Even though the U.S. is now experiencing an intense teacher shortage right now, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy to get yourself a job teaching in the United States. Part of that should use the stringent requirements established by the U.S. government, and section of that should use the peculiarities from the American classroom experience. Let’s look at those two factors in greater detail.
The U.S. State Department, which coordinates a popular work visa program for foreign teachers going to America, lists seven different criteria that really must be met before you teach at the U.S. school. First and even more importantly, you need a teaching certification or license in your home country and meet all qualifications for teaching because country. Secondly, you need to be being a tutor at the time of the application — so that you can’t “come from retirement” to land a teaching gig in America. You need to possess a university degree that’s similar to a four-year bachelor’s degree in the United States, and you should have at the very least at the least Two years of relevant teaching experience.
Those are simply the government requirements, though. Additionally, there are the state, or local, requirements that you need to meet. These could differ for all 50 states, since they are liberated to make minor tweaks on their teaching requirements to mirror their own specific needs. So, you could possibly meet every one of the qualifications to train in California – however, not in Texas. It varies on a state-by-state basis.
You need to also demonstrate English language proficiency, which can be natural enough, since you’ll be teaching to American students (even when most of them only speak English being a second language). Finally, you must pass a credentials check to ensure that you are “of good reputation and character.”
But it’s the American classroom experience that’s probably the most daunting. One big focus now could be the “Common Core” as well as a related concept — “teaching towards the core.” Which means your teaching style must accommodate specific curriculum components — you’re not liberated to teach an interest the way you might prefer. Secondly, there’s an enormous focus now in American schools on “interdisciplinary” teaching. Which means you aren’t expected to use concepts from many different fields within your J1 visa for teachers, so that a category has stopped being “just” a math class or a science class but also pulls in ideas from the discipline like “social studies.”
Finally, Americans place a tremendous amount of focus on creativity, innovation and educational enrichment. This is very different from the experience abroad, where questions will have very specific answers, and there’s a clear “right” and “wrong” in almost any response. The U.S. system places an extremely greater focus on an even more holistic classroom experience.
That being said, many foreign teachers – even when they’re qualified at home and have ample classroom teaching experience – often require a amount of aid in navigating the U.S. system. American schools pride themselves on “getting the correct fit,” knowning that requires foreign teaching candidates to provide their background, skills and experiences in a manner that will be most engaging to U.S. schools.
Thankfully that two places that U.S. schools have a true shortage – science and math – also are actually two places that foreign teachers may be most able to help. This might turn into a “win-win” situation, in which American schools are able to overcome their teacher shortage, while foreign teachers are able to leverage their skills and experiences in exactly those disciplines where they’re most able to help.
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