The many kinds of opportunities to teach English require different kinds of preparation, ranging from those that would already be available to you as a UVa undergraduate to those that require advanced degrees. This page is meant to help you to think about your options for K-12 teaching, teaching abroad, volunteer work, and college teaching.
Teaching English in K-12
The UVa English Department is deeply committed to the aspirations and preparation of future high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers of English. The reading and writing abilities of future generations depend on the work of such teachers, and teachers carry on the life of literature in vital ways so the service is of immense importance. And a career in teaching may be the best way to sustain some of the experiences and skills that students love best in their English courses and majors. The English Department’s designated advisor for future teachers of English is Victor Luftig, who has taught high school teachers of English for many years and who co-directs a center that provides programs for K-12 teachers in many subjects (including programs for English teachers to which many UVa English faculty have contributed). But any member of the English faculty can advise you on thinking about your English studies in relation to future teaching. The UVA Career Center provides guidance to English majors and can advise you about a full range of opportunities: Kate Melton (skm3f) advises students interested in the Creative Arts, Media & Design fields, and Michelle Ball (mds4db) leads the Education, Counseling & Youth Development Community there.
Any version of the UVa English major constitutes valuable training towards future teaching, but whether it is a sufficient credential depends upon what kind of teaching you want to do and where.
Some programs like those offered by UVA’s School of Education and Human Development provide not just training but the certification required for public school teaching; while you would not enroll in their post-graduate Master of Teaching program until after you have completed your undergraduate degree, you can—and should, if you are confident that you want to become an English teacher in a public school—select your undergraduate courses with the program in mind, and if you are a UVA undergraduate you may be admitted to the program in your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year. (See Admissions Requirements at https://education.virginia.edu/academics/programs/english-education-mt-master-teaching and opportunities for UVA undergrads at https://education.virginia.edu/admission/graduate-admission/information-current-uva-undergraduates.) If you sign up at https://education.virginia.edu/academics/programs/english-education-mt-master-teaching you can receive all the information you need and regular updates towards ensuring that you undertake the right undergraduate preparation for that program. UVa graduates can also consider many other post-graduate teacher training programs in Virginia and nationwide. (Increasingly these rely on a structure similar to UVA’s, so following our educational school’s pre-enrollment procedures should assist you with those other programs as well.)
Virginia and many other states also allow for alternative licensure processes according to which one may be able to obtain required certification after one begins teaching, but these tend to be limited to opportunities in subject areas and/or geographical areas where there are severe teacher shortages. A number of programs, including Teach for America and New York City Teaching Fellows, recruit those with undergraduate degrees, provide some level of additional training, and place them for several years in teaching jobs in high-need public schools.
Private school teaching does not require the same licensure as public school teaching: private schools are generally free to determine their own hiring criteria. This means that you may be able to secure a permanent private school teaching job in English with just your undergraduate degree. A Master’s in English such as that available at UVA may also be especially desirable. The English Department’s BA/MA program is one such route for interested undergraduates, and another is the MA in English with a Concentration in Teaching Literature and Writing, a two-year program that provides specialized training in teaching, and, in the second year, teaching opportunities and financial aid. One of the many agencies for connecting private schools with teaching candidates, the Southern Teachers Agency is located in Charlottesville and can advise you about opportunities, requirements, etc. There are a number of such services, including some that focus on teaching opportunities in disadvantaged regions.
Teaching Abroad
There are so many kinds of opportunities to teach English abroad that they are difficult to summarize. Most, though not all, focus on teaching English as a second language. One unique program available to UVa graduates is the UK Fellows Program, which offers teaching and coaching placements at boarding schools in the United Kingdom. (For information on that program contact Andrus Ashoo, aga3j@virginia.edu.) There are a host of other services and agencies that arrange foreign teaching placements. It is important to ask carefully about services, fees, training, safety, etc. when considering such programs.
Volunteering
UVa’s student volunteer organization, Madison House, offers tutoring programs in local schools, in a variety of subjects including English. There are local literacy programs in Charlottesville/Albemarle and nationwide. Many of these programs provide varying degrees of training, which can not only bring effectiveness to your efforts on behalf of those you seek to assist but can also serve as valuable preparation towards any of the opportunities listed above.
Teaching English at the College Level
Permanent four-year college teaching positions in the United States typically require a doctoral degree (a PhD), either already completed or nearly completed; the competition for positions teaching English in college can be brutal and dispiriting, as there are many more candidates with doctoral degrees than there are positions, and especially tenure-track positions. It may be possible to find some part-time or adjunct teaching work with only a Master’s degree, and teaching creative writing typically requires a Master’s of Fine Arts (from a creative writing program) rather than the doctorate. The UVa English Department’s PhD and MFA programs are two of the finest in the country and can give you a sense of what such programs require for admission and entail for completion. But because of the competitive job environment, completion of such a degree can in no way be thought of as guaranteeing a teaching position. When considering a career as a college professor of English, it is also important to recognize that most American colleges and universities, even four-year (state) ones, are not like UVa, and most foster very different kinds of careers from those of UVa professors; most college teaching positions entail much more teaching and much less research support than those of many of your UVA professors. Any member of the English Department faculty can advise you about these careers; a faculty member who knows your work well will be better equipped to talk to you about graduate programs you might consider applying to and your prospects of success.
Two-year college teaching positions require at least an undergraduate degree, almost always some graduate work, and sometimes a completed PhD. Though two-year teaching careers too vary, they generally focus mainly on teaching (though such faculty do often contribute important research). The Modern Language Association's Committee on Community Colleges tracks opportunities for teaching community college English. Major initiatives to make higher education more affordable and more efficient have focused on community colleges, and there may be more teaching opportunities at these schools in the years ahead. Two-year colleges do some of the most important teaching in the United States, and there have been many testimonials as to the desirability of teaching positions at these schools.