Secondary Certification

Areas of Certification
The department offers a secondary (7-12) teacher certification in biology, chemistry, English, history, mathematics, physics, social studies, and citizenship. The department also offers a K-12 certification in French, German, Russian, and Spanish.
Students must complete a major or special major in their area of certification. Majors or special majors in history, economics, or political science receive secondary certification in either citizenship or social studies, and majors or special majors in psychology or sociology/anthropology receive secondary certification in social studies.
1. Required Educational Studies Courses
In order to be certified, students should fulfill all of the state general distribution requirements. In addition, students must take the following courses in Educational Studies:
- EDUC 014. Pedagogy and Power: An Introduction to Education
- EDUC/PSYC 021. Educational Psychology
- EDUC/PSYC 023. Adolescence
- EDUC 023A. Adolescents and Special Education (0.5 credit)
- EDUC/PSYC 026. Special Education
- EDUC 053. Educating Emergent Bilinguals
- Students will complete one semester of student teaching, which consists of EDUC 092: Curriculum and Methods Seminar (2 credits) EDUC 093: Practice Teaching (2 credits)
- For students pursing Foreign Language Certification, EDUC 042 Teaching Diverse Young Learners.
2. Required Courses in Major
In addition to the major or special major in the discipline of certification, students must complete subject-specific requirements that may or may not differ from the special major or general major requirements already in place at Swarthmore. Students should refer to the subject-specific requirements charts for additional information.
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Citizenship Certification (History, Economics, Political Science Majors and Special Majors)
- English
- Latin American and Latino Studies
- Mathematics
- Modern Languages (French, German, Russian, Spanish)
- Physics
- Social Studies Certification (History, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology Majors and Special Majors)