A love for teaching may have compelled you to an undergraduate degree in education. Yet you may be wondering if a Masters in Education degree is worthwhile. What doors will such a degree open? While there is no guarantee that an advanced degree will help you land a job, specialization in a given field may help set you apart and show your commitment to your field.
Not Just a Teaching Degree
People tend to think of education degrees as being explicitly linked to traditional teaching jobs. However, there are many other types of jobs that an M.Ed. degree can prepare you for. Mental health counseling, school counseling, curriculum development, instructional design (sometimes with an emphasis on technology and media), adult education and school administration are just some of the areas you can explore.
Look to Your Interests and Strengths
As with any other job field, it’s important that you contemplate your strengths and interests as you consider the pursuit of an M.Ed. Many graduate education degrees offer specializations. Which one you choose will depend on what the work you think will best fit your particular gifts. Though it’s possible that a Masters degree will result in higher paying jobs, that’s not always the case, so consider other elements of job satisfaction.
For instance, if you’re a strong writer with a passion for ensuring that students have strong curricula, you might want to pursue an education degree that will allow you to become a curriculum developer. You would likely work for companies that write and develop textbooks for classrooms. If you’re also adept at technology, and interested in how contemporary media can aid in the development and delivery of educational materials, you might pursue a degree with a specialization in information and technology.
Even if you decide you’d prefer to teach, not all advanced education degrees lead to work with K-12 students or in traditional school settings. If you are more comfortable working with adults, and passionate about helping adults to pursue educational goals they might not have had a chance to when they were younger, your education degree could be tailored for that kind of work. You may find yourself helping adults learn to read, learn English as a second language or prepare to take their GED.
To Teach or Not to Teach
If you’re already a certified teacher and considering an advanced degree, perhaps the most important question to ask is whether or not you want to continue to teach in the classroom. If you do, and you want to pursue a higher degree to gain more knowledge in a given field of study, then it’s possible that you may want to look into a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree rather than an M.Ed. The MAT is more focused on preparing you for jobs directly related to classroom teaching, while the M.Ed., with all its differing specializations, can provide opportunities in the wider field of education.
As long as people need to learn, there will always be jobs in education. Depending on how you see your role in the education field, a Masters in Education may be a good stepping stone toward a job that will bring you much satisfaction.
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