Education is a rapidly changing, rewarding, and creative career. It provides you the ability to create lessons that will engage and teach others with aspirations of spreading knowledge to help others grow.
At Westminster College, you will focus on real-world success immediately, spending time in K-12 classrooms from the beginning of your freshman year. Get involved in local preschool, elementary, middle, and secondary programs throughout your major to find out what works best for you. We emphasize interaction and leadership, which means students receive plenty of opportunities to practice instruction in the classroom and with their peers.
An education degree can take you anywhere – our graduates are teaching at schools across the nation as well as globally in countries such as Spain, China, Japan, and Great Britain. That’s because Westminster alumni are recognized as being exceptionally well prepared upon graduation. The department maintains an excellent hiring rate for its graduates – 99.6%, one of the highest in the state – not only for teaching jobs but also for other related fields, such as business training and personnel management, public policy, child advocacy, sports and recreational planning, and other social service-related fields.
Spanish Education K-12 Program Plan
You will receive a Missouri Initial Professional Teaching Certificate. This certificate is recognized by most other states, as a basis for their own licensing procedures and you can easily obtain certificates for any state where you may wish to teach.
You can earn a Bachelor of Arts with majors offered in Early Childhood Education (birth-grade 3), Elementary (grades 1-6), Middle School (grades 5-9), or Secondary Education (grades 9-12).
Content areas include:
Middle School
Secondary Education
Certification in All Grades K-12
All students will enjoy a wide variety of field experiences starting in their freshman year and continuing throughout their studies. Our education students complete at least 20% more hours in field than most education-preparation programs, which means students are equipped with practical experience to lead in classrooms as soon as they graduate.
“Westminster College not only prepared me to take on the challenges of an ever changing educational world, but also empowered me to explore innovative instructional methods in a truly student focused format.”
Jared Ryan '01 Principal at Campo Verde High School in Gilbert, Arizona
Students will receive a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Early Childhood Education, Elementary, Middle School, or Secondary Education.
Core Competencies
Education majors must demonstrate competencies in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social science. Teacher education preparation experience includes research, observation, demonstration, and participation in local school settings.
General Assessments
As part of the Education Program, students will be expected to meet the standards of the Missouri Educator Evaluation System (MEES) Teacher Candidate Assessment.
Information on Coursework
You must meet a required overall GPA (2.75) and content area GPA (3.0) to be admitted to the Teacher Education Program, as well as meet required student teaching hours during your program. Students must be accepted into the Teacher Education Program before taking upper-level (300+) professional education courses.
Yes! Our education program focuses on interaction and leadership. The goal of the Minor in Education is to facilitate your understanding of the central concepts, structures, and tools of inquiry of the discipline(s) and how to create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful and engaging for all students.
You will also understand how individuals learn, develop, and differ in their approaches to learning, understand how to adapt to diverse learners, recognize the importance of long-range planning and curriculum development, and how to implement and evaluate standards-based curriculum.
