Ba Childhood Degree Early Education, Early Childhood Vs Elementary Ceritfication

Q: JUST LOOKING FOR OPINIONS... What do you percieve as the advantages/ disadvantages of pursuing an early childhood degree vs and elementary degree in terms of job market and job opportunities? I am a university student pursuing teacher ed, and looking for some fresh ideas on the subject.

A:the reason i ask the question, is bercase i think i may want to change age groups some day, and i am worried i will get stuck in ECE forever. I want to do graduate work in education, and i am afraid being in ece might limit my choices. R.., I'm not sure what the college you're going to offers, but many will allow you to do both at once. I currently hold an elementary certificate, but am now going back for my early childhood endorsement. Many schools would rather you have some early childhood training to teach those younger grades (and here in Nebraska up to 3rd grade is still considered EC also). I don't think it would hurt you any to be prepared, but I wouldn't limit myself to simply EC unless that's where you really want to be. If you are ever thinking of teaching the upper grades, get certified K-6. I think so. Someone with an Early Childhood credential is good for Public Preschools and such, but it's not a credential for Kindergarten on up. I didn't realize that it was different elsewhere, in which case my thought might not be good, depending upon where the poster was posting from. Good distinction to note. Here in NJ you can be certified in elementary and teach anything from 1 through 5 (maybe 6 in some districts with 6th in the elementary school), but most will end up in 2,3,4, or 5. They also have Kindergarten/Primary which gives certification in K, 1 and 2 (The two certifications overlap but a K/P teacher usually doesn't go higher than 2nd grade while rarely does the elementary

teacher have 1st grade). But, Early Childhood is certified for pre-school or can become certified in K but usually wouldn't be hired by a district to teach any grade higher than that. So, ECE teachers usually work in private pre-schools for very low salaries, unless they can get a job in a district for K, which is difficult, because most districts want someone who can move up to different grades if necessary. My advise? Get both certifications and do courses for both because maybe you would want to move to another state and you don't want to be stuck by lack of certification. (don't mean *stuck* in a sarcastic way, just as *bureaucratically stuck*).