The International Schools Review Forum

I have a Canadian non-specific K-12 teaching certificate. My first degree is in the area of geography/economics. I am an elementary grade 7 generalist. I would like to move into a middle school, ideally to teach science and social studies, but I see that the pairings are generally science/math or socials/language arts. Given that, I would choose math and science.

I don't have a major/minor in either, but teach both as a generalist. At the elementary level, this hasn't been a problem, however, it seems to be of more concern to middle schools, looking for specialists.

Is it possible to get certified as a middle school science / math teacher by distance? I did look at science/math masters degree for teachers at Oregon State University.

A SS/math combination would be unusual. regardless of the case even if you were to find one, youd most likely find yourself teaching mostly math courses anyway. Math teachers are hard to come buy, and if a school has a math vacancy, they are most likely going to be assigning you all math courses anyway, as to do otherwise means they still have to find a math teacher to teach the rest of the load youd be assigned to SS for. Thats not an attractive position for a school.

In the majority of ISs teachers in a department outside primary have to be qualified and competent to teach all secondary, this is especially true in IB schools where "middle school" (the MYP program) is grades 6-10. This means you would need a HS level credential, as most states either have an all level credential, and all secondary, or split secondary up between lower and upper secondary. I know of know state that would have a 6-10 certificate and a 11-12 certificate.

Can you do that?

There is some demand for middle school and all level generalists, though its pretty small. Without a degree or any background, and lack of upper secondary teaching experience, being certified alone isnt going to be a very impressive application. What would you offer a school over all the other candidates?

Its not really possible to get certified online. You could take coursework online and many programs over online certification programs, but at some point your going to have to show up somewhere to take a certification exam. Your already a certified teacher, so you dont really need a program or a masters degree. What you need is a state that will accept your current credential (giving you a teaching certificate in that state) and then take the certification exams for math and science and allow you to add that certification to your certificate. I would contact the various states department of education. To start you off District of Columbia, California, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and Washington are good starting points. It depends what your looking for in a certification? Washington and Colorado dont count time your not teaching in their state, so you effectively have no expiration. California doesnt require PD to renew a certificate. In addition youd like a state that uses the PRAXIS exams for its certification test, as you can take those anywhere (saving you the trouble of having to travel to the state to take the exams).

Hmm, food for thought. Where I come from, some school districts have middle schools (grades 6-8), some run elementary to grade 7 and then straight into high school. I have already taught grades 6 and 7 as a generalist, I'm just missing grade 8. But it seems if those grades fall into a middle school, then I probably wouldn't be considered, however, if those grades fell into an elementary school, then I would.

There are exceptions of course. In ISs, the school is divided into primary and secondary, and in some cases secondary is further divided into lower secondary and upper secondary. In IB schools they are almost always divided into PYP, MYP, and DIP.
The issue though is that no IS is going to hire solely for a math (or math/science) secondary teacher for only 6th and 7th grade. Even if 6th and 7th was the vacant posting that they were looking to fill, to be flexible in the future they would prioritize candidates who were qualified for all level secondary. Hiring a teacher I can only use in 6th and 7th grade is too much of a potential handicap. There is no return or benefit in hiring a teacher with such a limit/restriction.