How Young Can a High School Teacher Be?

If you’re just getting started on your degree and considering becoming a high school teacher, you may have many questions regarding this profession. For instance, you may be wondering how old you need to be to start teaching high school students.

A high school teacher can be as young as 21-22 years old. You can start teaching high school as soon as you get a bachelor’s degree and other necessary certifications. If you complete the state’s licensing requirements while finishing your degree, you can apply for high school teaching jobs sooner.

Besides answering how young a high school teacher can be, we’ll also outline the steps involved in becoming a high school teacher, as well as the skills needed. Keep reading to find out.

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What Qualifications Does a High School Teacher Need To Have?

As a high school student, you probably thought of your teachers as significantly older and more mature. However, it might surprise you to learn that there could be high school teachers as young as 19 years old in rare and specific cases.

Ultimately, there is no floor for the age of high school teachers. As long as you have all the right qualifications, you can apply for teaching jobs in high schools as well as elementary or middle schools.

Therefore, the sooner an aspiring teacher meets the necessary requirements, the sooner they can start teaching students at high school.

So how do you become a high school teacher? Let’s review all the steps you will need to take in chronological order:

Bachelor’s Degree

First, you need a bachelor’s degree, which is the basis for every teacher position. You won’t be able to apply for a teaching job at most schools if you don’t have such a degree. The main way you could get around teaching without a bachelor’s degree is if you join a private or faith-based school.

Your bachelor’s degree will inform the subject you will teach. For instance, if you major in English, your specialist subject, hence the subject you teach in high school, will also be English.

Teacher Preparation Program

While getting your degree, you may apply for a teacher preparation program if you’ve already decided that’s what you want to do.

This course prepares an individual to become a licensed teacher within a specific age group with a combination of academic modules and field experience. The teacher preparation program allows you to start teaching without a master’s degree.

The term itself refers to a “state-approved course of study,” meaning that completing the program signifies that all of the state’s training requirements for licensure have been met.

If you decide to bypass the preparation program, you must find alternative ways of qualifying as a teacher, which will probably involve getting a master’s degree.

Teaching Internship

To be able to apply for teaching positions, you should also complete a teaching internship.

Gaining first-hand experience of a profession you intend to be involved in for most (if not all) of your working life is vital. The internship allows prospective teachers to see for themselves what teaching entails and what challenges they could face once they get the job.

Typically, you would have to intern for one or two semesters.

State Exam

Having completed all the steps above, you must take state teaching exams, which will test you in several areas and be based on the subject you want to teach.

As with the other requirements, the state wants to ensure that teachers meet particular knowledge, ethics, and competence standards.

Every state has its rules, so check the requirements for your specific case.

Teaching License

Once you pass the test, you can apply for a teaching license. Just like the state exam above, the process of getting a teaching license varies from state to state, so you’ll need to become familiar with the specific requests in your case.

After you obtain your teaching license, you can apply for a position in any high school.

While all these steps seem like a lengthy process that could take some time, most of them can be completed simultaneously or overlap.

For example, you can do the preparation program and internship while still earning your degree, saving you some time.

As a result, you could be ready to teach high school as soon as you’re 21 or 22, when most students are expected to finish their bachelor’s degree.

If you’re an exceptional student, you might have skipped grades, enabling you to start your career as a high school teacher even earlier. So it is possible to become a teacher even at 19.

It should be noted that such cases are rare and are likely to put extra strain and attention on the teacher and the school.

Skills You Need as a High School Teacher

While qualifications are crucial for enabling you to become a teacher, your own skills will be even more important for your teaching career in the long term.

Of course, you shouldn’t expect to simply know everything as soon as you start. You will be able to hone some of these skills in time:

Communication

A teacher’s primary role is to impart knowledge to students, so knowing the curriculum and your content is a must. However, having fantastic subject knowledge is one thing, and how you convey it to a class full of dynamic teenagers is another.

As a teacher, you should use effective communication methods to deliver instructions. This means how you speak and listen to your students.

Being a young teacher, you may face a greater challenge of establishing yourself as a figure of authority. The students will know that you are new to the profession, so they may be tempted to test the boundaries and behave in ways they wouldn’t generally do with other teachers.

If you can establish professional relationships with students by delivering information in an engaging way while also making them feel heard, your students will respect and appreciate you more.

Patience

You’d be forgiven for assuming that high school students are a step up from middle schoolers in terms of behavior, but remember that they’re still hormonal teenagers with different priorities.

It’s not uncommon for high schoolers to push boundaries and act impulsive, rebellious, unruly, and disruptive. They can also become withdrawn when dealing with personal issues, so teachers would need to show understanding and compassion in their approach.

Therefore, patience is one of the most important traits a teacher should have. It doesn’t just enable you to be a great teacher; it’s also essential for your own mental and physical well-being.

Enthusiasm

Someone who loves teaching and working with young people can significantly inspire students to become just as enthusiastic.

As a young teacher, you’re even more inspiring to high schoolers as they can relate with you more, and you show them what they can look forward to.

Just remember to remain professional at all times in your quest to be more relatable and engaging.

Conflict resolution

An aspect of the profession that is often overlooked is the requisite to mediate and de-escalate conflicts.

High school students place great importance on social dynamics and how their peers perceive them. As they are experiencing a lot of physiological and social transformation, disagreements are inevitable.

Your responsibility as a teacher will be to act swiftly and reasonably to resolve any disputes before they escalate and impact learning.

Here’s a video that can give you some additional tips on conflict resolution:

Things To Keep in Mind About Being a Young High School Teacher

Before you start teaching, you need to prepare yourself for some potential challenges you might face, especially at the beginning of your career:

Your students might see you as their peer. Older high-school students may see you as a friend and expect you to behave like one, so it is crucial to establish boundaries to minimize this.
Teenagers are rebellious. As mentioned above, they often have other priorities, and they’re dealing with many changes at their age, so they may see authority figures as an obstacle.

Teenagers are harder to discipline. Timeout and taking away recess work well for elementary school children, but teenagers are not as easy to discipline, even if they better understand the consequences of their actions.
Challenging parents. Good grades are important, especially in high school. If parents believe that their child is not showing the expected level of academic progress, they will likely hold the teacher responsible, so be prepared to deal with such parents. Furthermore, being a young teacher, parents may try to undermine or challenge your position. If you are concerned about this, reach out to more experienced colleagues or your supervisor for some valuable advice.

Conclusions

There are no age limits for teaching as long as you meet the state’s requirements, so you can begin teaching high school as young as 21 or 22, when most individuals finish their bachelor’s degree.

Naturally, you will need some extra qualifications to become a fully licensed teacher, so 23 or 24 is a more realistic age for starting your career as a professional teacher.

If you know you want to become a teacher from the beginning, you can apply for qualification programs while you’re still getting your degree to save time.

As a high school teacher, you should know which skills to work on, prepare for potential challenges, and maintain a growth mindset as you commence your teaching career.