A master's degree in education provides aspiring correctional education teachers with the tools for teaching in a challenging learning environment. According to the University of Oklahoma website, a master's degree gives a student knowledge of modern teaching principles and administration practices, accepted methods of teaching adult students, information on effectively evaluating students and an understanding of how to develop and teach a curriculum. In the correctional environment, a master's teaching degree is an ideal higher level degree to hold.
Because prisons need teachers of all levels to instruct inmates at all learning levels, sometimes a bachelor of arts degree in any specific subject, when paired with a teaching certificate, can suffice. Along with a state mandated teaching certificate, a bachelor's degree in, for example, mathematics, literature or fine art from an accredited university, will allow the individual to teach in a correctional facility. From there, the teacher can work on earning a master's degree in education or in criminal justice, for example.
Holding a B.S. in criminal justice, with a focus on corrections, will provide an aspiring teacher with more precise knowledge of the correctional institute environment.
A bachelor's degree in sociology, along with a teaching certificate from the state, is also acceptable. A major in education and a minor in sociology or psychology, for example, make a strong set of credentials, as student prisoners come from all sorts of backgrounds.