Preparation for Teacher Certification

All secondary and all-level teacher certification programs are based on degrees with academic majors in the student’s chosen teaching field. Requirements for students seeking secondary or all-level teacher certification include all courses required for the student’s major in the College of Education, College of Fine Arts, Jackson School of Geosciences, College of Liberal Arts, or the College of Natural Sciences, as well as the preprofessional and professional education courses.

UTeach-Urban Teachers

UTeach-Urban Teachers is a teacher preparation program for students seeking secondary teacher certification in English language arts and reading or social studies. Information is available on the UTeach-Urban Teachers website and from the College of Education advising office.

UTeach-Fine Arts

Program advising for students seeking all-level teacher certification in art, music, and theatre or secondary teacher certification in dance is provided in the College of Fine Arts. Information is available at https://finearts.utexas.edu/students.

UTeach-Liberal Arts

UTeach-Liberal Arts is a professional teacher preparation program for liberal arts majors pursuing Arabic, Chinese, economics, English language arts and reading, French, history, geography, German, government, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish. Students may seek certification to teach secondary school.

UTeach-Liberal Arts offers a four-semester program for undergraduate students and a three-semester program for postbaccalaureate students. Admission into the program is required. Undergraduate students may enter the program as early as the second semester of their freshman year. More information about UTeach-Liberal Arts and the admission process is available at https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/uteach/.

UTeach-Natural Sciences

Students seeking secondary teacher certification in mathematics, computer science, science, or engineering must follow the curriculum prescribed by the UTeach-Natural Sciences program, a collaborative partnership between the College of Education and the College of Natural Sciences. Program advising is housed in the College of Natural Sciences. 

Certification Requirements

Information about legal requirements for certification to teach is available from the College of Education certification officer, George I. Sánchez Building 2.110, or from the Texas Education Agency.

State of Texas teacher certification requirements are governed by the Texas Education Agency and are subject to change. Students must adhere to current teacher certification requirements, even if they differ from those listed in the University catalogs.

Minimum Scholastic Requirements

In addition to meeting the minimum coursework and scholastic requirements for the degree, students seeking teacher certification for middle school, secondary, and all-level must meet other requirements to take the prescribed work in professional development. Students seeking teacher certification must be approved by the College of Education for the Professional Development Sequence. Admission to the Professional Development Sequence is restricted; information about admission requirements is available in the College of Education, Office of the Dean, George I. Sánchez Building 2.110.

Teaching Fields

All secondary and all-level teacher certification candidates must earn a degree in their primary teaching field by meeting all of the requirements for the appropriate major. While completing these requirements, the student seeking teacher certification must take a core set of courses in the major that fulfill certification requirements. This certification core includes at least 24 semester hours in a single teaching field or 48 semester hours in a composite teaching field, and incorporates the state-specified essential knowledge and skills needed for successful teaching in the field. Often, the student’s major department requires more than these 24 semester hours, but the certification core in the major field must be taken.