What is a Student Teacher?

Any teacher that has a student teacher is relieved they have them. As a student teacher, you get to go through school again, but this time you get to help others with the assignment rather than actually complete the assignment yourself.

Most student teachers are learning to become teachers themselves and generally shadow a classroom in an elementary or secondary school. But don't limit yourself. While much more rare, there are student teachers that work at universities or colleges. So it comes down to whether you'd rather assist dependent or independent students.

Generally, your student teaching experience will only last a semester or two. So make sure you're writing down good notes! At the end of being a student teacher, you'll have the opportunity to take over the class on your own. From preparing the lesson to correcting homework, you'll be doing it all by yourself in no time.

What Does a Student Teacher Do

There are certain skills that many student teachers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, patience and physical stamina.

Learn more about what a Student Teacher does

How To Become a Student Teacher

If you're interested in becoming a student teacher, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 74.7% of student teachers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.6% of student teachers have master's degrees. Even though most student teachers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Top Student Teacher Jobs Near You

Student Teacher Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of lead teacher you might progress to a role such as assistant director eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title center director.

Student Teacher

Average Salary for a Student Teacher

Student Teachers in America make an average salary of $59,035 per year or $28 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $74,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $46,000 per year.
Average Student Teacher Salary
$59,035 Yearly
$28.38 hourly
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What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Student Teacher

There are several types of student teacher, including:

Teacher

Role:

A teacher isn't just someone you realize you look up to later in life. A teacher is someone who teaches important life lessons while making sure to include academic lessons along the way.

Typically, a teacher only works during school hours, which means they get to beat rush hour traffic. Although, it's not uncommon for teachers to spend their nights and weekends preparing lessons and grading papers. An added bonus of being a teacher is getting to enjoy summer vacation.

  • Average Salary: $47,989
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Special Education Teacher

Role:

Special education teachers offer academic and personal support for students with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities to help them overcome difficulties in their learning.

They facilitate lessons by working around or with the students' particular learning obstacles and preparing classes and learning activities. Sometimes working with students in the same classroom as a general education class, the top priority of a special education teacher is ensuring equal opportunities and respecting the dignity of the youngsters they assist.

The average annual salary of a special education teacher is $53,220. However, with significant experience on the job and a graduate degree in your pocket as well, your yearly income might reach as high as $98,000.

  • Average Salary: $54,290
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Math Teacher

Role:

Lots of people know that 1+1=2. You know why they know that? Because of math teachers. From kindergarten to senior year of high school, math teachers prepare important lessons for students to get them ready for the next phase in their life. Whether their dream career takes them to college or straight to work after receiving that diploma.

Math teachers work in schools with their students and generally work during school hours. But sometimes grading assignments and tests can make them work in the evenings and weekends. They also devote certain times to prepare lessons for each day. The best thing about being a math teacher is that there is no school during the summer, which means math teachers get a summer break as well.

  • Average Salary: $51,088
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Student Teacher Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active student teacher jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where student teachers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Student Teacher Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California2,248$56,408
2Illinois1,752$57,764
3Florida1,586$51,771
4New York1,509$71,125
5Maryland958$74,822
6Arizona953$37,604
7Massachusetts929$73,901
8Georgia885$52,656
9Virginia859$62,248
10Colorado798$44,102
11Indiana725$44,345
12Washington601$67,636
13Connecticut542$71,010
14Wisconsin434$48,815
15Iowa419$48,911
16Oklahoma369$42,320
17Kansas345$47,872
18Alabama293$51,195
19New Hampshire280$56,824
20Louisiana265$46,917
21Kentucky261$51,608
22Utah209$50,950
23Arkansas208$44,591
24Delaware147$54,147
25Idaho131$47,599
26Rhode Island114$67,344
27West Virginia72$49,839
28Vermont66$55,682
29Wyoming63$57,048
30Hawaii34$62,255
31South Dakota34$44,147
32Alaska19$67,296
33Pennsylvania0$59,896
34New Jersey0$64,596
35Oregon0$60,735
36Michigan0$56,441
37Texas0$55,664
38Ohio0$53,653
39Nebraska0$51,119
40Maine0$51,253
41Minnesota0$51,829
42North Dakota0$50,227
43New Mexico0$50,992
44Nevada0$50,409
45Tennessee0$47,987
46Mississippi0$45,756
47North Carolina0$46,427
48South Carolina0$46,365
49Montana0$44,914
50Missouri0$43,239

Student Teacher Education

Student Teacher Majors

Elementary Education
20.3 %
Education
11.9 %
Early Childhood Education
8.8 %

Student Teacher Degrees

Bachelors

74.7 %

Masters

13.6 %

Associate

7.7 %

Top Colleges for Student Teachers

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

4. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

5. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

6. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

7. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

8. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

9. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,740

Enrollment

5,567

10. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

In-State Tuition

$49,816

Enrollment

6,840

Top Skills For a Student Teacher

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.5% of student teachers listed classroom management on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and patience are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Student Teacher Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Student Teacher templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Student Teacher resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Student Teacher diversity

Student Teacher Gender Distribution

Female
Female
74%
Male
Male
26%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among student teachers, 73.6% of them are women, while 26.4% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among student teachers is White, which makes up 69.7% of all student teachers.

  • The most common foreign language among student teachers is Spanish at 52.5%.

Online Courses For Student Teacher That You May Like

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In the Music Education for Teachers specialization, you will explore ways of integrating popular music into your teaching. You'll begin by learning from two highly experienced teachers, Krystal Banfield, the Vice President of Educational Outreach for Berklee College of Music, and David Alexis a Berklee Professor and long-time instructor for the Berklee City Music Program. They will take you through their process of incorporating popular music, improvisation, arranging, and music technology into...

2. The Teacher and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

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Social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs have flourished in schools during the last decade. These programs vary widely but most share a concern for five individual, student competencies: self awareness; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; and finally responsible decision making. It is important for teachers and parents to know about and understand these programs. While lots of SEL programs emphasize K-12 student social and emotional learning, only a very few programs...

3. Educational Psychology & Special Education (Certificate)

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Informational content for educators and parents to learn about teaching and understanding exceptional children...

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Best States For a Student Teacher

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a student teacher. The best states for people in this position are Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. Student teachers make the most in Maryland with an average salary of $74,822. Whereas in Massachusetts and New York, they would average $73,901 and $71,125, respectively. While student teachers would only make an average of $71,010 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Maryland

Total Student Teacher Jobs: 958
Highest 10% Earn:
$101,000
Location Quotient:
2.36

$74,822

Avg. Salary

View 958 Student Teacher Jobs In MD

2. Connecticut

Total Student Teacher Jobs: 542
Highest 10% Earn:
$95,000
Location Quotient:
2.55

$71,010

Avg. Salary

View 542 Student Teacher Jobs In CT

3. Massachusetts

Total Student Teacher Jobs: 929
Highest 10% Earn:
$99,000
Location Quotient:
1.58

$73,901

Avg. Salary

View 929 Student Teacher Jobs In MA
Full List Of Best States For Student Teachers

How Do Student Teachers Rate Their Jobs?

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Work/Life balance
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Top Student Teacher Employers

Most Common Employers For Student Teacher

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1ESL Federal Credit Union$64,615$31.0637
2Bilingual Therapies$64,612$31.0641
3Chicago Public Schools$62,514$30.0541
4Los Angeles Unified School District$61,079$29.3633
5City of New York$60,306$28.9958
6The Philadelphia School$59,027$28.3830
7Grand Canyon University$57,368$27.5827
8Nyc Parks$56,795$27.31228
9Monroe County Community School$55,439$26.6528
10Pike Twnshp Schools$53,540$25.7427
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Student Teacher Videos

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High School Science Teacher, Career Video from drkit.org
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Becoming a Student Teacher FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become A Student Teacher?

It takes 2 years of professional experience to become a student teacher. That is the time it takes to learn specific student teacher skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 5 to 7 years years to become a student teacher.

Have more questions? See all answers to common education, training, and library questions.

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Updated April 6, 2023