Our Programs

Student teacher Randy Peterson with cooperating teacher Sarah Dickerson at Newark High School

Schools across the nation are seeking to hire well trained, versatile, and creative teachers who know how to teach to State and National Standards. The University of Delaware is an outstanding place to learn how to become that teacher! The Social Studies Secondary Education Program at the University of Delaware is a program that is accredited with the highest ranking by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). It is a rigorous four-year program that prepares you to gain state certification to teach Social Studies courses in middle school and high school (grades 7-12).

Over the course of this program, we will help you make the transition from college student to a professional, engaging and effective social studies educator for scores of children. Effective social studies teaching requires extensive content knowledge about different areas of social studies as well as knowledge about teaching and learning in secondary schools. This means that you are required to complete extensive content core courses and professional education classes while maintaining a GPA of 3.0 in your major and 2.75 overall. In addition, you will spend over 56 hours observing in Delaware secondary schools. You may begin observing middle school and high school classes as early as your sophomore year.