Have you lost your job, or is it in trouble?  Do you think you want to teach instead?  You might want to think harder.  More and more people are interested in going into teaching as a “fallback” career, at a time when even teaching jobs are harder to get because of job cuts and decreasing mobility  My article in today’s paper explores this topic by giving you a glimpse inside the office of Kelli Best-Oliver, the coordinator for the Advising and Teaching Certification program at UMSL.  All day long, she takes inquiries from people who already have degrees who want to go into teaching.  Earlier this fall, she would get about five inquiries a day.  Now, it’s something like 15 to 20.

The phone didn’t stop ringing the afternoon I spent in her office, and as soon as she finished answering one e-mail, more would pop up.

There’s advantages to having real-life experience in another field, educators tell me, and these post-degree career-changers could be an asset to schools.   But unless you’re certified to teach the hard-to-fill areas like special education, foreign language, science, math, and English as a second language, you’ve got lots of competition for those elementary and high school English and Social Studies teaching jobs.

If you’re interested in teaching and want to know more about UMSL’s programs, visit their website for prospective teachers.  Lindenwood, Maryville, Fontbonne, Missouri Baptist, Webster, and other local universities offer programs, too.