It is easy to fall in love with working in the sciences, especially if you have been passionate about the subject from youth. Chemistry is one area that captivates many from a young age. What could be more interesting than mixing different substances and and elements and seeing how they react with one another?
"The lab is not a place for magic, but for methodical inquiry and the thrill of discovery."
Marie Curie
Chemistry graduates can choose from a broad range of careers, from pharmacy to research or government positions. One of the most popular and rewarding career pathways students take is in education. There are fewer jobs more rewarding than being an educator to young people.
The pathway to becoming an educator is not always clear, especially with so many educator jobs out there. How do you become an educator in a science centre? How do you find a position teaching chemistry in high school?
We will answer these questions and more throughout this blog post. Let’s learn all about what you need to do to become a chemistry teacher in Canada.
Chemistry knowledge is essential for fields that include engineering, medicine, manufacturing, and government. Learn more about becoming a chemistry educator or tutor!
What are the Steps to Become a Chemistry Teacher in Canada?
Step 1: Get the Right Secondary Credits
Believe it or not, your pathway toward teaching starts in secondary school. Because a bachelor of science degree is prerequisite for getting most educator jobs, you will need to get into a chemistry program in a university.
To get into a university chemistry program, you will typically need to have academic level chemistry, English, and mathematics credits. Check prospective university websites to see exactly which courses need to be on your transcript when you apply.
Step 2: Earn a Bachelor of Science Degree
Once you successfully apply to a university, you will need to earn a bachelor of science degree. Your degree should be comprised of a mix of chemistry courses, other science courses that are of interest to you, and mandatory electives.
To ensure that you get the very best entry level salary, consider doing a 4-year honours degree. With a 4-year degree, you will also be eligible to apply for graduate school if that is a future goal.
So what kinds of careers are available for science educators? Learn more about what experiences you need to prepare for a role as a chemistry teacher.
Step 3: Gather Volunteer Teaching Experience
As you earn your undergraduate degree, you’ll want to get ahead by volunteering in a local secondary or elementary school. Having volunteer experience will strengthen your application to a teacher’s college, as the admissions team will be looking to see that you are committed to becoming a teacher.
Volunteering is also a great way to learn about the job and find mentors who can guide you as you become a teacher yourself!
Step 4: Earn a Bachelor of Education or a Graduate Degree
Once you have graduated with a chemistry degree, you may apply for your teaching degree. In most provinces like Ontario, teacher training is carried out through a Faculty of Education. Since chemistry is the area you want to teach, you will want to gain your qualifications to teach in a high school or secondary school, where chemistry is taught as a standalone subject.
If you prefer to teach younger students, you will teach chemistry as part of a broader science program.
In teacher's college, you will use your foundation of learning in chemistry in a different way, learning the pedagogical practices that are useful for teaching chemistry to a class. As a teacher candidate, you will also have the opportunity to practice teach in a local public school.
There are lots of career options in the sciences, such as being a doctor, pharmacist, nurse, scientist, or researcher, or teacher. Is chemistry teaching the right option for you?
Why earn a Graduate School Degree?
If your goal is to become a professor in a college or university, you should continue on to graduate school. In graduate school, you can earn a Masters degree and a Doctorate, which will prepare you to teach in a college or university.
Completing graduate school to the PhD level takes years of work, research, and the preparation of a dissertation. You can, of course, choose to earn a teaching degree to work in a school whether or not you complete a graduate degree.
When considering this option, remember that you will not just be teaching, but working as an active contributor to the body of chemistry knowledge in your field. You will also need to complete a doctorate degree in chemistry which can take years.
Unlike a secondary teacher, you will likely be teaching undergraduate students who are engaged and passionate about chemistry and the sciences. With advanced students, you will find teaching highly rewarding, and you may even find yourself supporting the growth of other future great researchers and chemists!
Step 5: Get a Teaching License or Certification from your Province
Once you earn your bachelor of education degree, you can apply for teaching licensure or certification in your province. Every province has a regulatory body where teachers must apply to in order to have the appropriate certification.
Here is a list of the regulatory bodies for teachers in each province:
Step 6: Apply for Teaching Jobs
With a teaching license in hand, you can start applying for positions in the province you want to work in. School boards may recruit teachers through their own sites, or through teacher recruitment websites like Apply to Teach.
Those that plan to work in a college or university may find that the recruitment process is quite different. Be sure to connect with staff in your university that can help guide you through the process of finding work as tenured faculty or a sessional instructor.
Step 7: Take Additional Qualifications and Gain Practical Experience
You may find that initially you get hired for a supply teacher role or a long term occasional teaching role. For many teachers, careers start with shorter term positions, largely when there are hiring freezes or fewer jobs than teacher candidates.
Use every opportunity you have to build relationships with administrators and fellow staff. If possible, take additional teaching qualifications courses so you can apply for other jobs in addition to chemistry. As a teacher, you will want to have other subjects besides chemistry to teach so that you may fill a variety of roles.
Though chemistry and science majors go on to work in laboratories or as scientists, the reality is that many of these students also choose to pursue a career as a chemistry educator.
Are there Chemistry Educator Jobs Outside of Schools?
In addition to teaching at a school, you can also find other venues to teach chemistry lessons, such as your local science centre, library, or a private education company. There are many companies that lead special events at schools or in classes for a fee, or specialty schools where the focus is exclusively on teaching chemistry or science as an extracurricular activity.
Your city may also have a science centre: check their job board to see if they are hiring instructors for classes or field trips.
How do You Plan a Chemistry Lesson?
Planning lessons in chemistry differ a lot from planning in other subjects because chemistry involves a lot of equipment and tools. Initially, you will want to set a foundation for your class or students that promotes safety. This means explicitly teaching:
- Lab safety and protocols
- Where tools are kept and who can access them
- How to use potentially dangerous tools and chemicals
- Writing lab reports
- What to do in case of emergency
- appropriate levels of noise
- expectations for behaviour in the lab
It is a good idea to vary how you share and present content, using a mix of media, group work, reading, and traditional lecture formats. You will also need to spend time setting up the lab for times experiments are involved. Appointing a group of responsible students to help with the set-up may be useful for you.
Is it Worthwhile to Become a Chemistry Tutor?
Chemistry tutoring is a great way to get into the field of chemistry teaching while you are still in your undergraduate years, though you can certainly continue tutoring once you have already entered the workforce or have completed your degree.
Chemistry tutors work with students, typically at the high school or secondary level, and help them to be successful in their chemistry and/or science classes. As a tutor, you will work with the specific needs of your learners to help them earn the best grades they can.
The benefits of tutoring for your educator career are endless. You will need experiences like these to see if you enjoy being an educator, and you can use the experience of tutoring as part of your teaching college application process. You can also enjoy the extra income that comes with tutoring!
While many chemistry students may imagine themselves working in a lab, they actually have many options to choose from. Learn more about chemistry educator careers.
Is it Possible to Work as a Chemistry Teacher or Tutor Online?
Online teaching or tutoring is an incredibly popular option for tutors who want a convenient work-from-home option and also access to students from a broader variety of locations. Online chemistry teachers will typically work for an online credit granting institution such as a school board, private school, or postsecondary school.
If you are interested in online tutoring, be sure to learn how to use online teaching platforms such as Google classroom or Microsoft Teams. You will need to keep your lessons creative, interesting, and adapted to the virtual teaching environment: for example, use as many virtual manipulatives as possible so you are not just speaking to students.
You may find virtual teaching to be extremely challenging - this is normal, but you will get used to it and learn your own best practices over time!
In Conclusion
Getting started as a chemistry teacher takes many steps starting from your time in high school. Understanding which courses and certifications you need to take will enable you to achieve your goals efficiently.
To land that first job, be sure to get as much experience as you can as an educator by volunteering or tutoring. It will all be worth it when you have your first class of student’s to plan for!
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