CHAPTER 5
The Nontraditional Path:
Help for Non-Education
Majors and Those
Returning to the Field
W
e’re all familiar with the adage, “It’s a matter of being in the right place
at the right time.” Well, this is particularly relevant to the current situation
in the teaching field, where school districts are desperate to fill their teaching
vacancies and there aren’t enough qualified candidates available.
So, enter the career switchers and teachers returning to the profession after a long
absence.
So Why Do You Want to Be a Teacher?
Why are so many of you changing careers at this stage of your lives? These are the
reasons you have given us:
●
You’re retiring from your current profession, many with full retirement
benefits, and you want a meaningful second career.
●
You’re being laid off in the current round of corporate downsizing and have
decided to pursue classroom teaching, which is perceived as a more stable
area.
●
You’re not feeling fulfilled with your current career.
●
You’re a working mother who’s been in a high-stress career that demanded
long hours and lots of overtime. You have decided to pursue a teaching
career where the hours are similar to your kids’ schedules.
Those of you who are returning to the teaching profession after being out of it for
many years might be coming back for one of the following reasons:
●

you. They find older first-year instructors bring more life experience to the
classroom than the traditional 22-year-old college graduate.
One administrator said that he’s found that
an older person has been in the real world
and can tell the students what they can expect.
Another said that career switchers bring a
wealth of experience and a sense of dedication
to the task.
2.4 million new
teachers will be needed
nationwide by 2008.
—National Center for
Education Studies (NCES)
________________________________________________ Chapter 5: The Nontraditional Path
© JIST Works
95
Creative Incentives
School districts have such an astounding shortage of teachers, in fact, that they’re
coming up with all kinds of creative incentives to entice applicants:
●
Signing bonuses and stipends, especially for bilingual teachers, math
teachers, and science teachers
●
Low-interest mortgages
●
Low-cost housing
●
Discounts at local businesses, including dry cleaners and auto-repair shops
●
Reimbursement of college expenses

Education
The City and County of
San Francisco have
recently hired 500
teachers who do not
have their full teaching
credentials.
© JIST Works
Inside Secrets of Finding a Teaching Job ____________________________________________
96
Programs for Recruiting and Training New
Teachers from Other Fields
Most states allow career switchers who don’t have a B.A. in education to teach
on a temporary basis, although they are usually required to become certified
within one or two years. We know of teachers who take several one- or two-day
classes during the summer and evening classes during the school year, plus teach
summer-school courses under the guidance of certified teachers. With all of this
combined training, they expect to become certified teachers within a two-year
period.
Many school districts around the country are developing their own fast-track
programs for career switchers and returning teachers who are transitioning back
into the teaching profession. San Jose, California, for example, has a program
called the Teaching Fellows Program that provides coaching and mentors to work
with career switchers who have B.A.s in other fields. Jennifer, a former dot-
commer who did not have a teaching credential, was placed in a seventh- and
eighth-grade teaching position, and with the help of the Teaching Fellows
Program, she is working toward her credential.
New York City, which has the largest school district in the nation, has recently
solicited mid-career professionals through its Teaching Fellows Program. School-
district officials were surprised to have more than 2,300 applicants. After only a

97
To date the program has produced nearly 60 secondary-education teachers and 30
elementary teachers. A preference is given to applicants with some type of
undergraduate background in math, science, or Spanish.
North Carolina is another excellent example of a state that’s had to develop an
innovative program to train more teachers. They have started working with their
state’s teacher colleges to establish a Grow Your Own Teacher Program. The goal of
this program is to provide teacher-education courses for students who are isolated
from colleges and universities by providing visiting professors, long-distance
education over the Internet, and live videoconference classes.
Nontraditional students are making the transition to fast-track college teaching
programs very quickly, taking less time to graduate than students in their 20s and
making better grades than typical college students. Also, because nontraditional
students are often on very tight budgets, they are highly focused. In fact, their
motto is: “Get in, study hard, get out, and find a teaching job.” These students
aren’t concerned about joining a fraternity or a sorority, and they couldn’t care less
about upcoming homecoming game festivities. They’re in this for one purpose
and one purpose only: to become qualified to teach
and be employed as quickly as possible.
As far as the Defense Department goes, there are
currently about a million veterans close to
retirement, many of whom are too young to
retire permanently and want to do something
else with their lives until they reach permanent
retirement age. Many of these people will take advantage
of the Troops to Teachers program and become teachers.
A Teacher Needs Many Skills That You
Probably Already Have
Not only must a teacher be a multitalented person, but the field of teaching is
a multidimensional profession. In our first book, The Unauthorized Teacher’s