The Saint Leo University Department of Education develops quality, professional educators who possess the values, skills, knowledge, cultural sensitivity and technological literacy to effectively teach youth and serve as educational leaders in their schools and communities. Saint Leo provides a values-based education emphasizing the Benedictine values of excellence, integrity, respect, responsible
stewardship, personal development and community. Within small classes, students receive individual attention and enjoy a mentoring, professional relationship with professors who hold advanced graduate degrees and who have "real world" teaching experience at the elementary, middle and/or secondary school levels. The Department of Education provides a thorough, sequential and well-supervised set of developmentally appropriate pre-internships and final internship experiences for elementary and middle grades majors. During the first semester of major coursework, students begin spending time in classroom settings with clinically trained teachers. Placements continue throughout coursework and are structured to allow students to apply theories they are learning in college courses to K-12 classrooms. Responsibilities and expectations increase as the education major progresses through the program. The field experience component of teacher preparation culminates with a full-time internship during which students are expected to assume all classroom duties related to planning and instruction. Students have the opportunity to discuss their experiences in the field during weekly seminars with University faculty, thus helping to embed theory-to-practice techniques. These are designed to build skills that will lead to success as teachers and correlate directly with the State of Florida Preprofessional Competencies for Teachers of the Twenty-First Century.
