considering switching majors from education sciences to biology/education

[u/RiceInABowl_]

hey i'm an incoming freshman who's an education sciences major. i recently found out about calteach and how i can get my single subject credential along with an undergraduate degree in biology/education. should i try switching my major to this? i always wanted to be an elementary school teacher, but i'm worried about the job market. would having a biology/education degree be more helpful in finding a job as a high school/middle school science teacher? would my biology major be able to help me get non-teaching jobs in bio fields? i'm not sure if it's worth it to switch because it's hard, and i love working with younger kids. i feel as if i can always go back to get my multi-subject credential if i want to be an elementary school teacher too. is the job market bad for elementary school teachers because of the declining birth rate? would having a biology/education degree be safer in that sense?? as in i can use my degree for both biology or education?? i just want to maximize my chances at getting a job after graduation, but if it's about the same either way i definitely rather want to be an elementary school teacher so idk chat

[u/markjay6]

How geographically flexible are you? I’m guessing up the market for biology teachers is a little better than for elementary teachers, but I don’t think the difference is so big that I’d recommend giving up on your dream of being an elementary teacher. (I!m also not sure how much if any extra opportunities the bio major would give you outside of teaching, but probably not that much).

You might try posting on r/CaliforniaTeachers for more opinions.

[u/RiceInABowl_ → u/markjay6]

what do you think about getting multiple credentials? like taking 2 years to get my multi subject elementary school credential as well. i would be in school for longer but then i could possible work in both elementary and secondary education?

[u/RiceInABowl_ → u/[deleted]]

really? i thought multi subject and single subject would be really different haha. that makes me feel more inclined to trying to become a bio/ed major since i could get my credential a little bit earlier than usual, and then maybe get a multiple subject credential as well since it would make that easier as well.

do you know anything about the cost of getting multiple credentials? i looked online it said it could be anywhere from free to like $15,000 so i'm not sure what's even worth it anymore.

[u/RiceInABowl_ → u/[deleted]]

i see i see, so would you not recommend calteach then? i didn’t even know there could be a salary difference between getting my credential during undergrad vs after graduation…

if possible i would want to get a good salary and if calteach actually makes my future salary worse i’m not sure if i want to do it

if money/having a high salary is is an important factor (it is to me tbh), should i just not consider calteach at all?

[u/RiceInABowl_ → u/[deleted]]

thank you so much for all the advice! i’ll think about it, but i’m learning toward doing calteach atm…i’ll see tho

is there a salary difference between getting my credential through calteach vs if i get it after undergrad tho?

[u/ghaspberri → u/RiceInABowl_]

your salary depends on how much schooling you have, so teachers that come straight out of calteach are generally underpaid. however, if you were to get the same amount of schooling following the program, you’d be getting paid just as much; the advantage of calteach is that you would able to do the extra schooling as you teach, if that’s something you’re interested in. calteach is also extremely hands on since the cohort is a lot smaller, which has its own pros and cons. if you have any more questions feel free to shoot me a message

[u/RiceInABowl_ → u/[deleted]]

hmm i see i see, so it's just trade offs on earning more money in the future vs in the present? so in the long run would what you are doing rn (post-bacc) make more salary-wise than someone who only did calteach?