How to Become an Educational Consultant: A Comprehensive Guide
The dynamics of education are always shifting, educational consultants play a vital role in helping families, students and schools with their varied educational needs. As an educational consultant, you can pursue a wide range of roles according to your educational interests. What you do often depends on what area of education you are most interested in. Educational consultants use their knowledge and skills to help their clients improve certain educational experiences and outcomes. To move into the role of educational consultant, an individual needs to acquire certain types of education and experience.
Understanding the Role of an Educational Consultant
Educational consultants help to shape the educational landscape of a high school, university, or other educational institution. They use their expertise to improve educational experiences and outcomes for students and institutions. As an educational consultant, you can pursue a wide range of roles according to your educational interests. What you do often depends on what area of education you are most interested in.
Education is a powerful force in the lives of individual students, but it also has far-reaching effects on society. People who have a passion for education can contribute to the field in a number of ways. Becoming a consultant in education enables professionals to put their expertise to work in strengthening the field of education.
Key Requirements and Steps
Building a strong set of credentials is key to becoming an educational consultant. Here's a breakdown of the essential steps:
1. Earn a Bachelor's Degree
Earning a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as education is the first step on the educational consulting career path.
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2. Gain Practical Experience
Acquiring at least two years of experience working as a teacher or school administrator is very helpful in eventually pursuing a career as an educational consultant. Many educational consultants have education degrees and have worked in classrooms. It can be ideal for education consultants to have some classroom experience or experience working in the education sector before moving into a consulting role.
3. Pursue a Graduate Degree
Earning a graduate degree, such as a Master of Education (MEd) degree, can be a helpful step for aspiring educational consultants. MEd degree programs enable individuals to gain advanced knowledge in areas such as educational strategies, theories, and leadership. Some prospective educational consultants may choose to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree; programs for this degree focus on instructional skills and expertise in the classroom. Though some students can become educational consultants with only an undergraduate degree, educational consultants typically obtain master’s degrees as well. Typically, employers like to see master’s-level degrees that reflect strong expertise in some of the position’s core requirements. People who are interested in pursuing graduate education relevant to the field of educational consulting can explore Warner Pacific University Online’s Master of Education degree program to learn how it can help them achieve their goals. Offered in an accelerated format, the program helps educators advance their careers into teaching specializations and leadership roles. The program offers concentrations in special education, ESOL, and reading intervention. Based on your career goals and interests, you can choose an educational studies program in one of 10 content areas that meets your needs while working toward employment in school settings, corporate training, or instructional design. Help schools create engaging, meaningful, and memorable learning experiences to improve learning outcomes for all students with this M.S. No need to wait for spring or fall semester. It's back-to-school time at WGU year-round.
4. Obtain Relevant Certifications
Earning a relevant certification is a great way to demonstrate expertise and commitment to the field of professional education consulting.
5. Choose a Specialty
Choose a specialty; your dissertation or thesis work can serve as the basis for your consulting career. Narrow down your area(s) of expertise.
Developing a Professional Network and Online Presence
Networking is never ending in this field and should be done just because you love connecting with educators, not because you’re hoping to get work. The most successful consultants I know maintain an extremely active web presence because they like sharing ideas-they’re already booked years in advance, but they network out of passion. Be prepared to read and write constantly to spark discussion and share ideas. Networking is crucial to develop a professional community network through social media and blogging. Ask questions, participate in conversations, read books, and share what works (and what doesn’t) in your experience. Attending and presenting at conferences, both online and in person, is a fantastic way to connect with other educators. If these types of networking and idea-sharing activities don’t excite you, then you probably won’t enjoy consulting.
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There is no shortage of experts telling teachers how to do their jobs. No one ever gave me an official stamp of approval and classified me on some mysterious list as THE Classroom Management Expert. I just put my ideas out there on the web! I started in 2004, and over time, teachers responded to my techniques in increasing numbers and I gained credibility. Thanks to the internet and major changes in the publishing industry, it’s getting easier and easier to starting your own publishing company as I did, or even just self-publish your book. If you feel like you have a book inside you waiting to be written, go for it! Write about what you know and love. Of course, you can get your name out there and establish a strong reputation in many other ways. I think it’s crucial to develop a professional community network through social media and blogging.
Exploring Work Opportunities
Think outside the box in terms of work opportunities. You’re probably going to have to let go of the dream of job security, health benefits, and a pension. Most (but not all) consultancy work is part time, per diem. For me, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Being an educational consultant means I have complete and total freedom to accept the work I like and reject what’s not the best fit for me.
Working for a consultancy company can be fantastic. In New York City, there are several private companies who hire consultants and then school systems negotiate contracts with the companies. The organization I work for now is contracted with the NYCDOE as well as several regional religious boards of education, and I get the majority of my instructional coaching work through them. Sure, the company takes a cut from my earnings, but their outstanding reputation also means they get a lot of contracted work and command top dollar for it. And contrary to popular belief, the companies I’m familiar with (four major, nationwide organizations) do NOT micromanage the work. There is some paperwork to complete for documentation purposes, of course, but the goals of the consultancy and the way those goals are met are determined jointly by the consultant and school administration. The work is very much customized and school-based; the consultants are not required to push an agenda or sell a product. It’s solely about meeting the needs of kids and teachers.
Being an independent consultant-working for yourself or your own company-is another option. I do that, as well, as the owner and founder of Due Season Press and Educational Services. Out of personal preference, I don’t actively look for independent consulting work, but I do regularly have schools, districts, and universities invite me to speak and conduct professional development for them.
Finding Job Listings
Use a feed reader to keep your eye on the job listings. To debunk a major myth: Craiglist is not a bad place to find work! I got hired by three major companies through their Craigslist ads! I set up a specific search on Monster.com, Craiglist, and The New York Times, and had the job listings sent to me via Google Reader. This way, not only were all the listings permanently archived for me, they were also searchable: I could type “coach” or “consultant” into Google Reader and read only the listings that fit what I was looking for if I didn’t want to scroll through all of them.
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Salary Expectations
The median annual salary for educational consultants was about $75,000 as of October 2024, according to Payscale. Individual salaries can vary based on factors such as the person’s employer, experience, education, and geographic location. A number of indicators point toward a favorable employment outlook for educational consultants.
The Importance of Passion
The most important step should be taken by anyone who thinks they may want to do some consulting in the future. Actually, it should be taken by everyone! And that first step is: figure out your passion. Do you love helping teachers integrate technology into their instruction? Are you passionate about sharing best practices in a particular subject area? Does the idea of teaching other people how to reach students with disabilities make your heart pound with excitement? “Education” is a really broad area, so narrow down your area(s) of expertise. Don’t worry about whether your passion is “monetizable.” Mine didn’t seem to be, and I followed it as a hobby for many years when I was a classroom teacher without any forseeable way of making money. My advice is to focus on what you love and do the work because it brings you joy-make that the definition of success for you.
Sometimes people ask questions that make it very clear they want to measure my success in concrete terms: How many books have you sold? How many days a month are you working in schools? I crunch the numbers a few times a year to make sure I’m being fiscally responsible, but I don’t pay close attention to any of that stuff on a daily basis. I measure my success as a consultant this way: Am I living out my passion? That sounds a little pie-in-the-sky, but it’s been the key to my contentment in this field where money is not guaranteed and many of the tasks don’t result directly in gaining income. Always do what you love because you love doing it.
Additional Resources
If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide for starting your own educational consulting business, you won’t find one. There’s no single one right way to do it, and every situation is unique. It’s a 1 hour and 40 minute webinar called How to Transition Into Educational Consulting. This is NOT a formal training program. There are no slides or fancy handouts. This is simply a video of me sharing my experience and advice with you. The information I am sharing here will save you an immeasurable amount of time, energy, and anxiety over whether you can actually monetize your passion and propel your work to the next level. I’ll also occasionally send you other free resources to help you along your journey as a consultant.
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