Why Secondary Education?

Why Become a Secondary School Teacher?

No job is more important than educating our nation's youth. Teaching in a middle school or a high school offers an opportunity to make a real contribution to society. As a teacher you convey the knowledge and skills that the next generation must have to become effective citizens.

The skills you need and develop as a teacher are important for virtually all other jobs. You have to interact with many people, plan and organize large amounts of information, communicate both in writing and orally, effectively manage time, and make dozens of important decisions daily. Obviously, teaching is also an excellent career choice if you enjoy working with young people.

A secondary school teacher's job is not an easy one. It carries with it tremendous responsibility and its share of frustration. But teaching at this level also provides a wonderful opportunity to offer your talents and your hopes to our young people who are rapidly changing from teenagers to young men and women.The need for good teachers will continue to grow in most subject areas but will be particularly acute in bilingual education, mathematics and science.

Teaching offers:

• A satisfying salary range for nine months of work
• An open job market as the need for teachers grows
• Additional opportunities for those with multicultural and bilingual backgrounds
• Excellent benefits
• Vacation time for travel and self-renewal

Once you become a credentialed teacher and gain experience in the classroom, other opportunities are open to you. In California, there is a mentor teacher program that involves superior teachers helping other teachers with instructional methods and curriculum development. There are also opportunities to become computer coordinators, school counselors and school administrators at individual schools and at district central offices.

Why Study For a Teaching Credential at CSUN?

The Department of Secondary Education at California State University, Northridge offers credential programs for most subjects in the secondary school curriculum. Courses are taught by instructors who themselves were secondary teachers. Methods courses and student-teaching seminars are subject-specific, taught by instructors who specialize in your area of teaching. Courses combine theory with hands-on experiences in a variety of multicultural, multilingual, public school classrooms. As a credential candidate you have access to our state-of-the-art computer laboratories and a wide range of hardcopy and electronic resources for teaching.

What Courses Are Required?

The secondary education program qualifying you for a California Preliminary Single Subject Teaching Credential may be completed in as few as two semesters and no prerequisite courses are required for admission. The program is flexible and can be completed part-time or full-time, with all classes (excluding student teaching) meeting after 4:00 pm. Candidates may also be able to apply certain credential courses towards one of our department’s master’s degrees.

We're waiting for you to make a difference.

The Teacher Preparation Program at CSUN assumes the following purposes and outcomes

• To serve the needs of diverse learners in a pluralistic, democratic society
• To benefit from the partnership between schools and the University
• To use the findings of educational research for appropriate classroom practice

We believe that the educator is a reflective practitioner.

Through a program in general education, academic majors and professional preparation including field experiences, candidates are expected to acquire:

• a knowledge of the subject matter or disciplines taught in school and familiarity with materials in those fields;
• an understanding of human development according to currently accepted theory and research, which implies a thorough familiarity with the developmental characteristics of students at the stage of development at which they expect to teach, and skill in observing and understanding behavior.
• familiarity with theories of learning and motivation and ability to use this knowledge in facilitating learning by students in educational settings;
• the ability to organize a classroom for developmentally appropriate learning and to maintain an effective learning environment taking into account individual and cultural differences;
• a repertoire of teaching techniques appropriate to the learners with whom the candidate will be working;
• a commitment to fostering learning, growth and development in students for whose education the teacher is responsible;
• an understanding of the organizational structures of the schools and resources at school district and state levels;
• a conception of the function of schools in a democracy and familiarity with social, political and economic factors affecting schools and educational policy;
• a clear formulation of one's own role as a teacher, and a commitment to ongoing professional growth and the dynamics of educational change