Masters in education online

[gillesdierickx]

Hi everyone,

 

I am a college grad looking to explore some new options. I am not a US citizen(Belgium native). I do have a SSN.

I am mainly interested in physical education(ex collegiate athlete), but I have asked some people I know that work in the education field and said that more and more schools require a masters which is why I'm here. I did my undergrad at the University of Washington, graduated with a 2.89 GPA. I received a degree in communications. I did two quarters of post bacc at a different school and my grades were terrible. I would like to complete a masters program at any accredited university online. I am not sure which are good/cheap.

1) Will it be problematic that I received an undergrad degree in communications and have no experience in education?

2) Will it be bad that I have those two quarters of very bad grades as a post bacc student?

3) Any recommendations in terms of online degree programs?(those programs where you can go at your own pace?) since I cannot attend ANY classes, given that I live in Europe now.

4) Is a masters in education the best way to go since I am pursuing physical education? Or am I better off going for certain teaching certificates?

 

Thank you very much for your input.

Edited October 21, 2016 by gillesdierickx

[econteacher]

Hi. Former teacher here. I was social studies, so while I can't give you specifics on phys ed programs, I can speak more broadly about certification and such.

If you're looking to teach public school in the United States, you will need to get a physical education certification. Certificates are given on a state-by-state basis; there is no "national teaching certificate." Most states do accept other state's certificates (with a bit of paperwork), but the requirements vary according to the state. It may be worth checking out the websites of a couple states just to see what the requirements are in places you may want to teach. For example, here's the link to information for potential teachers in Washington state (which I chose since you did undergrad in that state):

http://pathway.pesb.wa.gov/future-educators

You are correct that in most places, teachers eventually have to go and get a Master's. However, your big challenge is that you will need to be certified; the Master's won't help. Basically, you could go and get an online Master's degree in physical education, but without certification you can't get a job in a public school. You will need to find a Master's program that has certification. And that leads us to what is going to be your major dilemma: in order to get certified, you have to have classroom time and do student teaching. You won't be able to do that strictly online, and at some point you're going to have to go into a classroom and do an internship as a teacher in order to get certified.

Overall, if your goal is to teach physical education at a public school in the United States, it will be difficult if not impossible to do that entirely online. At some point, almost every certification program is going to require you to do a year as a student teacher. 

[gillesdierickx]

5 hours ago, econteacher said:

Hi. Former teacher here. I was social studies, so while I can't give you specifics on phys ed programs, I can speak more broadly about certification and such.

If you're looking to teach public school in the United States, you will need to get a physical education certification. Certificates are given on a state-by-state basis; there is no "national teaching certificate." Most states do accept other state's certificates (with a bit of paperwork), but the requirements vary according to the state. It may be worth checking out the websites of a couple states just to see what the requirements are in places you may want to teach. For example, here's the link to information for potential teachers in Washington state (which I chose since you did undergrad in that state):

http://pathway.pesb.wa.gov/future-educators

You are correct that in most places, teachers eventually have to go and get a Master's. However, your big challenge is that you will need to be certified; the Master's won't help. Basically, you could go and get an online Master's degree in physical education, but without certification you can't get a job in a public school. You will need to find a Master's program that has certification. And that leads us to what is going to be your major dilemma: in order to get certified, you have to have classroom time and do student teaching. You won't be able to do that strictly online, and at some point you're going to have to go into a classroom and do an internship as a teacher in order to get certified.

Overall, if your goal is to teach physical education at a public school in the United States, it will be difficult if not impossible to do that entirely online. At some point, almost every certification program is going to require you to do a year as a student teacher. 

Hi, thank you for your response it was definitely helpful! So since you have to do a year as a student teacher, would I be better off JUST focusing on the masters right now? And when I am able to move back to the States focus on the certification aspect of it, since then it won't be an issue to the one year as a student teacher? Then at least I have the masters out of the way? Or is it better to combine the two, since I am not sure how long certification takes.

 

PS: there is a difference between a regular teaching certificate and one for PE correct?

Edited October 22, 2016 by gillesdierickx

[vaporeon]

Certification is totally dependent on which state you are in. In a few states I've worked in, a master's was not required and would just be a waste of money considering that the pay rise for having one is not much.

Edited October 23, 2016 by vaporeon

[econteacher]

On 10/22/2016 at 4:57 AM, gillesdierickx said:

Hi, thank you for your response it was definitely helpful! So since you have to do a year as a student teacher, would I be better off JUST focusing on the masters right now? And when I am able to move back to the States focus on the certification aspect of it, since then it won't be an issue to the one year as a student teacher? Then at least I have the masters out of the way? Or is it better to combine the two, since I am not sure how long certification takes.

The most important part is certification; you could, in theory, just take the minimum number of classes to be certified in PE, and try to get a job that way without a degree in the subject.

However, anecdotally becoming a PE teacher is somewhat challenging, just because many schools only have anywhere from 1-3 people on staff doing it. It's not like the English department which at a big school like where I taught had 10 people. So to be a competitive candidate it would seem to me that you would want a degree in the field. I only suggested a Master's because you already have an undergrad degree, and going back to get another Bachelor's seems silly.

I suppose you could find a master's program in physical education that includes no certification, but that would be an unusual route to take. But yes, in theory you could get a master's in PE, then come back to the states and try to find a program that just gives you the required courses for certification (which would include a student teaching component). As mentioned, however, that's really a state-by-state situation. And it would be more expensive that way. Most of the time certification programs are bundled with the Master's degree, so that the classes you take to get your master's also count toward certification. I'm not sure how that would apply to your situation, doubly so given that your credits for the master's would be coming from another country.

My recommendation would be to pick a few states you may want to work in, and look at the requirements for PE certification. Perhaps you could contact those schools and ask about how it would work? They may be able to provide a little clarity. You can also try talking to state certification offices (i.e. contacting the Washington Department of Education or the Maryland State Department of Education) but in my experience those offices are generally swamped and may not get back to you.

On 10/22/2016 at 4:57 AM, gillesdierickx said:

PS: there is a difference between a regular teaching certificate and one for PE correct?

Again, this is a state-by-state issue. But in my experience there's really no such as a "regular" teaching certificate. You are generally given a certificate in a specific grade level and/or subject. For example, I was certified as 7-12 Social Studies. That meant I was allowed to teach social studies in any school from grades 7-12. In the state I used to work in, PE teachers receive a K-12 Physical Education certificate. This meant that you could teach PE and health in any school, from kindergarten all the way through high school.

It is often (although not always) the case that PE teachers have certificates that span the entire grade span. So be prepared that you may be teaching 4th graders how to dribble a basketball.