Why Teacher Education at UNCA? 

The Teacher Education Program at UNCA will prepare you for the challenges of teaching and enable you to grow into your full potential as a teacher candidate.

UNCA offers candidates: 

• The Liberal Arts Model which grounds candidates in an academic discipline in addition to licensure course work

• Small class size and personal relationships with faculty

• Highly qualified Education faculty who are noted for their scholarship and service

• Strong preparation in pedagogy

• Early and increasingly complex field experiences throughout licensure course work

• Great reputation and excellent hiring record for our candidates

• Opportunities to network with our alumni and school partners

• Field placements in local school districts which are recognized as outstanding among North Carolina’s school districts

• Opportunities to teach diverse students in classrooms for field experiences and student teaching

• Birth through Kindergarten (B-K);

• Elementary Education (K-6);

• Middle School (6-9)

  • Language Arts,

  • Mathematics,

  • Science, and

  • Social Studies;

• Secondary Education in

  • Biology,

  • Chemistry,

  • English,

  • Earth Science,

  • Latin,

  • Mathematics,

  • Physics,

  • Comprehensive Science, and

  • Social Studies; and

• K-12 programs in Art,

• Foreign Languages,

• Reading, and

• Theater Arts.

The licensure program services undergraduates, transfers, post-baccalaureate, RALC, and lateral entry candidates.

In 2006-2007 we had 128 students enrolled in teacher preparation programs.

Teach...Make a difference!

The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA) is a four-year state-supported national liberal arts university set in the heart of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains.

With 3187 undergraduate students and 183 full-time and 121 part-time faculty, UNCA maintains a 18:1 student-faculty ratio. The ratio is 8:1 in the Department of Education.

Our size allows candidates to encounter diversity in the student population and, at the same time, receive individual attention.

Personal interaction between students and faculty in and out of the classroom develops an academic atmosphere in which all share in the pursuit of learning and inspires a learning environment characterized by lively discussion and spirited debate.

All candidates engage in an Under-graduate research project. UNCA was the founding institution for the national Undergraduate Research Program, which provides academic-year and summer student research and travel grants, hosts an annual spring symposium, and publishes an annual anthology of student research.

UNCA was named a “best buy” by the Fiske Guide to American Colleges and Universities for the 12th consecutive year; and named 1 of 100 "best buys" in public universities by Kiplinger's.

According to U.S. News & World Report, UNCA is the fifth best public liberal arts university in America.

The Princeton Review ranks UNCA sixth in the nation among the Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges.

Department of Education licensure candidates have a 100% pass rate for Praxis II test-takers; the state pass rate is 97%.