Teachers earn an average of about $62,000 per year, with little real difference depending on the ages of the children they teach. There are major discrepancies between states and cities, though, depending mainly on the local cost of living.
A bachelor's degree in physical education also qualifies you for certain other jobs, including personal trainer, athletic coach, sports therapist, fitness center and sports facility manager, and in outdoor recreation.
There's a pretty widespread view of physical education teachers as the "dumb" ones, only one step above the custodial staff. In many cases, this is unfair and ignores the critical role of school-age PE education in a country where 42% of the population is obese. It's worth noting that this figure is far lower in Europe, where exercise is seen as a central part of a comprehensive education.
Instilling a love of sports (the kind you participate in, not watch), physical activity, and general health in young people is very much an admirable calling. In addition, as sports team coaches, physical education teachers often possess a social status belying their academic credentials.
These are more difficult to obtain than most people think. There's no college-level course entitled "How to Toss a Ball". Instead, subjects include kinesiology, human development, physiology, curriculum design, administration, biomedical principles, and nutrition.
Being a physical education teacher is about more than promoting a healthy lifestyle in students. They are often role models, teaching children non-academic values like integrity, teamwork, self-respect, and discipline.
This means that, in addition to a love of exercise and competition, students thinking of going into physical education should be able to create a positive learning environment for kids with a variety of abilities. They need plenty of emotional intelligence, including knowing when to be assertive and when compassion is needed.
The college admissions process in the US has become a race to the bottom as students compete with their peers for a single spot in a liberal arts college, convinced by parents and guidance counselors that their survival rests on playing a musical instrument or varsity sport. Many smart kids don’t do well on standardized tests. This doesn’t limit them as much when looking outside of the US, as many colleges in Europe do not require standardized tests. Many countries see entry into universities as a right, rather than a privilege, so admission standards are not as stringent.
When you also factor in the many problems with US higher education, it is imprudent not to consider other possibilities. It is true there are many excellent schools in the United States—I don’t think anyone would argue that. There are some that have managed to look at applicants as people, and not just a checklist of achievements. Some even have reasonable tuition rates, and/or professors that actively teach and have highly engaged students. Despite this, I have yet to find a school in the United States that addresses all of these issues: allows students to opt out of the rat race the admissions process has become, have reasonable tuition, AND have positive results around the educational experience and post-graduation outcomes. Not every school in Europe provides all this either, but the schools listed in our database do.
Finding these programs is burdensome, difficult, and confusing, especially with institutional websites in foreign languages... We know that making the decision to study abroad can be difficult, so we want to make it easy for you. We scoured the continent for vetted programs and made them available to thousands of families looking to leave the US and find a better life in Europe. We found over 11,200 degrees, 870 universities, 550 cities, and 32 European countries to choose from. Europe offers an impressive range of educational opportunities!
We have gathered all of the information you need to know about studying in Europe – from the different types of schools available to how to get housing and everything in between. Our database helps you find these programs quickly and easily, helping you contextualize the many benefits and options around higher education in Europe.
You will be able to find programs and courses that suit your interests and needs, taught in English by experienced professors in state-of-the-art facilities. Search our database of English-taught European bachelor's and master's programs and get started on your journey to Europe today.
Travel opportunities abound when attending college in Europe. For example, Lille, a city in northern France with multiple universities, is close to major cities such as Brussels, London, and Paris via high-speed rail. Air travel, especially with the rise of affordable airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet, and Transavia, can be comparable in price to rail travel, so many more destinations open up for short-term travel.
