Do I need a degree in Elementary Education to teach it???

scmom12
Fri, 08 Sep 2017 13:03:00 +0000

My D was history major in college in VA and thought she would teach HS. Changed her mind to elementary education. She finished her degree in history and then got her MAT in elementary back home here. In SC didn’t hinder her at all to have her masters and bumped her salary over just a BA, but I understand that’s not the case everywhere.

Once she realized she would not get certified during her UG, she took care to look at pre-reqs for the masters program here. She took a couple of things as electives that she wouldn’t have had to take for her History BA (biology and earth science) and she had to take a math for elementary students summer school class that school here required that had no equivalent at her LAC. Her MAT was 15 months starting in summer and core done by spring so that you could apply for jobs while taking final electives. She had a job one year after finishing UG.

She did take some practicums and education classes in UG and if she stuck with History in HS she could have done education as a minor and been certified as UG. To get elementary UG certification it is usually an elementary major since you have to do a bit of every content area, but if you have the space in your schedule you might could double major in elementary education and English. You just need to have time to fit in student teaching which is pretty much a semester on its own.