Can You Be an Elementary Teacher With a Psychology Degree?

Teaching in elementary schools requires passion and the right qualifications. For instance, it’s essential to study children’s psychology to understand their cognitive development. But can you be an elementary teacher with a psychology degree?

You can’t become an elementary teacher with a psychology degree alone since you’ll require a degree in education, which equips you with the skills to teach young children. Also, the program provides you with the knowledge of the kids’ emotional, intellectual, and physical development.

In this article, I’ll discuss education requirements for an elementary teacher, why you need psychology as a teacher, and other career options with a psychology degree.

Table of Contents

Educational Requirements for an Elementary Teacher

Teaching prerequisites vary from state to state and between high and elementary schools. Nevertheless, the general requirements remain similar.

Elementary teaching is critical because it involves close interactions with young children. Teachers must properly understand how children develop emotionally, psychologically, and physically. They’re responsible for teaching children how to learn and how to interact with other people.

To this end, elementary school teaching has several requirements, such as educational psychology and elementary education.

Elementary Education Degree

Elementary teachers deal with kids post kindergarten to grade 5 or 6, depending on the state.

Teachers are required to have an elementary education degree to provide them with skills to teach these children. You can get this degree as an undergraduate or a postgraduate student.

An elementary education degree gives you practical and theoretical knowledge to provide quality education to your students. If you’re starting, you can take the bachelor’s degree, and a master’s degree is available for postgraduate teachers looking to advance their careers.

Additionally, if you have a degree in another field, you can take the master’s program to become an elementary teacher. In this program, you learn different aspects of child development and psychology to help you understand children and their behaviors.

You must study children’s psychology as part of your coursework to know how to handle children, their cognitivism and behaviorism. In addition, you learn how to interact with parents so you can provide the necessary support for the child’s development in all aspects of their educational lives.

Internship in an Elementary School

An internship is a crucial step in the learning process for elementary teachers and other careers. It’s the first real-life experience where you get to put theoretical knowledge into practice. It’s an education requirement for elementary students giving them a chance to teach and interact with students in natural settings.

Here are the benefits of an internship program:

Gaining New Teaching Techniques

An internship is an excellent way for teachers to gain feedback from students to determine which techniques work best for different learners. It also helps the student teachers be innovative and develop new teaching solutions such as puzzles, concept mapping, and activity-based learning.

Additionally, the supervisors can identify the gaps with the student learners and determine the best interventions.

Establishing Networks and Connections

Internships are essential to student teachers since they meet professionals well refined in their careers. It allows them to interact with them and build contacts within their field.

Moreover, some students are lucky enough to get employment where they take their internship. If you display exemplary teaching skills and interactions with students, you might get a full-time job after concluding your studies. Still, you can get referrals for job opportunities.

Building a Portfolio

When job hunting, employers will always ask for experience in your line of practice. Thus, being an intern is an excellent way to build your portfolio because it gives you experience teaching and interacting with colleagues, parents, and administrators.

For this reason, you have a competitive edge over others without the same experience. Furthermore, employers are confident that you know how to deliver quality to the learners.

Building Confidence

Being a teacher requires confidence and high self-esteem. You also need excellent communication skills, especially with elementary students to earn their respect and trust that you’re sure of yourself.

Working as an intern allows you to put your skills into practice, and you can identify areas that need improvement.

Teacher Certification

Most states require teachers to pass a standardized test to be certified. This certification is crucial because you can’t teach in any public school without it. Most private schools also require the certificate because it shows you have attained the necessary knowledge and skills.

Although the standards vary from state to state, the most common tests include the Praxis and the National Evaluation Series (NSE). Over 40 states use the Praxis exam, and the Educational Testing Service administers it to test for knowledge and skills. The NSE is computer-based and is administered through Pearson.

Apply for a License

Once you pass your state exam, you must apply for a teacher’s license through the state board of education. Then, you must present your degree and the results for the state licensing exam. Once you get the permit, you can work in any school within the state.

Why Elementary Teachers Need To Study Psychology

You don’t need a psychology degree to become an elementary teacher. Usually, you’ll cover a more specific psychology branch called educational psychology as part of the elementary education degree.

Psychology is essential in education as it allows teachers to understand how students take, process, and store information. Here are the reasons teachers need to study psychology:

To Identify Different Learning Methods

Students process information differently due to variations in the thinking process. Educational psychology equips teachers with different teaching techniques to use on diverse learners.

Therefore, teachers know which teaching methods work for different types of learners.

It is especially crucial with elementary students since they have low attention spans and a developing memory. Hence, educators must use the most age-appropriate teaching methods to enhance concentration and memory.

Elementary school teachers are often the first teachers that young children encounter, so they need to keep children motivated and excited to learn in addition to teaching them. Educational psychology is vital to equip teachers with the necessary techniques to guide their students.

To Understand Behavior

Educational psychology allows teachers to understand how and why children behave the way they do. For this reason, teachers know how to respond or react to different behaviors. For instance, a teacher can decide to applaud good behavior to encourage other students to behave the same way.

Additionally, teachers can understand how factors, including beliefs, shape the children’s perspectives towards the world. Therefore teachers can deal with the students depending on their capabilities.

Alternative Career Paths With a Psychology Degree

A psychology degree offers you lucrative careers. These careers depend on your specific study areas since psychology offers several specializations.

The possible careers you can explore with a psychology degree include:

Psychiatric Care

It is the most common career choice for people in psychology. So, they choose to work in healthcare, assisting patients with mental health problems. Some of the specializations include psychiatry, social work, and rehabilitation.

If you choose this line of work, you’re likely to work under a clinical psychologist assisting inpatients and outpatients. The duties include applied therapy, assisting with daily needs, and teaching life skills.

Social Worker

With a psychology degree, you can pursue social work. As a social worker, you engage with people dealing with life issues, such as the elderly, foster children, drug addicts, and crime victims. Your responsibilities will be providing support, keeping them from harm, and improving their situations. And you can work within a home, school, hospital, and vulnerable groups.

Counselor

A counselor provides guidance and advice to help people overcome traumatizing and stressful situations. Your primary objective is to help them accept their problems through exploring feelings and emotions. The main issues are personal, and you must be a keen listener, patient, empathetic, and respectful.

In addition, you can offer support and help them make the most meaningful choices where necessary. Some focus areas include family, rehabilitation, mental health, grief, and career guidance.

Sales and Marketing

Although not common, you can also work with marketing and sales agencies with a degree in psychology. Psychology involves studying behavior which is crucial in marketing. For example, it allows you to tailor marketing messages to persuade a particular audience based on their habits.

On the other hand, sales require strong interpersonal skills to make consumers relate to the product.

Sport and Exercise Psychologist

Sports people require mental stability to enhance their performance. They need someone to help them deal with frustrations and disappointments when they feel like they have underperformed. Therefore, you can work as their psychologist to counsel, guide, and encourage them.

The Takeaway

Elementary teaching requires a love for children. Additionally, you must meet several requirements for proper certification, such as a degree in elementary education, an internship in an elementary school, and a state exam.

You must also understand how to deal and relate with children and appropriate teaching methods for all ages, which is why educational psychology is so important for teachers.

Sources

YouTube: The Audiopedia: What is EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY? What does EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY mean?