The Complete Guide to Becoming An Education Teacher, Postsecondary

Chapter 1: What Does a Education Teacher, Postsecondary Actually Do?

Let's start with the name, because it's both self-explanatory and a little misleading. An Education Teacher, Postsecondary, also called an education professor or instructor, is someone who teaches courses about teaching. You're not teaching kindergarten or high school. You're teaching the people who will go on to teach kindergarten or high school, and sometimes you're teaching people who will go on to become school principals, counselors, or curriculum specialists. But that's just the surface. The actual day-to-day work involves a blend of teaching, grading, advising, committee service, and, depending on where you work, research. Let me walk you through what that really looks like.

Your title depends heavily on the type of institution you work for. At a community college, you're likely to be called an instructor or professor, and your job is almost purely teaching. You might teach five or six classes a semester, each with a different group of students. At a regional public university or a small liberal arts college, you'll probably teach three or four classes a semester, but you'll also be expected to advise students, serve on department committees, and maybe do some research. At a large research university, your teaching load drops to one or two classes a semester, but your research output, published papers and books, can be the difference between getting tenure or not. The title 'Professor' is a rank you earn over time, it's not the same as the job.

So