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Hello everyone, I need your help and insight. Heres my situation: I am almost finished with my Masters degree in Special education (which includes my initial teacher certification). I will graduate in May, but was considering either continuing to get my Phd. (in either Special ed or Educational Psychology), or adding an ESL (English as a Second Language) certificate to my license. I would like the flexibility in being able to teach either Spec. Ed or ESL, but Im wondering if the time that I would spend (not to mention the money) getting the ESL certificate would be better spent on the Phd., which would give me better opportunities in the long run.
Sorry for the long post...
With a PhD your future will probably include a climb into administration. Do you want to do that?
If you want to make more money then the PhD is the route but you may very well not teach all that long because you'd move into administrative positions. With ESL you can almost always find a job in teaching. Plus, the bilingual ability is something that most schools look for.
I agree with K-Luv. You can do both. I say go for both. You will broaden your horizons.
If you don't have teaching experience yet, I would recommend that you get some rather than continue your schooling full-time. If you do have experience, then consider your ultimate career goals - ESL would be more of a classroom/school track while a Ph.D. might put you on more of a research track.
Thanks for the replies. I would like to advance into more of an administrative/research role, whether it be in public ed or research, I would like either one. The Phd program at my school would allow me to teach while I attend the program, so that is what I would do if I decide to take that route (in order to gain more experience, since most admin. roles want at least 3 years of classroom experience). As for adding ESL, Im still not sure if I want to add an extra year to have it (its 8 classes + Internship), and I am not bilingual, at least not right now...it is not an ESL requirement to be bilingual, but that was another issue that I was thinking about, if I did do ESL, will there be an expectation for me to be bilingual? Also, if I did the Phd. do you guys think that it would be better to continue in Special Education, or Educational Psychology???
Thanks again for all of your help
Teach first, then go back and get your Ph.D. Education Pscyh would be more beneficial if you had an interest in counseling. I think Special Education would be more rewarding and you'd be employable anywhere. There is a serious need for Special Education professors/experts.
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