Do you want to be a teacher but don’t have a bachelor’s degree in education? Fortunately, there are still ways to pursue a career in teaching. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota offers a Master of Arts in Teaching for students from a variety of educational backgrounds. Students with almost any bachelor’s degree can enroll to turn their unrelated degree into a teaching career. Here, we discuss the benefits of teaching and how to become a teacher with a bachelor’s degree not in education.
How to Become a Teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree Not in Education
Completing a master’s program in teaching can help you turn your unrelated bachelor’s degree into a strong foundation for a teaching career. At Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, we provide a fully online Master’s in Teaching program that accepts students with other bachelor’s degree backgrounds. This path may even benefit you. A history degree, for example, may be useful for a future social studies teacher, while a STEM degree may give you an extra leg up in teaching the sciences.
Why Become a Teacher?
Education is an exciting and rewarding field. Most people can remember one or more teachers who made a strong impact on their lives. As a teacher, you will have the opportunity to be that individual to other young people. While the work is challenging at times, you will be rewarded with the emotional satisfaction of performing an important role that improves lives. These are just a few of the reasons people enjoy being teachers:
Working With Children
Teachers work with children, preteens, and teenagers on a daily basis. Young people bring lots of fun and a unique perspective to life that many teachers find exciting. If you enjoy being around kids of any age, being a teacher may be the right career for you.
Overcoming New Challenges
Being a teacher is never boring. Every day will bring a new challenge to your skill and adaptability. It may be soothing a scraped knee, presenting your curriculum goals at a parent meeting, inventing a game to help students engage with the lesson, or something totally unexpected and new.
Expressing Creativity
Tackling these challenges successfully takes creativity, a skill teachers express on a daily basis. You will also have a chance to flex your creative muscles in other ways when making lesson plans, designing activities, or decorating your classroom to create a fun and comfortable learning environment.
Helping Students Succeed
As a teacher, you will make a difference in students’ lives. Every student faces unique challenges to learning. Your encouragement and personalized support will help them overcome these struggles and thrive. You will also set a positive example, helping kids grow into strong and upstanding adults.
Community Connections
Being a teacher is a way to serve your community. Teachers guide future citizens and leaders, priming them for success. By setting an example, nurturing passions, and helping students overcome academic challenges, you help shape a better future for them and for the community at large.
Teacher Job Outlook
Of course, choosing your career path is about more than emotional benefits. You also want a stable and competitive income so you and your family can live comfortably. A teacher’s salary may be affected by several factors including state, school district, and tenure. In most parts of the country, however, they are paid well. Here are average teacher wages, as reported by U.S. Bureau for Labor Statistics (BLS):
- Elementary school: Kindergarten and elementary school teachers earn an average of $61,760 per year.
- Middle school: Middle school teachers earn an average $61,320 annually.
- High school: High school teachers earn around $64,363 on average per year.
Teachers are needed across the nation, meaning that they enjoy great job stability and availability. This also translates into mobility. If you ever move elsewhere in the country, there are likely to be new positions open to you so you can keep working. You’ll enjoy other material benefits as well. Many school districts provide long holidays and seasonal breaks. These paid vacations are great for traveling, planning personal events, pursuing passions outside of work, or just relaxing.
Learn to Become a Teacher at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Today
If you aspire to become a teacher, start learning now at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. We are a private, Lasallian Catholic university offering high-quality online bachelor’s and master’s degree programs to open new career gateways. Request information to learn more about how to become a teacher or how to apply for admission.
