agree with you though, if it’s not your passion it’s just hard work.
What subject area would he like to teach as a college professor - English, communications, or education? Unless it’s education, I don’t know how useful it would be to teach high school first. It’s helpful to have an income, of course, and being a high school teacher can be similar to teaching in college, depending on the school, the curriculum, the students, etc. But I agree with @nahnah12 that it’s really a very hard job, even for those want to do that instead of something else. And there’s the expense of obtaining a teaching degree, which makes sense if that’s what you want to do, but otherwise?
The path to becoming a college professor is daunting. I’d think he might want to talk to professors in his desired field about how they found their positions and what their career paths were.
Being a college professor has a whole different education track than being a HS Teacher.
For a professor, you generally have to get a PhD in your field …you do not taking any “teaching” classes per se.
You would not teach HS classes and would not be a HS teacher before becoming a college professor.
If you are unsure about getting an PhD, then becoming a professor is not for you.
Re: becoming an HS teacher, you can get a Master’s in Secondary Education…but like others say, that would make you more expensive than the average person with a BS in teaching English. Will be be harder to get a job?
Or will you have to look at school districts that are having a hard time hiring.
My daughter majored in Math, and then got a 1.5 year Master’s in Secondary Math Education. She did get hired immediately but Math teachers are in shorter supply than English teachers.
@bopper How do you become a high school teacher if you don’t get your Master’s in education (if you only have undergraduate degree say in English or Math)? Get some kind of certification as NahNah12 indicated?
@ACollegeFan Hmm, would he perhaps like to teach writing in college? I don’t know too much about it, but back in the last city I lived in I was involved with a branch of the National Writing Project. I don’t know if there would be more information through that organization, but I did a summer institute with teachers from K-college. Many of the others in my particular year taught at the local college in the First Year Writing program. Some of them just had a masters degree (some in English education, some in English, one in something rhetoric…), and others were working on a PhD, but in education (the only one I know of was in urban education).
I think their titles were more lecturer/adjunct, and for some it was their full time job. We also had a conference and faculty from other colleges in the state were there, and they had mentioned that (even at the very highly ranked colleges) they were noticing that writing was a problem and schools were getting rid of the writing exemption so all students were expected to take a first year/freshman writing course.
I wouldn’t ever go out as that being my big goal career as I don’t know how many of these positions there are/if you can make it with this being your sole position, but it could be something to look at.
