UK Teacher in USA?

Emeline Albracht: You can start as a substitute and go from there at first, and to be a sub, you do not need any qualification at all to teach in public school, my wife was doing it for a time

Colby Millberg: Each state has it's own certification rules. In my state you must complete a certification test for each area you are interested in teaching and there is no umbrella test to cover all elementary subjects. So no, you wouldn't be able to start work immediately.If you have an interest in a particular state then I would suggest contacting that state's department of education.As for the visa question I would contact the INS and get the official answer.Male teachers are always in demand more than female, however, it depends on the area of specialization. History and Phys Ed coaches are a dime a dozen. Special education (with certain independent specialties), math and science are always in demand...but the field is very competitive and if you're a mediocre teacher I ! wouldn't hold my breath in finding a position in a good school. PLUS, teaching is one of the most underpaid and underappreciated fields in the USA. Not to mention the administrative bs is creeping up on 72% of the job while the rest is devoted to actual teaching--at least it is in my current position....Show more

George Dingeldein: Each state has different requirements. Try typing in the names of states you are interested in plus "department of education." The website will explain what is required to be a teacher in that state.It is likely you'll have to take some tests before you can teach here. The PRAXIS is a requirement in many states, and certain other states have their own requirements. There's a chance you might have to take some university courses if you didn't meet specific requirements for that.There is not a shortage of elementary teachers in most places. You would have a very difficult time finding employment in most of the Midwest or Northeast - in those ! areas, hundreds of teachers often apply for one vacancy. If yo! u try to teach in Nevada, North Carolina, some other places in the Southeast, or in inner cities (often a challenging environment to teach in though), you'll have a better chance of getting a job.If you study teaching special education, it will help A LOT with getting a job. There are serious shortages of special education teachers in many places in the US. I don't know exactly how the visa process works except that there ARE foreign teachers working in the US - so it gets taken care of somehow.Here's a link for the North Carolina Dept of Ed with some info that might help you: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/licensure/steps/...Show more

Rodolfo Merel: Well you could always work in a bad area, typically teachers don't want to work there. So that means there are alot of overfilled and underfunded classes (because of Bush's "No Child Left Behind" bullshit that ended up leaving every child behind).Anyway, on a less serious note, in interviews, play up your accent because p! eople will automatically think that you're sophisticated (not to say that you aren't)- it'll just help. rofl...Show more

Perry Deshazior: I am a parent with 2 kids in private schools in Sacramento, CA. There is a very diverse community in California, and that can make it difficult to teach in the public schools because of language issues. Sometimes economically depressed areas also have a tendency to have a lot of student behavior problems.All kids usually start out with a good attitude towards school, but without a lot of parent encouragement a negative attitude quickly develops. Some teachers are assaulted on a regular basis in their classrooms-verbally and sometimes physically. A lot depends on the affluence of the community where one teaches. Richer neighborhoods may have other problems for teachers, like parents who threaten to sue you for properly disciplining their child. Public schools pay more than private schools, but there are a lot more problems. Private s! chools usually back teachers and get rid of unruly students, but the pa! y and benefits aren't great. This information is just my opinion. If it helps I went to public schools in 5 different states during my childhood. There were problems then, but it's worse now....Show more