Career Opportunities in Education Besides Teaching
Teaching is a great career choice for those who want to make a difference in others’ lives. But even if you don’t plan on teaching for a long time, a degree in education provides many career options.
Whether you’ve just finished a degree in education or have been teaching for years, you can seek out a lucrative career path besides teaching. When looking for employment opportunities outside of school, you will notice that you require other essential skills like project management, conflict management, teamwork, leadership traits, and excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Scroll down to explore various fields in education and discover five lucrative and promising career paths besides teaching.
Diversity of Degree Programs in Education
A degree in education equips you with diverse yet valuable skills you can apply in various fields. Your expertise in a particular area of education sets the path for your future career in education management, administration, and leadership roles. From a simple master’s in education to a concentration in education leadership, education technology, curriculum and instruction, educational psychology, and sociology of education, there are many options to choose from.
Apart from aspiring educationists, working teachers can also enroll in online educational leadership programs. Online educational leadership programs are specifically designed to accommodate the needs of working individuals.
These accelerated degree programs can be completed as early as 15-24 months. To top it all, you have the convenience and flexibility to continue your education without disrupting your work and family life.
Career Opportunities in Education
Degrees in educational leadership and technology expand your career prospects in education, management, and leadership. Not into a typical teaching job? Here are the top 5 promising careers in education besides teaching:
Educational Administration
A degree in educational leadership qualifies you for positions in educational administration. Instead of teaching in the classroom, you will work in supervisory positions such as superintendent, administrative officer, operations manager, etc. With greater experience in school administration and management, you can advance to leadership positions such as vice principal and principal.
Individuals in educational administration and management are in charge of a single school or a group of schools within a region and oversee all school operations.
They might be focused on getting good results or even higher education lead generation to get more students enrolled. They ensure that students get a healthy and efficient learning environment. Teachers with a few years of experience in the classroom are equally qualified for administrative positions in educational institutions.
Freelance Writing or Editing
With digital marketing taking over conventional marketing techniques, businesses frequently require individuals who can create informative and enticing blogs for their websites and guest posts.
Teachers have the optimum experience for creative writing and publications, making them a great profile for a blogger, freelance writer, or podcaster. Most of all, freelance writing gigs do not have set working hours. You have the freedom to work at your own pace and take on as much work as you can comfortably handle.
You get to work with diverse clients, which helps you gain diverse experience and exposure to the blogging domain. As a podcaster, you can record audio files and share your content with an online audience. While you don’t require a specific educational background to become a freelance writer, blogger, or podcaster, your education or educational leadership degree will equip you with the right skills to excel in this field.
After gaining sufficient experience in freelance writing and blogging, you can pursue it as a profession and advance to associate editor and senior editor positions. Freelance writing is a lucrative career choice that allows you to work on several internet forums and add to your monthly income. Outsourcing companies or corporations might pay you on an hourly, monthly, or project basis. For this reason, many working teachers work as freelance writers as a side hustle to supplement their income.
Career Counseling
Due to countless career options for students and professionals, many educational institutions and organizations hire experienced individuals with a degree in education as career counselors. These professionals often have previous experience as admissions counselors.
Their job responsibilities revolve around helping individuals find productive work that uses their abilities. Career counselors analyze an individual’s educational background, past job experience, personal interests, and skills and recommend career choices that best fit their portfolios.
To become a career counselor, you need at least a bachelor’s degree in any discipline and must pass a license test. Organizations prefer individuals with an education degree for this profile and pay them at an hourly rate.
Career Opportunities in Education Besides Teaching: Corporate Trainers
Employee training has become a critical component for enterprises worldwide as more companies concentrate on retaining employees and upgrading their skill sets. Organizations hire professional corporate trainers to offer training on various topics for this purpose. Some businesses hire trainers on a contract basis, while others hire full-time.
Corporate trainers work with top management to plan and develop training courses to achieve specific organizational goals. You can apply for this position if you have a degree in education with a concentration in educational leadership, ICT, or technology.
Curriculum Design
If you have a degree in education and some experience as a teacher, you become an ideal candidate for curriculum design careers. Curriculum design is a complex role that involves developing a roadmap for students, creating learning objectives, and planning materials that resonate with these objectives.
From choosing topics for specific courses to designing a complete framework for delivering these concepts, curriculum design experts play a pivotal role in implementing educational institutions’ policies and generating learning outcomes. The curriculum’s content isn’t limited to books and text but also includes audio, video, and other visual content.
Curriculum design is increasingly becoming an in-demand career as more institutions focus on creating customized courses. As an expert in curriculum design and development, you can seek job roles such as a lead teacher, training coordinator, program coordinator, curriculum manager, or learning specialist.
Career Opportunities in Education Besides Teaching: Final Thoughts
Teaching is a rewarding career choice for people who want to positively influence others’ lives and play their part in shaping future generations. However, if you have a degree in education, you have many other options outside teaching. Most importantly, a degree in education qualifies you to apply for jobs outside the conventional educational sector.
While the above-mentioned careers are lucrative and offer endless opportunities for advancement, you can also explore other roles such as tour guide, museum education, life coach, homeschool consultant, school psychologist, and many others. Enhance your existing skills by enrolling in doctoral programs or taking explicit courses to develop teamwork, project management, conflict management, critical thinking, and communication skills.
