An aspiring student wanting to take up education as a career should be warned to check thoroughly the teaching programs which are being offered at various colleges and universities. They should carefully consider factors like the kind of teacher they want to be and take suggestions from your teachers whom you admire and ask for their guidance. Whether you want to enroll in a part-time or a full time course, whether the institute offering job placements, what could be the goal of a teacher in longer terms, if there is provision for distance learning or learning over the Internet as well. Ensure that the institute where you are about to attend training is having sanctions from the state and that the programs meet the national standards authorized by the proper education council.
Education inculcates skills, knowledge, attitudes, habits, and values amongst the people. The field of education has gone through change over the time. What was earlier restricted to the privileged ones, education has now become accessible to the masses. In all the developed as well as developing countries basic education is a must for every citizen. Elementary education along with high school is referred to as basic education. Education encompasses both the process of teaching as well as learning. Education is a vast field in itself. Here we will talk about Higher Education.
Post-secondary education is commonly known as higher education which involves state as well as private institutions. Under higher education, high school graduates are taught according to their choice of profession. Normally schools are selected by the students on the basis of academic courses offered, varieties of sports programs, and the reputation.
A member of faculty in higher education can have different titles like professors, lecturers, assistant professors and instructors. These titles or designations are allotted as per the member's educational qualification and job responsibilities. An individual member of the faculty is normally a specialized teacher who will teach a number of related subjects. In the case of a faculty member specialized in the English language they will teach English literature, linguistics, and writing.
Educators associated with the technical institutes and community colleges must possess a bachelor's degree in the subjects that they teach. But at a university level, an educator must have a master's degree or should be a doctorate to be eligible. Educators are hired for positions that are tenure-track, if they have doctoral degrees. There are others who are engaged in a contractual basis which goes as per the semester or a session.
Along with the basis requirements of education, a higher educator must show the skills like conflict management, planning and presentation, organizing, written as well as verbal communication, skills for building relationship, coaching ability as well as mentoring ability.
The educators who are serving full time in a school or institution are at times asked to head certain academic programs or be a part of various student committees or advise students.
The basic responsibilities of an educator in higher education may involve devising chapters in order to meet the objective of the course, selection of relevant textbooks and other educational materials, starting of assignments that are appropriate to the course and devising methods to measure the progress, counsel students, conduct research in order to continuously enhance the subject's knowledge base and by publishing those results be a part of the meetings and workshops and attend the professional conferences.
There are many different fields where an aspiring educator in higher education can specialize like education, law, health and human sciences, business, visual and performing arts, communications, and liberal arts and sciences. There is a wide scope to specialize in different subjects. Within the subject of history, one can decide to specialize in the history of renaissance and reformation or ancient history.
Normally qualified higher educators are hired in private and state universities. Educators may also be associated with trade schools, research organizations, non-profit organizations, and the government.
