Teachers are in demand across Texas and the nation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2025, an estimated 316,000 new teachers will be needed per year, and teacher demand is projected to increase 14 percent.
The University of North Texas College of Education offers students options to becoming a state certified teacher. Teaching is more than a job — it's a calling. For those who have a devotion to lifelong-learning and want to make a difference in the lives of students, the College of Education offers various paths to teacher certification.
The Early Childhood through Grade 6 with Science of Teaching Reading and English as a Second Language Supplemental Teacher Certification Program at the University of North Texas is designed for students whose goal is to become a teacher in classrooms from Pre-K through 6th grade. This certification path includes preparation in the Science of Teaching Reading, a new initiative in the State of Texas that prepares teachers to implement instruction in reading, especially with young learners. English as a Second Language courses develop knowledge and skills critical to the success of English Language Learners in today’s diverse classrooms.
The fully redesigned degree program associated with this certification features:
Opportunities for undergraduates to choose a specialization area. Specializations offer deep, focused exploration in an area of interest. Options include Early Childhood Education; Language, Literacy and Activism (ESL); Inclusive (SPED) Education; and Bilingual Education.
Begin foundational coursework in education earlier during Freshman and Sophomore years as students complete their general core requirements.
Expanded opportunities for field experiences in actual classrooms and a variety of learning contexts starting early in the program and continuing through clinical teaching.
Choose from an increased number of electives based on interest with courses designed to allow students to explore topics more deeply or to learn about new and exciting concepts.
The rapid expansion of Dual Language programs in Texas offers a unique opportunity to work with emergent bi/multilingual students and their families in this high-needs area. This is a job that is constantly in demand and also offers pay supplements and tuition supports from districts.
The Bachelor of Science in Education with Bilingual Education certification builds theoretical and historical perspectives on the unique contexts of Bilingual, dual- and multi-language learners. Through inquiry-based approaches embedded in area schools and communities, future teachers develop informed, culturally-responsive instructional practices that positively impact learners and families.
Many courses are taught in Spanish or Spanish and English. Topics include:
Latina/o/x Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Biliteracy Practices for the Dual Language/Bilingual Classroom
Dual Language Programs, Policy and Practice
Teaching and Learning Processes for the Dual Language/Bilingual Classroom
The Bachelor of Science in Education with certification in Special Education results in both Early Childhood through Grade 6 and All-Level Special Education certification. Coursework and field experiences orient students to the historical foundations of special education, explore current knowledge of innovative instructional techniques, and prepare future teachers to employ evidence-based practices to support students with disabilities.
UNT’s Special Education program emphasizes strengths-based and culturally responsive practices and is committed to changing perspectives on “dis”/abilities to prepare future special educators who intentionally support learners by building learning on what is possible for each individual. Coursework and experiences develop critical perspectives and knowledge necessary to determine students’ strengths and needs, and to individualize curriculum to accommodate and modify instruction based on learner characteristics. Additionally, students develop skills to promote positive collaboration with parents and other professionals to enhance the lives of children and youth with disabilities across their life span.
As part of the coursework for the Special Education Certification, students will have experiential and practical opportunities in classrooms and communities to enhance the understanding and skills of future teachers. Course topics include:
Educational Aspects of Exceptional Learners
Educational Assessments and Evaluation of Exceptional Learners
Advanced Educational Strategies for Exceptional Learners
Classroom and Behavioral Management Strategies for Exceptional Learners
Strategies to Support Diverse Learners in General Education
Transition Education and Services for Exceptional Learners
The Secondary Education Program works in collaboration with partner departments across UNT to prepare future middle school and high school teachers in a variety of subject area disciplines. Students interested in teaching at the secondary level major in their subject and minor in secondary education.
Interested students should consult with their academic advisor in the college of their major for program and degree plan details. Once a student has earned 60 semester credit hours and meets the eligibility requirements listed below, they must apply for admission to the College of Education Teacher Education Program.
Following advisor verification of requirements and approval of the Teacher Education Program Admissions Interview questionnaire by COE faculty, students who meet admission requirements will receive a formal offer of admission. This offer must be accepted within 72 hours to complete the admission process.
60 or more earned credit hours
12 or more earned credit hours in the teaching field
2.75 or higher Overall GPA
2.75 or higher UNT GPA
TSI completion or appropriate SAT/ACT scores
Approved Interview Questionnaire
Active enrollment at UNT
Official degree audit that includes certification
Students interested in teaching high school Computer Science, Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Math or Physics, visit Teach North Texas for information.
A teacher’s impact extends far beyond the academic classroom. As a teacher, you can affect your students in a positive way every day. If you’ve ever dreamed of making a difference in a child’s life by helping learners become more physically active, a Kinesiology major with teacher certification at the University of North Texas is the path for you.
A Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology is the next step toward your career goals. With an EC- 12 teacher certification, career options may include:
Children’s experiences during their early years are foundational to build their social and emotional well-being and academic learning. Understanding young children’s ways of being and knowing is essential to creating environments and nurturing relationships in the classroom that are culturally sustaining. A major focus of this specialization is to re-imagine early childhood education, which involves re-humanizing processes of schooling for young children and including children in the movement for social justice and equity.
The faculty working in this specialization look to a near future in which young children are viewed and treated as intellectual and social agents who are knowledge-producers and complex cultural beings. Our goal is to provide early childhood educators (Pre-K-3rd grade) with the tools to see children in more expansive ways. These ways of seeing and knowing young children on their own terms can support us to critically reconceptualize pedagogies, practices, and policies that impact the lives and identities of young children, particularly those from minoritized communities, considering the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, culture, languages, abilities, gender, and other identity markers. We also examine relationships children have with technology and the natural world around them in order to consider our collective role in ecological justice.
The goal of this specialization is to prepare UNT educators to teach about race and ethnicity by focusing on the experiences, histories, and perspectives of people of Color in the United States. Preservice teachers will explore the ways in which race, class, gender, sexuality, immigration status, dis/ability intersect and have been, and continue to be, powerful forces that impact the experiences of people of Color. The focus will be to prepare educators to create and teach a curriculum that centers the knowledge and experiences of communities of Color and work alongside culturally and linguistically diverse students and communities.
This specialization program will primarily center on the following tenets/focus areas:
Interdisciplinary approach with critical theoretical foundations that explores historical and contemporary issues that explore factors that interrogate the relationships between social, historical, cultural, and political contexts that are focused on the lives, experiences, and needs of historically marginalized communities;
Students will develop an understanding of and utilize theoretical frameworks that promote the reconstruction of education that reflects critical race, Black feminist, raciolinguistics, multicultural, Indigenous, and queer theories on education;
Building an abolitionist community of co-conspirators who seek to restore humanity back in teaching and learning.
This Bachelor of Science in Education specialization offers future educators a deep dive into building inclusive education, opportunities, equity and access in partnership with students with dis/abilities and their families. Taking a socio-historical perspective, students will critically analyze systems of oppression for students with disabilities and build advocacy skills that will help elevate the voice of children and youth with dis/abilities from a strengths-based perspective and with an intersectional and culturally relevant lens. Pragmatic skills include how to navigate special education and school systems, develop inclusive pedagogies, implement evidence-based practices and build accessible communities to revolutionize inclusive education in schools.
The specialization seeks to amplify the voices of students and individuals with dis/abilities, especially those diverse racial/ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic communities. The goal of the Inclusive Education specialization is to reimagine, redesign, and implement inclusive education in our schools and communities.
School curriculum and instruction often derives its content and methods from disciplines in the social and physical sciences. In this specialization, students will consider how disciplines exert control over school curriculum, to whose advantage and disadvantage, and the benefits and drawbacks of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary studies. A definition of interdisciplinary understanding is to “...integrate knowledge and modes of thinking from two or more disciplines (or well established fields of study) in order to create products, raise questions, solve problems, and offer explanations of the world around them in ways that would not have been possible through single disciplinary means” (adapted from Boix Mansilla & Gardner, 1996). The course will examine how knowledge is produced and for whose benefit. The course will consequently center social and educational justice as a lens and outcome. The aims of the specialization include:
Demonstrate the ability to be a critical consumer and producer of curriculum, pedagogy, and research;
Demonstrate how disciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, approaches to schooling might support social and educational equity;
Demonstrate how interdisciplinary studies might be applied to classroom teaching in K-6 settings;
Synthesize research on interdisciplinary approaches and their educational and social impact on students and communities; and Integrate technology as is appropriate, ethical, and just.
Rapid changes in technology and human mobility challenge educators to prepare critically aware cosmopolitans: citizens of the world who respect the dignity of all human beings. Students who choose this specialization will consider what it means to become globally competent teachers of empowered, globally aware citizens. Students will investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and act while exploring education and schooling from an international perspective.
This area includes a broad focus on global issues such as:
Interconnectedness, communication, and cultural exchange; Connections between the local and global;
Cosmopolitan practices;
Migration patterns and policies affecting migrant populations; and Equity in economic development, educational access, and health and well-being.
Emphasizing critical and decolonizing perspectives, supporting coursework will build understanding and enhance knowledge of:
Local-global citizenship;
Diverse cultures, interculturality, and cultural competence; and Educational policies and systems, and teaching practices.
Students enrolled in this specialization are encouraged, but not required, to engage in study abroad and/or other international experiences. Opportunities for in-person and/or virtual exchange will be embedded in coursework.
Literacy is the curriculum area that receives the most attention in elementary schools. Engaging children/youth in the language arts is essential work for teachers in classrooms and therefore a major focus in your preparation program. Literacy and Activism in Teaching is the only specialization option that is directly tied to a required certification examination (i.e., the Science of Teaching Reading) that all preservice teachers must take and pass for certification. The focus on multilingual children in this specialization will also serve as additional preparation in working with Emergent Bilinguals and support preservice teacher preparation for the ESL supplementary certification exam.
The faculty working in this specialization are particularly focused on working with children/youth, families, and communities that represent diverse racial/ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and economic experiences. Consistent with the core values and commitments in the preparation program, our goal is to prepare UNT graduates to engage in transformative literacy practices that position all children as capable and curious. We emphasize activism as central to the work of teachers engaging children/youth with the world around them through literacy practices that promote equity, especially for children/youth from families that have been historically marginalized and have been denied equal educational opportunities.
This Bachelor of Science in Education specialization introduces students to the discipline of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics to designing integrated learning environments. Students enrolled in these courses will explore innovative venues for STEAM learning and teaching with an emphasis on diversity and equity. Consistent with the core values and commitments in the preparation program, our goal is to prepare UNT teachers to engage in transformative STEAM practices that create math and scientific communities which positively influence and grow STEAM education in schools. As a community we envision innovative methods to social issues from analyzing climate patterns and new sources of energy to the influence of social media and voting trends. We emphasize social justice and activism as central to the work of teachers engaging students with the world around them through STEAM practices that promote equity.
Students in this specialization will learn methods of learning and teaching science and math that are equity and asset-based, rigorous, foster children’s positive mathematics and science identity development, and transform classrooms into spaces that challenge marginalizing processes and use STEAM practices as a tool to critically examine the world.
Early Childhood Education
Ethnic Studies in Education
Inclusive Education
Interdisciplinary Studies
International Studies
Language, Literacy and Activism
STEAM Education
Children’s experiences during their early years are foundational to build their social and emotional well-being and academic learning. Understanding young children’s ways of being and knowing is essential to creating environments and nurturing relationships in the classroom that are culturally sustaining. A major focus of this specialization is to re-imagine early childhood education, which involves re-humanizing processes of schooling for young children and including children in the movement for social justice and equity.