Elementary Curriculum Bachelor of Education (BEd)

This program is designed for students who do not already have an undergraduate degree, and offers two entry points: year one entry (direct from high school) or year two entry (after completing year one requirements). 

Year one

Years two to four 

For a complete list of courses required for the B.Ed Elementary Currriculum, visit the undergraduate calendar entry 

French Immersion Practicum opportunities 

To learn more about French Immersion practicum opportunities and necessary language requirements, please visit our French Immersion information page. 

Questions? Please contact the Teacher Education Office.

Certification process

Upon completion of this program, you will receive a Bachelor of Education degree (BEd) and will be eligible to apply for a BC teaching certificate. 

These year one courses can be taken as a student in UVic's Faculty of Education, in another Faculty at UVic, or at another university or college.

These courses and requirements must be completed by April 30 for a year two entry in September of the same year.

Note: 3.0 UVic units are equivalent to two, half-year courses or 6 credits at most BC colleges and universities

As part of the program admission requirements, you’ll need a minimum of 75 hours of practical experience working with children or youth from Kindergarten - Grade 12 in educative ways.  

• experiences listed must be within the past three years.
• these experiences must be in face to face settings, interacting with groups (i.e. 4 or more) of children or youth.
• can be in either one or two settings, but at least 50 hours must be from a single, continuous experience. If all hours are in one setting, you will still need two references from that experience.
• experience in international settings is valuable, but we require at least 50 hours of experience be in domestic settings.
• all hours must be completed by the time of the application. Hours that may occur in the future will not be considered. 

Types of experiences

What qualifies as experience with respect to your application? These can be either paid or volunteer experiences, or a combination of both.

Typical experiences for applicants include:

• coaching team sports
• working as a camp counsellor, summer program leader, or after school program leader
• group tutoring or teaching (e.g. teaching music classes, specialty extra-curricular activities, etc.)
• working with faith-based K-12 groups or other K-12 youth groups
• working in a K-12 school classroom as a volunteer or assistant
• cultural work in Indigenous communities with K-12 youth
• cultural, social justice, and inclusion themed work with K-12 youth

What does not qualify as experience with respect to your application?

• 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 tutoring
• peer tutoring as a high school student
• teaching, being a TA, or residence advisor at the college or university level
• parenting, babysitting or caregiving
• online experiences

Experience forms

You will need to submit the following information when applying:  

• Summary of Experience 
• Two Confidential Reference form (to be submitted directly by the referee) 

Both the Summary of Experience and the two confidential reference forms must be submitted by January 31

Summary of Experience  

You will need to list the organization(s) where you acquired your experience, describe your duties and significant learning from these experiences. Please ensure your two references are directly linked to the experiences you list in your summary of experience. One must be a supervisor. 

Summary of Experience Form

Confidential Reference (two)

The confidential reference must be from the two people who you have identified in the Summary of Experience. Ensure that those you ask to be referees can speak to your experience working with children and youth. One of your references must be a supervisor.

Referees must use the form provided; reference letters are not acceptable. References must meet the described criteria or your application will be considered incomplete and ineligible.

Both references must recommend or highly recommend your application and results of references are not released to applicants.

Reference reports are due at the same time as your application, so it is beneficial for you to ask potential referees well in advance of the deadline. Late references will not be considered.

When approaching your refereee, please ensure they know: your full name, program you are applying for, and your student or applicant number. 

It is your responsibility to follow up with referees to ensure they have submitted the Confidential reference form. 

References cannot be:

• relatives or other family members (including in-laws, step-family, etc.)
• a classroom teacher whose only relationship to you is as your teacher,
• friends or family friends,
• co-workers,
• someone you taught or tutored,
• someone you have supervised,
• somebody who is also applying to a UVic teacher education program.

Confidential Reference

Questions?

Contact the Teacher Education Office

For September 2025 Entry, admission is based primarily on GPA as long as all eligibility requirements are met.

In the event of a GPA tie with other applicants, we will use experience to determine the successful candidate.

Before applying:  See the admission requirements above for this full-time program

• Ensure you will have all course and grade requirements. Examples of approved courses are listed above under 'Admission requirements'. 
• Ensure you will have met all the experience requirements listed above under 'Admission requirements'. 
• All course and grade requirements must be completed by April 30 for entry in September of the same year

For applicants who have completed all or part of a teacher education program, please consult with Education Advising before submitting your application to determine if you are eligible to apply to the program. In this case, please email adve@uvic.ca at least one month before the program’s application deadline.

Not ready for this year? To attend UVic to complete the above admission requirements, please apply for the Faculty of Humanities or Social Sciences (or your previous faculty if you are returning to UVic).

Note: If you already have a Bachelor’s degree, you are not eligible for admission to the B.Ed Elementary program. Instead, see the Elementary Post-Degree Professional Program (PDPP).

Start your application

Please confirm your January-April 2025 course registration before applying, and include this information in the in-progress courses section of the application. 

When filling out your application:

(only applicable to continuing or returning UVic students)

• under 'Institution information' and specifically 'Acknowlegement of post-secondary institutions', be sure to list every college and university where you’ve registered.  This includes exchange studies, studies transferred to another institution, Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) studies, if applicable. The IB declaration appears under “high schools attended.” The AP declaration appears as “College of Advanced Placement.”
  
  
• for each college/university attended select “no credential received” even if you received a certificate, diploma or non-Bachelor’s degree credential. Returning UVic students: please update the "credential received" field to "no credential received" for past institutions as well.

• under the 'In-progress courses' section of the application, accurately include the January-April 2025 course information, as well as the Fall 2024 courses.
  
  
  
• for those interested in applying for the off-campus B.Ed Elementary in Cranbrook, BC., please select East Kootenay Teacher Education program under 'Program of study'
  
  

Late applications (i.e. those received after January 31) will be considered only if space remains in the quota after all on-time, eligible applicants have been admitted. 

Application questions? Contact us

• Undergraduate Admissions at adms6@uvic.ca.

Experience Requirements

Please ensure you have referred to the experience requirements listed above under Admission Requirements. These requirements are due at the same time as your application, January 31

If you are a direct entry B.Ed elementary student applying to progress to year 2 studies, please follow the same Experience Requirement submission instructions. You can also refer to the information you would have received from Education Advising. 

Note: Applicants may also be invited to meet with the Teacher Education Office during their experience review. Only applicants who are conditionally admitted will have their experience reviewed. Please do not assume that you have satisfied this experience requirement based on applying or being wait-listed for program admission in a previous year.

Please remember that official transcripts are those sent directly from the issuing institution to UVic. Transcripts in languages other than English or French must be submitted together with notarized English translations.

Undergraduate Admissions will now also accept official transcripts that have been emailed directly from the issuing institution to UVic. Please ask your post-secondary institution to email your official transcripts directly to admsscanning@uvic.ca.

Check with the issuing institution about how and when to place your transcript order to meet our transcript deadlines. Processing and mail delivery times will vary. Order as early as possible. Your application will be considered ‘late’ if any transcripts are received after the published deadlines.

It's important to remember to submit an official transcript from every* college and university that you’ve attended, including withdrawals, incomplete, failed, repeated studies and attendance as an exchange student. We cannot review your application if any transcripts are missing.

* This includes College of Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB).

Please note:

• UVic students do not need to order UVic transcripts, as we have access to those records.

Transcript Deadlines

Deadline for official transcripts showing grades for courses attempted to December 2024: January 31 

Deadline for official transcripts showing in-progress course registration in the January to April 2025 term: January 31

Deadline for official transcripts showing grades for courses attempted January to April 2025: May 31

The Faculty of Education is committed to increasing the number of First Nations, Métis and Inuit teachers and has reserved 5% of the positions in teacher education programs for applicants who meet the Faculty of Education’s admission requirements.

If you have Indigenous ancestry, and would like to be considered for this quota, please email the supplementary form to iedlpa@uvic.ca.

Note: If you need help with the form or have questions, please call (250) 721-7824. 

Checklist 

☐ Step 1: Submit your online application along with the Summary of Experience (step 2).

Deadline: January 31 

☐ Step 2: Submit the following documents for the experience requirement as follows:

• Submit your Summary of Experience through the survey monkey link (above under Admissions Requirements)
• Ask two referees to submit their confidential Reference Forms directly through the survey monkey link (above under Admissions Requirements)

Deadline: January 31 

Indigenous applicants may submit a supplementary form for Indigenous applicants by January 31

☐ Step 3: Order official transcripts in time for them to arrive by the following deadlines: 

By January 31, we require transcript(s) that show: 

• grades for all courses attempted to December 31, 2024
• in-progress course registrations January 1 to April 30, 2025, if applicable
•  

By May 31, we require transcript(s) that show: 

• grades for all courses attempted January 1 to April 30, 2025. Order the transcript(s) as soon as second-term grades are available.

To check your status and application checklist log into My UVic Application. Use the checklist to see that all transcripts and other required items, including the two references, have been received.

 Notes:

• If you are attending the same institution (other than UVic) in the January to April 2024 term as you are in the Fall 2023 term, you’ll see at least two entries for that institution on the checklist: one with a January 31 deadline and another with a May 31 deadline.
• It can take two to three weeks from the time an item is received at UVic for it to be recorded on the checklist.
• The date a transcript is received at UVic determines whether it is considered on time or late, not the date that UVic staff upload it to your checklist.

Application status updates:

Education Advising will email you at least once by mid-June:

Please be aware that Admission offers are time sensitive. If you will not have email access for more than one week, contact Education Advising.

If you are accepted into one of the Teacher Education programs, you will receive an email from Education Advising outlining the next steps.

You will also receive specific information about which timetable courses to register in, based on which program cohort you are assigned. 

Please wait to receive this email from Education Advising with your specific timetable information before registering for your courses.

Some students recieve an email from UVic with your registration date and time before you receive your timetable information, and that's ok! We will email you as soon as we can, as we finalize program offers