This year, the Faculty of Education at UBC’s Okanagan campus introduces two new post-degree professional programs to help B.C. teachers acquire new skills for the classroom and keep up with changes in education in British Columbia.
“The new programs expand professional development opportunities for educators and respond to the needs of schools and districts for education specialists,” says Robert Campbell, Dean of the Faculty of Education.
The Early Learning certificate and diploma program will help teachers prepare for the new full-day kindergarten initiative, which begins for five-year-olds starting in September 2010.
The program is also designed to help teachers align their skills with a number of other province-wide early learning initiatives such as Strong Start B.C. for preschool-age children and Ready, Set, Learn for three-year-olds and their families.
“The Early Learning certificate and diploma is an important new program, particularly for Kindergarten teachers in B.C.,” says Campbell. “The courses will provide effective strategies to get the most from extended time with young learners in the classroom. It is also a way for teachers to gain additional expertise and be qualified to teach kindergarten.”
The second new program offers a Language and Literacy Education certificate and diploma. It is designed for teachers and educational leaders who wish to deepen and extend their knowledge in areas of literacy and language arts including oral and written communication, reading, children’s and adolescents’ literature, English education, English as a second language, new media literacy, assessment, and literacy for diverse learners.
