BEd vs MEd

[Teachermama]

I have a BSc. In Biology and then a 2 year post degree B Ed, which seemed to me to be identical coursework to the 2 year M Ed that my husband did. Do schools care what the label is or do they look at coursework/ years of schooling?

[Taylor]

My guess is that the MEd would be more impressive. Most schools will have separate salary columns for BA, BA+60, MA, MA+15, etc...

[Gipper]

There is a significant difference. Course work and credit hours no, but the respect given for the M.Ed is much greater. The M.Ed always sits further along the salary scale too. The B.Ed is not as universal, not as understood and thus gets short-changed, in my opinion. I'm not saying it's not respected, but definitely not to the extent of the M.Ed.

[Teachermama]

That's what I am finding, Gipper. I looked at doing an med recently and realized that's it was the same thing as I already had and can't bring myself to pay for it. At the time that I did it, you couldn't do an MEd unless you had first done a BEd and it was a research degree like a lot of other disciplines still are. Anyhow, thanks. I was just trying to see if my impressions were correct and unfortunately, they are.

[shadowjack]

Wow - it seems that the US system is quite different from Canada. A BEd is quite different from an MEd there. It surprises me that your B.Ed would be the same as your husband's MEd. Not doubting you, just surprised because they are very different in Canada.

[Teachermama]

Shadowjack. I got my B Ed in Canada, hubbie got his MEd in the US. Near as I can tell, they are the same thing with a different title.

[shadowjack]

Does hubby have a BEd or just a teacher cert? Just curious...

[Teachermama]

He has a B Sc and then got his cert sort of automatically from the state after he finished his M Ed. It transferred straight across for Alberta but we haven't checked anywhere else. I have had one school district in the US that credited me with the same educational status as he has (they do a transcript assessment) but everywhere else just looks at the letters.

[shadowjack]

Alberta is one of the few places in Canada that does that. In BC, where I trained, I was a cat 5 based on my BEd, but in Alberta I was cat 6 due to an additional degree I had in addition to my 5-year BEd (back when there was such a thing as a 5-year secondary BEd).

[jbiersteker]

Greetings!!

In Ontario, I am Cat. 3 based on a B.A. and my BEd. (5 years total). If I take my specialist, I move up to Cat. 4, but the specialist is not recognized anywhere but Ontario.

Thanks!!

[PsyGuy]

A masters (M.Ed) has more prestige attached to it, and will in the vast majority of cases get you paid more (how much varies). Its also a gateway qualification to any type of admin, even junior admin position. I know some HODs with on bachelors degrees, but the vast majority of admin have a Masters.

I cant say that a B.Ed from Canada is the same as a M.Ed from the US or anywhere else for that matter. Quality and differences in programs can differ a great deal. Depending on the intent of the Masters program it may very much be equivalent to a B.Ed program. In such cases these programs are designed for current professionals to enter the teaching profession.

One of the issues is that the B.Ed is vanishing in the US as a professional degree. the view being at least in secondary that teachers should be content experts first in their subject and receive their professional training secondary to their teaching subject. So teachers major in their teaching field and minor in education. The exception is primary where teachers major in education and minor in a support field, but even then the preference is a B.A. in education as opposed to a B.Ed.

[Teachermama]

Yes, the content for secondary idea is the same in BC. In order to apply to do a two year BEd, I had to first have an undergrad in a content area. In my case I have a BSc in Biology. It is a graduate degree in the sense that you need an undergrad to enter it, but it is called a BEd because it is your first degree in that field. An MEd in that system would be a much more academically rigorous degree requiring some sort of research. When I was studying, you had to have a BEd plus two years of teaching experience (plus a content area undergrad) to undertake and MEd. Very different from my husband's experience. I just wish there was some way to compare them all in a way that makes sense.

[PsyGuy]

Well there is actually, at least in Europe, its called the Bologna process. It divides all academic degrees into 1st cycle (Bachelors) 2nd cycle (Masters) and 3rd cycle (Doctorate), based on contact hours (called ECTS hours). Of course even then their are discrepancies, its a work in progress, but its getting pretty close. Of course thats not much help in the US, Canada or Australia.

[BookshelfAmy]

Teachermama, my husband and I both did teaching programs after our bachelor's in the States. It was... let's see... 18 credit hours plus a year-long internship. My internship was pretty intense, lots of observations and requirements from the university. Husband's was much easier. Your program was probably more than that, but anyway, we didn't get M.Eds or B.Eds, just "post-bacc. teacher qualifications." It's hardly worth anything as far as salary credits for education, nothing like my masters.

I agree, the differences between countries' qualifications are confusing and hard to compare. Even within the US, there are huge differences between different states and, in my state, between an "alternative" program and a "post-bacc" program.

[joethelion]

What is sad is that having a masters usually has little to do with being a better teacher. Possibly, at some higher level of IB or AP courses, someone with a Masters or PhD might have some content knowledge that is helpful.

But when we are talking a masters (or more) in Education? University departments of Education are staffed by mostly dull people and collectively dumb down American education.