Ithaca College to Prepare Future Teachers with New Education Studies Degree

United States North America Higher Education News by Erudera News May 10, 2023

Ithaca College campus

The Ithaca College Department of Education will launch a new bachelor’s degree in education studies, which students can pursue starting in the fall this year, local media reports say.

The department offers several options for students who want to study education, such as the Teach in Five program, which helps students to become certified teachers in five years, Erudera.com reports.

The program includes the completion of a four-year undergraduate degree in a specific subject, followed by a 13-month graduate teaching program that assists students in obtaining their New York State teaching certification. Additionally, as The Ithacan, the college’s newspaper reports, the college department offers a minor in education studies.

The associate professor and chair in the Department of Education, Sara Levy, said that previously many students in the minor program did not express interest in becoming teachers but were interested in pursuing careers in counseling or non-profit work.

“They were interested in going into nonprofit work, they were interested in going into counseling, they were interested in going into … extracurricular education, a lot of theater education, stuff like that,” Levy told the newspaper.

Levy said that the college had considered launching a major in Education Studies in 2020 as well, which was prompted by the feedback of students enrolled in the minor program, as some expressed interest in taking more education classes.

According to her, the department is committed to offering more opportunities to students who may not be very motivated to complete the education program and become certified teachers or participate in the Teach in Five program but are still interested in using the curriculum to choose other professions.

The major consists of 14 credits of obligative courses and a minimum of 24 chosen credits, of which 12 should be with the education prefix in the list of courses. At the same time, the remaining 12 should be courses in culture, race, and ethnicity with the CSCR prefix.

Some students welcomed the major and switched to it soon after it was introduced. Unlike some individuals who said they hope to graduate and get a Bachelor of Arts in Education, others don’t necessarily want to become teachers or are uncertain about their careers, and hope that the major can help them decide.

The Teach in Five program offers advice and guidance to students who want to pursue careers in all levels of teaching. The program helps them to understand how to complete bachelor’s and master’s studies, as well as to obtain New York State’s initial teaching certification from the college.

Ithaca College is a private residential campus in New York with 5,000 students, of whom 4,600 are undergraduate students, and 400 are graduates.

Image source: the Twitter account of the Ithaca College

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