Fast-Track Teaching Certification Programs for Career Changers

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• iteach­Texas, UND and Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty are three accel­er­at­ed cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that offer teach­ing programs.
• Fast-track pro­grams offer expe­dit­ed routes into teach­ing careers, allow­ing career chang­ers to become cer­ti­fied edu­ca­tors in a short­er time frame.
• These pro­grams pro­vide tar­get­ed instruc­tion on essen­tial teach­ing skills and class­room man­age­ment techniques.

How many times have you sat in your cubi­cle, real­iz­ing that your job doesn’t offer you the sat­is­fac­tion you crave? You are not alone because most office work­ers dis­like work­ing in an office. This led to a new trend, with peo­ple in the work­force leav­ing their desk jobs to become teachers.

With teacher short­age becom­ing a sig­nif­i­cant issue, chances are high that you could get a posi­tion quick­ly. How­ev­er, you can’t do that with­out a license to teach. Sec­ond career teach­ers should get a degree to prove they have mas­tered the skill, and accel­er­at­ed teach­ing pro­grams could become their gate­way. If you’re in the same sit­u­a­tion, this arti­cle will tell you more about these certifications.

Relat­ed:

• Cheap­est Online Bachelor’s of Edu­ca­tion Degree Programs
• Best Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Online Bachelor’s Programs
• Top Online Bach­e­lor of Edu­ca­tion Degree Programs
• Best Edu­ca­tion Degree Programs

What Are Fast-Track Teaching Certification Programs?

Fast-track teach­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams, also known as alter­na­tive teacher cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, are learn­ing options designed to turn you into a teacher. They were made to expe­dite the lengthy process of get­ting your teach­ing degree, which usu­al­ly lasts 4 years. On the oth­er hand, an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram is com­plet­ed in around 2 years, short­en­ing the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process through inten­sive coursework.

Eligibility and Requirements

Teacher cer­ti­fi­ca­tion require­ments often vary from pro­gram to pro­gram, but almost all of them will need a pre­vi­ous bachelor’s degree (regard­less of the field). Some pro­grams could also require a min­i­mum GPA, usu­al­ly around 2.0 or above. Depend­ing on the insti­tu­tion, you could also face addi­tion­al require­ments such as back­ground checks, sub­ject mat­ter tests, pre­req­ui­site course­work, or let­ters of recommendation.

Popular Fast-Track Certification Programs

Fast-track teacher cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are accred­it­ed by dif­fer­ent bod­ies, and they’re usu­al­ly offered by uni­ver­si­ties. Some pop­u­lar options include:

1. iteachTexas Accelerated Teaching Program

Whether you live in Texas or a near­by state, the iteach­Texas pro­gram can be your path to get­ting an online teacher cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. Pay­ment plans are flex­i­ble, and as the pro­gram was found­ed in 2003, it has a long his­to­ry of expe­ri­ence and cre­at­ing suc­cess­ful alumni.

2. University of South Dakota Program

Those look­ing for an accel­er­at­ed teach­ing pro­gram that ends with a full-fledged teach­ing license could try the pro­gram offered by the Uni­ver­si­ty of South Dako­ta. The cur­ricu­lum involves a lot of rel­e­vant top­ics, includ­ing class man­age­ment and ado­les­cent psychology.

3. Ohio State University Program

If you want a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from a big uni­ver­si­ty, then the Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty Pro­gram could lead to an alter­na­tive res­i­dent edu­ca­tor license. You can opt for both in-per­son and online class­es, depend­ing on your preferences.

Steps to Enroll in Accelerated Teaching Programs

Enrolling in teacher or edu­ca­tor prepa­ra­tion pro­grams is straight­for­ward, espe­cial­ly if you pick one with a high accep­tance rate. Below are a few steps that you should go through.

1. Research Different Teaching Programs

Not every pro­gram is the same. For instance, some pre­pare you to be a preschool edu­ca­tor, where­as oth­ers focus on teach­ing high-school-lev­el stu­dents. Some even end with an emer­gency teacher cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. Cur­ricu­lum can also be dif­fer­ent, depend­ing on where you apply, which means you should pick some­thing that aligns with your goals.

2. Gather the Documents

Next, you’ll have to gath­er your doc­u­ments. Most pro­grams will give you a list of what you have to sub­mit. Typ­i­cal­ly, you have to sub­mit your bachelor’s degree, pre­req­ui­site cours­es, GPA scores, let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion, and a per­son­al statement.

3. Submit By the Deadline

Each pro­gram has a dead­line to adhere to when sub­mit­ting your doc­u­ments. Make sure to send the appli­ca­tion with­in that time­frame if you want to be accept­ed into the program.

4. Prepare for the Interview

Some teach­ing pro­grams will require you to attend an inter­view to deter­mine whether or not you are a good fit. Make sure you research the pro­gram you are attend­ing and reflect on your rea­sons for switch­ing your career. Look up some com­mon ques­tions for these inter­views and try to think of some good and con­vinc­ing answers.

5. Look Into Financial Aid

Even if this is not your first time get­ting an edu­ca­tion or you have been work­ing for some time, it doesn’t mean you’ll need to pay for the whole thing. You could look up finan­cial aid options such as schol­ar­ships, grants, or even loans. Many of these degrees have their own finan­cial aid options to help stu­dents get through this aspect.

6. Await Confirmation

Now, all you have to do is wait for con­fir­ma­tion of accep­tance. Once you get the go, you might receive a series of instruc­tions spe­cif­ic to the pro­gram. Com­plete those require­ments and start attend­ing the class­es to get your teach­ing degree for career changers.

Tips for Transitioning into a Teaching Career

Becom­ing a teacher is not always easy, espe­cial­ly if you’ve worked in a cubi­cle your whole life. Still, we have some tips to help you with the transition:

1. Focus on Your Motivation

Before get­ting your fast-track teacher cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, con­sid­er your dri­ve for this career switch. What makes you want to be a teacher in the first place, and do you have any spe­cial skills that you could bring to the class­room? The more you anchor your­self by your moti­va­tion, the eas­i­er it should be to make the switch eventually.

2. Carefully Consider Class Age Preference

Each age cat­e­go­ry is dif­fer­ent when it comes to teach­ing. For instance, high school class­es can be hard to teach, as that’s where most stu­dents enter their rebel­lious phase. Ear­ly child­hood can also be sen­si­tive, as the pupils are quick­ly devel­op­ing, and you must know how to grasp the moment. Col­lege and high­er edu­ca­tion are often eas­i­er as stu­dents are self-reliant, but you might need to take on more responsibility.

3. Spend Some Time in a Classroom

Spend­ing time in the class­room could pre­pare you for your teach­ing career change, as it offers some first-hand expe­ri­ence. You can try by start­ing as a teacher shad­ow or per­haps a sub­sti­tute teacher. If you are inter­est­ed in teach­ing but do not want to lead the whole class yet, you can start as a teach­ing assis­tant. You’ll take care of admin­is­tra­tive mat­ters and briefly inter­act with the stu­dents. This way, you will under­stand the class vibe and par­tic­i­pate while observ­ing the teacher.

4. Brush Up Your Networking

Get­ting advice straight from the source can be a very effec­tive way to help you tran­si­tion into teach­ing. You can start by con­nect­ing with peo­ple in this domain so they can give you some point­ers on how to teach. You could inquire about the best parts of this type of job from their per­spec­tive and the poten­tial chal­lenges they often encounter.

5. Specialize in a Domain You Enjoy

There’s a say­ing that goes along the lines of “If you enjoy what you are doing, then you will not be work­ing a day in your life.” This phrase holds much truth, and spe­cial­iza­tion can offer you that. Get­ting spe­cial­iza­tion could also increase your teach­ing con­fi­dence and allow you to res­onate bet­ter with the subject.

Challenges and Considerations to Keep in Mind

When mak­ing a career change to teach­ing, there are also quite a few chal­lenges to keep in mind despite all of the ben­e­fits. Here are some down­sides to consider:

1. Difficulty of Adapting to a New Environment

Adapt­ing to the teach­ing envi­ron­ment may be dif­fer­ent after being used to work­ing in a cubi­cle or a small office. You’ll have class­es full of kids, teach­ing plans to put togeth­er, and teach­ing events to attend. It might take some time to get used to this type of active job.

2. Fast Learning Pace

If you decide to become a teacher quick­ly, you should accept that there’s a fast-learn­ing pace ahead of you. First, the accel­er­at­ed pro­gram takes half the time of a tra­di­tion­al pro­gram, mean­ing you’ll have to han­dle intense learn­ing ses­sions. Sec­ond­ly, the life of a teacher is con­tin­u­ous­ly evolv­ing, and you always learn new things every day. To keep up, you have to get used to this learn­ing pace and get the sup­port that you need.

3. Difficulty in Balancing Studies with Personal Life

When you already have a desk job some­where, bal­anc­ing your per­son­al life with your work can be chal­leng­ing enough. Get­ting a fast-track teach­ing license brings a fair amount of flex­i­bil­i­ty, but you’ll still have to spend a fair amount of time study­ing. With­out a good sup­port sched­ule and a prop­er sched­ule, it might be dif­fi­cult to obtain a bal­ance that allows you to enjoy your per­son­al life.

4. Adapting to Different Legal Considerations

Get­ting your state teach­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion might involve dif­fer­ent require­ments, depend­ing on where your res­i­dence is. For instance, most states require a bachelor’s degree when opt­ing for a teach­ing pro­gram, where­as Ari­zona lets you train with­out one. More­over, you can get a five-year teach­ing cer­tifi­cate in Flori­da if you are a vet­er­an despite not hold­ing a degree. It’s essen­tial to look up legal require­ments for each state if you are attempt­ing to pur­sue this path.

The Bottom Line

Becom­ing a teacher is not that dif­fi­cult, even if it’s your sec­ond career. You just need to take the right steps and fol­low the path. With an accel­er­at­ed license, you can get your own class soon­er than expect­ed, so research a good pro­gram and sub­mit your appli­ca­tion to make your dream come true.

Sources:

• Research Gate
• UNESCO
• Busi­ness Insider