The College at Southeastern has a new opportunity for students to be equipped to minister through teaching at a time when there is a shortage of licensed teachers in North Carolina and many parts of the nation.
A new licensure track will equip students to teach with compassion and competence as they help students learn in the classroom. Students will have a variety of ways through which they can pursue teaching: in a public or private school, overseas missions context, as a bi-vocational ministry or other nonprofit work. The teaching certification seeks to equip students “to be salt and light in a world that needs virtuous and compassionate teachers,” according to the program website.
The licensure track will be offered in conjunction with four Bachelor of Science majors, including English, History, Social Studies and Bible.
“Our current degrees at Southeastern provide a strong liberal arts basis for our students entering into almost any field to think critically and solve problems. The Teacher Certification Program removes barriers for students being led into the field of education so that they can quickly and practically follow God’s leading without having to pursue other credentials or alternative certifications through the state,” said Bryce Hantla, Southeastern’s new associate professor of education, associate dean of the College, and director of the Teacher Certification Program.
“Our students will now be able to carry their passion for their subject matter into a secondary classroom and live as lights in a dark world in front of their students who desperately need to know Jesus, both in public and private sectors.”
Students at the College at Southeastern and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary also now have a way to receive their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling in five years.
Students who pursue this degree option will be more thoroughly prepared before entering into their counseling internship and will graduate a year and half faster than normal. The 5-year degree format will allow students to move from the classroom to the counseling room sooner, without sacrificing thorough and rigorous preparation.
“Our 5-year BA-to-MA counseling program not only prepares graduating students to obtain a license in marriage and family therapy upon graduation, but it trains them to be counseling missionaries in a broken world,” said Scott Pace, dean of The College at Southeastern. “It’s a huge value-add for our college students who are eager and willing to get to work helping those who are hurting.”
Students in the BA-to-MA track will receive training in psychology and counseling and will graduate with a license in marriage and family therapy. From the time students begin their counseling degree, they are assigned an adviser who will help them as they map out their academic progress plan, look for internships, and discover the type of counseling they want to pursue upon graduation.
