Do you have a knack for helping people? Have you found yourself being designated as a good tutor? If the answer is yes to both, then becoming a teacher is an amazing career choice. The teaching profession is one of the most diverse and lucrative careers you can get. But it’s also a position where you need to be at the top of your game. There’s a huge difference between being a tutor and a teacher. That being said, there are also various types of teaching professions you can get; each one caters to specific fields and people. With 2022 nearing its end, now’s the perfect time to start focusing on your career in 2023. If you’re still unsure about what you want to do as a teacher, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll be going over four of the best teaching positions to get in 2023.
How You’re Going to Pay for the Education
Before we get into the different positions you can get, we need to talk about how you’re going to pay for it. It should go without saying that to be a teacher of any kind, you’ll need a wealth of knowledge and experience. The only way to do it is to attend college and graduate with your degree. This is something that applies to every teaching position; you typically need a master’s degree or higher for this type of career. While it’s true that the minimum education requirement for a teaching position is a BA, pursuing a master’s degree is your best bet. It basically solidifies that you’re well-versed in what you’re aiming to teach. What’s more, is that some positions mandate applicants to have a master’s degree or higher.
The cost will be different for everyone, but you can expect to spend an average of $35,000 to about $125,000 in tuition costs. This is a lot of money to spend, and if you take out a student loan, you have to pay it back in addition to whatever the interest rates are. Student loans are notorious for being difficult to predict and payback, but who said you had to take one out? You can easily complete your program by applying for a scholarship without having to pay a thing. Utilizing scholarships for college students are actually becoming more common because of how much financial stress they can take off. Scholarships can fund the entire program or at least up to half of it, so you’re not completely tied down with debt. There are plenty of search and application platforms that the government itself maintains. Make sure to take your time researching each option you have. Each scholarship covers different factors of a degree.
Four of the Best Teaching Positions
There are different teaching positions you can get, but you need to stay motivated and advance in your career, and some are considered better than others in terms of payment, steady work, and benefits. Below are five of some of the best teaching positions you can study for:
- Elementary School Teacher: Elementary school teachers guide and educate young children on basic knowledge, like math, learning more about the English language, and giving simplified versions of history. People who are great with children can multi-task and are very attentive make excellent elementary school teachers. If you fall into this category, you’ll be working in an environment you enjoy while also making approximately $65,000 on average.
- Special Education Teacher: Special education teachers work in all kinds of different settings, like elementary, middle, and high school settings. They even work in colleges and universities. It’s no secret that everyone learns differently, but there are some students who can have a hard time learning like everyone else. Learning disabilities and those with something like ADHD need people who are more hands-on and can explain things in ways they can understand. You can expect to make about $51,000 annually as a special education teacher.
- School Principal: While becoming a school principal is one of the more advanced positions we talked about; the job requires you to have at least a master’s degree in educational leadership as well as a good amount of teaching experience. Through this position, your tasks will involve screening, hiring staff, creating curriculums for the grade levels, keeping tabs on the budget, and developing various safety regulations. For this type of work, principals can make over $100,000 for their annual salary.
- College Professor: A college professor is someone who is vastly experienced in one or more fields. But rather than be a traditional teacher, like one in a middle or high school, professors also take on the role of a mentor. They do create curriculums and syllabi for students to follow. But the courses they teach are far more advanced than what you’d expect. Professors also give lectures and help students with their overall development, not just their field progress.
