I am a recent graduate with a BA from Brown University who has just discovered that I want to teach. I live in Singapore, though I am an American citizen, and I have an offer to student teach at the American school here. As my ultimate goal is to enter teaching in international schools, I would be an idiot to pass up this student teaching option. Only problem is I need to find a distance learning program that will eventually allow me to get a teaching license. It does not matter whether this license is from American, Australia, UK or NZ, but it does have to be a professional license. I would prefer not to leave Singapore to study, and I really want to find an option that allows me to student teach here at the Am School. I have been exploring online options (as well as all of the US states' Dept. of Ed websites), and so far the only one I have found that seems to fit is U. of Phoenix's online MAEd program. This will take two years... I am not necessarily looking for a Masters, but if I have to get one, I will spend the time and money. Does anyone have any DL programs to recommend that lead to a teaching license and allow you to student teach in an American accredited school abroad?
The first question is, where are you planning to teach? Each country has different requirements when it comes to teaching licenses.
As I originally said, all I need to do is get an American, Canadian, Australian, NZ or UK teaching license. I will teaching in the international school circuit around the world, not in government or public schools. As before, I am looking for programs that lead to one of these five licenses.
The university of southern queensland has a program that could be used to meet the requirements that you are looking for.
To avoid any additional confusion, let me just be a bit more clear about my situation. I will be entering the international school circuit. This means that I will be teaching at independent schools in various countries that serve the needs of expatriate children. There are many of these schools all around the world. On the whole, to get hired as a teacher in these schools (in addition to the obvious requirements such as experience and good references etc), you need to hold a license from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia etc. It does not matter where the license comes from (within reason) - the schools simply like to be able to tell the parents that all of their teachers are licensed. As they are independent schools, it is simply a choice on the part of the superintendent (and they sometimes hire teachers without licenses, as do private schools in the states). So, to make my life easier, I would like to get a license. As I live here in Singapore and have reasons to stay here, I would like to pursue the academic element via distance learning. Every single teaching course I have encountered requires a supervised student teaching component. As I mentioned earlier, I have had an offer to do my student teaching component here in Singapore at the very well regarded American school. I would like to take this offer up if possible. My question therefore is: Does anyone know of a DL teaching course designed to lead to licensure in one of these countries that will allow me to do my student teaching component at an accredited American high school in Singapore? The U of Phoenix is one such program, though as I said, I would like to find a teaching program that does not lead to a Masters. For example, Western Governors University (http://www.wgu.edu/education/teacher_certification.asp) has such a program, but unfortunately it is not open to students studying outside of the US.
According to John Bear, Mariah Bear, Tom Head, and Tom Nixon, _Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning_ (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2001), the following teaching credentials are available by distance learning: CREDENTIAL ONLY PROGRAMS University of Alaska www.uas.alaska.edu/uas/brochure_NET.shtml California State University Calstateteach Program www.calstateteach.net California State University Fresno www.csufresno.edu California State University Hayward www.csuhayward.edu National University www.nu.edu Prescott College www.prescott.edu Nova Southeastern University www.nova.edu Regent University www.regent.edu St. Joseph's College www.sjcme.edu/cps University of South Alabama www.usaonline.southalabama.edu CREDENTIAL TRACK BACHELOR'S PROGRAMS Judson College www.judson.edu Nova Southeastern University www.nova.edu Oral Roberts University www.oru.edu Prescott College www.prescott.edu Saint Mary of the Woods College www.smwc.edu CREDENTIAL TRACK MASTER'S PROGRAMS Liberty University www.liberty.edu University of Maryland www.umuc.edu University of South Alabama www.usaonline.southalabama.edu
Montana State University has an online teaching program that awards a Montana, Wyoming or South Dakota teaching certificate. It is only, I think, 24 semester hours. The Montana teaching certificate is easier to obtain that most other states and does not require any Praxis exams. Link
