Pursuing an Education Career: What Skills Do You Need?

If you are interested in a career in education, you may be wondering if you have the skills it takes to be successful. There are a few areas that are important to develop if you want to have a career in this rewarding field.

Tradewind Education discuss a few of the skills that will set you apart.

1. Patience

Teaching isn't easy, regardless of the age of your students. Not everyone learns the same way. Some people require repeated instruction before they catch on. Others exhibit behaviors that may be difficult to handle. It is therefore crucial that people in the education field demonstrate patience, persistence, and the ability to remain calm in challenging situations.

Some people naturally have more patience than others. However, you can improve in this area if you work hard at it. For example, make yourself wait a few seconds before you answer questions or give your opinion. Practice taking a deep breath before you respond to others. With time, these behaviors will become habit.

2. Confidence

Confidence inspires trust. If you are confident when presenting material to your students, they are more likely to sit up, take notice, and retain information. As an educator, you'll find yourself speaking in front of others on a regular basis, so it is important to have a sense of self-assurance.

You can gain confidence by challenging yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone. Push yourself to try new activities. Work on speaking up, in a respectful way, when you disagree with someone or something. Courage is often a part of confidence.

3. Communication

To be an effective educator, you must be able to convey information to others. Often, this is in spoken form, but you may need to communicate in other ways as well.

There are many ways to practice communication skills. Taking on a job in sales, even part-time, can help you learn to craft your messages more effectively. Joining clubs or activities that encourage communication, like a debate team, the school newspaper, or the student government, may also be helpful.

4. Dispute Resolution

Depending on what level you are teaching, you may find that it is necessary for you to have strong conflict resolution skills. Helping students resolve arguments peacefully allows everyone to focus on learning and education.

There is a lot of information, including books and articles, on behavior management techniques. Read as much as possible. Consider your own behavior and how you interact with others. Practice conflict resolution in your daily life, when you have a disagreement with friends or family members. If a particular situation doesn't turn out the way you want, take some time for self-reflection and determine what you should have done differently.

5. Creativity

If you truly want to engage your students, it is important for you to figure out ways of conveying information so that it captures their interest and keeps them focused on the subject matter.

You can become more creative in your own life by nurturing your artistic talents, even if they've been latent for a while. Take a class that involves drawing, singing, or acting. Solve problems by coming up with a number of potential solutions to give yourself practice in thinking outside of the box. Volunteer to work with other educators that can model creative teaching for you.

6. Enthusiasm

If you are passionate about what you are doing, that excitement will rub off on all those around you, including your students.

It is often easy for others to tell if you don't truly enjoy doing something. Therefore, teach subjects that you really care about. That said, there are always going to be parts of the job that you like more than others. If you are working with a unit that you find less desirable, use your creativity (mentioned above) to turn it into something that you and everyone else will like a little more. Come up with a game to help your students learn facts or create a project that lets everyone gets hands on with the subject matter.

7. Dedication

Education is a very rewarding but difficult field. To stay focused on your ultimate goal, which is student success, you must remain positive and engaged.

It is important to learn how to identify with others. If you can understand where somewhere else is coming from, you can emphasize with them. Work on this skill a little each day. You'll find that the more you emphasize with others, the more dedicated and passionate you feel about your job.