A career in teaching and education can offer graduates a wide variety of positions and specialties.

The range of career paths offered by teaching is highlighted by a group of educators who are retiring with over 200 years' worth of combined experience, redorbit.com reports.

Karen MacNamara, for example, chose to work as a special education teacher. Her career spanned 37 years and the principal at her school, Jim Montanari, described her as "one of the best teachers I've ever been associated with".

The career of Rick Williams, meanwhile, demonstrates the long-lasting contribution teachers can make to their community.

Mr Williams has taught the children of some of his first pupils - and their grandchildren.

Another of the retirees, Ann Carey, demonstrated the changes a teaching career can offer. She started working in education in 1968 and after working at elementary level, became a specialty teacher focusing on a single subject.

Ms Carey said the most important thing for teachers, whatever career path they follow, is to think of their school and their students as something more than a job.

"My father always told me to find a job I love to do. I did. There was never a day when I didn't want to come to school," she said.

According to the US Department of Labor, there were around 4 million teachers working in the US in 2006.