Are you excited to begin your career in education? Being a teacher is so rewarding under the right conditions, especially if you enjoy working with children already.
Educators are undervalued but critical to the future of Florida and the United States in general. It’s your job to educate the next generation and that’s an important task!
If you’re just getting started, you’re going to want to be aware of the Florida teaching requirements. Let’s go over how to become a teacher in Florida and the things you’re going to need.
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Basic College Education
Those who want to be teachers are going to need to start off with a bachelor’s degree. It’s recommended that the degree is in education. If you plan on teaching older children you may want to double major so that you can teach your specific subject.
You’ll need a basic undergraduate degree to begin working towards the other Florida requirements for becoming a teacher.
Certifications
You can get a teaching certification in several ways. There are temporary teaching certifications and professional teaching certifications.
The temporary certifications allow you to begin the process while you’re working through the other certifications that you’ll need to be a permanent teacher. They let you teach full-time until you complete all of the requirements.
If you’re looking to teach in a specific subject area you’re going to need a certification for that as well.
Extra Education, Training, and Testing
When you’re finished college you might think that you’re ready to be a teacher. You’ve already done the hard work, right?
There are still extra education requirements (more for non-education majors than education majors).
You’re going to take the Florida Teacher Certification Examination if you come from an accredited education program. If you pass all 3 parts, you get your professional education certification.
If you don’t pass all 3 parts you get a temporary certification until you can complete your exam.
Non-education majors should go through professional development certification programs before they take the certification examination. Education programs will also require training through student teaching. This student teaching provides valuable experience for a future full-time teacher.
You’ll also take and pass tests both on general knowledge and area-specific knowledge such as the Reading K-12 test. These will vary depending on your area of expertise and preferred age group.
Extra Requirements
When you have all of your education and certifications out of the way you’re going to be fingerprinted and subjected to a federal and state background check.
Background checks are required for anyone who works with minors.
Once you’ve passed your background check you can receive your certifications.
Have You Started Working on the Florida Teaching Requirements?
It might seem like there are a lot of Florida teaching requirements, but you’ll be guided through the process once you begin it. Remember, there are plenty of teachers and all of them have had to complete this. There’s ample help available to you so that you can get through it smoothly.
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