Online Degrees in Teacher Training Licensing

Teacher Training Licensing Degrees

To work as a classroom teacher, you will usually need, at minimum, a bachelor's degree in education. However, if you want to teach a particular subject area such as art or music, you may be able to find employment with a degree in that particular subject area. If you choose to work at a private or charter school, you may not need any qualification above and beyond the bachelor's degree, as these schools do not operate under the same federal mandate as public schools do.

If you wish to work in a public school system, where job opportunities are more plentiful and salaries tend to be significantly higher than in most private schools, you will need to fulfill the requirements to be "highly qualified" according to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Not only will you need a bachelor's degree in education or the appropriate subject area in order to achieve this qualification, you will also need to be certified in the state in which you plan to work.

Certification requirements vary from state to state, but most of them stipulate certain types of coursework you must have covered in your degree program, and require you to pass both the Praxis I test to measure your basic academic skills and the Praxis II test to measure your teaching skills and subject-specific knowledge. Certification is required not only of classroom teachers, but also of related service providers such as school psychologists and librarians.