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Adult Literacy Instructors

Instructors who teach adult literacy enable adults to pick up skills like speaking, reading, and writing English. They also provide instruction in subjects like mathematics. There are three types of instructors: adult basic education teachers, adult secondary education or GED teachers, and teachers of English to speakers of other languages (ESOL).

Schools and Degrees

Literacy teachers are required to possess a bachelor's degree, although those with master's degrees are preferred. Those who intend to work as ESOL instructors may obtain certificates or degrees in this field.

Job Requirements

Some states require professional instructors of literacy to obtain a specific license for adult education, if they wish to be employed in government-run programs. The license is usually granted to those who possess a bachelor's degree and have completed a teacher training program. Other states require these professionals to obtain a public school teacher license.

Instructors in adult literacy should be able to work with students from different cultural backgrounds. Since these educators often have to provide instruction to people whose native language is not English, they are often required to be familiar with second language acquisition theory.

Nature of Work

These adult teachers usually have to teach students who have not completed high school and will help those students achieve their career goals. Many of the students of adult education instructors are immigrants. Adult basic education teachers provide instruction in subjects like math, history, and science. ESOL instructors often help their students to develop conversational and writing skills in the context of real-life circumstances.

Teachers of adult students do not have the behavioral problems that teachers of younger students may see. However, they have cause to work with students with learning disabilities. Usually those adult students who take the time to enroll in classes are motivated to study and achieve because they wish to succeed. Since adult students are usually working during the day, classes are often scheduled during weekends and evenings.

Job Numbers and Growth

There are an estimated 76,000 adult literacy instructors nationally. Most recently, workers have experienced a low level of joblessness. An estimated 4% of employees did not have employment in 2008.

Area Job Conditions

Employees -of-a-feather seem to flock to Hickory (North Carolina), Olympia (Washington), and Fresno (California). They are less likely to be found around Albuquerque (New Mexico), Knoxville (Tennessee), and Las Vegas (Nevada).

Compensation of adult literacy instructors is best in Brockton (Massachusetts), Stockton (California), and Haverhill (Massachusetts), and much worse in Abilene (Texas), Lawton (Oklahoma), and Johnson City (Tennessee).

Training and Education

Workers often find employers are looking for a bachelor's degree. Employees, in 54% of cases, have bachelor's degree or higher. After high school, 29% of adult literacy instructors pursued some additional career education. Workers, in 17% of cases, had only a high school education. Recommended schools are shown in the column to the right; request information from them to help you decide which if any could help you with this career.

Part-Time Work and Self-Employment

Adult literacy instructors employed part-time are 41% of the total.

Adult Literacy Instructors by Metropolitan Area (city and its surroundings)

In the table below, a Job Density near 0% means the area has an average number of people in this occupation, for its population. A higher or lower Job Density (e.g., +22% or -45%) tells you there are that many more or fewer workers of that type there than in the average US metro area. So, the higher the number, the more common the occupation.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin