The College of Education and Human Development has officially opened enrollment for a specialization in Family and Consumer Sciences Education for education majors.
Workforce Education and Development now has two specializations which students can choose from: Business and Marketing Education and Family and Consumer Sciences Education. The new FCSE specialization focuses primarily around the family and careers related to the family setting, including life planning, financial literacy, food nutrition and apparel merchandising.
Those who obtain this degree will be able to instruct grades 4 through 12 on a variety of life skills. The classes students will instruct will typically fall under elective courses in middle and high school settings, but students will also have the skills to work in a career services setting.
“This opportunity both leads students to a teaching license in Ohio and the ability to teach subjects under that field,” said Program Area Coordinator for Workforce Education and Development Robert Berns.
Roughly 19 years ago, this specialization was offered at the University, yet was removed due to low enrollment. Now there is a large demand for teachers in this department and the majority of the necessary courses are already offered through Human Development.
“This provides students with an opportunity to get a major where there’s a large demand,” Berns said.
Students will take courses offered within Human Development, as well as their standard education courses. When these students enter methods and student teaching, they will be placed in a school with a FCSE teacher.
“This major provides the opportunity to not only learn something you normally wouldn’t in a classroom setting, but also the ability to teach it to others,” said Kelsey Marlow, a senior in the College of Education and Human Development.
By including this specialization under the Workforce Education and Development major, the University brought two areas that are similar together. The classes taught as a result from FCSE and Business and Marketing Education specialization are typically elective courses in school systems.
The development of this specialization began three years ago when an advisory committee helped develop the program and emphasized a need for this type of specialization. The program received approval about a month ago from the Ohio Board of Regions and became available in the most recent course catalog. This specialization is available for enrollment to all incoming freshman and transfer students and will begin in the fall.
An outline of the program requirements and curriculum for FCSE is available on the College of Education and Human Development’s website.
