“Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base an understanding of areas they teach.”
I only know one way to explain this standard. To become a teacher, you need what is called a “teachable subject” degree. This means that you chose to go to University for a minimum of four years to acquire a bachelor’s on one subject that relates to the education of K-12 students. These include and are not limited to mathematics, English, core sciences, humanities (and many other subjects), history, etc.
When I finished high school I had many options of study. I applied for sciences, international studies, linguistics, etc. I ended up choosing to do culinary arts at Thomson Rivers University, which was a college at the time. This was because I had worked in restaurants and catering since I was 16 years old. I used that career until 2024, let’s just say it has been a couple of decades now. I discovered my true passion was languages, so I moved to Prince George to study at UNBC in 2009 to learn Japanese and started a major in International Studies. My career as a manager of restaurants grew and I stopped education. However, in the meantime, I also went to school to continue my gymnastics and physical training education. I thought that would be my career forever eventually. A car accident made me change that again, and thus I started my Biomedical degree. I ended up finishing Japanese and most of my minor in International Studies and studying in Japan for a cultural exchange. I had the option of going into medicine but as I took a job as a teacher, I realized this was what I was meant to do and I had used my skills through the years to teach!
This was a lengthy way to take you through my education and sometimes it feels like that paragraph is, too much! But I would never regret any step of my journey. I have learned from life, academics, senior peers, etc. and I cannot wait to impart that to the students. I believe in the power of cross-academic education. Sciences need humanities, English needs business, anthropology needs geography and history, international studies needs health sciences, psychology needs sociology, etc. There are so many other examples and you can combine this in many other ways.
I always say “No education is bad education!”. All education helps you grow, and if you have not gone through it, how can you teach it? It makes us more proficient to go through the material, be knowledgeable, and then impart it as you will know all the side avenues the students might need and think about.
There are always avenues we might have that we are less knowledgeable about, but it is our responsibility to investigate new subjects and throw ourselves into knowing the subject and be proficient to impart it. As my journey showed, life throws you many curveballs and we have to be able to continue growing and learning. A teacher does not stop learning and does not rest on just what they know.