As the competition for jobs in the teaching profession becomes more heated what with recession budget cuts and the elimination of positions that follow, teachers in South Carolina and around the country want to make sure their certification is up to date. More and more teachers are turning to universities with satellite branches and extensive online services that provide courses they need to retain or enhance their certification.Many of these schools, like the nationally known University of Phoenix were created beginning in the 1970’s to provide educational opportunities for working adults with busy schedules. University of Phoenix Continuing Teacher Education Liaison Justin Tracey says it is important for him to meet teachers face to face at events like Monday’s South Carolina Teacher Expo in Columbia.
“Providing information to educators in need of continuing teacher education course work to renew their certification or get alternative licensure, endorsements, things like that. Many teachers are looking specifically for single courses they can use to get the credits they need to keep their jobs or to move on to a different type of teaching or different subject matter.”
Tracy says he finds that teachers across the country are taking courses to enhance their certification in a variety of areas in order to become more versatile and more attractive to prospective employers. “Plenty of people right now are wanting to change their content area, their main subject of teaching. Lots of them are moving from one specific content area to multiple content areas in order to make themselves more marketable for obviously the way the industry is right now.”