Example Career: Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary

Career Description

Teach courses in political science, international affairs, and international relations. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

What Job Titles Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary Might Have

• Faculty Member
• Government Professor
• Instructor
• Political Science Instructor
• Political Science Professor
• Professor
• Public Administration Professor

What Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary Do

• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as classical political thought, international relations, and democracy and citizenship.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
• Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
• Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
• Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
• Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
• Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
• Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
• Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
• Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.
• Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
• Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
• Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
• Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
• Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
• Act as advisers to student organizations.

What Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary Should Be Good At

• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary Should Be Interested In

• Social - Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
• Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
• Artistic - Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

What Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.