Are you considering becoming a teacher? If so, you are probably wondering what you need to do to follow this challenging yet rewarding career path.
Stay with us as we uncover what is needed to pursue a career in education, and guide you through the essential requirements for becoming a professional educator.
Table of Contents
A Formal Qualification in Education
Becoming a professional educator requires you, of course, to obtain a formal qualification in teaching. Like, for instance, a Master of Education. As part of this comprehensive postgraduate teaching course, you will learn the fundamental skills required to be a competent educator. The best news? Once you have graduated, you will have several career options at your fingertips. Some of these include being a primary or high school teacher, a university tutor or lecturer, or perhaps, an early childhood or kindergarten educator. Undoubtedly, each of these roles is essential in our society, and each of them is rewarding, fulfilling, and inspiring in their own way. So, if you’re seeking a career path that is as satisfying as it is challenging, attaining your tertiary qualification in teaching will open these doors for you.
Relevant Professional Skills and Attributes
If you want to be a teacher, there are certain professional teacher skills you will need to acquire. Some of the important attributes that are essential to being a competent educator include:
Leadership Capabilities
As a teacher – especially in a primary or high school environment – you will need to lead your pupils by example. In some cases, your job will also ask you to perform as a role model to your students. You will also need to be able to give instructions, delegate tasks, and – perhaps most importantly – earn the respect of the students in your charge. Often, you will also need to take on somewhat of a disciplinary role. This is especially true for school teachers in primary and high school settings.
Communication Skills
A good educator needs to be able to communicate effectively. This involves fostering open communication in the classroom – both between yourself and your students and among class members. You also need to be able to communicate with your colleagues, peers, and superiors. Public speaking skills are invaluable for teachers as well. Importantly, as a teacher, you will need to be able to stand up and speak at the front of the class to deliver lessons to your pupils.
Versatility and Adaptability to Changing Environments
When you’re teaching professionally, you need to be able to be versatile. Importantly, not all students have the same learning style. As such, you will need to be able to adapt your class material, and your teaching methods, depending on how receptive your students are to your lessons. Critically, some more gifted students may be able to pick up learning concepts more quickly than others. Other pupils may need more guidance and support. Often the most tricky thing about being a teacher is finding this balance, as there will usually be a range of different abilities, interests, and learning styles among a group of classroom attendees. Also Read – What Jobs Require College Degrees?
Specific Personal Characteristics and Qualities
Sometimes, developing the professional skills required for a job in teaching is not enough. There are also certain personal characteristics, qualities, and attributes you need to develop to be successful as an educator. Some of these include:
Dedication, Drive, and Passion
Having the relevant teaching qualification is not always all you need to be a good teacher. You also need to be passionate about your work. Being a teacher is not always easy! As such, you need to be dedicated, driven, and passionate to succeed. One of the best ways to develop a genuine passion for your teaching job is to remind yourself of the impact you are having. You are quite literally educating, inspiring, and influencing your students’ way of interacting with and seeing the world. This influence is important. It forms the basis of how people think and behave.
Strength, Resilience, and Commitment
While being a teacher can be very rewarding, it can also be an extremely challenging career path. Long hours, disruptive students, and a comparatively low salary mean that if you want to be a teacher, you need to be committed to the cause. Education can at times be somewhat of a thankless career path, so you need to be able to draw strength from the fact that you are making an active difference in the lives of your pupils.
If you want to pursue a career in education, there are certain requirements. First, of course, you need a formal qualification. But, that’s not all! You also need to develop certain professional skills, as well as specific personal characteristics. Once you are armed with all three of these elements, however, you will be well-equipped to become an educator, and well on your way to a successful career in teaching!
