Education Directors and Museum Teachers

Employers

There are more than 35,000 museums, aquariums, arboretums, botanical gardens, historic houses and sites, nature centers, planetariums, science and technology centers, and zoological parks in the United States. Many museums are located in large, metropolitan areas, but the American Alliance of Museums reports that about 26 percent of museums are located in rural areas with fewer than 20,000 residents.

Institutions with a primary goal to educate the public about their collections hire education directors and teachers. Depending on each institution's monetary resources, most museums, large and small, zoos, botanical gardens, and occasionally, historical societies employ education directors and teachers to ensure public access to their collections. Institutions with small operating budgets or limited visitor access sometimes hire part-time educators or rely on volunteer support.

Starting Out

Professional associations such as the American Alliance of Museums offer job listings and job-search advice on their Web sites. Other job-search strategies include using the resources of your college's career services office, networking in-person and online at social networking sites such as LinkedIn, participating in internships, and contacting museums and related organizations directly regarding employment opportunities.

Your first job in a museum or zoo will likely be as a teacher or resource coordinator working in the education department. With a few years of experience and improved understanding of the institution's collection, you may seek promotion to education director. Many people in the field transfer from one museum to another or from one zoo to another.