TEACHING AND LEARNING
Mission Statement
The Department of Teaching and Learning is committed to excelling in the initial and continuing preparation of educators for schools, corporations, nonprofit and government agencies in the Commonwealth; to working with diverse populations; to modeling and encouraging critical reflection on practice; to collaborating and forming educational partnerships; to applying research and conducting scholarly endeavors that examine educational processes, issues and concerns; and to providing assistance and service to local, state, regional, national and international communities.
Core values
Providing prospective and current educators with the content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and those skills and dispositions necessary to be successful in their fields of study.
Providing clinical experiences where students make connections and apply university instruction with the realities found in schools, corporations, nonprofit and government agencies.
Helping prospective and practicing educators to become effective decision-makers and reflective practitioners.
Conducting research and contributing to scholarship on teaching, teacher education and learning.
Enabling educators to work effectively with diverse populations in the Commonwealth including those learners with high and special needs.
Supporting Activities
Collaborating with community colleagues and university departments on the design and
delivery of programs and clinical experiences.
Continually examining the quality and effectiveness of our programs and graduates in light of community needs, demographic changes, organization and content of courses, and performance assessments.
Serving the local community, learned societies and professional organizations through ongoing activities such as workshops, consulting, conferences and governance.
Enhancing technology literacy through faculty modeling and student use to foster learning.
Serving the university through faculty participation in institutional committees and task forces, and advocating for the importance of high quality, research-based professional practice.
Program Offerings
The Department of Teaching and Learning offers comprehensive programs of study in:
- Adult Learning
- Early childhood/elementary education (Pre-kindergarten through grade 6
- Middle education (grades 6 through 8)
- Secondary Education (grades 6 through 12)
- Reading
- ESL
- Instructional Technology (IT)
Using as its foundation the concept of the teacher as a reflective practitioner, the Department of Teaching and Learning both imparts knowledge and skills and asks that students question and inquire regarding pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, child, adolescent and adult learners, and the school in society.
The Five-year Extended Program
In cooperation with the College of Humanities and Sciences, students who enter the five-year extended program in elementary, middle, or secondary education receive, at the end of successful completion, both a bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) in their undergraduate major and a master’s degree (M.T.) of teaching. Further, at the end of successful completion of the program, the student is eligible to apply for teacher certification from the Commonwealth of Virginia and 44 other states.
While information on specific requirements for all academic majors and information on admittance to Teacher Preparation is available on the VCU web site, the following may be helpful.
For secondary education students, the undergraduate major and bachelor’s degree must be completed in the field in which they plan to teach, such as English, foreign language, science, mathematics, or history. For middle education students, the undergraduate major and a second area of concentration must be completed in the four basic content areas, English, history, mathematics, science, or political science. For early childhood/elementary education students, any major in the humanities or sciences is acceptable, although majors relevant to subjects taught in the schools are preferred.
The Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
In addition, the Department of Teaching and Learning offers a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, a 30-credit program for those who wish to become teachers in secondary schools, at the end of which students receive a certificate of study and are eligible to apply for teacher certification from the Commonwealth of Virginia. While this program does not result in a degree, the same requirements listed above regarding undergraduate majors, still apply.
