Acadia University Certificate in Math Teaching

Acadia University's Certificate in Math Teaching will build your skills as a math educator for grades 5-9 (including grade 4/5 splits). The certificate is designed for teachers without a strong background in mathematics or for those seeking to update their knowledge of math curriculum and pedagogy. Our certificate addresses professional development needs identified by the Nova Scotia Department of Education, and the Minister's Advisory Committee on Teacher Certification has approved our certificate as an upgrade certificate for eligible teachers.

In this part-time, post-BEd certificate, you'll complete 30 credit-hours of courses as part of a cohort, with courses on selected Saturdays during the school year and in compressed study in the summers, supported by online resources.   Most teachers will complete the certificate in two years. You are also welcome to take individual courses without enrolling in the full certificate.

The certificate combines undergraduate math courses in topics central to curriculum with graduate courses in education that focus on mathematics pedagogy, in order to provide you with both the content area support and the specific pedagogical knowledge to sharpen your math teaching. The courses are structured to offer a "scope and sequence" approach to math curriculum, providing you with an understanding of the development of these concepts across the grades, as well as the role those concepts play in understanding math in future grades. 

In this program, you'll develop:

• A broad understanding of mathematics topics and concepts central to math curriculum in grades 5-9, with a focus on how students develop these concepts, on problems that may arise in learning/teaching these concepts, and how the topics are both inter-related and related to continuing topics in the public school math curriculum.
• An understanding of current research and theory in math pedagogy, and how it informs current math curricula.
• An understanding of individual, small group, and whole group curriculum and instructional design for the teaching of mathematics.
• An understanding of assessment as it applies to the learning of mathematics in these key grades.