Primary Education

Bachelor of Arts

Early Childhood Education

Lourdes University Department of Education faculty have designed a nationally recognized and award-winning program that prepares graduates to be excellent elementary, middle and high school teachers. The Bachelor of Arts in Primary Education program focuses on the development of the whole child in the areas of physical, cognitive, language, creative, social and affective development.

The professional preparation goal of the Primary Education program is to integrate a liberal arts education in order for teacher candidates to acquire the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to teach and work with young children, age three to eight. An extensive clinical and field experience component allows Lourdes education majors to observe and apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-life settings. Coupled with service-learning requirements, Lourdes primary education majors regularly secure employment and are known as well qualified, caring teachers.

Primary educators are perceived as generalists and as such the content knowledge that must be mastered is broad in nature and based on the Common Core, the Ohio Early Learning and Development standards and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) K-6 Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards.

The following are integrated into teacher preparatory methodology and are key areas of study for professionals who work with young children.

Fundamentals of child development theory
Curriculum development
Knowledge of environmental designs
Classroom management
Multicultural education
Integration of instructional technology
Assessment
Various effective teaching practices

Primary education majors may also wish to enroll in either the Elementary Religion Teacher Certificate, Primary Education Generalist Endorsement program, and the Primary Education Endorsement Graduate Certificate Program for Educators.

Learn more about the primary education major and the College of Social Sciences.