If you’re thinking of majoring in elementary education, you would be wise to consider the employment opportunities for graduates who have obtained a teaching degree. Obviously, becoming an elementary school teacher is a possibility. What other jobs are well suited for someone who has obtained a teacher’s credentials? Let’s discuss some of the other career paths that are open to graduates of elementary education degree programs.
Careers in School Administration
You need not be concerned that teaching is a dead-end job. Classroom experience can later lead to much more lucrative career opportunities in school administration. Many school principals and other school administrators are former teachers.
Launching a successful career in school administration typically requires extensive teaching experience and additional formal education beyond a bachelor’s degree. It is typical for school administrators to hold a master’s degree in educational leadership, education administration or a closely related specialization.
Instructional Coordinator
Obtaining teaching experience plus earning a master’s degree in education or academic curriculum could help to qualify you for a job as an instructional coordinator. In this role, you would work at developing or refining curriculum your colleagues would present to students in their classrooms. Teaching your fellow teachers how to implement the curriculum via training conferences and workshops is another essential facet of this job description.
Corporate Business Careers
The corporate world offers many job opportunities for experienced teachers. Corporate employers tend to value the clear communication abilities teachers have cultivated.
Human resources staff is responsible for overseeing employee development in some larger organizations. Many companies hire corporate trainers or employee development specialists to teach their staff the essentials they need to know for on-the-job success. These corporate teaching jobs can be ideal for former school teachers.
Content marketing is a rising trend in corporate America, and growing numbers of content marketing positions are becoming available. Content marketing can involve writing articles, blog posts, newsletters and similar content for the purpose of attracting potential customers to a company’s web properties. It can also sometimes include video content creation. Many elementary school teachers have already perfected the flawless writing and editing skills that are typically necessary to succeed with content marketing.
Job Opportunities for Topic Experts
Other possibilities could include jobs that are more closely related to the topics you have experience with teaching. As a teacher, you’ve already polished your writing and public speaking abilities. Authoring books and developing a platform outside the classroom could lead to lucrative speaking engagements in your area of expertise.
If you teach art classes to your elementary school students, a local art gallery or tour company might be interested in hiring you as a lecturer. If history is your specialty, perhaps you could work as an historic interpreter or re-enactor, enabling your audience to better understand the important historic events of the past.
While teaching elementary school is certainly a rewarding vocation, there are many possibilities for elementary school teachers to find engaging work outside the classroom. We hope this information has given you additional insights about possible roles to consider if you’re interested in understanding what jobs are available to graduates of elementary education degree programs.
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