Advance Your Education Career with Teacher Specializations
Preparing educators for a lifelong career with generous flexibility, specializations empower you to make a lasting impact in the lives of students across the entire K-12 spectrum.
Explore advanced education degrees including graduate programs in teaching, special education and leadership! Find application information and more about all of Pacific's education pathways.
A lifelong career in education is full of diverse challenges and thoughtful decision making about how to best provide support to students across a wide range of disciplines and situations.
For some, a bachelor’s degree in education, a bachelor's degree in teaching, or master’s degree in education will be enough to impact their classrooms, but professional growth opportunities for teachers can help you reach those who need it most and rapidly advance your career.
Teacher specializations enable you to put your passions in practice, refining your skills and gaining new expertise to better address problems facing the communities you serve.
From working with dyslexic students, helping those for whom English is a second language, or mastering the pedagogy of specific subject areas, specializations facilitate professional growth in a teaching career.
Advancement opportunities in a teaching career are more easily accessible than you may think. Let’s explore how you can make a bigger impact in and out of the classroom.
BROWSE EDUCATOR ENDORSEMENT PROGRAMS
What are Teacher Specializations?
Designed as additions to supplement your education degree, teacher specializations, endorsements and special certifications empower you to grow the scope of your teaching practice.
Completed either during the course of obtaining an advanced teaching degree or at any point during your teaching career, these specializations allow you to focus on specific groups of students.
Think of specializations as a way to fine tune your area of expertise and put it to use in the classroom.
Interested in teaching art? There’s a specialization for that. Want to integrate technology into your students’ learning? There’s a specialization for that. Curious about working with gifted children? You guessed it.
Regardless of the grade level or setting, you can find ways to leverage your passions into purpose and put specializations to work in your classroom.
Other common teaching career specializations include:
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Helping children with literacy. A Dyslexia Certificate Program can provide a framework to better help children learn to read more quickly. Pacific’s coursework is totally online, with embedded fieldwork throughout.
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Supporting students with special needs. The longest of the specialization programs, getting your Special Education Endorsement opens doors to helping a wide range of students thrive in the classroom.
Teaching similar skills, the Master of Arts in Teaching in Special Education pathway is for those looking not only to gain expertise, but secure a teaching license as well.
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Facilitating second-language learning. Language barriers can cause students, especially those who are younger, difficulty in a school setting. Teachers with English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) endorsements can help bridge that gap.
How Can Specializations Advance Your Teaching Career?
You do not need to be currently pursuing a master’s or bachelor’s degree in education to complete any of Pacific’s teacher specialization programs.
Taught either partially or entirely online, these teacher endorsement programs can accommodate a working schedule, allowing you to keep a classroom job while expanding your skillset.
Those new skills can elevate your career in meaningful ways, widening the scope of who you can help thrive in and out of the classroom.
Education as a career is broad, meaning that new skills can result in greater flexibility throughout your life as a teacher, moving between disciplines as you acquire new passions.
The more diverse your expertise, the more students you can potentially help, something that can result in greater responsibility and faster career advancement.
Can Specialization Result in Education Careers Outside of Teaching?
While a career in the classroom is the goal for many educators, there are many other kinds of teaching opportunities that exist which can be achieved with specialization.
Content area or pedagogical specialization can open up new career opportunities for educators in:
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Private tutoring. Whether geared towards literacy, handwriting or special education, one-on-one or group tutoring can help students find new success in school, building confidence along the way.
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Community education. Through everything from government-funded initiatives to your local natural history museum, opportunities for educators to leverage their specializations extend far beyond the classroom.
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Curriculum design. Sometimes supported by an advanced education degree, specialists have keen insight into what it means to create successful learning outcomes and procedures for specific student communities.
Does Getting a Teacher Specialization Result in Higher Pay?
Due to the added training specialized teachers receive they are eligible to receive greater pay over the course of their career.
However, while a specialization, endorsement, or certification has the potential to increase your salary, a guaranteed way to earn more while teaching is to pursue an advanced degree.
Pacific’s Master’s in Teaching degree includes space to explore and pursue specializations within its curriculum, meaning that you can graduate with a highly-sought after degree and valuable skills.
Taking the next step in your education career is easier than you might think. Discover how our hybrid, online, and asynchronous programs can help you gain the skills you need to thrive in a new role.