Are you interested in:

• Teaching children ages 5 and under?

Becoming a Birth to Kindergarten (B-K) teacher at Meredith College is a win-win process: you major in child development and take courses in the professional teacher licensure program. Study in your major will prepare you to understand your students and learning environments that support the growth of young children. Your professional education courses will prepare you to teach – including planning and assessing learning activities. You will learn to understand your students and to design instruction for all students. You can begin taking required licensure courses as a sophomore. After taking one education course, you can apply to the teacher education program.

Types of jobs:

• Preschool or kindergarten teacher in public, private, or charter schools
• Child center teacher

Attend graduate school for:

• Child development
• Reading specialist
• Special education
• Academically and intellectually gifted education
• English as a second language
• Curriculum and instruction specialist
• School administration (with teaching experience)

Options for the major:

• Earn a B.S. in child development
• Join MAEYC, Meredith Association for the Education of young Children, and learn about the field of early childhood education
• Join Meredith Educators, a group that organizes speakers and sponsors special activities for students interested in teaching
• Take the first-year critical thinking seminar called “Education Under Fire!” as an elective for an opportunity to debate important issues in education and to visit schools
• Attend the information session for first-year students who are interested in teaching (March)
• Attend the Orientation to Teacher Education in the fall of your sophomore year
• Participate in child center and school-based field placements
• Teaching during your semester-long student teaching internship
• Kappa Delta Pi, the education honor society

Professional associations:

• National Association for the Education of Young Children www.naeyc.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children www.cec.sped.org/
• National Association for Gifted Children www.nagc.org/
• Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) www.tesol.org/
• National Association of Elementary School Principals www.naesp.org/
• National Association of Secondary School Principals www.principals.org/
• North Carolina Association of Educators www.ncae.org/
• Professional Educators of North Carolina www.pencweb.org/
• Kappa Delta Pi www.kdp.org/
• Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society www.kon.org

Career outlook:

Kindergarten teacher

Additional information:

Requirements for B-K licensure »

Meredith College faculty and staff work closely with public school teachers and administrators. This helps us design programs to prepare you for real classrooms. We see you as a future teacher-leader!