Childhood Education

When you leave Buffalo State with a childhood education diploma, you’ll be armed with a degree that opens the door to many job opportunities. Our graduates have been employed in public, private, and charter elementary schools locally, nationally, and across the globe. Teacher shortages in New York City, Texas, and other states in the Southwest mean that successful teacher candidates willing to travel have their choice of positions. Locally, our graduates are teaching throughout Western New York schools. Loyal alumni in educational leadership roles are eager to interview our graduates. Some graduates who have participated in study abroad experiences have returned to teach in international schools.

However, if you eventually decide that classroom teaching is not for you, there are plenty of alternative career options for childhood education majors including:  

Elementary Education Club: Enables education students to socialize and organize volunteer and service-learning activities in the Buffalo area.

Global Book Hour: Student-facilitated program provides weekly book-focused sessions integrating geography, arts, and healthy eating for local children.

Kappa Delta Pi: The international honor society is a prestigious organization dedicated to scholarship and excellence in education.  

Tutoring in Area Schools: Multiple opportunities are available to engage students through one-on-one tutoring in schools throughout Western New York.

TeachLivE™: This virtual-reality classroom provides teachers the opportunity to develop their pedagogical practice in a safe environment that doesn’t place real students at risk.  

Service Learning: Under the tutelage of Buffalo State faculty and staff, service-learning initiatives are available through many organizations located on Buffalo’s West Side.

International Initiatives: Education majors have the opportunity to participate in teaching programs in foreign countries, including Chile, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, and Zambia. These two- of three-week long programs complement a semester worth of study to globalize students’ understanding of education.  

Undergraduate research opportunities are plentiful in local Professional Development Schools (PDS) sites and in combination with travel as faculty collaborate with students to conduct applied research in school settings. Each year, the department sponsors student travel to the National Association of Professional Development School (NAPDS) Annual Meeting to present their undergraduate research to a national audience.

Instead of internships, childhood education majors engage in school placements throughout Western New York under the tutelage of a classroom teacher. The culminating courses vary in placement for the childhood education majors but usually include two supervised student teaching experiences with children at different age levels in different types of schools. It is expected that students in these majors will have at least one urban teaching experience.