Becoming A Special Education Teacher

How to become a special education teacher is a question which is asked by many people with an interest in helping the increasing number of children who have some kind of medical learning impairment. Some of these people already work within the teaching profession, and want to improve their skills so they can help a wider range of pupils, while others are new to education altogether but know where they want to work and how they want to get there.

There is only one basic method for achieving the status of special education teacher, and that is to obtain a bachelor’s degree in the subject, followed by licensing with the state authorities. There are, of course, many different ways to obtain the bachelor’s degree and to take the first step into the profession. You can go through the traditional route of learning at a college campus, or you can choose one of the online study options which have brought learning within the reach of a far greater number of people. For many people, this is the only possible choice, as they need to maintain an existing career and attend to family commitments while they study.

The level of training which you need to undertake is high and intense, but this is exactly what you need to become good at the profession once you have qualified for it. You will learn how to identify children with a problem caused by a medically recognized learning difficulty, and then how to impart information to such individuals so that is can be readily absorbed. Most children with learning difficulties are taught within the normal classroom environment, which means that you cannot spend overly long with them without taking time away from the other children in the class.

When you are first learning how to become a special education teacher you will be confronted with a choice which for some is easy, but for others incredibly hard. You will need to decide whether to take your bachelor’s degree studies on a campus or through the Internet. As a general rule, campus study works better for people who are of normal college age and who have no existing commitments such as family or another career. Online study works well for those who do have these commitments, who are typically mature students. There is, of course, a strong element of suitability involved as well.

If you choose the college campus option, you will have the advantage of being able to integrate directly face to face with the tutors and other students. You can communicate online through instant messenger and webinars, but the offline study means that all members of the class are there at the same time, ready to participate in whatever discussion takes place. This type of impromptu discussion can be valuable in helping students form a broad overview of how this type of teaching works, as well as making contacts which could be potentially useful when their careers have actually started.

Many people finding out how to become a special education teacher have no option other than to follow the online study route, due to family commitments and an existing career. This need not be a serious disadvantage, especially if adequate use is made of forum and group technology. The students can integrate with each other and the tutors even though they may live in completely different parts of the world. The impromptu discussions will not be there, but forum threads can leave a permanent record of insightful dialog. Using technology is an important part of learning how to become a special education teacher.

Tags: Education, Special, Special Education, Special Education Teacher, Teacher