MAT Degree Jobs
Graduates from a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program may emerge with any one of a number of employment options. The MAT has become a popular choice for working teachers who want to obtain a master’s degree for career reasons, and who may want to train for a specialization option. Most states require a separate credential for teachers who teach mathematics and science at both the middle school and high school level. And teachers in high school that are teaching social studies, history, mathematics, English, or any of the sciences need a credential for those academic disciplines as well.
Some students who have finished an undergraduate major in education with the goal of teaching will enroll in an MAT program as a fifth year option, obtaining a master’s degree in teaching and at the same time obtaining a credential in one of the teaching specialties where there remains an acute shortage of qualified professionals – those fields being principally mathematics and the sciences. Some schools actually offer a fifth year program that allows undergraduates to begin taking graduate level teaching courses prior to completing the baccalaureate. And some MAT graduates are individuals who hold a baccalaureate in a field unrelated to teaching, and who have completed an intensive one-year program in order to enter the teaching profession.
High School Jobs and Credentials
Every state has its own set of credentialing regulations, so the best that we can do is lay out a representative sample of the jobs on the market associated with the specializations offered in a MAT program and the state licenses that they match up with. Here is a fairly complete list of the high school teaching and middle school jobs in California that currently require specialized credentials. This list changes periodically as the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing makes changes to their requirements.
What is not included in this list and should be noted is the fact that an MAT with a multiple subject credential can qualify you for a position at the elementary school level– in most states and under most circumstances. This credential means you can teach many subjects in the same classroom. What new graduates with a general MAT may find, however, is that the state issues a provisional teaching credential for a trial period. In some states, two or three years’ successful teaching is required under the provisional license before a standard license is issued.
Job and Credential:
1. Foundational Mathematics
Allows you teach algebra, geometry, statistics and consumer math
2. Mathematics
Allows you to teach all mathematics through high school
3. Foundational General Science
Allows you to teach general science classes at the junior high or high school level
4. Science: Biological Sciences
Allows you to teach life science or biology in middle or high schools
5. Science: Chemistry
Allows you to teach chemistry or physical science in middle or high schools
6. Science: Geosciences
Allows you to teach geology and or earth science in middle and high schools
7. Science: Physics
Allows you to teach physics or physical science in middle or high schools
8. Biological Sciences (Specialized)
Allows you to teach in high school in a biology or AP biology class
9. Chemistry (Specialized)
Allows you to teach in high school in a chemistry or AP chemistry class
10. Geosciences (Specialized)
Allows you to teach in high school in a geology or earth science class
