Teaching can be a very fulfilling career path– you impart knowledge and values to young minds and leave a positive legacy. 

Different states may have different requirements regarding licensing and education level for becoming a teacher. 

The country has been experiencing a teacher shortage since the pandemic, making this the best profession to join. 

The state of Virginia has 87,166 teachers in the public schools. However, the state continues to experience a shortage of quality teachers.

In this guide, we’ll share the steps you can take to become a teacher in Virginia and offer tips to make your teaching career more rewarding. 

Beautiful teacher in the classroom

Is Teaching the Right Career for You?

Although teaching can be both exciting and satisfying, it can be challenging. To be a good teacher, you must concentrate, have good communication skills, and adequately master your subjects. 

Most teachers view their career as a vocation and not a job. Their job involves impacting the lives of young people daily. 

As a teacher, you influence young people by teaching them academic skills, guiding the development of their social skills, and realizing their personal goals. 

Teachers are very involved with their students, surrounding communities, and families. If you hope to join a profession that allows you to contribute to society and make a real difference, then teaching may be the right career. 

Teaching jobs are often very stable, and you can expect to enjoy long vacations. Money shouldn’t, however, be one of the motivation factors. The compensation and benefits for teachers differ from state to state. For instance, the average annual salary for a teacher is $45,574 in Mississippi, while the same earns $74,120 in Virginia.

It’s good to ascertain whether teaching suits you before you pursue your teaching certification in Virginia. 

As a teacher, you’ll work with children in classrooms or other learning settings. These include public or private schools, charter or magnet schools, schools in foreign countries, or for non-English speakers in the US or abroad. 

State Requirements for Teaching In Virginia 

The journey to becoming a teacher varies significantly by state. Different states have different requirements for residents who wish to become teachers. The requirements are based on the current situation. For instance, a state experiencing a severe teacher shortage might have fewer requirements than the rest. 

To teach in Virginia, you must have attained a bachelor’s degree, completed a teacher preparation and certification program, and passed all tests to acquire a teaching license. 

Teaching requirements will also differ depending on the level and the subject you want to teach. For instance, to teach at the kindergarten and elementary school level, you need multiple subject credentials to cover all the subjects in a given classroom. You also require an endorsement for elementary education, such as Pre-K-3 or Pre-K-6. You should also have completed nine semester hours of graduate-level coursework in early childhood education. 

To become a high school teacher in Virginia, you must be qualified and certified to teach in one or two subject areas. If your passion lies with special needs children, you need the education credentials to work with children with mild to moderate disabilities or those with moderate to severe special needs.

Here are the requirements you need to become a teacher in Virginia:

1. Bachelor’s Degree

All states in the U.S. require certified teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree. Virginia requires its teachers to possess a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited program to be licensed to teach in the state. A bachelor’s degree in an education-related program, such as a BA in education or early childhood education, is most suitable since their coursework comprises everything you will require to earn your teaching license. 

The key learnings in your education degree program that make you qualified for a teaching job include: 

  • Child and adolescent growth and development: This knowledge helps you gain an understanding of children’s development in physical, social, and emotional perspectives from birth to adolescence. 
  • Educational policy and management: This knowledge will prepare you for management and administrative roles within the education sector. 
  • Special education and diverse abilities programs: These help you recognize societal and social limitations within your learners and help them overcome them. You also learn how to offer individualized attention to all your learners based on their varied abilities. 
  • Holistic health and wellness:  In this learning, you understand how to inspire various aspects of well-being for your learners, including their mental, physical, emotional, and social perspectives. 
  • Literacy:  Understanding literacy helps you understand the significance of communicating clearly and effectively to your learners. Growing the literacy levels of your learners helps them seek out information and be engaged in their educational process, improving their learning outcomes.  
  • Record keeping and management: Accurate records of learner performance are significant in monitoring your learner’s behavior and academic performance. It also helps identify areas where your learners need additional intervention. 
  • Interpersonal Communication and Individual Development: You require excellent interpersonal skills to help you build rapport with your students, which encourages interactive learning. It will also help you establish meaningful connections with your colleagues and parents. 

Some of the bachelor’s degree programs in education that enable you to get licensed to teach in Virginia include:

  • Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood
  • Bachelor in Early Years Education
  • Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies
  • Bachelor of Education Honours degrees
  • Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education
  • BA Education, Culture, and Society
  • BS. in Education
  • BSc. in Cognitive Science

2. Complete an Accredited Teacher Preparation Program

To be licensed as a teacher in Virginia, you must complete an accredited educator preparation program within Virginia or elsewhere. The Virginia Department of Education lists universities and colleges offering approved teacher preparation programs. There is, however, no minimum GPA to become a teacher in Virginia, provided you have completed the program. 

Teacher preparation programs are vital in empowering you to enhance your teaching effectiveness and to help you positively impact student learning outcomes. In addition, they provide practical insights into various aspects of teaching, such as selecting appropriate instructional methods, strategies, and assessment techniques. 

In addition, you will also have to complete basic safety and sensitivity training in mandatory short modules. 

3. Gain Student Teaching Experience

You need to gain classroom experience by teaching as a supervised teacher.  You work side-by-side with a classroom teacher to enhance your skills, learn from a mentor, and practice being a teacher before owning your position. The duration of supervised teaching varies depending on the educational program you are enrolled in, lasting around 3 to 4 months. 

An education degree program will most likely allow you to acquire student teaching experience as part of the degree course, with an opportunity to specialize in a subject area and grade level. 

4. Pass a Background Check

A teacher background check provides information about a candidate’s eligibility and qualifications for a teaching position. Background checks may include searching public records and databases to learn about a candidate’s employment history, criminal history, educational background, and professional and driving licenses.

In Virginia, prospective teacher candidates must produce a valid teaching license and are asked to self-identify any past criminal convictions. Misdemeanor charges are addressed on a case-by-case basis, while felony convictions immediately deem the candidate unsuitable for hire as a teacher. Candidates are also scrutinized for any offenses against children, such as child abuse or neglect. 

 5. Get Certified

Different states have different certification processes and licensure examinations for teachers. 

In Virginia, you will need to:

  • Complete the Virginia Licensure Assessment, which has two parts:

i)The Virginia Communications Literacy Assessment (VCLA) -This includes basic academic skills tests. 

ii)The Praxis Subject Assessment- The test measures your skills in the subject you want to teach.

  • Fill out an application for your license. You can download it from the Virginia Department of Education website. The application fee is $100 when applying in-state and $150 when applying out-of-state. 
  • Provide official transcripts and scores from your assessment tests. You must also have certified evidence of completing the mandatory training modules. 
  • Once all these are checked and approved, your license should be out in eight to ten weeks.

6. Consider Getting a Master’s Degree

Many states require teachers to hold a master’s degree or receive one within the first five years of service. In these states, a master’s degree ensures that you keep your certification or allows you to be fully and professionally certified. Also, a master’s degree gives you a competitive advantage over other candidates applying for the same job. 

You can opt for a degree in education and teaching with specializations such as instruction, special education, or curriculum. You can also consider a master’s degree in counseling or administration if you are interested in administrative positions.

Alternative Route To Teaching In Virginia

Besides the traditional pathway to teaching explained above, you can also take an alternative path to the classroom. This means you can enroll in an alternative licensure program with a bachelor’s degree in a subject other than education. 

Teachers of Tomorrow is a leading alternative certification program that guides individuals with bachelor’s degrees in fields other than education to become certified teachers. 

Although alternative certification programs for teaching vary in length, they are designed to be shorter than traditional teacher education programs. You can expect to be done within one to two years. Some also offer you the flexibility of wrapping up in just a few months. 

When applying to an alternative route to teacher certification, you will be required to produce your formal transcripts from your undergraduate program.

The alternative pathway to teaching is suitable for mid-career professionals and recent graduates who did not major in educational courses in their undergraduate but would like to continue their education. 

This program seeks to address teacher shortage while tapping into the real-world experiences and expertise of mid-career professionals in enhancing learners’ learning experiences. 

Getting Hired as a Teacher

With your certification secured, it is time to find a teaching position. The most relevant criteria to getting you hired include education, certification, and in-classroom experience. To get hired as a new teacher, you need to is focus on your experience. 

Here are several things you have to remember when applying to different teaching positions:

Polish Your CV

To write a good CV, you need to adjust it to each job ad. Ensure you highlight any relevant degrees and certifications that you hold. Include any workshops, special courses, and academic conferences you attended. Your CV should also show all your relevant teaching and work experience. 

Also, if you held multiple teaching roles, include the responsibilities under each role. Remember to check what most schools in the state require from their teachers to guide you in creating a winning CV. 

Upgrade Your Skillset

One fundamental way to increase your chances of getting hired is to ensure your skillset is fresh, current, and continually upgraded. 

Some of the most relevant teaching skills to increase your chances of hiring include:

  • Critical thinking: This skill shows you can consider your learner’s best interests while ensuring compliance with the institution’s goals and standards. You also understand how to find ways to keep your classroom engaged with the course content. 
  • Patience: Your classroom represents diverse cultural backgrounds, intellectual abilities, and learning styles. Your prospective employer will appreciate your patience with these learners, and you will be in a better position to get hired. Patience helps you balance your expectations and diverse learner abilities. 
  • Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills allow you to clearly communicate your lesson content and expectations to your learners. Clear written communication with the administration, colleagues, and parents is also required. 
  • Organization: You will probably have 30 or more learners in your classroom. Indicating to the hiring team that you can successfully manage the teaching and learning materials and have a well-organized classroom will increase your suitability as a candidate. 

Begin Your Job Search

You should start searching for the districts you are interested in by phone or email and check if they are hiring. Even when the districts are not hiring, send your resume if something arises. 

You can also send your resume to schools you are interested in teaching even if they are not hiring at the moment, they might reach out when hiring in the future. 

You can find teaching positions in Virginia by checking with the Virginia Department of Education website and clicking on the job opportunities page. 

Also, to get job opportunities in public teaching schools in Virginia, use the Public School Divisions website, while for private school teaching jobs, use the Private School Careers website. 

Virginia’s Department of Education has also created a Virginia Educators Career Hub where school divisions post job opportunities. 

Join a Professional Organization and Network

Networking is essential to growing in all careers, including teaching. Professional organizations present lots of opportunities to network– especially if you are a new or prospective teacher. 

For instance, if you are a recent graduate, joining associate teacher unions such as the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers will help you access job search resources and other benefits. 

Some other organizations for teachers that you may join in Virginia include:

Professional networks allow you to mingle with and learn from experienced educators. These interactions can result in valuable collaborations, discoveries, and links to teaching opportunities. 

Professional organizations also give you access to research with educators in your field or even diverse subject areas, enhancing your professional growth. 

Ace Your Job Interview

You must pass an interview to get hired as a new teacher. Although you lack advanced classroom experience, the key to getting hired is focusing on the classroom experience gained from your student teaching program. 

Here are various ways you can prepare for your teaching role interview in Virginia:

  1. Prepare ahead of time: You can practice with a friend by asking each other the questions you will most likely be asked. Also, research to better understand the position you are applying for. This will give you an understanding of what your prospective employer is seeking, and you can tailor your resume to match the requirements. 
  2. Review and record your most memorable classroom experiences: Be prepared to share your classroom experiences, including student teaching, volunteer work, or substitute teacher experiences. 
  3. Organize your educational portfolio: This helpful tool showcases your education and professional talents. You should include physical evidence demonstrating your academic skills and creativity.  Include letters of recommendation from your supervising teacher and university instructors in your portfolio. Also, include your lesson plans and maybe a lesson about how you are teaching a lesson. You may be required to teach a real lesson to students or a panel of peers as administrators observe. For this, you must come prepared. 
  4. Ask for clarifications and thank the interviewing panel for their time: You can prepare two to four post-interview questions to ask your interviewer. This is a great way to show that you are interested in the job and seek a further understanding of any critical information the interviewers may not cover. For instance, you can ask about the institution’s values, engagement schedule, compensation, or specific teacher roles. Remember to send a thank-you email or letter. 

Career Outlook & Salary in Virginia

As job opportunities in Virginia continue to expand, overall employment is projected to grow 10.1 percent by 2026. The demand for teachers has been increasing, with preschool teachers projected to grow 3 percent from 2020 to 2032. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that the teaching profession would experience more demand for teachers of foreign languages, physics, chemistry, and mathematics, especially in rural and lower-income urban communities. 

The Virginia General Assembly proposed that the State increases teacher’s salaries by 3% for the 2025-26 school year and an extra 7% for the 2026-27 school year. The State of Virginia also offers scholarship support to students interested in pursuing a teaching career in one of the top ten critical shortage areas. 

Virginia State also offers the Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program to teachers who have taught full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years in some elementary and secondary schools serving low-income families. 

Salary Grade

Become a Teacher In Virginia

Virginia State is a great place for teachers. The State rewards its teachers with up to fifteen weeks of vacation per calendar year, outstanding benefits, and 401K programs. As members of the Virginia Retirement System, you are eligible for full retirement benefits at age 65, provided you have worked for a minimum of five years. 

Also, you can receive reduced benefits at any age if you retire at 60 with a minimum of five years of service. 

Teaching is a gratifying career, which not only unfolds a path of imparting knowledge to young minds but also allows you to sculpt the future by nurturing their minds.

 As you work towards meeting the requirements, remember that your influence as a teacher will ripple through generations, leaving a legacy that will transcend beyond the classroom into a realm of endless possibilities.   

Teachers of Tomorrow, the national leader in alternative certification, will help you realize your dream of becoming a teacher in no time.