Have you ever wondered how hard it actually is to become a teacher?

Most people see teachers and assume their journey was easy just because they are extremely underpaid. What people don’t realize is that teaching is an extremely challenging job that not everybody is built for and the years of hard work to become one are even more exhausting. Did you know that there are two pathways a person can take to becoming a teacher? They are known as the Traditional and Alternative pathways.

Traditional Pathway

When a person takes the traditional pathway they go to college and get a degree in education. They then take a series of exams to test their knowledge on education – most common one is known as the Content Exam. Finally, if they succeed in the exam, they go on to get their license and seek a teaching job. Some teachers take it a step further and aim towards getting their Masters Degree if they wish to get better pay or just elevate their status in the education field. Though this pathway does not sound hard it actually takes about 4 to 5 years, not including post graduate work, and it requires a lot of hard work. With more years of education a teacher can achieve a specialist or doctorate degree.

Alternative Pathway

With the Alternative pathway, a person goes to college, gets a Bachelor’s Degree majoring in any subject, education or not, and can then apply for a teaching job. When they apply they get a provisional teaching certification which only lasts three years. During those three years, if the person wishes to continue teaching they either take a certification program to get certified or go back to college and seek a Masters Degree in education. Both choices are extremely time consuming especially when they have to study, take tests – each at the same time. The bright side is that with this pathway, since the person does not have a degree in a specific subject, if they decide that teaching is not for them, they can search for other opportunities. It is a way to explore different careers and see which one fits their personality and skills best.

No matter which pathway they choose, Traditional or Alternative, all teaches deserve more recognition for their hard work.