What Types of Teachers are In-Demand?
As the public and private school systems continue to expand, quality teachers are experiencing a surge in demand. This means that opportunities abound for anyone who is interested in working with both children and adult students. Additionally, the current education market encourages schools to hire teachers who are highly trained in specialized areas of study. This opens up a career in education to not only incoming freshmen, but also to anyone who has already earned a degree in a specialized field.
Fortunately, at the same time that the job opportunities have expanded, so have the options for obtaining a teaching license. Currently, online programs offer a flexible way to earn a degree in education while continuing to work and gain experience. Therefore, the following areas of specialization are explained in order to provide anyone who is considering a career in education with a few ideas of the types of teachers that are most in-demand by both private and public schools.
Early Childhood Teachers
Preschool and kindergarten were once considered to be optional for young children. However, with high-stakes testing and the increased academic competition in classrooms, more families are opting to include their child in an early education program. Fortunately, research backs up the importance of early educational experiences for later academic performance in reading, mathematics and science. Therefore, more schools are expanding their early childhood programs to include all of the children within an area. Additionally, many preschool and kindergarten programs are transitioning to full-day classrooms. This has led to a shortage of teachers for these programs. This type of teaching program is also available online and can be completed in as little as two years.
As assessment tools and better early diagnostic testing continue to be developed, more children are being diagnosed with special needs at an earlier age. This has led to a need for educators who are trained in research-based techniques that will enable them to help each student to reach their full potential. While earning an online degree in special education, students will find out more about federal and local laws, how to individualize lesson plans and how to accommodate students with varying levels and abilities in the classroom. Not only is this type of teacher in high-demand among school systems, but they will also enjoy the rewarding experience of working with students as they overcome challenges and celebrate victories.
As the economy becomes increasingly global, more schools are recognizing the importance of making foreign language a requirement for graduation. Additionally, the diversity of a school’s population has led to a need for bilingual teachers who can work with students and families who speak a different language. While Spanish and French speakers tend to be the most commonly sought after teachers, more schools are also adding language programs that include Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Arabic to enable their students to be competitive when they emerge from school and enter the job market. For this reason, any teacher who speaks a foreign language fluently will be at the top of the list when it comes to finding a job post-graduation. As an additional bonus, bilingual educators can choose from a variety of positions that range from teaching other subjects to students who are not native English speakers to working as a foreign language teacher.
Standardized testing has enhanced the understanding that a teacher is often a school’s front-line defense for raising scores. For this reason, highly-qualified teachers are in demand by every school system. In most states, an educator is considered to be highly-qualified once they have obtained a certain amount of credit hours of study within an area of specialization. Currently, reading instructors, mathematics, science and technology teachers are most in-demand as these are areas in which students tend to struggle on standardized tests. However, classrooms that employ teachers who have received specialized training in these areas have been known to show the most improvement in their test scores.
A career in education is an exciting way for a person to blend their love for learning and children with their favorite subject. Due to the rapid increase in the student population, the importance of test scores and the rise in special needs students, there is also an abundance of positions available for educators who have demonstrated their competency in both the field of education and their specialized areas of study. Currently, a career in education is even more accessible as online programs have opened up the opportunity for a person to earn a degree while continuing to work within their preferred positions. For this reason, exploring the advantages of an online degree in education can help a person to become eligible for one of the in-demand teaching positions within the educational system.
- Concordia University - Saint Paul
Master of Arts in Education - Classroom Instruction with K-12 Reading Endorsement
- Capella University
EdD - Reading and Literacy
- Liberty University
Associates in Education
- American InterContinental University
Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Educational Assessment and Evaluation