What Degree Do You Need To Be A Teacher?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• To become a teacher, you typ­i­cal­ly need at least a bach­e­lor’s degree in edu­ca­tion or a spe­cif­ic sub­ject area you wish to teach.
• In addi­tion to a degree, you need a state-spe­cif­ic teach­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or licen­sure is which often includes pass­ing exams and com­plet­ing super­vised teach­ing hours.
• Pur­su­ing a mas­ter’s degree can increase career prospects, lead to high­er salaries, and pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for spe­cial­iza­tion in edu­ca­tion.
• There are alter­na­tive cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams for indi­vid­u­als who have a bach­e­lor’s degree in a non-edu­ca­tion field but wish to tran­si­tion into teaching.

If you want to be a teacher, you might find the array of infor­ma­tion about qual­i­fi­ca­tions, degrees, and licens­es daunt­ing. Don’t fret! While becom­ing a teacher cer­tain­ly isn’t easy, and requires vast­ly dif­fer­ent process­es depend­ing on where you live, there’s one cen­tral through-line to a career in edu­ca­tion. You need a teach­ing degree. At least a Bach­e­lor’s, and chances are, espe­cial­ly if you want a career in edu­ca­tion, a Mas­ter’s degree. For­tu­nate­ly, once you’re in a teach­ing degree pro­gram, you’ll be helped by expe­ri­enced fac­ul­ty and your peers to grap­ple with the entire process of becom­ing a teacher, from earn­ing degrees to licens­es and intern­ships that guide and pre­pare you to do this vital work.

At Bach­e­lor’s Degree Cen­ter, we’ve ranked the Top 10 Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams based on the fol­low­ing criteria:

• School Rep­u­ta­tion
• Cost of attendance
• Deliv­ery Format
• Num­ber of edu­ca­tion programs
• NCATE accred­i­ta­tion, and more.

So, the real ques­tion is, what degree do YOU want that will help you become a teacher? What will you pri­or­i­tize in the pro­gram you select? Well, ask­ing your­self what you would like to teach, and where you would like to live will help you nar­row down all of the options. Attend­ing a tra­di­tion­al, on-cam­pus pro­gram in the state you hope to teach in is a time-hon­ored path to becom­ing qual­i­fied to teach in that state. While you’re earn­ing your teach­ing degree you’ll also form a net­work that will help you find the right teach­ing posi­tion for you, par­tic­i­pate in intern­ships and oth­er prac­ti­cal cur­ric­u­la, and so much more. So assum­ing that you know where you’re look­ing to live, let’s get into what degrees you’ll need to be a teacher depend­ing on your career goals:

• If you want to work in ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, a teach­ing degree focused on it is a great fit. One of our top-ranked pro­grams is Van­der­bilt’s B.S. in Ear­ly Child­hood Education.
• Some top schools on our Top 10 Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams offer rare Mas­ter’s in edu­ca­tion, like Colum­bia, which touts an M.A. in Gift­ed Edu­ca­tion, an M.A. in Bilingual/Bicultural Edu­ca­tion, and an M.S. in Com­mu­ni­ty Health Education.
• If you’d like to teach sec­ondary school, look for pro­grams in it. An excel­lent choice is North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty’s B.S. in Sec­ondary Teach­ing, which pri­or­i­tizes nine-week intern­ships to help stu­dents build prac­ti­cal, real-world skills while earn­ing their teach­ing degree.

These are just a few of the options you’ll find on our Top 10 Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams rank­ing. You’ll also find a rank­ing of the Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor of Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams and The 10 Cheap­est Online Bachelor’s of Edu­ca­tion Degree Pro­grams if you’re more inter­est­ed in an online edu­ca­tion degree.

Wher­ev­er your search for a teach­ing degree takes you, we’re here to help. We’re con­stant­ly updat­ing our teach­ing degree infor­ma­tion at Bach­e­lor’s Degree Cen­ter, so make sure to check back soon for more resources on build­ing a career in education.

Relat­ed:

25 Best Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Bachelor’s Programs

15 Best Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Online Bachelor’s Programs

10 Fastest Online Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Bachelor’s Programs

10 Most Afford­able Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion Degree Online Bachelor’s

Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor of Edu­ca­tion Degree Programs

15 Best Online Train­ing and Devel­op­ment Programs