Get a post-graduate work permit for up to three years if you are a full-time UBC international student graduating from a bachelor’s degree program and meet all eligibility criteria.
Want to learn more?
Visit the Okanagan School of Education website to learn more about Education: Teaching Adolescents.
View full program detailsProgram information
Grounded in a generalist approach, the program helps you connect learning across disciplines, design responsive classroom experiences, and center student needs throughout your practice. The Teaching Adolescents pathway equips you to work with learners at a pivotal stage of development, where curiosity, identity, and independence grow rapidly. You’ll explore teaching approaches, inclusive practices, and strategies for supporting diverse adolescent learners across the BC curriculum.
Program overview
- Campus
- Okanagan
- Program length
- 11 months
- Honours This option has additional requirements compared to those required in a Major specialization. Students must maintain high academic standing and may have to write a graduating thesis.
- No
- Co-op Co-op is an optional program where students alternate between academic terms and paid work terms. It’s an opportunity to gain relevant job experience while completing your degree.
- No
- Faculty
- Okanagan School of Education
- Degree
- Bachelor of Education
What you'll learn
The UBC Okanagan Bachelor of Education is an 11-month post-degree program designed to prepare future teachers for the realities of today’s dynamic classrooms. Students enrolled in this pathway will learn to teach adolescents in the middle years and beyond (Grades 6–9+). Through a blend of coursework, in-situ learning, and two school-based field experiences (practicums), you will gain more than 15 weeks of classroom practice while developing the knowledge, skills, and reflective habits required of effective educators.
The program integrates themes such as inclusive teaching, student well-being, the integration of technology, and effective assessment and learning design. You will engage in meaningful, hands-on learning throughout the year—connecting theory and practice in diverse educational settings and developing your professional identity as a beginning teacher.
Experiential Learning
Community
You will benefit from collaborative learning environments, small cohorts, and mentorship from experienced instructors, practicing educators, and field advisors. You will join a vibrant community committed to reflective practice, inclusive education, and lifelong learning.
Learning on the land
UBC Okanagan is located on the unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, and place-based learning is woven throughout the program. Throughout all of our courses you’ll explore interconnections among the land, local knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing, and how to carry those connections into your own classroom.
Practicums and Mentorship
Field experiences are where theory becomes practice. School visits and scholar-practitioner inquiry labs facilitated by your field advisor will support your preparation and growth as a teacher throughout the program. A personalized approach to field experience partnerships is a highlight of our program. Your field advisor will personally match you with a mentor based on your teachables, learning goals, strengths and areas for growth. Field experiences take place in school districts across the region as well as in independent schools.
Courses
There are many course you can take within Education. Here are a few you might like.
Introduction to the ethics, standards and practices of the teaching profession; professional responsibilities; developing a reflective approach and identity as a scholar-practitioner and lifelong learner; Local Indigenous knowledge, pedagogies and perspectives; educators’ roles in TRC calls to action; integration of First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) across BC curriculum; critical reflection on the values and aims of education in a pluralist liberal- democracy, such as Canada.
Theories of learning; human development (physical, cognitive, emotional); EDI; designing appropriate learning opportunities for individual differences (cognitive and emotional).
Foundational pedagogical knowledge and practice will be explored through learning labs and communities of professional inquiry. Teacher candidates and their field advisors engage in critical inquiry, translating theory into practice, and reflect on professional standards in preparation for the formative field experience.
Instructional design (backwards design, UDL, etc.), lesson planning, unit planning, assessment as, of and for learning, differentiation, building relationships with students, classroom management through design.
Outcomes
Graduates receive a globally recognized UBC Bachelor of Education degree, well-regarded by employers locally, nationally and internationally, and meet all requirements for BC Teacher Regulation Branch certification.
Many UBC Okanagan BEd alum teach in classrooms across BC and around the world, while some apply their skills in community and educational roles beyond schools, including arts and cultural organizations, science centres, youth programs, and non-profits.
Want to get a feel for campus?
If you’re unable to visit UBC in person, or you just want to get a sneak peek at your new home campus before you arrive, take one of our virtual tours. Current UBC students walk you through UBC’s residences, study spots, recreational facilities, lecture halls, academic buildings, and more.
Related programs
Want to learn more?
Visit the Okanagan School of Education website to learn more about Education: Teaching Adolescents.
View full program detailsGet a post-graduate work permit for up to three years if you are a full-time UBC international student graduating from a bachelor’s degree program and meet all eligibility criteria.
Want to learn more?
Visit the Okanagan School of Education website to learn more about Education: Teaching Adolescents.
View full program details