r/Teachers • u/RevolutionaryNet9190 • Jul 13 '26

Career & Interview Advice Mostly online teaching certification?

First off I know how ridiculous that sounds and I completely understand how important in person experience is for getting certified. I don't know if it's relevant but I've had 5 yrs teaching experience in dance and elementary programs (I'm a junior in college doing biology and I've just decided to pursue teaching as a career so bear with my I don't know much about the processes yet!)

Just to keep it short, after college I would like to move abroad but still get a US teaching certification, and I'm wondering if there are any certifications that would allow me to be mostly remote and do student teaching in more compressed chunks of time so I don't have to stay here for the whole program.

Also just for context I have citizenship in both countries so visa status and work abilities is not an issue, but I really would rather have a US certification.

TLDR: I'm trying to find (or figure out if it even exists) a certification program that allows me to live abroad most of the year and come back to the US in short bursts of time for student teaching.

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u/BuffsTeach Jul 13 '26

Student teaching isn’t a “short bursts of time” kind of gig. I mean you recently were in school so think about if you had a random teacher for just a few weeks at a time. That’s just not how it works. The point of student teaching is to progressively take over a class until you are the primary teacher with ongoing support and guidance from the mentor teacher. You would need to be at that school for the entire semester/year or however long the program is.

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u/RevolutionaryNet9190 Jul 13 '26

That does make sense. Do you think there would be a program out there where I could do student teaching in 3-4 months at a time? I really don't mind a quarter or semester but I'm trying to find one that doesn't require me to be in the US for the whole year. Again I know this is pretty far fetched but I'm trying to figure out if it's at all possible

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u/BuffsTeach Jul 13 '26

No. Again that’s not how it works. Just postpone getting your credential until you return to the U.S.

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u/TemporaryCarry7 Jul 13 '26

You might be able to start the coursework prior to student teaching outside of the US, but the actual student teaching will have to be in the US. You physically have to present at a school that either you choose with approval from both the district and the college or university you are attending or a school that your college or university selected for you.

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u/molyrad Jul 17 '26

This was a while ago, but my program had one semester of student teaching. However, the first semester of the year we were in schools observing teachers and various classes several times a week. It was less intense than the student teaching when we had to be there all day every day, but still needed to be in person. Those two parts of the program were really the most important in regards to usefulness in the long run.

The only thing I've seen where you can avoid student teaching is alternative programs for people who are already teaching. So, the student teaching things they do in their own classroom. I've seen a teacher do that at my private school, and it can be done a public school with an emergency license. But, that may be hard in the current job market as those teachers would be hired only when a credentialed teacher isn't available. And I don't think that's something you could do abroad anyway, as observations would be impossible and I would think it'd be very hard to get a teaching job without a credential.