Majors: Early Childhood Education (Certification)
and Educational Studies (Non-certification)
Minor: Educational Studies (Non-certification)

Program Director: Joni Jordan Assistant Professor of Education

Graduate Program | Special Opportunities | Outcomes | Faculty

Teacher preparation programs at Wesleyan are backed by a progressive philosophical  perspective that places the learner at the core of the instructional decisions. Each program emphasizes meaningful, integrative, challenging, and active learning experiences that will enable pre-service teachers to enhance their content knowledge and instructional skills. We believe that the significance and meaningfulness of content is emphasized both in how it is presented to students and how it is developed through activities that fit the developmental characteristics and needs of the learner. Active learning requires reflective thinking and decision-making skills that will be useful to students both in and out of school.

Therefore, the central purpose of the teacher preparation programs at Wesleyan is to provide an environment for pre-service teachers to enhance their understanding of the needs and nature of the learner; construct learning; acquire, reflect upon, and use knowledge; and develop and implement instructional methods that make content meaningful, integrative, active, and challenging. For information about specific courses offered, please see our Academic Catalogue.  

Early Childhood Education
The Early Childhood Education Program leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree is offered to students planning to teach in pre-kindergarten and primary grades (P-5). The program is designed to give a broad background of general professional courses to assist in developing the understandings and competencies essential to effective teaching. The major consists of 76 semester hours of education (professional development) and related course work.

Educational Studies
The Educational Studies major prepares a student to examine critically systems and practices in a variety of educational settings; interpret gathered data, and apply research conclusions to contemporary problems in the field. It offers students a rich, liberal arts-based understanding of the complexity of the world of teaching and learning which can be applied in the arenas of policy or actual classroom teaching. It does not lead directly to state certification as a consequence of graduation, though it prepares graduates to enter post-baccalaureate, one-year Clinical Practice programs offered by Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESA) throughout the state of Georgia. Persons graduating with an Educational Studies major will be prepared to work in a variety of settings that require knowledge of educational practices and policies, such as government agencies, social work, research, journalism, non-governmental and non-profit organizations, law, classroom teaching and graduate education programs. A semester abroad is encouraged, especially for foreign language content.

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Graduate Program

Master of Education. Wesleyan College's newest graduate program, the Master of Education in Early Childhood Education, was approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in October of 2009. The Master of Education (M.Ed.) has been designed by Wesleyan faculty to meet the needs of teachers in the middle Georgia and surrounding area and will add a significant component to Wesleyan’s graduate programming. The program is specifically designed around an educator’s academic calendar, offering course schedules convenient to a busy lifestyle so that working professionals can earn a graduate degree without disrupting their career momentum. 

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Students in the Education Program enjoy a wide range of field experiences. They are actively involved in public school classrooms in every education course at Wesleyan. Included in these experiences are observing students, volunteering as classroom assistants, planning and implementing lessons with groups of students, and student teaching, which is the culmination of professional field experiences and course competencies during the student’s senior year.Students have the opportunity to join Kappa Delta Epsilon, a professional education honor society, that sponsors on and off campus activities and community service  projects.


Outcomes & Post-graduate Opportunities

Wesleyan's excellent undergraduate programs empower women to become exemplary teachers; teachers who care about creating a wonderful learning environment that prepares children to change the world. Wesleyan alumnae have a great understanding of the important role educators play in not only the lives of their students, but in our collective future.

Wesleyan Women in Education are making a great impact here in Georgia, and across the country. They can be found as far away as Wichita teaching Exceptional Children, in North Carolina serving as a National Teaching Standards advisor to a sitting governor, and in Virginia teaching Math at a private boarding school. They’re winning awards -- like Betsy Bunte ’68 who won the 2002 Milliken National Teaching Award, Andria Magallano '95 who was named 2007 Bibb County Teacher of the Year, and Mary Eager ’72 who was named 2001 Georgia Teacher of the Year.

They’re impacting children’s lives, like Melissa Malone ’92 who is a National Board Certified Teacher for hearing impaired children in South Carolina and Erica Herman ’02 who earned her Master of Science in Special Education from Johns Hopkins and now works with autistic children. Lauren Eckman ’04, who currently teaches at the Georgia Academy for the Blind, is pursuing a Master’s in Special Education at the University of Louisville. Ashley Wheelus ’05, who is teaching third grade in Conyers, recently graced the cover of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators New Teachers Guide.

Shaping the minds of tomorrow's youth is, according to Stephanie Griffis ’06, a noble calling and one she is embracing fully as a third grade teacher at Lake Joy Elementary in Warner Robins, Georgia. She said simply, “It’s my dream job.” Read her story!

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Patrick Pritchard Associate Professor of Education, Alumnae Chair of Education, and Center for Educational Renewal Director. B.A. (History, Social Science for Secondary Education), B.S. (Liberal Arts) Eastern Mennonite College 1984; M.Ed. (Special Education) Clemson University 1987; Ph.D. (Curriculum and Instruction) Clemson University, Clemson 1998. My primary research interest is self-study and teacher identity in teacher education. Tate Hall 134. ppritchard@wesleyancollege.edu

Mae Sheftall Associate Professor of Education and PSC Liaison.  B.A. (French and Secondary Education) Spelman College 1968; M.Ed. (Elementary Education) University of South Alabama 1977; Ed.S. (Supervision and Curriculum) University of Georgia 1991; Ed.D. (Educational Leadership) University of Georgia 2000. My primary research interests include the effects of teacher efficacy and teacher expectations on student achievement. Other special interests include multiple intelligences, brain research, and children’s literacy development, especially reading and writing. Tate Hall 135. msheftall@wesleyancollege.edu

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