Special Education Teaching Online Program

A Master's degree with a specialization in Special Education is available through an online graduate degree program, preparing candidates for licensure as a classroom teacher. Those who enroll in this program already have a Bachelor's degree and are looking to gain the skills and knowledge to become effective special education teachers. The program will help candidates develop the skill set needed to address the challenges that special needs students face in the classroom. The course of study involves orientation to the exceptional child, foundations and methodologies of mild disabilities, diagnosis and assessment of disabilities, structured English immersion, reading and language arts instruction, inclusion strategies, and collaboration and resource management for the special educator. Student teaching is a main component of the program that each individual must successfully complete in order to be eligible for certification. Students will be required to complete a minimum of 100 hours of field experience. Special education teachers work with children and youth possessing a range of disabilities. The majority of special education teachers work with children displaying mild to moderate disabilities at the preschool, elementary, middle, and secondary school level. They use the general education curriculum and adjust it to fit each child's individual needs. Typical work of a special education teacher is to design and teach appropriate courses of study, assign work geared toward each student's needs and abilities, and grade assignments. Teachers also play a major role in the student’s behavioral, social, and academic development in order to help them develop emotionally and interact effectively in social situations.

Skills You Will Gain in a Special Education Teaching Online Program

Special education programs will prepare students to become educators and teach them important skills including:

How to motivate students
How to apply different types of teaching methods to reach students who have difficulty learning
Communication and cooperation - special education teachers spend a great deal of time interacting with others, including students, parents, and school faculty and administrators

Special education teachers should be:

Creative, organized and patient
Understanding of their students' special needs
Accepting of differences in others

Future Employment Outlook for a Special Education Teaching Online Program

According to the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for special education teachers is expected to grow by about 17 percent through 2018. In this field, excellent job prospects are expected due to rising enrollments of students and reported shortages of qualified teachers. Job outlook varies by geographic area and specialty, but teachers will find that positions in inner cities and rural areas usually are more plentiful than job openings in suburban or wealthy urban areas. The demand for special education teachers is expected to increase in the South and West with student populations expected to rise in these areas. Job opportunities may also be better in certain specialties like for teachers who work with children with multiple disabilities or severe disabilities due to the increases in enrollment of students classified in those categories. A need for early childhood special education teachers has also risen because of legislation encouraging early intervention and special education for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Bilingual special education teachers and those with multicultural experience are in need to work with an increasingly diverse student population. From May 2010, the median annual wages of special education teachers who worked primarily in preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools was $52,250. For middle school special educations teachers, the median annual wage was $53,440 and for secondary school it was $54,810. There are many ways that teachers can increase their earnings including coaching sports, working with students in extracurricular activities, teaching summer school and tutoring.