Where will I work in my educational leadership career?

Educational leadership careers most often include high-level administrative positions, such as school or district supervisors, and serving as a principal in an elementary, middle or high school. Principals coordinate and interact with faculty, parents, students, community members and state and local policymakers. They are held accountable for having their schools meet state and federal guidelines, manage budgets and finances and advocate on behalf of the school to ensure necessary financial support from the government.

Educational leadership careers can also include school and career counseling in elementary and high schools, colleges, universities and junior colleges. School counselors work in both private and public schools. Most often they have privates offices so they can have confidential conversations with students. Their duties often include helping students understand and overcome social or behavioral problems through individual or group counseling. They also work with students to develop skills such as organization, time management and effective study habits.

You can also decide to teach with a higher educational degree, and many students who receive graduate-level educational leadership certification often return to teaching. Teachers can work in public or private schools. In addition to a bachelors or masters degree, they must have a state-issued certification or license. Although telecommuting is not possible for educational administrative or counseling positions, you can teach high school courses as a distance learning educator.

How long does it take to find a job in educational leadership?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers in educational leadership are expected to rise overall. For principals of elementary, middle and high schools, the job outlook is expected to increase by 10% between 2010 and 2020.The rate of employment growth, however, varies by region.

The job growth of school and career counselors is predicted to grow by 19% between 2010 and 2020. For high school teachers, employment is expected to grow by 7% in the same period, meaning the national student-to-teacher ratio should decline. At the same time, the number of high school students is expected to increase, requiring schools to hire more teachers.

Educators who graduate from educational leadership online programs are just as likely to be hired for these positions as educators who graduate from traditional programs. This is especially true for individuals who receive their degrees from traditional universities that offer online or hybrid graduate programs. For the diplomas awarded in these programs, no distinctions are made between online and on-campus degrees, meaning that all students receive the same graduate degree.

How have educational leadership careers changed over the years?

Although job prospects for careers in educational leadership are expected to grow in the next 8 years and student populations are expected to rise at all levels, school and district budgets for public elementary, middle and high schools are expected to become tighter. This means that principals, who are held accountable for their schools’ budgets and finances, will have to deftly deal with possible budget cuts as best as possible so that there is minimal impact on their ability to serve students.

Moreover, as teachers’ unions have become stronger in the past 2 decades, effective principals have learned to share some decision making power with teachers, especially when it comes to critical issues regarding budgets and salaries.

In the 1970s and 1980s, declining enrollments and staff reductions lowered the number of school counselors, as well as other jobs in educational leadership. However, beginning in the 1990s, educational goals and objectives began to focus more on individual student achievements and well-being. This raised the need of school counselors in elementary, middle and high schools. The present model, then, emphasizes development and organizational planning, replacing the view of counseling as “counselor-clinical-services” providers.

What are the top employers for educational leadership jobs?

For jobs in educational leadership, 1 of the top employers is the New York City Department of Education, the largest city educational department in the country. Popular institutions that hire individuals with graduate degrees in educational leadership include K-12 schools, school districts, colleges, universities and churches. Other educational leadership positions include educational coordinators, managing positions with educational services programs, educational researchers and educational diagnosticians.

Due to the overall rise of competitive and prestigious online graduate programs in educational leadership offered by traditional universities such as Pennsylvania State University and University of Cincinnati, more employers now view online degrees as on par with degrees awarded by traditional programs.

Lastly, an analysis completed by the U.S. Department of Education has shown that online learning actually outpaces class-based learning. Based on the growth of distance learning and online programs, as well as an accumulation of studies on the success of online learning, it is unlikely that employers will make strong distinctions between online and on-campus degrees offered by traditional brick-and-mortar universities.