Key Steps for Career Progression in the Education Sector
They say that there are fewer professions more rewarding than being a teacher. Whether you’re standing in front of a classroom every morning or even facilitating tertiary courses or running professional seminars, educators of all stripes play a vital role in empowering the next generation, and ensuring that those who do take on the mantle after us do so with passion and purpose.
But teaching doesn’t just have to be about empowering others. In fact, the education sector is packed full of opportunities for career progression for those who are deeply passionate about lifelong learning. The key is knowing what kind of career development opportunities appeal to you most, and mapping your growth around these pathways.
So how can you support your own career progression as a passionate educator? Start by following these strategic steps we’ve outlined below.
1. Build a strong foundation
The first step to progressing in the education sector is establishing credibility. This means having the right qualifications to back your professional experience. For educators looking to take on managerial roles, an undergraduate qualification is a strong foundation. For educators looking to take on even more senior roles (i.e. board positions), then you may even opt to equip yourself with a Masters in Education from a reputable and industry-recognised institution.
A solid academic background in education will signal to employers and colleagues that you have the credentials to understand advanced educational theory, can design and implement curricula, and apply effective classroom management strategies.
2. Define your career goals
To know where you want to progress in the education sector, you need to know or even just have an idea on which direction you want to grow in. Here, practicing some mindful goal-setting is an absolute must.
Try implementing goals that follow the SMART goal-setting framework, which is as follows:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timely
Using this approach, you can also set goals that follow different timelines. For instance, some short-term goals may be completing a qualification within a given timeframe, or making sure your class or cohort receive grades that fall over a certain marking threshold for the semester.
Some examples of long-term goals include securing a promotion, or working towards taking on a particular role (i.e. course coordinator, principal, board member, etc.) within the next five years. And who knows? You may find that as you continue to work within those five years, you’re going to learn and experience many new things that may see that projected 5-year goal evolve. With both short- and long-term goals to drive you in the right direction, however, you can make sure that wherever your career does take you, you will arrive with intention and purpose.
3. Be adaptable
The education landscape is quickly evolving at an unprecedented pace. Not only are teaching methods shifting away from traditional, one-size-fits-all approaches to active, student-centred ones, they are also incorporating new technologies, examples being eLearning solutions like Compass and Zoom, but also Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.
For the educators of tomorrow, it’s essential to not resist these innovations, but rather embrace them – because they are no longer futuristic concepts. They are now reality. And it’s your duty as an educator to equip your students with these same digital-ready skills. As such, adapting to these innovations showcase that you can navigate change, which is a vital skill for any leadership position, both within and outside of the education sector.
4. Gain experience
Professional experience and competency is one of the key indicators that you’re eligible for advancement in your field. Being able to draw from your own experience to improve your performance shows that you have mastery over your skills, can create sound judgement and are adaptable to change. This ability to think critically and with great natural leadership and confidence will naturally make you a stronger candidate for high-authority roles.
Note too that there are just some things that can’t be taught – as much as we don’t want to believe this as educators ourselves. Qualities like grit and resourcefulness can be inspired in our students, however, by sharing our own stories. This is why all the greatest educators and leaders relish the experiences they’ve obtained throughout their careers, and are adept at communicating these experiences with their students and mentees.
5. Demonstrate impact
Though having experience and credentials are beneficial, they alone are not enough to prove that you are ready for career advancement. You need to know how to showcase how you made a difference in any given lesson or role. Below are some examples on how you can do so.
- Collect feedback and testimonials (i.e. positive evaluations, letters of recommendation, etc.)
- Track student outcomes (i.e. transcripts, academic achievements, professional milestones, etc.)
- Use the STAR method (state the situation, the task at hand, the actions you conducted, and the results) when detailing your impact in job interviews/networking opportunities, etc.
6. Possess a mindset of growth
The opposite of a fixed mindset, growth mindsets are all about believing that there is further room in yourself to improve. It means having the humility to understand that there’s always a limit to what you know yourself, so you continuously learn to refine your own authority and position as an educator.
The strongest educators maintain a growth mindset by changing their relationship with criticism and failure. Don’t take any perceived shortcomings to heart, and instead, approach every challenge over the course of your career as a lesson. In short, practice exactly what you preach to your students, and use your own growth mindset to ensure you’re always proceeding positively and productively throughout your career.
Meet all your career goals in the education sector with strategic career planning
Like most other disciplines and industries, charting a path to career progression in the education sector means knowing where you want to go and making sure that all the decisions you make and steps you take are in honour of that overarching career goal.
With the right mindset and a purpose-driven but still adaptable approach to your career planning, you can make sure your time as an educator is spent not only empowering others, but also honouring your own impact and making sure your voice is heard in more and more spaces where it’s needed.